Up till last year The AL East was a two horse race: The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox would take turns heading up the division, battling it out through the year for the top spot, with the other invariably taking the AL wild card.
This year is rather different.
Sure, the Red Sox are still atop the division this morning, but two teams are only one game back.
And neither of them are the Yankees.
Sure, I hear you say "But it's only the start of May, this isn't going to last." But I disagree.
I see more than enough signs that show, this year, is no two horse race.
It's not all improvements from the recent outsiders either. Some of this is due to trials and tribulations, most notably of which is with the Yankess.
The Roger Clemens debacle is documented more than enough than to require me to describe it to you here, but what I will say is that it's not helping the Yankees one bit, in fact I would reason to bet it's hanging over them like a pall.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, that's not the end of their issues (although they all wish it were). Their starting pitching has been far from stellar with only Chien-Ming Wang showing any kind of form. Part of this is due to what their division rivals the Rays suffered from in 2007: Inconsistent young pitchers.
However the Yankees are the Yankees, and will not be kept down for long (they're currently 14-15, three games back)
The Yankees two saving graces are thus: They have one of the most powerful offences in baseball today, with power hitters coming out their ears (in fact, there are so many they've run out of places to put them all)
Oh yeah, and when you play them, it's not a nine inning game.
It's seven.
Thank Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera for that one.
The Red Sox, on the other hand, have no such pitching woes.
Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett, and Clay Buchholz form what is quite possibly the most solid starting rotation in all of the Major Leagues. However, despite this, they have allowed 130 runs up to this point, third in the American League behind New York (133) and Detroit (148).
The offence though, is firing on all cylinders, even with David Ortiz's early slump, having batted in 136 runs, again third in the American League, this time behind Los Angeles (140) and Detroit (142).
Look for the run differential of the Sox to grow with time—for now it is a mere +6, but not far from now I expect it to reach far grander proportions.
The Baltimore Orioles have been the surprise so far, holding the lead in the division for 15 days—with all indications in the off-season that 2008 was all about rebuilding.
I would wager there are more than a few teams wondering..exactly how a rebuilding season starts off with a winning April, one game back of the division lead.
The Orioles numbers may not be as impressive as the others in the AL East, but they've made what they've done count—they are 7-2 in games decided by only one run, and 1-0 in their only extra innings game (1 game pending).
That and their pitching is also rather good. This was a surprise to many (yours truly included) after trading away Eric Bedard, but they managed to get it all together and have a strong rotation and excellent bullpen.
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8 months ago
I agree very much with your article. The Rays will be there throughout the summer and hopefully challenging the Sox. Don't count out the Yankees and even the Jays. I don't believe the Orioles have the pitching to keep up. My Rays sure are playing good ball right now and Kazmir returns this Sunday. Keep up the good work. I try to write a game recap of the Rays games every night. Check em out. Thanks for the good read.
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