American League East is Up for Grabs

August 30, 2010

The American League East is by far the most competitive division in all of baseball. The New York Yankees may be the perennial powerhouse, but the Tampa Bay Rays have proven over the last few seasons that they can compete at that level. Despite being out of the discussion for most of the year, the Boston Red Sox have managed to hold it together and now find themselves just 6.5 games back of New York and Tampa.

Boston has been decimated by injuries this season. They were expected to compete for the division title by most MLB handicappers when the season started, but key injuries to Dustin Pedroia, Josh Beckett and Jacoby Ellsbury have put the Boston behind the eight ball all season long. They have somehow found a way to still pound the baseball as they rank second to the Yankees in many offensive categories. David Ortiz has bounced back from a slow start, and is tearing the cover off of the ball now. He has 27 homeruns and 79 runs batted in, and has increased his batting average by over 40 points over the last couple months. He will be a major factor down the home stretch as the Red Sox look to get back into the playoff race.

The Rays have surprise everyone thus far. As a baseball expert, I expected them to hang around for a while, but fade down the stretch. They have done everything to disprove that theory as they have climbed out of an early second half hole to get even with the Yankees for the A.L. East lead. They have done it with solid pitching and timely hitting. Despite not having a single starter batting over .300, Tampa has found away to get the big hit when they need it. Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria have led this team all season. They have combined for 34 homeruns, 157 runs batted in, 67 doubles and 174 runs this year. Carlos Pena may only be batting .213, but his 25 homeruns have been clutch. He is all or nothing at the plate, but having 73 RBI’s and 84 runs has been huge for the Rays. Their pitching staff has been the main reason for their success this year. David Price is a Cy Young candidate, and Matt Garza has had his best season as a pro. Jeff Niemann has been a surprise this season as he is 10-4 with a 3.67 earned run average with 129 strikeouts. If the Rays are to go all the way it will be because of their solid pitching.

New York is expected to win the World Series every year. This comes with a ton of pressure, but luckily the Yankees have a ton of money. They have assembled an incredible team for the 2010 season, and all of their big money players have performed. C.C. Sabathia has been a beast on the mound this year. He has a 18-5 record and a 3.14 ERA thus far, ad is well on his way to 20+ wins. Perhaps the most improved player on the entire team has been Phil Hughes. Hughes was a highly touted prospect that the Yankees have coveted for years. He’s finally living up to his expectation. Hughes has a 15-6 record and has 122 strikeouts to only 43 walks. His command has improved dramatically over the last couple years, and he is starting to understand how to set hitters up. The offense has been led by Robinson Cano. Cano led the A.L. in batting for the majority of the season, but has fallen off lately. He’s still hitting .322 and has hit a career high 25 homeruns with 30+ games still left to play. Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter are solid hitters that get on base more than enough times to allow the Yankees big guns to drive them home. Mark Teixeira has come on strong after a horrible start, and now has 28 homeruns and 91 runs batted in. The Yankees will need Teixeira to stay on top of this division. Alex Rodriguez has been on the DL since August 21st, but will be back in plenty of time to contribute in the post season.

This has been and will be the most intriguing race in all of baseball. It may look as though the Yankees and Rays are in good position to take the division and lock up the wild card, but Boston has more than enough weapons to make it interesting.

Written by Glenn Andrew · Filed Under MLB

Comments

Got something to say?