AL East Round Up: A Quick Look at the Numbers

Welcome to this week’s AL East Round Up! It’s been a while since I rode this horse. I used to enjoy writing this up because it allowed me to keep tabs on the other teams in the division. Rather than just following the Blue Jays, I get to follow the struggles of the Red Sox or the oddity of the Rays.

So, this week, I wanted to see if I could find some reasons for the way the division is shaping up. Is there a reason the Yankees are somehow in first place? Is there a reason that the Rays are too?What is going on with the Red Sox? And, can we forget about the Orioles?

Standings:

New York Yankees 33-28 (–)
Tamp Bay Rays 34-29 (–)
Toronto Blue Jays 33-30 (1GB)
Baltimore Orioles 31-30 (2GB)
Boston Red Sox 27-36 (7GB)

For all of the talk about a weak division, it should be noted that the leader in each of the other divisions are not exactly miles ahead of those in the East. The Central leading Royals sit at 34 wins while the West leading Astros (!) have 35. That is only a few games ahead of the Blue Jays, who sit in third place.

Likely what makes the AL East stand out as being “weak” is the fact that all teams in the division have, up until this point, been kind of spinning their tires. There hasn’t been one team taking hold of the division just yet. That is until about 10 days ago. Let’s take a look at the last week in the East.

Next: The First Place Yankees