Tony DeMarco

Take your pick from among these potentially enticing October scenarios:

• The Chicago Cubs ending their curse.
• The Boston Red Sox repeat.
• Mike Scioscia's Los Angeles Angels getting that second World Series championship.
• An all-Chicago World Series.
• The Mets, Yankees – or both – writing comeback stories that stretch into October.
• The Milwaukee Brewers ending a 26-year playoff drought.
• The Tampa Bay Rays in the playoffs, period.

Even though we've reached a later-than-usual All-Star break – with teams approaching the 100-games-played mark — it's still hard to figure which one(s) from above will pan out.

But parity and packed-tight standings notwithstanding, here's a best-educated-guess list:

The Devil be damned: There was no better team story in the first half than the Rays. Check that, at least until the last week of the first half, when they lost seven in a row leading into the break. And that leaves enough reason for doubt.

So does the fact that their best players — Scott Kazmir, Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton — aren't having great seasons, and neither Jonny Gomes nor Rocco Baldelli has been the answer as a right-handed bat.

The late-September schedule also is very difficult.

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The call: Let's give the Rays 85-87 victories, and call it an amazingly successful season despite falling short of the playoffs.

Brewing up a storm: When you have one ace pitcher heading into free agency with little chance of keeping him, and you trade for a second ace pitcher heading into free agency with little chance of keeping him, one thing is certain: Nobody is putting more into the next 2½ months than the Brewers.

Throw in the possibility of  front office and managerial changes if they don't end their prolonged drought and make the playoffs, and you also have one of the most intriguing teams to watch down the stretch.

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Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia match up with any NL team's top two, and there is the necessary star power in the lineup in Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. The schedule also is very favorable, including finishing the season with six home games.

The call: The bullpen scares you, but the Brewers win the NL wildcard.

Last hurrahs?: Until recently, it appeared as if the final seasons in Shea and Yankee Stadiums were going to end prematurely — as in September, not October.

But the Mets won nine in a row heading into the break to get within one half game of first place, while the Yankees climbed to within 5½ games of the wildcard with the help of Tampa's seven-game losing streak.

The Mets have done it behind a great run of starting pitching and a more-focused clubhouse under Jerry Manuel, while the Yankees have nagging injury concerns and off-field distractions.

The call: Of the two, the Mets are closer to the playoffs and more likely to make a deal that could give them a boost, and the Yankees' competition for a playoff spot is tougher.

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