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.

The Phillies' offense is averaging over six runs per game in the past several weeks (even without much contribution from Ryan Howard), and the stars seem to be aligned for another division title in Philadelphia. Another unsung part of Philadelphia's success is their bullpen, led by Brad Lidge, which leads the league in ERA. Lidge has gone 16-for-16 in save opportunities this year with an ERA of one.

The Chicago Cubs neither lost nor gained ground on the St. Louis Cardinals, and kept up the pace as the Major League's best team, though they are now tied with the Angels for that title. 

The Cubbies went 4-3 last week, as did the Cardinals, by taking two from San Diego and one from both the Rockies and the Dodgers. So far, Chicago's offense has been potent, leading the NL in both runs and batting average, and their pitching has been exceptional, as it has a 3.73 ERA, trailing only Atlanta (3.70) and Arizona (3.71) in the NL. 

Since being given closer duties, Kerry Wood has embraced his new role relatively well, going 17-for-21 in save opportunities, while posting a 2.70 ERA. It should be interesting to see how well Wood continues to do and if the Cubs will give Carlos Marmol a chance at closer, and I definitely expect to see them return to the postseason this fall.

The Arizona Diamondbacks scuffled through the past week of play, going 3-3 against the Brewers, Nationals and Pirates, but only lost a half-game in the standings to the Dodgers. 

The Diamondbacks are blessed with spectacular pitching and also the fact that they are in baseball's weakest division. When they get Eric Byrnes back from the disabled list, the offense should respond very well and Arizona should begin to run away with the division. 

Then again, you never can be too sure that a club managed by Joe Torre will ever be out of the playoff race before September.

So, while there have been particular surprises this year coming from the state of Florida and New York City, it's evident that the teams that were expected to be atop the standings in June are, in fact, atop the standings.

As the month of June goes on, don't be shocked if the leaders continue to slowly increase their kung-fu grips on the divisions, as October comes closer and closer into sight.