NL West: the Final Countdown

It's the FINAL COUNTDOOOOOOOOOWN.

Happy October everyone! Who doesn't love a good divisional race? The National League West is coming down to the final weekend of the regular season. With just three sold-out games remaining, the San Francisco Giants need just one victory over the visiting San Diego Padres to win the division and end their six-year playoff drought.

Speaking of droughts, Pablo Sandoval finally ended his 66-at bat homerless skid with a shot into McCovey Cove last night. Kung Fu Panda has just 12 hits in his last 63 at-bats, but he insists he's feeling more chill lately and finding his stroke again:

This is the same Pablo as last year.

Buster Posey, who is absolutely adorable and pretty damn good at baseball, also went yard along with Andres Torres in last night's 4-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

The Padres will need four straight wins to make the postseason. Obviously, that's not completely out of the question. If they sweep the Giants this weekend, they'll force a Game 163 on Monday in San Diego. I can't handle that sort of intensity!

Fortunately for the Padres, they've had some good luck against the Giants this season, winning 10 of their 15 meetings. However, the most likely scenario is that San Francisco will open the playoffs Thursday at home against the Atlanta Braves, who are closing in on the NL wild card.

The Giants, fresh off a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, will send right-hander Matt Cain to the hill against Padres lefty Clayton Richard at 11:15 ET at AT&T Park. Will they clinch tonight?

[ESPN] | [MLB FanHouse]