Junk Food Nation, last night a bunch of significant baseball happened: the Tigers clinched the AL Central, the Yankees opened up a 1 game lead on the Orioles in a tight AL East Race, Miguel Cabrera took a step forward in the Triple Crown and AL MVP Race with his 4-for-5 performance and major-league leading 44th homer, Mike Trout pushed for his own MVP bid and Rookie of the Year title going 4-for-5 himself, and locally the Nationals won their first division title in 79 years.  I spoke about the Nationals growth earlier on this blog.

As the last two days of the regular season wind down, some brief thoughts:

1) The Nationals have had a lot of things go right – the emergence of Bryce Harper, Michael Morse with a great encore season performance, huge contributions by Adam laRoche, Ryan Zimmerman becoming an All-Star post-cortisone injection, Desmond and Espinosa getting hot while the other was not, and of course, the amazing pitching staff…. but to me, nothing went MORE right than the acquisition of Kurt Suzuki, veteran former-A’s catcher.  The strength of the Nats is their pitching, and Suzuki kept that rotation stable as it went down the stretch. Add to this his own hot August and September hitting, and I think an argument could be made that his move to the Nats was the reason such an inexperienced team was able to keep their composure late in the season.

2) The two teams I would not want to face in the NL playoffs are the SF Giants.  The Giants are the NL team NO ONE is talking about out here on the East Coast.  The Nats are the feel good story, the Braves and Cards are the veteran Wild Carders, and the Reds are tied for the best record in baseball.  But people forget that the Giants ALSO have 93 wins, have the 3rd most runs of all the NL playoff teams, and the 4th best team ERA.

3) The Tigers are who I’d want to avoid on the AL side.  Texas is the powerhouse, Oakland and Baltimore are the scrappy contenders and the Yankees are both scary and flawed, but Detroit is the team with MOMENTUM.  They’ve won seven of their last eight, and have Verlander, Prince, and Miggy.  I feel like there’s always a team in the World Series where you scratch your head and wonder, “how did they get there?” and then you look back and realize: “oh yeah, they won 21 games straight since September 10th.” That’s who the Tigers could be this year.

Junk Food Nation, in the meantime, I am looking for this brand new Pringles:

Limited Time Only Pumpkin Pie Spice Pringles

The Impulsive Buy highlighted these recently, and I want them.  Badly.  Who’s seen them? Pringles heading in the direction of SWEET chips??? No way.  Will these taste like sweet potato?  Or will these be an abomination that I will wish I had never placed into my mouth? Only time will tell.

And who knew that Pringles was bought out by Kellogg’s??  After decades of ownership by Proctor and Gamble, Kellogg’s has taken over the brand.  Maybe THAT’S why there have been a GAJILLION new Pringles flavors recently.

Anyways, if you see these Pringles, email/tweet/Facebook me and tell me what store you found them in, please!

Thoughts? Please comment below (I always reply) or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com. Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy