American League East Showdown

Last year the worst team in Major League Baseball was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  After an off season and a name change, the Tampa Bay Rays are doing something baseball fans never thought of. 

With five weeks left to play in the regular season, the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and the Baltimore Orioles are looking up to the first place Rays.  After finishing last year with a 69-93 record, the Rays have picked it up in 2008 to shock all the teams in the majors. 

The Yankees came into this season knowing this would be the last year of Yankee Stadium, and they want to go out with a bang.  But trailing the Rays in the East Standings by 10.5 games is not the bang the Yankees were thinking.  After plenty of moves for the team sending players down to Triple and Double-A, and calling players up, they are looking strong with five weeks left to go. 

Although one thing that is haunting both the Red Sox and the Yankees on the road to catching up with the Rays is every time they win games the Rays also win so the two teams don’t gain any ground in the standings.  Right now the Red Sox lead the AL Wild Card over the White Sox by a game and a half.  That’s not good enough for the Red Sox and they are waiting for the Rays to slip up just a little so they can spring into first place in the East. 

Injuries have been a big issue for the Rays and also the Red Sox.  On Aug. 11, Evan Longoria was placed on the disabled list with a right wrist fracture he got in a game from a pitch delivered by Mariners Closer JJ Putz.  Another big bat was taken out of the Rays lineup on the 10th when they placed Carl Crawford on the DL with finger tendon subluxation. 

But with the big bats out the Rays still find ways to win games no matter if it’s in the eighth inning or the fourth inning.  On the other side the Red Sox have lost Tim Wakefield and Julio Lugo to the DL while Josh Beckett and JD Drew are day to day.  With those guys out the Red Sox are winning games but not as many as they were when they were playing. 

So all the teams in the East are just hoping and waiting that the other teams will slip up and have a losing streak so they can move up a position in the standings, and try to make a push for a play off birth.  Keep your eye on the Rays and see if they can hold off the defending American League and World Series Champions Boston Red Sox.