With the All-Star game coming up on Tuesday, its as good a time as any to take a look at what has truly been a surprising first three months of the baseball season.
American League East:
As has been the case for the last several years, the AL East is coming down to a battle between the Yankees and Red Sox. So far this year, the Red Sox have the upper hand, and the Yankees are lagging due in no small part to the loss to injuries of Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui. Joe Torre has said he’d rather pick up hitters than pitchers in the coming July trades, which is good because the Yankees need bats right now.
American League Central:
The AL Central contains one of the surprising stories of the season so far. Not only are the Detriot Tigers, of all times, leading the division and two games ahead of the World Series Champion White Sox, but they have the best record in baseball. Unless they fall apart in the second half of the season, the Tigers seem likely to make the playoffs for the first time in a long time.
American League West:
The AL West has been the weak division of the American League, and this year is no exception. The one thing the AL West may end up being, though, is the most competitive division when September comes along. All four teams are within 2.5 games of each other as of today.
American League Wild-Card
The wild-card race demonstrates the problem the Yankees have this year. As things stand right now, the Yankees would not play in the post-season. They are 3 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East and 6 games behind the White Sox in the Wild-Card race.
National League East:
Another surprise division, and this time its too fold. First, the Atlanta Braves, perennial division champions, spent the first half of the season in a slump they are unlikely to come out of anytime soon. Thirteen games out and nine games below .500 is quite a fall for a team that had come to believe that the NL East title was in Altanta permanently. The other surprise is who’s at the top; the New York Mets have been suriging all season and are now 12 games ahead of Philadelphia and the only team in the division over .500. Barring a collapse, the Mets look likely to be working in October.
National League Central:
Its not surprising to see the Reds and Cardinals together near the top of the NL Central. What is surprising is who’s in third place; the Milwaukee Brewers. They’ve fallen from the strong performance they had earlier in the season, but still in a position to make a move if the opportunity arises.
National League West:
Like the AL West, the NL West could end up being the most competitive division come September. Four teams are withing 3.5 games of each other, add in the Diamondbacks and only 5 games separate the team in first from the last place team.
National League Wild-Card:
The NL Wild-Card standings are much closer than in the American League. The Dodgers lead right now, but there are six teams within 3.5 games of the wild-card lead. The outcome of this race will depend alot on what happens in the Central and West division races.
So, there you have it. Now, let’s rest a few days, watch the utterly pointless All-Star game, and get this game started again.
