It's about this time of year when the annual "Pretenders or Contenders" segment is featured on ESPN's Baseball Tonight and the like.
Over the past week, division leaders did their best to make this debate clearer, as they gained a combined 9.5 games over the second-place teams. The only runner-up to gain on the leader was the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had picked up a half-game on the Diamondbacks entering today's play.
In the AL East, the Boston Red Sox dethroned the Tampa Bay Rays, who started the week with a one-game cushion, by sweeping a three-game set at Fenway.
The series, of course, was nothing short of dramatic, and included not only an inter-squad brawl but also an altercation between Boston's Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez.
On the week, the Sox went 5-2, while the Rays struggled, going 3-3. Still, the Rays find themselves right in the thick of a pennant race, only one game back, for the first time ever. The Red Sox are back where they expect to remain for a while, as long as they can contain their tempers and fight off injuries.
The Chicago White Sox increased their lead over challenging AL Central teams from one game to a commanding 4.5 game lead over the Minnesota Twins.
Even though no regular starter on the White Sox is batting over .300, the boys from the Southside of Chicago find themselves sitting in a very comfortable position heading into the second week of June. They can thank their pitching, who, through Saturday, had the best ERA in the Majors, at 3.31. In their current winning streak (which was at five entering Sunday), the Sox were hitting .342 as a team, scoring 42 runs, while knocking 14 round-trippers.
The pitching staff continued its dominance during the streak, as it had a 2.82 ERA and allowed only 19 runs. As long as it keeps putting up just enough runs, as it was doing earlier in the season, then you can expect to see Chicago playing in October for the first time since winning the World Series in 2005.
Out west, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim picked up two more games on the Oakland Athletics, creating a 5.5 game difference between the two teams. The Angels have been firing on all cylinders of late and have won seven straight through Saturday.
The Athletics had a five-game winning streak of their own entering their weekend matchup with the Angels, but unfortunately for them, the buzzsaw that is the LA Angels was just too much to handle. It seems that the Angels have made excelling under the radar a routine over the past few years, but they may have a difficult time fending off the upstart Athletics, especially since Rich Harden is coming back for them.
After taking two out of three from the then-division-leading Florida Marlins, the Phillies stayed hot this week by taking three of four from the Cincinnati Reds and, in doing so, completed a stellar ten-game homestand with an 8-2 record.
They then headed into Turner Field and stole two of the first three games from the Atlanta Braves to increase their lead over the Marlins to 3.5 games. With the New York Mets and Braves both struggling to stay afloat, the Marlins are showing what many believe to be their true colors.
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