The strike may be sidetracking Derek Lowe's breakout season a little early. AP

You'd think so. Their days are spotted with briefings from their union reps and incessant questions from their family, fans and media members. They can't open a newspaper or turn on the TV sports shows without hearing how they're headed for a strike.

Meanwhile, they have to figure out how they'll make ends meet just in case their million-dollar paychecks stop coming in. And they have to brace for the inevitable public backlash.

Yeah, you'd think it'd be one major pain, but as a whole, players insist that once they get out on the field, all that stuff melts into the background. During the game, it's baseball and baseball only.

That's what they say. Boston's Derek Lowe admitted that all the talk of the strike might be getting to him. He gave up a season-high six runs and 13 hits the other day to the Anaheim Angels. He hadn't given up more than eight hits in any of his previous 25 starts.

His manager, Grady Little, caused a small stir when he said that he thought the labor situation was starting to creep into the game. The Red Sox have been struggling since the All-Star break.

"I think our players, like everyone around baseball, are probably a bit split on their focus on their day-to-day play right now," Little said over the weekend. "There is a lot looming in the next few days."

Yankees manager Joe Torre said he doesn't think the labor talk is affecting his club, but he admitted it's getting harder by the day to make sure it doesn't.

"I want to believe you don't think about it," Torre said. "But it's there. It's just something you have to deal with."

The two-game series between the Yankees and Red Sox this week is a perfect example of how talk of the labor situation is engulfing the game. The Yankees-Red Sox series is probably the best rivalry in baseball. But Tuesday, before the first game of the series, there was more talk of possible strikes and revenue sharing than there was of the Yankees and Red Sox.

The good thing about all the strike talk is that, finally, it's about to end. One way or the other.

Arizona has proven a solid 1-2 pitching duo can be enough to win a World Series. Jed Jacobsohn/Allsport

We're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?

The top two teams in baseball, win-wise, the Diamondbacks and Braves certainly seem headed for the NLCS. The Central champ, probably St. Louis or Houston, could have something to say about it. So could the wild card team, which right now looks to be the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But let's take the assumption and run with it. The Braves and Diamondbacks in the NLCS. The top two seeds. Who gets the edge?

Both teams are strong in starting pitching (Schilling and Johnson vs. Glavine and Maddux). The Braves, in fact, may have a little deeper rotation with No. 3 Kevin Millwood and lefty Damian Moss at No. 4.

But how deep do the Diamondbacks have to be? Schilling and Johnson proved to be plenty deep enough last postseason. And it's not like Rick Helling, Brian Anderson and Miguel Batista are stiffs. They're just not Schilling and Johnson.

The two teams both have solid bullpens. Atlanta's is better, with the lowest ERA in baseball (2.54) and arguably the best closer in John Smoltz (46 saves). But Arizona can come back with Byung-Hyun Kim (32 saves) and can even throw another look at batters with funky-armed Mike Myers.

The Braves have patched together a good offense, with the best-producing outfield in the business. Chipper Jones has been sizzling in August (.361, nine homers, 20 RBIs). With Andruw Jones in center and Gary Sheffield in right, the Braves have 71 homers and 235 RBIs this season. That accounts for nearly half of the Atlanta runs.

Yet the Braves' offense is no equal to the Diamondbacks, who lead the league in runs, are second only to high-altitude Colorado in batting average (.268) and lead the league in on-base percentage. The Diamondbacks are ranked better defensively, too.

Arizona proved last season that it's perfectly built for the postseason. Schilling and Johnson are workhorses, 1-2 in innings pitched (214 for Schilling, 213 2/3 for Johnson in 29 starts apiece) this year. The Braves have been, for the past decade, a team that has done well in the regular season but falters in the postseason.

If these two teams do meet again in the NLCS -- the Diamondbacks won four games to one in 2001 -- it should be closer, thanks to the Braves' improved bullpen. But it's still going to be tough for Atlanta to beat the 1-2 punch of Schilling and Johnson.

Darin Erstad and the Angels may not overtake Oakland but they're in good shape for the wild card. AP

No one, obviously. After 14 straight wins, it's looking pretty clear that the AL West is theirs to lose. This is a team that was two games under .500 on June 1, and now is flying at 31 games over. Who can beat that?

Sure, the A's could go on a little cold streak and lose the West. But with that pitching -- a 2.08 ERA as a team through the first 13 games of the winning streak -- any kind of extended slump seems improbable.

The real question might be who comes in second in the West. The AL wild card most likely will come from the West, considering Boston -- the only non-West wild-card possibility -- trails both Anaheim and Seattle in the wild-card standings. And the Red Sox are a sub-.500 second-half team.

So then, after Oakland who gets in?

Seattle, let's get it out there, is hurting. The Mariners are only 23-21 since the All-Star break. They've lost 12 of their last 21. They have not been this far back in the standings since 1999.

The Mariners' biggest problem is that they've had trouble scoring. They scored 12 runs Sunday, but in the 11 games before that, they averaged 3.9 runs a game. They're in the middle of the pack in runs scored since the All-Star break -- and middle of the pack is not postseason material.

On the other side is Anaheim, which has the best-hitting team in the majors since the break (.292). The Angels also have the fourth-best pitching staff in baseball since the break (their 3.53 ERA is behind only Arizona, Oakland and Atlanta).

Lots could still happen in the West, especially with everyone playing each other in September. Anaheim and Seattle still play six times, in fact, with the Mariners holding a 7-6 edge in the season series so far.

But if Seattle doesn't pull things together quickly, the Mariners will find themselves the odd team out come October.