Most wonderful time of the year

The Mets have pushed Johan Santana's pitch counts lately, including a career-high 125 in his last start. John Iacono/SI

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci offers some of his thoughts on the pennant races as the season heads into the final weekend.

SI.com: How about the excitement last night?

VERDUCCI: There's nothing better than a pennant race in baseball. No other sport can match it because it just grabs you on a daily basis. You can't leave a meaningful game at the end of September. Minnesota was a great example of that where you thought the White Sox may have had that game under control. The White Sox can't call timeout or run time off the clock. You gotta play it. You have to get all 27 outs. The Twins are a great example. All three games that ended in a walk-off were played at a very high level. No one's giving up.

SI.com: Who are the critical players this weekend?

VERDUCCI: Right now Johan Santana is a big difference maker. He's the one guy on all the teams left that you look at and say, When he pitches, they should win the game. You can also look at CC Sabathia, but he'll be going out there on short rest again on Sunday. Milwaukee has really pushed the pedal to the metal with him, but I think they like their chances better with him anyway. They have to feel better with him pitching than they do with anyone else.

With the Brewers the key is going to be Salomon Torres. The Phillies have to feel a lot better with locking down a game when they have a lead than Milwaukee. The more teams start living on that edge, when they have a lead late but they don't know if they have a game won, the more iffy it gets. I think it's going to come down to the Milwaukee bullpen and whether it can get the big outs or not.

SI.com: How do you see the AL shaping up?

VERDUCCI: I like the Twins' position better than the White Sox'. The Twins are a different team when they're at home. They're playing with tremendous confidence and a huge home field advantage. If we get to Sunday and both teams need that game, the Twins have to feel good that they're seeing Brandon Duckworth and the White Sox will see Cliff Lee. If we get to Monday [makeup game between White Sox and Tigers] then the White Sox face Freddy Garcia, who is throwing the ball pretty well right now. The White Sox are a very streaky team because they rely so much on the home run. If they don't hit home runs they're going to be in trouble.

SI.com: How may weather and scheduling affect the first round series?

VERDUCCI: When you first looked at the playoff schedule, you saw two days where you could line up your rotations. Take Santana. He's a guy who's never thrown 120 pitches in his life, but the Mets have pushed him to that number or beyond twice in his last seven starts. He's averaged 115 his last three starts and reached a high of 125 in his last start. That being said, he's pitched great baseball, and been nearly an automatic win for the Mets. If they have to continue to push him, then it may be a factor later on.

It's a huge disadvantage for teams to burn their best pitchers just to get in, while the other teams are just lining up their rotations. I think they would have a very rough time. They would tell you they have momentum and each game has been a playoff game to get in, they'll talk themselves into it not being a problem, but it is a disadvantage and they do have to play extra games.