Circling the Bases is our Fantasy Baseball expert column, full of insider information, advice and in-depth analysis. Every Wednesday year-round, Tristan H. Cockcroft provides an array of regular-season coverage, offseason player analysis and preseason draft strategy.

Thinking about the postseason already? Don't be so hasty. With just five days left to play in the regular season, it's apparent that Fantasy owners and baseball fans still believe a number of tight races remain up for debate. Let's take a look:

AL West: The Angels and A's are tied with five games left entering play Wednesday, and Fantasy owners need to take notice that these two teams will finish out the regular-season with a three-game series at Oakland this weekend. Oakland's pitching has been dreadful since the All-Star break -- Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Mark Redman and Barry Zito are a combined 22-18 with a 4.88 ERA in 54 second-half starts -- but the team is 50-26 at home, the fourth-best winning percentage in baseball. That's a pretty big home-field advantage, so if your league's title race is coming down to which pitcher stands the best chance at getting you wins, take Bartolo Colon over the ice-cold Mulder on Friday, Zito over Kelvim Escobar on Saturday and Hudson over Jarrod Washburn on Sunday. Octavio Dotel has been solid since the break as well, so expect him to step up under the pressure.

Keep in mind the prospect of a tie between the two teams, a possibility if they enter the series separated by one game in the standings with the team trailing winning two of three. Anaheim would host a tiebreaker game on Monday, if necessary, with John Lackey (pitching on three days' rest) and the red-hot Rich Harden on schedule to start. Owners in Commissioner leagues should check their league rules, as some leagues count such tiebreaker contests since baseball does include them in the regular-season statistics.

NL wild card: Entering Wednesday's games, the Chicago Cubs, Houston and San Francisco are separated by a mere half-game in this nail-biting race. It's tough to pick a winner when the teams competing are in different divisions, but in terms of the schedule advantage for the final weekend, Houston takes the nod with three home games against Colorado. It's possible that Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens will pitch the final two games of that series, which is important in that Oswalt is 11-3 with a 3.44 ERA in 15 second-half starts, while Clemens is 8-1 with a 3.24 ERA in 14 starts since the break. Oswalt, incidentally, is a perfect 3-0 with a 2.18 ERA in three career starts against the Rockies, making him one of the best Fantasy starters you could have in the all-important final weekend.

The Cubs finish the season with three home games against Atlanta, while San Francisco plays three at Los Angeles to end the regular season. Expect Chicago, which will have Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano and Greg Maddux starting against the Braves, and San Francisco, which will use Kirk Rueter, Brett Tomko and Jason Schmidt against the Dodgers, to be right in this thing up until the season's final day. That's great news for Fantasy owners, especially those with Wood or Tomko: Wood is 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA in six career starts against Atlanta, while Tomko is 4-1 with a 2.93 ERA in nine career starts at Dodger Stadium.

Bringing up those tiebreaker possibilities once again, San Francisco gets the biggest benefit if extra games are needed Monday. The Giants would host a game against the Astros or Cubs, with Noah Lowry (6-0) scheduled to start. The Cubs would have to play in Houston if those two teams tie, and it's interesting to note that Chicago has won six of its past seven at Minute Maid Park. The Cubs could start either Matt Clement, Glendon Rusch or Mark Prior (on three days' rest) on Monday, while the Astros could use Brandon Backe if Clemens pitches Sunday.

What if all three teams finish tied? All hell breaks loose. A blind draw would pit two of those teams against one another, with the winner playing team three for the wild card. Fantasy owners in leagues that count all regular-season statistics would love that -- one of those three teams would then be in line for an extra two games, which could mean the difference in some leagues.

NL Cy Young race: Most people think either Clemens, Oswalt or Schmidt will win this award, but we shouldn't be overlooking Randy Johnson and Ben Sheets just because they pitch behind poor offenses. Many pitchers become Draft Day bargains based on subpar numbers in the wins column the previous season, and outside of that category, Johnson and Sheets have been every bit as good as any pitcher this year.

Johnson's case: He's first in the NL in strikeouts (282), WHIP (0.888), quality starts (25), opponents' batting average (.194), and opponents' on-base plus slugging percentage (.548), second in innings pitched (237 2/3) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.68), and third in ERA (2.65), complete games (4) and shutouts (2), Despite the league's third-lowest run support among qualified starters (3.86 runs per nine innings), he's tied for seventh in the league with 15 wins.

Sheets' case: He's second in the league in WHIP (0.983) and strikeouts (253), third in complete games (4), quality starts (23) and strikeouts per nine (9.99), fourth in ERA (2.80) and innings pitched (228), fifth in opponents' OPS (.639) and seventh in opponents' batting average (.225). He is second worst in run support among qualified starters (3.47), so it should come as no surprise that he's just 11-14 on the season.

With the exception of Minnesota's Johan Santana, no pitcher can claim the overall statistical dominance displayed by Johnson and Sheets in every category except wins. That means if either pitcher gets traded this winter -- a slight possibility considering each was on the block during the past offseason -- it could mean a significant boost in wins and overall value. Keep an eye on Milwaukee's pending sale in particular, since new ownership could bring some new life to the struggling franchise, which can only help Sheets in the long term.

CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES ARE IN STORE for the Expos, who are expected to be relocated to Washington, D.C., for the 2005 season. (Gotta love David Bowie references, particularly since that song was coincidentally recorded in 1971, just two years after the Expos were "born.") An official announcement should come Wednesday, and we can't help ourselves but ask how a city change might impact the team's overall performance.

Don't be quick to assume that the Expos -- or perhaps the future Senators? -- will immediately flourish with a shift to the nation's capital. History indicates that teams generally take a few seasons to get fully acclimated to a new city. None of the past five teams that relocated -- the Twins (former Washington Senators, to Minnesota in 1961), Braves (Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966), Athletics (Kansas City to Oakland in 1968), Brewers (former Seattle Pilots, to Milwaukee in 1970) and Rangers (former Washington Senators, to Texas in 1972) -- won a division title in their first three years in their new cities, and they averaged just 71 wins in their first year, 76 in the second and 82 in the third.

And if you think those teams were devoid of talent, keep in mind that those five teams featured seven Hall of Famers in their playing careers (Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Phil Niekro of the Braves, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson of the Athletics and Harmon Killebrew of the Twins), one Hall of Famer as a manager (Ted Williams of the Rangers) and a current manager and likely future Hall of Famer (Joe Torre of the Braves).

By comparison, none of these Expos seem bound for the Hall at this point, so don't take their pending relocation as a sign of a big boost in 2005 Fantasy value. The move to RFK Stadium, where the Expos should play for three years while a new stadium is being built, should bring up the offense since it means a departure from a pitching-friendly environment. But despite the fact that Frank Howard won two home run crowns and logged three straight years of 44-plus homers in Washington from 1968-70, RFK was regularly ranked in the middle of the pack in runs per game in the 1960s.

Playing in Washington should mean a boost in revenue and team payroll for the Expos -- or whatever new nickname they adopt -- but the impact probably won't be seen significantly on the field for two or three years. Unless the team delves deep into the free-agent market and lands a prize player like Carlos Beltran, Adrian Beltre or Pedro Martinez, it could be another forgettable Fantasy season for Expos players.

Fantasy Fungo

Chris Keating, New York: Our league allows owners to keep, without cost, anyone who will be considered a rookie next season. Has Joe Mauer missed enough time to still be considered a rookie? As near as I can tell, he still meets the parameters of having fewer than 130 at-bats (he has 107) and fewer than 45 days on the 25-man roster (going by his game log, he has 35 total days). Am I way off base here?

T.C.: The rookie eligibility rule, as stated on Major League Baseball's website, says "a player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list)." You're correct on Mauer's at-bat total, but the 35 you counted is the number of games in which he has appeared, not the total days he was on the active roster. He was active from April 5-6 and June 2-July 15, or a grand total of 46 days on the 25-man roster.

You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball thoughts and questions to Tristan H. Cockcroft at bleacher@commissioner.com. Be sure to put Attn: Tristan in the subject field, and include your full name and hometown. Please be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee answers to all questions.