MLB’s opening week will be forgotten in September

Take a look at the standings today in the American League East:

EAST W L PCT GB HOME ROAD RS RA DIFF STRK L10
Baltimore 5 1 .833 – 2-1 3-0 29 16 +13 Won 1 5-1
NY Yankees 4 2 .667 1 4-2 0-0 35 30 +5 Won 1 4-2
Toronto 4 2 .667 1 4-2 0-0 35 19 +16 Lost 1 4-2
Tampa Bay 0 6 .000 5 0-5 0-1 8 27 -19 Lost 6 0-6
Boston 0 6 .000 5 0-0 0-6 16 38 -22 Lost 6 0-6

Now, take a look at how the same division finished a year ago:

*-Tampa Bay 96 66 .593 – 49-32 47-34 802 649 +153 Won 2 5-5
y-NY Yankees 95 67 .586 1 52-29 43-38 859 693 +166 Lost 2 3-7
Boston 89 73 .549 7 46-35 43-38 818 744 +74 Won 2 5-5
Toronto 85 77 .525 11 45-33 40-44 755 728 +27 Won 1 8-2
Baltimore 66 96 .407 30 37-44 29-52 613 785 -172 Lost 1 5-5

What should stand out is that the two teams at the bottom of the heap so far this year are the teams and the top and the bottom of the heap. Boston and Tampa were picked by most baseball folks to battle for the division lead, while the Orioles, the perennial basement dwellers, were picked to finish last once again. After a week, however, the roles are reversed.

The Orioles are the surprise team so far. And yet, it really does not matter. The chances that the Orioles will maintain this level of play all season and contend in what many believe to be the toughest division in baseball are slim. And the chances that two teams that have deep rosters and have been among their division leaders for the last three or four years (longer for the Sox) are even slimmer.

I still expect this to be a three-team race between Tampa Bay, Boston and the Yankees, with the Blue Jays hanging along the periphery and the Orioles’ hot start forgotten by the All-Star break.

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

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