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The Yankees and Blue Jays are fighting for AL Easy supremacy, which just two months ago seemed to be in the hands of New York. A Troy Tulowitzki and a David Price later -- and a whole lot of victories, too -- have Toronto currently on top, though, now by 3.5 games after Price downed the Yanks on Monday night for the third time since Canada imported him. This is the final series between these two teams, and if the Jays manage to sweep the series, it just might be the unofficial end of the race for the division crown.
That would put Toronto up 5.5 games over New York with 11 games to go (and just 10 for Toronto, which means one fewer game they can lose compared to New York). While the Yankees are facing the Blue Jays next, they also have a four-game set against their eternal rivals in Boston, and the Red Sox have been playing well lately. Since the 2-9 post-All-Star-break stretch that knocked them out of the playoff hunt and caused them to revamp their roster, the Sox have managed to go 28-19, a 97-win pace. Toronto, on the other hand, has two series against the now last-place Rays, and both the Jays and Yanks get a series against the Orioles, too.
Anything can happen these next two weeks, of course, but with a (hypothetical) 5.5 game lead and few enough games remaining that Antonio Alfonseca could count them on both hands, the Jays would be in a pretty great position to win the East. Even now, with two games left in this series, their probability of winning the division stands at 81 percent. The Yankees need to win these next two and the series if they’re to have any realistic hope of taking back the division lead, because otherwise, it’s Baseball Thunderdome for them.
- That no one but the most dedicated front office followers have heard of David Stearns is good news for the Brewers, who will get the freshest start possible with their new general manager.
- The Brewers are also in a much better position to succeed soon than most think, so long as Stearns can keep from messing up the good that already exists in Milwaukee.
- Craig Counsell, who was made the Brewers' manager in-season, discussed the relationship between a manager and the front office, among other things, with David Laurila.
- Danny Duffy could be the next Wade Davis for the Royals, in that he's a starter turned late-inning impact reliever.
- Bill James and Billy Beane discussed the future of sabermetrics in baseball. Curious that they agree that the best analytical work is done in the public realm -- maybe some of the initial work, but anyone doing anything new seems to get scooped up by teams and their work shuffled off to privacy almost immediately.
- Should the Yankees trade Brett Gardner this offseason in order to patch themselves up elsewhere?
- The Giants' offseason did not go great, but imagine how much worse it would have been if they had re-signed Pablo Sandoval.
- There is a danger in the recent successful play of the Red Sox mentioned above -- new President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski obviously has an excellent core to work with, but it still needs some fresh faces in the rotation and bullpen, so the temptation to stand pat must be resisted.
- We now know Yadier Molina will miss time with a torn ligament in his thumb, so the question has become: "How much time?"
- Shelby Miller's winless streak is now 23 games after the Braves dropped Monday's match against the Mets. At .238, Miller is now tied for the worst winning percentage ever for a starter whose ERA+ is at least as good as his 127.
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