While the vast difference between leagues has been clear since the beginning of the season, the American League East was supposed to be the exception to the extremely rigid AL division races. The National League is much more balanced with every division as well as its wildcard spots up for grabs in tight and dramatic races. The American League has clear favorites and has had their playoff picture clear for some time now. The final wildcard spot is really the only one still up for grabs, and it’s between two teams. The race for the top spot in the AL East was supposed to last all year, however. It’s way too early to say that race is over, of course, but the Red Sox are using this weekend’s series between themselves and the Yankees and doing what they can to bury New York in the divisional standings.
The Red Sox are pulling away in the American League East
Saturday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the big start to the Red Sox weekend, Chris Archer’s Pirates debut and Felix Hernandez’ career.
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For the Red Sox, it’s really just been one big and consistent charge through this entire season. They’ve surely benefited from the extreme nature of the American League this year, allowing them to play subpar competition more often than not. That being said, they have the second-best record in baseball against winning teams and are playing the same AL clubs as the rest of the league. They’ve been clicking in just about every area through the entire year and have been able to get around injuries and slumps with certain areas of the roster picking up another when it’s been needed. They have the best record in baseball and are on pace for 112 wins.
The Yankees, meanwhile, have to be feeling the pressure right now. As I said, the division race isn’t over and getting back in it is obviously New York’s focus right now, but there’s also a creeping possibility that they fall out of the wildcard all together. Granted, it’s incredibly unlikely, but odds aren’t really at the forefront of the mind when you’re struggling like the Yankees are right now. At the moment, they’re closer to being out of the postseason all together than they are to leading the division. Ultimately, the Yankees are too talented to really have to worry about missing the playoffs and they’re too talented to not be competing for the division title. Unfortunately for them, the games to date are already in the bank and talent or no the Red Sox are a couple more big games this weekend away from really putting this division race to bed earlier than anyone expected.
- Jerry Dipoto said that the influx of Blue Jays fans in Seattle is one of many things bothering him. Whitney tried to figure out what he many other things were.
- Tony LaRussa caught the first pitch at the Red Sox game on Friday, and borrowed Joe Kelly’s glove. Later, Kelly got his glove back and found LaRussa’s World Series ring in it. He may give it back, he may keep it. Who knows?
- This weekend is Saberseminar in Boston, which has served as the introduction to future baseball technology for years now.
- The Angels will, sadly, be out of October again, but Shohei Ohtani still has the regular season to wow us on a night basis.
- Chris Archer made his Pirates debut on Friday and, well, it continued his up-and-down season to date.
- I’m not breaking any news when I say the Nationals haven’t had their season go according to plan. Do they still have a chance to turn things around?
- A lot of that hinges upon whether or not they can get Stephen Strasburg -- the real Stephen Strasburg -- back for the rest of the year.
- Adam Jones made some waves by refusing to waive his no-trade clause and staying in Baltimore. Part of his reasoning was how much community work he does in the area, including apparently donating to make sure a Little League team can attend its games.
- Things had been going relatively well for the Reds of late, so we knew some bad news would come down the pipe at some point soon. It came in the form of injury to 2017 first round pick Hunter Greene.
- Mariners fans are wondering whether or not they can trust Felix Hernandez, in case you needed more evidence that death comes for us all.
- The Orioles traded seemingly everyone in July, but somehow they still have some August trade candidates as well.
