Fourth year of four-by-four crowns new champions

The Minnesota Twins had a huge year in the 2019 four-by-four, winning the Northwest Conference and each of their league divisions. 

The baseball four-by-four, in its fourth year in 2019, produced two teams winning their conferences for the first time and three clubs winning league titles for the first time.

The novelty did not extend to the Southwest Conference, where the Houston Astros beat out the Dodgers for the second straight year. In the Northeast, the Cleveland Indians won for the second time in four years after winning it in 2017.

However, in the Northwest, the Minnesota Twins produced a fantastic season. They became the fourth team in the conference to win it in four years, following the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners and Colorado Rockies. The Twins also won both divisions as which the conference functions, becoming the first Northwestern team to win the conference and both divisions.

In the Southeast, the Atlanta Braves broke the Washington Nationals' stranglehold on the title. The Natties tied for the championship in 2016, then won it outright in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, the Braves outlasted Washington by 1½ games. But the conference would play out a little differently as league divisions.

In the East League, for example, the Tampa Bay Rays won the South Division by one-half game and six percentage points over the Braves. For that, the Rays were considered against the North Division champs, the New York Yankees, for the East League championship. Because the Yankees won the head-to-head meetings, 12-7, they were named the league champion.

In the South League's East Division, the Rays and Braves finished all but deadlocked. The Rays got the nod because, ultimately, we go by weighted winning percentage here, but the difference was less than a percentage point. The Braves had a one-game edge, but the percentage went to the Rays. 

As the East Division champs in the South League, the Rays were pitted against the Dodgers, who won the West Division over the Astros. The Rays won the title. They were 2-2 against the Dodgers head-to-head during the year, and they held a 24-22 advantage in runs.

The Southwest Conference's other division, the South Division of the West League, ended with the Astros ahead of the Dodgers by 10½ games. However, the Astros could not prevail as the West League champions, as they lost four of seven meetings during 2019 against the Twins, who won the West League's North Division.

The Twins were not so fortunate in their guise as the West Division champions of the North League. As such, they had to contend for the North League championship against the East Division champion New York Yankees, and that pairing almost never goes well for the Twins. The Yankees swept the Twins, 3-0, in an American League division playoff series, claiming the North League championship.

Rockies rise to 2019 NL traveling title

The Colorado Rockies secured a berth in the 2021 Super League by winning the 2019 National League traveling championship on criteria.

Trying to work out the best way of determining the best lineal championship performance at the end of a sports season has proved, not surprisingly, to be a continuous process. Difficulties lie in many folds, for there are many ways to value these performances.

So, we'll keep tweaking until we think we have it right, or close enough to it. For the league-wide lineal baseball championships in 2019, we decided to make a slight adjustment, not in the criteria for determining the year's champion, but in the criteria for deciding which teams get to be considered.

For 2018, the first year, the requirement was at least two championships and at least three defenses, or one championship with six defenses. Second thoughts have ensued, complaining that the criteria under-valued championship defenses, which amounted to over-valuing championships (relative to defenses). Ideally, we want criteria that equally values challenging for the championship successfully, defending the championship successfully and competing successfully against the top contenders.

Anyway, the decision was made now to reduce the number of necessary defenses for a team with one championship down from six to four. So, two championships and three defenses comes to the same as one championship and four defenses. Either way, it's five series wins for the championship.

Along the same lines, then, we'll put the other qualifying levels at three championships with two defenses, four championships and one defense, and five championships with no defenses. In addition, however, any team that has won at least one championship will have its number of required defenses reduced by one if it has never failed a championship challenge. In other words, a team that only had one chance to challenge for the championship and succeeded needs only three defenses to qualify. A team with one title in two challenges still would need four defenses.

Tedious, we know, but it needs to be on the record. Going forward, that's how we'll run the lineal championships in baseball. We already have, however, published the inter-league championship for 2019, so we did that one the old way, but it would not have changed the outcome. In the National League, though, it amounted to two teams qualifying for the 2019 stat-off that would not have made it otherwise, and it made a difference.

Take a look again, if you'd like, at the standings and results from the National League in 2019, or any league in any year, and ask yourself which team should be named the champion. It's usually not obvious. We used to just eyeball it, but now we need a defensible decision method so we can have a more defensible decision, as the result of that decision determines a Super League berth for the next year.

First, as we've explained before, we have to decide which teams go into the criteria mix, in effect, becoming the finalists for the annual lineal championship. By the criteria we have just laid out, we get four clubs -- the Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals.

Now, we set out the criteria. All four teams are considered by each criterion. The best team gets the full point for the criterion. If two or more teams finish tied at the top in some category, they split the point evenly. We have seven criteria. The team with the most criteria points wins. If it's tied, then we go to head-to-team among the teams that are tied. If it's still tied after that, we declare co-champions and the Elite Division berth goes to the team that has gone longest since being in the Elite Division. If it's still tied after that, then we declare a co-champion and no team goes to the Elite Division.

Next, we lay out the criteria and list the team that won, with the winning total, or average, if that's what it is:

1. Most championships. (Colorado, 4).

2. Most title defenses per championship. (Washington, Milwaukee, four each).

3. Best winning percentage in traveling championship games. (Atlanta, .641).

4. Most victories per time playing for the championship. (Milwaukee, 2.375).

5. Most games as champion per time playing for the championship. (Washington, 2.43).

6. Fewest failed challenges. (Colorado, 0).

7. Head-to-head record in traveling championship games (Colorado, 10-4. Others were Atlanta 7-8, Washington 4-5 and Milwaukee 3-7).

Add it all up and the Rockies won three categories of the seven, Milwaukee and Washington each won 1.5 and Atlanta won one. 

Thus, the Rockies win the championship for the season, and the Elite Division berth, which they needed, as they didn't qualify in the pyramid.

We like the criteria system because if you ask the criteria why the Rockies won the championship, the criteria gives you a straight answer: Because the Rockies won the most titles, they won the title every time they challenged for it, they demolished the other contenders head-to-head for the title and no other team can make an equivalent case. All of that is right there in the information provided by the standings and results, but we need criteria to put that information through relevant questioning.

The Rockies did most of their work in April, taking the prize from the San Diego Padres on the road, then defending the championship four times. It would be the only four title defenses the Rockies would register all season, but three of them were against Atlanta, Milwaukee and Washington, saddling each with a failed challenge. That would loom huge on Criterion No. 6, which Colorado won almost entirely through that run of games.

The Rockies held on for 17 games of defense before losing it to the Arizona Diamondbacks in May. The Braves immediately snatched the prize from Arizona and tore out four defenses amounting to 15 games of title defense, pulling nearly even with the Rockies.

However, the Washington Nationals who took the championship with a two-game sweep from Atlanta May 28-29, then mounted a 17-game defense before the Braves took it back by winning two of three in Washington June 21-23. With the victory, the Braves not only stopped Washington at 17, but they also picked up the four games of defense, bringing themselves to the  lead at 19, when they immediately split four with the Chicago Cubs, who took the tiebreaker.

Colorado returned to the fray in July rather fortunately. After winning the prize from the Reds, the Rockies immediately lost four straight to the San Francisco Giants. So, they get dinged for failing to defend, but they still claimed four games of defense, launching ahead of the Braves with 21.

Another victory in late August added seven games for the Braves, bringing their total to 26 before they visited Colorado on Aug. 26 to make up a game postponed by weather in April. By simply winning that game, 3-1, on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, the Rockies also added four games of defense despite being immediately swept four games by the Pittsburgh Pirates, so now they were up to 25, needing one more to tie the Braves. In addition, the Rockies stopped the Braves from accumulating more numbers.

Within a week, the Milwaukee Brewers won the title with a four-game sweep of the Florida Marlins, starting a torrid 15-2 title run with four title defenses that took them all the way from nowhere to the criteria leader before they visited Colorado for the final series of the regular season, Sept. 27-29.

The stakes were clear. The winner of the series would win the lineal title for the year. After the Rockies claimed an 11-7 win in the opener, they clinched the next day with a 3-2 win on Trevor Story's tenth-inning homer against Matt Albers.

Natties establish Southeast lineal championship

The Washington Nationals consolidated all the shares of the Southeast Conference lineal championship in late August 2019. At the end of 2019, and entering 2021, that championship belongs to the Atlanta Braves.

The Atlanta Braves ended the 2019 season with the Southeastern lineal championship, which had been consolidated at the end of August. The Braves will take the title into the 2021 season.

A mass of the play-down title shares, five of the seven, congealed in Cincinnati May 27-29, when the Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates split a four-game series. The Reds, who entered the series with three shares, prevailed in the total runs tiebreaker (26-22), thus claiming the two shares entered by the Pirates.

By then, Tampa Bay had the other two shares, which they guarded until losing by runs in a four-game split on the road against Baltimore August 22-25. In the meanwhile, the five shares belonging to the Reds were transferred to the Washington Nationals, then to the Braves, then back to the Nationals, then Atlanta again, once more to the Reds and Washington in mid-August.

When the Nationals with five shares met the Orioles with the other two (in Washington, Aug. 27-28), a two-game split ensued. The Natties won the total runs tiebreaker, 8-6, and consolidated the championship.

Yankees cruise through first East League lineal season

The New York Yankees ripped through the Eastern half of baseball in 2019 to the tune of 35-16, capturing the first season honors in the new East League lineal championship.

The New York Yankees had a pretty easy time of it for the first running of our Eastern lineal baseball championship, which includes the clubs in our Northeast and Southeast conferences.

The Boston Red Sox, coming off the 2018 World Championship, were deemed worthy of caretaking the Eastern title for a start, but the Red Sox were headed for struggle in 2019, and it began with dropping the new lineal title in their opening series against Toronto.

With four series wins into the second week of May, the Tampa Bay Rays took the early lead. But the Yankees took the title from Tampa Bay by winning two out of three in St. Petersburg May 10-12, then they proceeded to hold the title for four defenses to take the advantage.

After losing two of three on the road against the Toronto Blue Jays to lose the title, the Yankees got it back by sweeping the Blue Jays three games in Yankee Stadium June 24-26. From there, it was five more title defenses for the pinstripes, building up an enormous lead before the All-Star break.

The title finally crossed into the National League when the New York Mets swept three from the Cleveland Indians at Citifield Aug. 20-22. But the Atlanta Braves went immediately into the same park and swept the Mets to gain the championship.

From there, the Braves defended the championship five times until mid-September.

They never had a chance to catch the Yankees, who produced a stately 35-16 record games for the Eastern lineal. The Yankees ended the year with 41 games of championship, by far the most of any team. Atlanta was second with 18.

Yanks lead Elite Division, but playoffs will decide

The New York Yankees lead the Elite Division at the end of its first regular season, but this chase probably won't be decided until the end of the postseason.

Outfielder Aaron Judge is one of many who has powered the New York Yankees to the top of the Elite Division entering the 2019 playoffs (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

The baseball season that is entering its final and deciding stages happens to present our first reckoning of an Elite Division, which also will crop up in some other sports.

In concept, the Elite Division is a tournament of champions, but they are the champions documented in these pages. In short, the best teams from the pyramids, traveling championships and regional four-by-four arrangements shall be entered into the next season's Elite Division.

For example, the 2019 Elite Division is composed of the top half of the 2018 First Division, the top three clubs from the Second Division, the top two from the Third Division and the top club from the Fourth Division. Any traveling champions who haven't qualified in the pyramid will be entered, as well as qualifying teams from the four-by-four who haven't qualified in the pyramid or the travelers.

The mix this created for the 2019 Elite Division has produced a robust, even competition that remains far from decided entering the postseason. Seven of the top eight clubs in this 11-team Elite Division are going to the playoffs, with a mere 6 1/2 games separating first place from eighth place.

The New York Yankees lead the Elite Division ending the regular season, but their position is far from secure. It unlikely that the Yankees will finish on top of this pile without winning the World Series, and anything short of that for the Bronx Bombers stands to leave this championship up for grabs.

The Houston Astros are in second place, two games down and trailing the Yankees by 13 percentage points (.543 to .530) weighted to the mean, as we do these standings. The third-place club, the Arizona Diamondbacks, are the only contending club not in the playoffs. Thus, they are frozen at a mean weighted percentage of .528, which could win it if the Yankees and Astros both falter.

Or, the Atlanta Braves (.524), St. Louis Cardinals (.521) or Oakland Athletics (.511) could make a move. Anything can happen in these playoffs. If one of these clubs can turn up a four-game sweep anywhere in this near future, it's a race changer.

Way down these standings, almost at the very bottom, we find the Boston Red Sox, and this tells us something interesting about the Red Sox. It's true that the Red Sox have fallen a long way after winning two consecutive First Division titles and the 2018 World Championship. It's also true that it still took a pretty good club to beat the Red Sox in 2019.

Against this prestigious stack of clubs from the Elite Division, the Red Sox finished 25-39. But they were 88-74 overall, meaning they were 63-36 against everyone else. They did beat the teams that you have to beat. They just didn't beat the teams that you need to beat.

The Red Sox will not be in the 2020 Elite Division. However, the Yankees, Astros, Braves, Cardinals, Athletics, Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays already have either qualified for return to the Elite Division in 2020, or have all but qualified.


The winner of the Elite Division also will be qualified for next year's version so that it can attempt a defense of its championship.

Any way we slice it, Astros are dominating

Our way of keeping baseball standings has at least one thing in common with the official way: The Houston Astros are ahead, lopsidedly ahead, in every one of their divisions.

George Springer has five homers and 10 RBI on the Houston Astros' present road trip (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attributon-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

The knock against the Houston Astros all year is that they haven't played any good teams. Which raises the question: What counts for a good team in the American League, besides the Astros?

The New York Yankees, you say. They lead the American League East. The Astros beat them three out of four at Yankee Stadium last month.

Who else? Anybody?

The Astros haven't played the Boston Red Sox, who have the third best record in the AL, behind the Astros and the Yankees.

There is one club that has their number. The Cleveland Indians, defending the AL pennant, have beaten the Astros in five of six meetings this year. The Astros are 41-11 against everyone else.

In August, the Astros will play three at home against the Washington Nationals, who are trouncing the National League East. But that's really about it when it comes to "good teams" still to play the Astros. Maybe the Red Sox are that kind of team, but maybe they aren't. Same with the Baltimore Orioles.

When we consider that the Astros play in the American League West, which doesn't have another .500 team and probably won't have one before the end of the year, it's not hard to imagine a run at 116 wins, which the Seattle Mariners reached in 2001.

But it is a lot easier to imagine than it is to achieve. At this point in their 2001 season, the Mariners were 46-12, nearing the end of a 15-game winning streak. The Astros are merely on an 11-game winning streak.

The last seven of those wins have come on a road trip during which the club is batting .326 (87-for-267). Jose Altuve is batting .484 on the road trip (15-for-31) and he has reached base now in 32 consecutive road games, going back to last Sept. 19.

George Springer is batting .457 (16-for-35) on the road trip with five homers and 10 RBI. Catcher Brian McCann had a mere one hit on the road trip before Monday, when he smashed a two-run homer in the fourth inning to give the Astros a 4-2 lead against the Kansas City Royals.

Ever heard of Yuli Gurriel? He hit a back-breaking three-run homer in the top of the ninth Monday night against Kansas City relief ace Kelvin Herrera. The Royals still had a little of a chance before then, but that homer gave the Astros a 7-3 lead. On the road trip, Gurriel is eight-for-18 (.444) with two homers and eight RBI.

The point of all this is that the Astros have it working, not just in the official Major League standings, but just about however you want to slice it. 

The way we slice it around here, we've got the Astros in three divisions, and they are dominating all of them. Last we checked, that wasn't quite so. The Astros were tied with the Texas Rangers on top of the Southwest Conference, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the West League South and one game ahead of the Dodgers in the South League West. Now, the Astros have leads of two, six and 4 1/2 games, respectively, in those competitions.

Here's a look at the conferences.

We can see that the Colorado Rockies have cooled down a little bit in the Northwest, where the Chicago Cubs have moved to within two games. In the Southeast, the Cincinnati Reds have come down a little after losing two of three at home against the Atlanta Braves last weekend.

We know Brandon Phillips didn't especially hurt the Reds in that series, and we also know that Jose Peraza homered for the Reds. But we're still going to say that, unquestionably, the dumbest off-season move for any club this year was the Reds giving the Braves Phillips, plus $13 million of the $14 million needed to pay him.

The Reds had tried for years to dump the salary, but Phillip refused to be traded. So, the Reds dumped the player and ate the salary, which defeated the whole purpose of trading him. In return for Phillips (who is from Stone Mountain, GA), the Reds received Andrew McKirahan and Carlos Purtuondo. Okay.

The Reds saved $1 million in the exchange, but when you consider that whoever took his roster spot was going to cost at least the big league minimum of $535,000, the savings becomes $465,000. For $465,000, the Reds removed Brandon Phillips from their lineup.

In his place, they're trying Peraza. At 23, Peraza may become a good player. If you're saving $13 million by playing him instead of Phillips, this year is a good time to find out. If you're only saving $465,000, it isn't. With Phillips in their mix, the Reds might have a good enough club to reach 85 wins and shoot for the playoffs. With Peraza in his place, they probably don't.

The metrics say that Phillips has a 0.6 WAR and Peraza is at 0.3, according to the reckoning on baseball-reference.com. The same metrics say that Peraza is 0.3 WAR to the good offensively, even though his OPS-plus is 64, which is really a minus, The only good offensive numbers for Peraza are his stolen bases, 14 for 16. Offensively, he's Billy Hamilton Lite.

More likely, in the rattle and hum of the Cincinnati offense, the Reds would be a couple games better right now with Phillips in their lineup. That would have them breaking even. More to the point, this trade probably will end up costing them a good amount of money. 

Figuring that the average paid admission runs $100 through the cash register between the ticket, parking, concessions and souvenirs, the Reds would make up the $465,000 they saved by putting an extra 4,650 people in their stadium, total, through the course of the season. Does a playoff contenting Reds club with Phillips in their lineup lure an extra 4,650 people to Great American Ball Park during the course of the season? It probably lures 20 times than many. 

We'll never know, but it could be that this deal costs the Reds about $10 million in lost revenues, and a chance to contend. In these days when 85 wins makes a playoff contender, no club should ever give up on the season before it starts. The Reds did that with the Phillips trade, and it could cost them a lot more than they saved.

Hey, though, the Reds are still right there with the Washington Nationals on top of the East Division in the South League. In the West Division, no one is with the Astros.

In the West League, it appears that the Astros are packing that South Division away. But the North Division race between the Colorado Rockies and the Minnesota Twins remains interesting and tight. We keep waiting for the Chicago Cubs to make a move, but they've actually lost a game against the lead since we last checked.

In the East League, we see the Indians and the Detroit Tigers so far are lightly scheduled in that North Division. That will change. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles are stinking up the South League just a little, but they've opened up a two-game lead on the Nationals in the South Division of the East League.

Among the Northeast Conference clubs, the Tigers have slight leads in the stand-alone competition and in the East League North. But the Yankees are two games ahead of the Indians and the Tigers in the North League East. In the North League West, the Rockies are four games in front of a big scrum in the middle.

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First Division title a three-way split in 2015

We ended up declaring tri-champions for the First Division in 2015, giving equal due to the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays. On the bottom end, the Angels defended their 2014 title poorly to earn relegation, along with the Atlanta Braves.

There was never much clarity on top of the First Division in 2016 as the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays set a strong pace all year and never came apart from each other.

In the end, it came to a split championship between those three clubs.

Normally, the call is made by winning percentage, but we always split titles when there is a discrepancy between winning percentage and the games behind column. In this case, the Cardinals were 15-10, .600, to lead the way in winning percentage. But that's one-half game behind the Giants (26-20, .565), who led in the games behind column.

Then again, the Rays (19-14, .576), finished ahead of the Cardinals in the games behind column and ahead of the Giants in winning percentage. At the same time, they tied with the Giants in the games behind column and behind the Cardinals in winning percentage.

So, there was no boiling this one down to one club, or even two.

The split championship was a first in the First Division in more ways than one. It also marked the first time the Cardinals claimed even a share of the title, even though they are the only club that has been in the First Division continuously since tracking began in 2010.

On the bottom of the First Division, the Dodgers escaped relegation by winning 12 of their last 20 after finishing July in last place at 10-18. The Dodgers finished 22-22, sixth place, ahead of the Atlanta Braves and the Angels, who both will be relegated.

The Angels won the First Division in 2014, but came back with a last-place performance in a limited 2015 schedule, finishing 6-16.

Coming up from the Second Division to replace the Braves and Angels in the First Division will be the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers.

Angels unique among expansion teams

Just going by the regular season histories, the Angels are the most successful expansion franchise in  Major League Baseball, being the only expansion franchise with a winning record through its entire life. The Angels went over. 500 in July 2014 and they have kept winning.

Gene Mauch won two division managing the Angels before their golden age of the 21st century (Topps baseball card. It is believed this low resolution, cropped and watermarked image of a poster to identify the subject of this story is fair use in the absence of a public domain image of the subject.).

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

It's worthwhile to note a unique anniversary that passed last month for the Angels.

A year ago on July 10, the Angels became the first and only expansion team across the Major Leagues to achieve a winning record historically. The Angels went over the top for good (so far) with a 15-6 win against the Texas Rangers in Arlington that night, bringing their all-time record up to 4274-4273-3. Since then, the Angels are 99-71, bringing themselves up to 4,373-4,347 all-time entering games of August 1 (all numbers in this piece are from Baseball-reference.com).

Out of 30 Major League franchises, 13 are breaking even or better historically in regular season games. Of those 13, 12 are original "modern era" franchises, meaning they go back at least to the founding of the American League in 1901. 

Presumably, the traditional franchises would have winning records because they could fatten up on expansion teams through the years, but it hasn't always worked out that way, especially not in the American League, where three franchises lost so much before expansion that they still haven't caught up. They are the Baltimore Orioles (formerly the St. Louis Browns), the Minnesota Twins (formerly the Washington Senators) and the Oakland Athletics (formerly of Philadelphia and Kansas City), who could pretty reliably be counted upon to finish in the second division of the American League when it was said that the World Series wasn't official unless it included the New York Yankees.

The only pre-expansion National League team with an historical losing record is the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies also are more games under .500 (1,111) than any other pre-expansion team, followed by the Orioles (840), the Twins (698) and the Athletics (440). In the pre-expansion American League, one team won a lot (the Yankees) and three teams (the Senators, Athletics and Browns) lost quite a bit. In the pre-expansion National League, three teams won quite a bit (the Cardinals, Dodgers and Giants) and one franchise (the Phillies) lost a lot.

Behind the Angels, the next best expansion team relative to .500 is the Toronto Blue Jays, who are 59 games short of breaking even since their debut in 1977.

Two other teams in recent years have flirted with reaching .500 historically.

The Atlanta Braves succeeded, and they now are a robust 48 games over .500 in their 140-year history, which began in 1876 as the Boston Red Stockings of Harry Wright and George Wright. The Braves were so consistently terrible through their last 50 years in Boston that they didn't reach .500 until 2012. Think about this: The Braves won 14 straight division titles from 1991 through 2005, and that still wasn't enough to break them even.

The Houston Astros failed to become the first expansion team to reach .500 a couple of times in the last 10 years. A run of excellent Houston clubs from 1993 through 2006 brought the Astros within four games of .500 entering the 2007 season. But the Astros finished 73-89 in 2007, putting themselves 20 games under. An 86-75 effort for the Astros in 2008 brought them back within nine games of .500. But the Astros went 74-88 in 2009, and the losing has continued all the way up until this season. The Astros now are 205 games below .500 in their history.

Getting to .500 wasn't easy for the Angels, either. 

The Angels actually began their life with three winning seasons (and another year with 80 wins) in their first seven. But from 1968 until 2002, there wasn't a lot happening – just a couple decent clubs in the late 1970s and three good clubs in the late 1980s. 

The Angels were working from way behind going to 2002 – 234 games below .500 historically. So, they have moved fast, rolling up seven seasons with 90 or more wins in the last 14 complete seasons. Unquestionably, the 21st century has been a new era for the Angels, and it has been a good one.

The Angels entered the 2014 season 16 games below .500 historically, and their start, combined with their losing effort in 2013, gave little indication that much was to come. As of May 7, they were 16-17. They began then to win a little more than they lost, but they still were just 37-32 as of June 16. 

But the Angels then went on a huge roll, winning 21 of their next 26 games through July 18. They first reached .500 with a 5-2 win against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 7, bringing themselves up to 4,272-4,272-3 all-time. But they lost, 4-0, to the Jays the next night, dropping back below .500.

No problem, though, because the Angels were getting hot. An 8-7 win against the Jays on July 9 brought them back even, then the Angels went to Arlington and went over for good with their 15-6 win on July 10. 

The Angels still were 3½ games behind the Oakland Athletics in the American League West at that point and they wouldn't move into first place until Aug. 16. But they held first place once they took it and finished the regular season 98-64 before losing their only playoff series to the Kansas City Royals in a three-game sweep.

First Division: Angels, Dodgers both facing trouble

The Angels and Dodgers both are in First Division trouble coming through the first week of June. Both are at the bottom of the division, which spells relegation to the Second Division for 2016 if they don't rise in the top tier. That means beating top-level clubs, which neither Los Angeles club has done very much of this season.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia won't be able to argue his way into remaining in the First Division for 2016 if his club doesn't improve its performance against this top tier of teams (Googie man/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license).

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The First Division is heating up with a lot of action during these last couple of weeks, but the Dodgers and Angels aren't heating it up with it.

Far from it. The inability of the Angels and Dodgers to handle top teams has been noted in the First Division standings, among other places. Both Los Angeles teams came through this first week of June fighting against the possibility of relegation to the Second Division in 2016, which is the fate of the two clubs finishing at the bottom of the First Division in 2015.

The Angels lost two of three last week at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, dropping the first two games after winning the opener. The Dodgers have not succeeded in purchasing the goods to take down the two elite clubs in the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants, posting a combined 4-11 against the two clubs that have accounted for the last five National League pennants.

The Angels need to get their getting quickly, as they'll play fewer than two dozen games, total, in the First Division. At 3-7 in the First Division, the Angels are defending their 2014 top tier title with a last-place performance, six games behind the front-running Giants. The Angels will get another crack at the Rays next weekend in St. Petersburg. After that, though, the pickings will be slim.

Following next weekend's series at Tampa Bay, the Angels will have only nine games left in the First Division this season – six against the Dodgers and three against the Toronto Blue Jays. Being six games down in the First Division is a lot different from being down 5½ to the Houston Astros in the American League West, which is another position they've taken. The Angels have a lot more time in the AL West, and the Astros (12-10 against clubs at or above .500 and 22-13 against clubs below .500) are likely to cool off as they play against better clubs.

Teams have won ordinal divisions with fewer than two dozen games, but it requires a superior winning percentage for that team, and there can't be another team that's both playing a lot of games and winning a big share of them. The record for fewest wins to take a division belongs to the Texas Rangers, who won the First Division in 2013 with a 13-8 record in their 21 games. The second place team, Tampa Bay, finished 18-15.

The team with the fewest games played to win a division was the Angels in the 2013 Second Division. The Angels played only 19 games, but finished 14-5. The Angels beat the Nationals (25-18) by one game and 156 percentage points (.737 to .581). Both clubs were promoted to the First Division for 2014, and the Angels went on to win it.

That has a way of happening in the First Division. In three of the last four years, the First Division winner had been freshly promoted that year. In addition to the Angels in 2014, the Texas Rangers did it in 2013 and the Rays did it in 2011. It's worth pointing out that the Giants are working on precisely the same achievement, leading the First Division after being promoted to the top tier this season. 

However, the Rangers were swiftly demoted to the Second Division after an injury-plagued 2014 season. That does not appear to be a danger for the Giants.

The Dodgers have a different kind of job in front of them. The Dodgers actually are last in the games behind column of the top tier, seven games down, compared with six down for the Angels. However, the Angels have a lower winning percentage (.300, compared with .333 for the Dodgers), and promotion and relegation ultimately comes down to winning percentage.

Last week was no better than a break-even proposition for the Dodgers, who won two of three at home against the Atlanta Braves, but lost two of three at St. Louis last weekend. All of those were First Division games. The Braves went on to split last weekend on the grounds of the division-leading San Francisco Giants. This weekend, the Dodgers have lost two of three at home to the Cardinals, with the final game of that series coming Sunday night.

The Giants lead the First Division with an impressive mark of 12-4, thanks largely to their combined 10-2 performance against the Dodgers and Angels. The Rays are pressing the closest pursuit, only a game down at 9-3 after taking two of three in Anaheim last week. The Nationals (7-5) and the Cardinals (6-3) are the only other clubs breaking even in the division.

As the schedule lays out, the Giants will play about 40 games this year in the First Division, so their work is far from done. Same with the Dodgers. But the Dodgers are on the other end of the standings from the Giants. While the Giants vie for the leadership and the championship, the Dodgers now hold seventh place, which will get them relegated to the Second Division in 2016 if they do not improve their performance against this top tier of clubs.

First Division: Dodgers, Cardinals, vie to challenge Giants

The Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals will see a lot of each other in the next 10 days in games that should matter a lot to the First Division. But the San Francisco Giants are off to such a good start in the top tier that there's a chance no one else will matter.

Andre Ethier is swinging a strong left-handed bat for the Dodgers, hitting .317 with a 165 OPS-plus. The Dodgers will need him for the next couple weekends against the St. Louis Cardinals (LiAnna Davis/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Dodgers' greatest natural rival, of course, is the San Francisco Giants. But the team that really has stood in their way the last couple years is the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals have eliminated the Dodgers from the last two years of playoffs, offing them in a six-game National League Championship Series in 2013 and again in a four-game divisional series in 2014. In each of those seasons, though, the Dodgers won four of the seven regular-season meetings between those clubs.

The 2015 version of those games is coming right up – three in St. Louis this weekend and four at Dodger Stadium next weekend. All of these games should be thick with implications in this year's First Division competition, although the San Francisco Giants are threatening to make everyone else irrelevant.

The Giants are off to an 11-2 start in the top tier, winning seven of their nine meetings with the Dodgers and sweeping the Angels earlier in the season. Now, the Giants have added a team from outside Southern California to their hit list, beating the Atlanta Braves, 7-0, Thursday night in the first game of a weekend series in San Francisco.

The Dodgers slightly improved their First Division situation this week by winning two of three from the Braves at Dodger Stadium, but they're still only 4-8 in the division, 6½ games behind the Giants. The Cardinals have played only three games this year in the First Division, going 2-1.

Across the National League, the Cardinals are 31-16 and the Dodgers are 28-18, the two best records going. Both have been NL playoff semifinalists for the last two years.

The Cardinals are the only club across Major League Baseball that has been in the First Division for every year of its existence, starting in 2011. The Dodgers have been a First Division club every year except 2012. But neither club has ever won the First Division, and the Cardinals never came especially close until last year.

The 2014 First Division season ended with the Dodgers and Cardinals meeting in the divisional playoffs. Either club could have captured the First Division with the right outcome in that series. But the Dodgers won just enough of those playoff games – one – to give the Angels a one-half game championship margin over St. Louis.

So, the Dodgers and Cardinals will meet seven times next 10 days with serious implications for the First Division.

Unless the Giants keep doing what they're doing.

Dick Allen Award: Cardinals finally fall

The St. Louis Cardinals haven't started the 2015 season with the best run of title defenses in the history of the Dick Allen Award, but they came close. And the only other two times anyone did it better, it was the Cardinals. The Pittsburgh Pirates finally snagged the Allen from the Cardinals last weekend in Pittsburgh after heartbreak the weekend before in St. Louis.

Josh Harrison was batting only .200 for the Pittsburgh Pirates through May 14, but his hitting helped the Pirates hold the Dick Allen Award from the Philadelphia Phillies this week (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The St. Louis Cardinals finally lost the Dick Allen Award this week, giving it up to the club that probably deserved it more than any other.

The prize now belongs to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who dropped the Cards two of three last weekend in Pittsburgh. A weekend earlier, the Cardinals prevailed over the Pirates in three consecutive extra-inning, one-run games. That series was quite a scene shifter. One can imagine how different the season would look if these games that could have gone the other way had done so.

But it was just how it is when the Cardinals hold the Dick Allen Award, especially early in the season. Once the Cardinals barely wrestled the prize from the Chicago Cubs in an opening week split, they defended it eight consecutive times, holding it for 29 games. The 29-game reign is the longest within a single season for the Allen Award, but this competition has a history of the Cardinals bridging seasons with their dominance.

For example, the Cardinals won the Allen Sept 6-8, 2013 and held it all the way through the National League Championship Series (NLCS), a run of 27 games. They held it, then, into the 2014 season, first beating the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1, for a title defense before losing two-of-three at Pittsburgh. Thus, the Cardinals held the Allen for 33 games over two seasons.

The Cardinals ran a bridge over the 2011 and 2012 seasons that was just as long. That time, the Cardinals won it during the final week of the 2011 regular season and held it through the NLCS, a running title defense of 14 games. Of course, the Cardinals carried the Allen into the 2012 season and immediately launched six more title defenses covering 19 games. Thus, the Cardinals held it, again, for 33 games, total.

Historically, the Cardinals now have held the Allen for 198 games since the competition began in 2011. Second on the list is the Atlanta Braves, who have held it for 69 games. All-time in games for the Allen, the Cardinals are 169-100, with 42 title defenses in 58 attempts.

Once the Pirates took the Allen from the Cardinals, they held it with a four-game split in Philadelphia. The Pirates won the first two and the Phillies took the second two, but the Pirates won the total runs tie-breaker, 15-12. The Pirates basically clinched it by winning the second game, 7-2, keyed by three RBI from Josh Harrison. The Pirates third baseman is struggling this year, batting .200, but he homered and stole a base in that game.

The Pirates are defending the Allen this weekend in Chicago against the Chicago Cubs.

2015 Dick Allen Award results 

Total run tiebreakers, if applicable, are given at the end of the results.

St. Louis 1, Chicago 1 — April 5-8 at Chicago (St. Louis wins total runs tiebreaker, 3-2).

St. Louis 2, Cincinnati 1 — April 10-12 at Cincinnati.

St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1 — April 13-16 at St. Louis.

St. Louis 3, Cincinnati 0 — April 17-19 at St. Louis.

St. Louis 2, Washington 1 — April 21-23 at Washington.

St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1 — April 24-26 at Milwaukee.

St. Louis 3, Philadelphia 1 — April 27-30 at St. Louis.

St. Louis 3, Pittsburgh 0 — May 1-3 at St. Louis.

St. Louis 3, Chicago 1 — May 4-7 at St. Louis.

Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 1— May 8-10 at Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh 2, Philadelphia 2 — May 11-14 at Philadelphia (Pittsburgh, 15-12).

2013 First Division standings and summary

The Texas Rangers nosed ahead of a tight group to win the First Division championship in 2013. More newsworthy was the decline of the New York Yankees, who fell from the championship in 2012 to a last-place demotion in 2013.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The 2013 season marked the tightest First Division race ever, with all eight teams finishing within five games of the top.

In a scramble like this, we might expect history. In fact, the winners were the Texas Rangers, newly promoted to the First Division and playing in it for the first time. The Rangers' victory marked the second time in three years that a team won the First Division in its first year of promotion.

The Rangers finished a game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays and 1 1/2 game ahead of the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals, while the Cincinnati Reds were two games back.

The bottom teams are the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. The Yankees are being demoted for the first time, while the Giants began life in the Second Division in 2010.  

The only remaining First Division team from 2010 is the Cardinals, who have been a steady presence in the middle of the tier. The Cardinals have never finished better than their third-place tie in 2013, but they also never finished worse than sixth. Their overall record in four years of the First Division is 72-71. 

The Yankees are 85-81 all-time in the First Division, but they were good enough in 2012 to win it and poor enough in 2013 to finish in last place.

2012 Second Division standings and summary

As former Commissioner Bud Selig said, at least once, "Controversy is good." And was there ever controversy at the top of the Second Division in 2012. The Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves are going up in 2013, but the Los Angeles Angels had a complaint.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers each won the Second Division, in some sense, during the 2012 season. Both are going to the First Division in 2013.

The Braves (14-7, .667) had the best winning percentage, but the Rangers finished two games ahead of the Braves. By the rules, the Braves and Rangers are being promoted, but the Los Angeles Angels have a gripe. They finished 1 1/2 games behind the Rangers, but their winning percentage was .590. In a case with one team winning the division by percentage points and another winning it by games, those two teams are promoted.

However, as the Rangers won in the games behind column and thereby won the first promotion, Angels supporters point out that the Angels then should be the second team promoted, as they finished ahead of the Braves. 

So, it was tough luck for the Angels. 

On the bottom side, the Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies finished in a tie for last place, so those are the teams being demoted in 2013.  The Twins are being demoted for the second straight year. The Rockies, an original First Division team in 2010, were quickly demoted for finishing last that year, and their fortunes have not improved.

East League: Mets extend lead

The New York Mets lost two of three to the New York Yankees during the weekend, but they still doubled their lead in the East League during the week. They can thank their three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves, who lost five of six during the week. The Tampa Bay Rays had the best week in the league, moving up to second place.

Mark Teixeira had the most powerful week in the East League, crushing five homers and running a 1.429 OPS in six games (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

So, the New York Mets struggled against the New York Yankees during the weekend, losing two of three at Yankee Stadium.

But the Mets aren't struggling otherwise. They beat the Atlanta Braves three straight to start the week ending on April 26 and increased their lead in the East League from 1 1/2 games over the Braves to three games over the Tampa Bay Rays. Though the Yankees won their series against the Mets, they still lost one-half game because they were playing in Detroit while the Mets were sweeping the Braves.

And the Mets did rather beat themselves in the April 26 rubber game with the Yankees, making four errors that led to two unearned runs, the difference in a 6-4 Yankees victory. Two of the errors came after balls hit by Alex Rodriguez, both after Rodriguez had homered earlier in the game.

No team in the East had a better week than the Rays, who moved up from fifth place to second place after winning five straight through April 26. The Rays picked up a game on first place and now are three games down.

More dramatically, the Rays picked up huge in the South Division, coming from 2 1/2 games down to take the lead by one-half game. They can thank the Braves, who held the division lead a week ago, then lost three straight against the Mets and two of three against the Philadelphia Phillies, all on the road.

The Mets will go on the road at the start of this week against the Miami Marlins, who ended the week just completed with five straight wins against the Phillies and Washington Nationals. The Mets swept the Marlins in four at home earlier in April. After that, the Mets go home against the Nats, who have, so some surprise, distinguished themselves with their last-place occupancy in the East at this early date.

A series of some import at the start of the week will put the Yankees against the Rays at Yankee Stadium.

Games of April 20

at Boston 7, Baltimore 1.

Games of April 21

at Toronto 13, Baltimore 6.

at New York (NL) 7, Atlanta 1.

at Philadelphia 7, Miami 3.

at Boston 1, Tampa Bay 0.

Games of April 22

Miami 6, at Philadelphia 1.

at Toronto 4, Baltimore 2.

at New York (NL) 3, Atlanta 2.

at Tampa Bay 7, Boston 5.

Games of April 23

at Tampa Bay 2, Boston 1.

at Toronto 7, Boston 6.

at New York (NL) 6, Atlanta 3.

Miami 9, at Philadelphia 1.

Games of April 24

at Baltimore 7, Boston 5.

at New York (AL) 6, New York (NL) 1.

at Tampa Bay 12, Toronto 3.

at Miami 3, Washington 2.

at Philadelphia 1, Atlanta 0.

Games of April 25

Baltimore 5, Boston 4, 10 innings.

at New York (NL) 8, New York (AL) 2.

at Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 2.

at Miami 8, Washington 0.

Atlanta 5, Philadelphia 2.

Games of April 26

at Baltimore 18, Boston 7.

at Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 1.

at Miami 6, Washington 2.

at Philadelphia 5, Atlanta 4.

at New York (AL) 6, New York (NL) 4.

2010 Second Division standings and summary

The four clubs in this group that went to the Major League playoffs in 2010 also composed the top half of the Second Division standings. In the end, the World Series, a 4-1 victory for the San Francisco Giants over the Texas Rangers, earned the Giants a First Division promotion for 2011 and denied that advance to the Rangers.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

As the eight clubs going to the 2009 playoffs were assigned to the First Division for 2010, this Second Division group that didn't make the 2009 playoffs might have been ticketed for greater things to come.

In fact, four of these clubs — the Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers — reached the Major League playoffs. The Giants and Rangers went to the World Series, with the Giants winning.

Riding a 7-2 playoff record against Second Division clubs, the Giants were the clear Second Division winner, and that playoff run did it. In the end, the Rays, Braves and Rangers all finished within two games of the Giants, but there's only room to promote the Giants and Rays to the First Division for 2011.

The Seattle Mariners, whose 61-101 regular season record was the worst in the Major Leagues, barely escaped relegation. The two relegants for 2011 are the Florida Marlins (80-82) and the Detroit Tigers (81-81).

The Tigers are instructive about how a season looks different when we consider only certain opponents. They only played against Atlanta, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Texas within the Second Division, finishing 8-19. Which means they were 73-62 against all other clubs, which doesn't really matter here.

2013 Dick Allen Award standings and results

Taking the prize all the way through the National League postseason, the St. Louis Cardinals turned in a record-setting performance to once again be Team of the Year in pursuit of the Dick Allen Award during the 2013 season.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The St. Louis Cardinals put on a September stomp that went into October, overtaking the Atlanta Braves to take Team of the Year honors in the Dick Allen competition for 2013, their third straight year with that distinction.

The Cardinals already had won the Allen three times in 2013 before the Braves took it for the first time with a three-game sweep over the Cardinals July 26-28 in Atlanta. Then the Braves tore off seven straight title defenses to take the lead in most categories before the Cardinals snagged it back from them with a three-of-four triumph Aug. 22-25 in St. Louis.

After one defense, the Cardinals lost the ear in Pittsburgh, losing two of three to the Pittsburgh Pirates Aug. 30-Sept. 1. But the Cardinals got it back from the Pirates with a three-game sweep in St. Louis Sept. 6-8, and they never let it go.

The Cardinals made five title defenses consecutively to end the regular season, then held it through the National League playoffs, beating the Pirates in a five-game League Division Series, then winning four-of-six against the Dodgers in the League Championship Series.

At 51-25 for the season, the Cardinals set the all-time record for wins in any corn competition, holding it for a record 56 games. They tied the all-time record in any corn with five titles, and their 13 defenses tied them with Tampa Bay's matching 2013 effort in the Killebrew for the most in a season.

2013 Dick Allen Award results 

Total run tiebreakers, if applicable, are given at the end of the results.

San Francisco 2, DODGERS 1 — April 1-4 at Los Angeles.
St. Louis 2, San Francisco 1 — April 5-7 at San Francisco.
St. Louis 2, Cincinnati 1 — April 8-10 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1 — April 12-14 at St. Louis.
Pittsburgh 1, St. Louis 1 — April 15-17 at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, 11-10).
Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 0 — April 19-21 at Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh 3, Philadelphia 1 — April 22-25 at Philadelphia.
Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 1 -1 April 26-28 at St. Louis.
Milwaukee 2, Pittsburgh 1 — April 29-May 1 at Milwaukee.
St. Louis 4, Milwaukee 0 — May 2-5 at Milwaukee.
Chicago 1, St. Louis 1 — May 7-8 at Chicago (Chicago, 15-12 strikeouts).
Chicago 2, Washington 1 — May 10-12 at Washington.
Chicago 2, Colorado 1 — May 13-15 at Chicago.
New York 2, Chicago 1 — May 17-19 at Chicago.
Cincinnati 3, New York 0 — May 20-22 at Cincinnati.
Cincinnati 2, Chicago 1 — May 24-26 at Cincinnati.
Cincinnati 2, Pittsburgh 1 — May 31-June 2 at Cincinnati.
Colorado 2, Cincinnati 1 — June 3-5 at Cincinnati.
San Diego 2, Colorado 2 — June 6-9 at Colorado (San Diego, 26-25).
San Diego 3, Atlanta 0 — June 10-12 at San Diego.
San Diego 3, Arizona 0 — June 14-16 at San Diego.
San Francisco 2, San Diego 1 — June 17-19 at San Francisco.
Miami 3, San Francisco 1 — June 20-23 at San Francisco.
Miami 3, San Diego 1 — June 28-July 1 at Miami.
Miami 2, Atlanta 1 — July 2-4 at Atlanta.
St. Louis 3, Miami 0 — July 5-7 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 2, Chicago 2 — July 11-14 at Chicago (St. Louis, 17-17, 25-23 strikeouts).
St. Louis 2, San Diego 1 — July 19-21 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 3, Philadelphia 0 — July 23-25 at St. Louis.
Atlanta 3, St. Louis 0 — July 26-28 at Atlanta.
Atlanta 4, Colorado 0 — July 29-August 1 at Atlanta.
Atlanta 3, Philadelphia 0 — August 2-4 at Philadelphia.
Atlanta 3, Washington 0 — August 5-7 at Washington.
Atlanta 2, Miami 1 — August 9-11 at Atlanta.
Atlanta 2, Philadelphia 1 — August 12-14 at Atlanta.
Atlanta 2, Washington 1 — August 16-18 at Atlanta.
Atlanta 1, New York 1 — August 20-21 at New York.
St. Louis 3, Atlanta 1 — August 22-25 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 2, Cincinnati 1 — August 26-28 at St. Louis.
Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 1 — August 30-September 1 at Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh 2, Milwaukee 1 — September 2-4 at Milwaukee.
St. Louis 3, Pittsburgh 0 — September 6-8 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1 — September 10-12 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 2, Colorado 2 — September 16-19 at Denver (St. Louis, 23-20).
St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1 — September 20-22 at Milwaukee.
St. Louis 3, Washington 0 — September 23-25 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 3, Chicago 0 — September 27-29 at St. Louis.
St. Louis 3, Pittsburgh 2 — October 3-9 in NLDS.
St. Louis 4, DODGERS 2 — October 11-18 in NLCS.