Looking ahead: American League
With the All-Star game now behind us it’s time to take a look at the divisional and wildcard races that will keep us enthralled for the rest of the season and just who will be on top in October.
East
Just one game separates the two American League giants and it’s injuries that are going to play a big part in this race. The Red Sox starting rotation has been devastated by injuries with Clay Buchholz, John Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the Disabled List at the moment and the re-invigorated Josh Beckett suffering from knee problems that kept him off the mound in yesterday’s All-Star game. Meanwhile the Yankees sent 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez off to get knee surgery and he’s expected to be gone for up to 6 weeks.
Whilst they appear to have enough to cover, at least in the short term for these injuries, the Tampa Bay Rays are lurking just 6 games back and waiting to pounce. They were expected to drop back with the off-season subtractions of Carl Crawford, Matt Garza and others but they’ve kept pace and could be a threat to once again break up the cartel at the top.
Central
Well no one expected this. The Cleveland Indians are just half a game behind at the break and at one point were running away with the division. Whilst they’ve come back down to earth since their hot start the Minnesota Twins have gone the other way. They’ve recovered well from a disastrous start and gotten Joe Mauer back behind the plate. Detroit (leaders) and Chicago (5 games back) would be the favourites but both have been very up and down. Expect Cleveland to drift back towards the basement while the Tigers separate themselves. They’ve got four players hitting over .300 and Justin Verlander is in the form of his life. The rest of the teams just haven’t got enough about them.
West
Seattle has been carried by its pitching, but the lack of offense is finally catching up with them. At 7.5 games behind Texas you have to think they’ll start protecting the young arm of Michael Pineda and not make a move to get in the race. As for the leaders Texas and 2nd place Angels (1 game back) it’s chalk and cheese. The Rangers have a healthy Josh Hamilton and a surprisingly productive Michael Young winning them games with the bat while the Angels do it with pitching. All-Star starter Jared Weaver is having another outstanding campaign and Dan Haren gives them a one-two punch that matches up well with any in the league. This will be a tight race and could well come down to deals done at the trade deadline for that extra bat or arm that will put them over the top.
Wildcard
Expect the loser of the East race to get this slot. Comfortably.
Pennant winners?
The Yankees and Red Sox really are in a league of their own here. However, the pitching of the Angels could cause serious trouble in the 1st round where it is a best of five series. The Tigers can be dangerous too but expect a Championship Series between the old rivals, and one that could be as good as the 2003 and 2004 classics. My (rather biased) opinion is that the Red Sox will take this pennant. Their lineup is a little deeper and the starting rotation is better than the Yankees.
National League coming soon!
