First, this week’s Pop Quiz question came from Joey Wahler of WFAN: In a 2006 episode of “The Sopranos,” Tony (James Gandolfini) recalls taking Jason Barone (Chris Diamantopoulos) to a Mets game at Shea Stadium. Name the two Mets players whom Jason and Paulie (Tony Sirico) mention played in that game.
Now, your updated playoff seeds:
AL: Boston (1) vs. winner of Tampa Bay (WC1) and Cleveland (WC2), Oakland (2) vs. Detroit (3)
NL: Atlanta (1) vs. winner of Pittsburgh (WC1) and Cincinnati (WC2), St. Louis (2) vs. Dodgers (3)
Notes: The Indians (86-70) leapt over the Rangers (84-71) for the American League’s second wild card during weekend action.
In the National League, the Pirates (89-67) get the home-field advantage in the wild-card game against the Reds (also 89-67) because of a superior intradivision record; Pittsburgh is 40-29 within the NL Central, while Cincinnati is 40-33. Intradivision record is the second tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head record, where the two teams are knotted, for now, at 8-8, with three games remaining.
Let’s look ahead to the final week of the season. It won’t be as exciting as Yankees fans hoped, but there remain plenty of reasons to pay attention.
Race of the Week
Still the AL wild card, as so many teams are mathematically in play. The Indians, while currently owning the second wild-card seed, have by far the easiest schedule, with two home games (starting Tuesday) against the White Sox followed by four games in Minnesota. At this point, the Yankees are more likely to serve as spoilers to the Rays, who come to The Bronx for three games starting Tuesday, than as bona fide contenders. The Rangers will be rooting for the Yankees, for sure, while they kick off the week with three games against awful Houston, starting Monday night.
Series of the Week
Pirates at Reds, Friday through Sunday. This series likely will determine the wild-card host, at the least, and if the Cardinals stumble in their three-game home series with Washington, starting Monday night, the NL Central title could be in play, too. The Nats are still mathematically alive, so they’ll have incentive to play hard in St. Louis.
Sluggers of the Week
Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt leads Pittsburgh’s Pedro Alvarez, 35 to 34, in the race for the NL home run crown. 35 to 34?! Is it 1978 again? It would be an especially nice accomplishment for Alvarez, a product of Horace Mann High School, given his early-career struggles and the grief the Pirates took for selecting Alvarez second overall in the 2008 amateur draft ahead of catcher Buster Posey, whom the Giants popped with the sixth pick.
Pitcher of the Week
With the Rangers no longer controlling their own destiny, they need to win every game, and left-hander Derek Holland will start tonight against the Astros and then Saturday against the Angels, health permitting.
Manager of the Week
This will be it for Washington’s Davey Johnson, who has known for a year he’d be done upon the completion of the 2013 season. Of course, he figured his work shift would end in October, rather than September, and the Nationals’ selection of Johnson’s successor — two reported candidates are Washington bench coach Randy Knorr and Arizona third-base coach Matt Williams — will be scrutinized as they try to prove this season, rather than last season, was the aberration.
Davey will go down as one of the more interesting managers in the game’s history. His best work arguably came first with the Mets, as he led them to the 1986 World Series title, and overall, he brought four of the five teams he managed to the playoffs, getting the Reds, Orioles and Nationals into October and whiffing only with the Dodgers. With 1,370 wins, he’s going to end his career 28th all-time, just below Wilbert Robinson (1,399) and just ahead of Chuck Tanner (1,352). Not surprisingly when you consider his five employers, he also will be remembered as brash and peripatetic; only his Mets stint lasted at least three full seasons, and he went 10-plus seasons — the Dodgers fired him after 2000 and the Nats hired him in the middle of 2011 — between his fourth and fifth gigs.
Hall of Fame? I could see him getting on a Veterans’ Committee ballot, since he can combine his strong managerial credentials with a notable playing career. However, I can’t see him getting all the way to Cooperstown.
Awkwardness of the Week
I can’t wait to see how Roger Clemens interacts with the Yankees, if he does at all, when the team goes to Houston this weekend. The Astros already have announced The Rocket will participate in the team’s ceremony honoring Mariano Rivera, the last such ceremony for Rivera.
Will Andy Pettitte and Clemens cross paths? Will Derek Jeter, who still considers Clemens a good friend, publicly embrace Clemens at a time when the Yankees still haven’t welcomed him back into their good graces? This isn’t quite the drama the Yankees were hoping to have upon concluding their season, but as Brian McNamee has memorably said, it is what it is.
Speaking of Rivera, here’s my column from Sunday’s big day. I’ll give the ceremony a B-plus. Great guests and tremendous speech by Rivera, but the gifts underwhelmed — the Twins already gave Rivera a rocking chair made of bats, only theirs was better — and how in the world was memorabilia peddler Brandon Steiner allowed on the field to hug Rivera? Yeesh.
I also wrote a column on Andy Pettitte’s final start at Yankee Stadium. Well, you know, unless a baseball miracle happens this week.
Your Pop Quiz answer is Dave Kingman and Mookie Wilson. If you have a tidbit that correlates baseball to popular culture, please send it to me at kdavidoff@nypost.com.
Have a great day.