35 Games Down, 127 To Go for MLB

The 2009 Baseball Season is well under way. Glancing at the standings there are some teams that are doing well but just don't seem to belong where they are. Let's take a closer look to see where we are.

In the American League East, the Toronto Blue Jays are leading the pack and you just have to wonder how long that will last. Most of us are familiar with the fact that after Roy Halladay the Jays have no names on the rest of their starting pitching staff.

Yes, they have had some injuries to their named starters and one or two will be back by next month, but really how long can they maintain first place having not played Tampa Bay, Boston or the Yankees yet.

In the American League Central the Kansas City Royals maybe the biggest story in all of MLB this year. You have to wonder how long they can keep the heavy hitting Tigers at bay. Of course the Minnesota Twins will be there at the buzzer of that you can be sure.

The Royals seem to be doing what they have been with smoke and mirrors. But Zach Greinke has been the real deal with an E.R.A. under 1.00, 59 K's in 53 Innings pitched; nothing short of unbelievable.

In the AL West the Texas Rangers are leading the pack with a team batting average of .281, OBP of .336, SLG of .495 and OPS of .831. It seems that as long as their pitching holds up they can win the AL West.

Never to be discounted the L.A. Angels will also be there at the end. Mike Soscia and his staff can always be counted on to put the best product they can on the field on any given day; and always remember that the Angels give the Red Sox and Yankees the fight of their lives no matter where or when they play.

Moving on the the National League, predictably the Mets are leading the East, with the Phillies and Marlins close behind. The questions of course are: Will the Mets crumble in the last week of the season? Will the Marlins starters overcome their bullpen weaknesses? And will the Braves knock the Phillies out of contention?

The answers to these questions will unfold most likely after the All-Star game and into September when these .500 teams really start to get serious. All of the National League East teams have a shot except for the Nationals who have no pitching and are well below the .500 mark.

The National League Central is the surprise in all of baseball. The Cubs seem to have the best team on paper, the Cardinals seem to keep winning despite injuries and lack of depth, and the thing that makes the NL Central such a surprise are the Cincinnati Reds.

The Reds are 5 games over .500 and have some great young stars on the field everyday. These youngsters are playing with a maturity well beyond their years or level of experience and credit must be given to Dusty Baker and his staff. Barring injuries or a really long loosing streak look for the Reds to give the rest of the division problems all the way to the end of the year.

Finally, the NL West who most believe is the weakest division in all of Major League Baseball are lead by the L.A. Dodgers with the San Francisco Giants in second place four games back, but seemingly so far behind that they can never catch the Dodgers.

Putting aside the Manny Ramirez saga, Joe Torre, Larry Bowa, and Don Mattingly are keeping the mostly young Dodger team away from the publicity and concentrating on winning. Good starting pitching along with timely hitting 1 through 8 are keeping the Dodgers well above .600 baseball, and in this division that's way good enough to capture the NL West.

I don't know how everything will turn out in the end, and I mostly never make predictions but I'm looking forward to another exciting year of Major League Baseball.

I'll keep checking back every 35 games or so until the end of the season and we'll see where and what happened to the teams that were ahead of the pack at this writing.