Astros bolt to big lead in American League lineal

At the All-Star break, there is a team to beat for the American League lineal championship, and it is the Houston Astros. With 26 games of lineal title, the Astros have more than the next two clubs, combined.

At the halfway point of the 2021 baseball season, the Houston Astros have set themselves as the clear favorites in the American League traveling championship race.

The Astros strung together a title and six straight defenses, holding the championship for almost all of June.

Comically enough, the team that ended it for the Astros, they being the Baltimore Orioles, entered the series in question in a 9-38 nightmare, then swept the Astros three straight in Houston June 28-30.

Baseball is weird. The Orioles, of course, immediately dropped the championship to the Angels. The Orioles won an earlier title in April, before all the losing started, but they failed to defend that one, as well.

Oddly, then, the Orioles and Astros are tied on top of the league in lineal championships for the year, each with two. However, the Orioles couldn't defend either one, while the Astros defended their second title six times. Thus, the Orioles have six games of championship, but the Astros have 26.

The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays are next in line to the Astros. However, the Yankees have 13 games of title, half as many as Houston, while Toronto has 12.

Yankees rip up September, win big league traveler in October

The Baltimore Orioles appeared to be all but guaranteed of winning the big league traveling championship deep into September, but the New York Yankees won eight title series during a torrid six-week stretch drive to prevail as the 2017 Team of the Year.

The New York Yankees mounted a furious rally in September and deep into the Major League playoffs to claim the 2017 big league traveling championship.

When the Yankees won two of three from the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium Sept. 4-7, it appeared the Orioles could retire comfortably with the prize. They had just won their second traveling title of the year and defended it twice, and even after losing to the Yankees they still had 39 games of title defense, well ahead of second-place Tampa Bay at 27. The Yankees, with a mere 12 games of title defense at that point, were an afterthought in the standings.

But the Yankees took off from their victory against the Orioles, claiming two of three on the road against the Texas Rangers and the Rays successively, then returning to Yankee Stadium to win three of four from the Orioles and sweep the Twins in three games.

The Toronto Blue Jays took two of three from the Yankees Sept. 22-24 in Toronto, but the Yankees won the return series at Yankee Stadium the next weekend to finish the regular season with the title in their hands, a wild-card playoff bid to keep it alive and 28 games of championship defense in their pockets.

It would be impossible to pick one hero for the Yankees in their run to the Team of the Year title for the traveling championship. In the wild card game, they fell behind the Minnesota Twins, 3-0, in the bottom of the first inning. But Didi Gregorius hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to tie the game and the Yankees went on to an 8-4 win.

Next, the Yankees faced the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series (ALDS). The Indians almost finished the Yankees off, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five affair. But the Yankees rallied with three straight wins and advanced to the American League Championship Series (ALCS) against the Houston Astros.

Entering the ALCS, the Yankees had 34 games of title defense, still five short of Baltimore's leading total of 39. It meant that even if the Yankees couldn't win the series, they still could clinch the traveling championship for the year if they could make it last at least six games.

That, they did, and just a little more. After losing the first two games of the series, the Yankees took an 8-1 victory in Game 3 behind six shutout innings by starting pitcher CC Sabathia. In Game 4, the Yankees trailed, 4-2, going to the bottom of the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium. But Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez each hit RBI doubles against Astros reliever Ken Giles to trigger a four-run inning and give the Yankees a 6-4 victory.

With that win, the Yankees guaranteed that the ALCS would go at least six games. In fact, it went seven games before the Astros prevailed to win the league pennant.

But the Yankees had the traveling championship across the major leagues to show for a fantastic six-week run, during which they went 23-14 with two traveling titles, six title defenses in eight attempts and 29 games of title defense through motivated competition.

The season began with the Orioles carrying in the title from the end of the 2016 season. The Orioles were loath to let go of it for a long time, defending that championship in their first seven attempts of 2017 as they went off to a 14-6 start. They already had a 23-game head start on the whole rest of the world in title defenses when the Yankees finally knocked them down with two wins in three games at Yankee Stadium April 28-30.

But that loss to the Yankees wasn't the beginning of the end for the Orioles. That came in September, when the Yankees did the same thing to them again.

Orioles rally to first interleague traveler of 2017

The Baltimore Orioles, who already lead the big leagues in every other category respecting the interleague traveling championship, finally added a championship with a rally through the late innings Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Caleb Joseph went three-for-four Sunday and scored the winning run against the Tampa Rays, boosting the Baltimore Orioles to their first interleague traveling championship of the season (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

The Baltimore Orioles, who already have a huge lead in title defenses and games holding the continental baseball traveling championship, considerably strengthened their hand Sunday.

The Orioles came from behind for an 8-5 win on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays, taking two of three games in the series and claiming the title. The Rays had defended the title three times since winning it by snagging three of four at home from the Oakland Athletics June 8-11.

The Orioles took the early lead Sunday, then lost it when Evan Longoria hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning against Chris Tillman, giving the Rays a 5-3 lead. Then, the Orioles picked and pecked to get the lead back, and the win.

First, Trey Mancini homered in the sixth against Tampa Bay starter Jake Odorizzi, making it 5-4. In the eighth, Jonathan Schoop tied the game with a leadoff homer against Tampa Bay reliever Chase Whitley.

Tampa Bay called on its closer, Alex Colome, in the top of the ninth inning with a 5-5 tie. It didn't stay tied for long. Caleb Joseph, who homered earlier in the game, singled to lead off, capping a three-for-four day. After Craig Gentry sacrificed Joseph to second, the Rays intentionally walked Seth Smith. The strategy backfired when Colome tried to sneak an 0-2 fastball down and over the plate past Joey Rickard. Instead, Rickard crushed a line drive down the left field line that bounced over the fence for a ground rule double, driving in Joseph with the lead run. 

Colome then issued an intentional walk to Manny Machado to load the bases before hitting Schoop with a pitch to force in another run. A sacrifice fly by Adam Jones gave the Orioles their final run.

The Orioles began the season with the interleague traveler, having finished the 2016 season with it. Then the Orioles defended it seven straight times, holding it for all of April, before the New York Yankees took it away by beating the Orioles two of three in New York April 28-30.

Now, the Orioles have a title for 2017, tying them with the other seven clubs that have one. But no one can match Baltimore's seven defenses and 23 games holding the title.

The Orioles will attempt to build on those leads Tuesday through Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto.

Orioles set April records with baseball traveling title

The Baltimore Orioles started the new baseball season with the big league traveling baseball championship and held it for the entire month of April, the longest title reign yet at the start of a season.

Jonathan Schoop led the way for the Baltimore Orioles in April with five home runs (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

In seven years of the traveling championship across big league baseball, never has a season begun quite like 2017.

The season began with the Baltimore Orioles holding the title, having won it from the New York Yankees during the final regular season series of 2016. And the traveler stayed with the Orioles for the entire month of April.

Not until the Yankees won a three-game series against the Orioles in Yankee Stadium April 28-30 did the continental traveler change hands. Thus, the Orioles held the title for seven consecutive defenses and 23 games, the all-time record at the start of a season. It wasn't until Monday (May 1) that the Yankees put the title up for defense.

The previous records for holding the title at the start of the season belong to the St. Louis Cardinals, who claimed the prize with their World Series victory against the Texas Rangers in 2011, then held on for 19 games and six title defenses at the start of the 2012 season.

But once the Cardinals lost the title that year, they didn't get another crack at it again until they defeated the San Francisco Giants for the prize in early April of 2013.

History shows that 23 games of title defense probably won't be enough for the Orioles to claim the traveling championship across the 2017 season. No team has ever taken that distinction with fewer than 26 games of title defense.

And the Orioles still haven't won the traveling title this year. All those defenses in April followed a title they won last season.

So, the race remains wide open, even though the Orioles have opened up a substantial lead.

Rangers nudge past three foes as best team in 2016 AL traveler

The Texas Rangers won their second Team of the Year designation in the American League traveling championship, winning three separate titles to hold off three other strong contenders.

The Texas Rangers prevailed in a wild 2016 for the traveling championship across the American League.

The Rangers did it in small pieces, winning three championships and holding them for a total of 28 games, nudging past challenges from the Minnesota Twins, the Baltimore Orioles and the Houston Astros.

The Rangers defended one of those titles only once and another not at all, but a three-week romp in June put them over the top. The difference was the tiebreaker in a four-game split at New York against the Yankees June 27-30. The Rangers outscored the Yankees, 24-18, to keep the prize for a meeting with the Twins, who then beat them two of three in Minneapolis July 1-3.

The Twins defended that championship twice, then won another in late July with three August defenses to come within reach of the Rangers. But the Texas club claimed another championship in September to seal the deal.

The Rangers won the Team of the Year for the second time, first winning it with a dominant performance in 2011. The Rangers are the first club to be Team of the Year in the American League twice.

The results from 2016 follow. First, here are the results from other seasons.


2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Mets cruise to 2015 East League title

The New York Mets were 13-3 before April 24 and 27-19 after July 30 to claim the East League in 2015 by two games over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Washington Nationals made a mid-summer bid, but fell off and settled for the South Division title.

Jacob deGrom fronted a New York Mets pitching staff that won the East League (Arturo Pardavila III/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).

The New York Mets went off to a roaring start in the East League, but had to recapture the lead at the start of August before claiming the league's 2015 title.

The Mets had built a five-game lead in the league through the first two months, but the Washington Nationals caught them before a three-game series between the two that began on July 31 in New York.

There, the Mets took back the lead with a three-game sweep, begun when Wilmer Flores, all but traded earlier in the week, made a highlight-reel catch and hit a homer that gave them a 2-1 win in the opener.

The Mets and Toronto both were 27-19 going down that backstretch. Both benefitted from late acquisitions, as the Mets brought in Yeonis Cespedes and the Jays added David Price and Troy Tulowitski.

The Nationals fell off to finish four games behind the Mets, who also claimed the East League's North Division title. The Nationals finished well enough to claim the South Division by a game over the Baltimore Orioles and two games over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Red Sox rally for disputed Aaron crown

The Boston Red Sox won only half of the games they played for the Henry Aaron Award in 2015, but it was enough to push them barely past the Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles for Team of the Year.

Okay, they didn't really hang this banner on the Massachussetts State House in recognition of the Boston Red Sox winning the Henry Aaron Award in 2015. But they could have (Albany NY/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)!

The Dodgers began the 2015 interleague Ear of Corn season with a championship run that almost carried them to honors for the season.

Unfortunately, for the Dodgers, the Ear was out of the National League for good as of June 15, so the Dodgers had no chance to expand on their winnings. And with that much time in the American League, it wouldn't take a great performance in the junior circuit to catch them.

So, the Dodgers were caught by two teams, which each surpassed their single championship and six title defenses in seven tries for 22 days with the prize.

The Baltimore Orioles snagged their second title of the year in  September and defended it four times to temporarily move ahead of the Dodgers. Then, along came the Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox won only four of their first 13 games in the interleague corn, but they stormed past the Orioles with a three-game sweep in Boston Sept. 28-Oct. 1 for their third victory of the season.

As it would happen with the Red Sos in 2015, they were swept out by the Cleveland Indians to end the season. Thus, the Red Sox limped in as the Team of the Year with a 21-21 overall record.

But this really should be viewed as a split decision. Sometimes, a team will be lucky enough to play for the Corn several times. Eventually, like the Red Sox, that team gets it right.

Can we really say the Red Sox were better with the Corn this year than the Dodgers, or even the Orioles? We can't say that.

But we want to pick one for Team of the Year. And, since the Red Sox put on a nice rally at the end of the season, they're a good enough choice.

Iwakuma no-no preserves Aaron for Mariners

Seattle Mariners right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma threw the first no-hitter in the history of any traveling trophy Wednesday, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 3-0 win against the Baltimore Orioles in Seattle. Iwakuma's gem gave the Mariners their first Henry Aaron Award title defense in more than four years. A no-hitter Wednesday for Hisashi Iwakuma has the Mariners riding as high as they've ever been in the Henry Aaron competition (LiAnna Davis/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license). By BILL PETERSON Big Leagues in Los Angeles Hisashi Iwakuma made traveling trophy history Wednesday, recording the first no-hitter ever in any of the competitions to clinch a Henry Aaron Award title defense for the Seattle Mariners. Iwakuma struck out seven and walked three in the first complete game of his career, a 3-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Seattle. With the win, the Mariners captured two-of-three from the Orioles, mounting their first defense of the Aaron, which they captured by winning two-of-three from the Texas Rangers at home last weekend. The Mariners lost the opener of this series, 3-2, Monday, but stormed back with two victories to defend the prize. The heroics began Tuesday, when Austin Jackson singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the Mariners a 6-5 victory. Iwakuma missed most of three months this season with a strained right latissimus dorsi muscle. Being 34 with a contract expiring at the end of the season, he could have been dealt to a contender in return for prospects at the trading deadline. Instead, he has brought Henry Aaron glory to the Northwest with the best performance of his career. It was only the second Aaron defense for the Mariners since the interleague traveling distinction was initiated in 2011. That year, the Mariners won the Aaron from the San Diego Padres by taking two of three in Seattle July 1-3, marking the first time that the Aaron switched leagues. The Mariners defended the prize by taking two of three on the road from the Oakland Athletics July 4-6, but they lost it to the Angels in a four-game sweep July 7-10 in Anaheim. The Mariners hadn't held the Aaron since winning it in a four-game split from the Minnesota Twins July 25-28, 2013, in Seattle, taking the tiebreaker, 16-13. The Mariners immediately lost the Aaron in a three-game sweep on the road against the Boston Red Sox. That marked the last time the Mariners even played for the Aaron before last weekend. The Mariners won two other Aarons in 2012, but failed to defend it either time. Now, Seattle will take the Aaron on the road for three games against the Boston Red Sox this weekend. 2015 Henry Aaron Award standings
	W	L	P	T	G	D	A
DODGERS	15	10	8	1	22	6	7
San Francisco	15	15	8	1	17	4	6
ANGELS	14	5	6	1	16	4	5
Texas	12	10	7	2	15	3	5
San Diego	10	7	5	1	13	3	4
Baltimore	7	6	4	1	7	1	1
Pittsburgh	6	3	3	1	6	1	2
Milwaukee	5	7	4	1	6	1	2
Kansas City	5	2	3	1	5	1	2
Boston	3	7	3	1	3	0	1
Seattle	6	4	3	1	3	1	1
Washington	2	2	1	0	0	0	0
Colorado	6	10	5	0	0	0	0
Arizona	2	7	3	0	0	0	0
New York (AL)	2	2	1	0	0	0	0
Chicago (NL)	1	2	1	0	0	0	0
Miami	1	2	1	0	0	0	0
Minnesota	1	2	1	0	0	0	0
Atlanta	3	4	2	0	0	0	0
Cleveland	0	3	1	0	0	0	0
Houston	0	3	1	0	0	0	0

Numbers in bold indicate league leaders.

W — Wins. L — Losses. P — Times played for title. T — Titles won. G — Number of games that team held title after winning it. D — Title defenses. A — Title defense attempts. Standings are given in order of games holding the title.

2015 Henry Aaron Award results 
(There is no tiebreaker for the Aaron. The champion keeps it unless the challenger wins outright. However, the runs are given for series ending in ties).

San Francisco 2, Arizona 1 — April 6-8 at Arizona.
San Diego 3, San Francisco 1 — April 10-12 at San Diego.
San Diego 2, Arizona 1 — April 13-15 at San Diego.
San Diego 2, Chicago (NL) 1 — April 17-19 at Chicago.
San Diego 2, Colorado 2 — April 20-23 at Denver (San Diego, 26-16).
DODGERS 2, San Diego 1 — April 24-26 at San Diego.
DODGERS 2, San Francisco 1 — April 27-29 at Los Angeles.
DODGERS 3, Arizona 0 — May 1-3 at Los Angeles.
DODGERS 2, Milwaukee 2 — May 4-7 at Milwaukee (DODGERS, 28-16).
DODGERS 2, Colorado 0 — May 8-10 at Colorado.
DODGERS 2, Miami 1 — May 11-13 at Los Angeles.
DODGERS 2, Colorado 2 — May 14-17 (Colorado, 16-12).
San Francisco 3, DODGERS 0 — May 19-21 at San Francisco.
San Francisco 2, Colorado 2 — May 22-24 at Denver (Colorado, 31-26).
San Francisco 3, Milwaukee 0 — May 25-27 at Milwaukee.
San Francisco 2, Atlanta 2 — May 28-31 at San Francisco (Atlanta, 17-16).
Pittsburgh 3, San Francisco 0 — June 1-3 at San Francisco.
Pittsburgh 2, Atlanta 1 — June 5-7 at Atlanta.
Milwaukee 2, Pittsburgh 1 — June 8-10 at Pittsburgh.
Milwaukee 2, Washington 2 — June 11-14 at Milwaukee (Washington, 20-16).
Kansas City 2, Milwaukee 0 — June 15-16 at Milwaukee.
Kansas City 2, Milwaukee 0 — June 17-18 at Kansas City.
Boston 2, Kansas City 1 — June 19-21 at Kansas City.
Baltimore 2, Boston 1 — June 23-25 at Boston.
Baltimore 3, Cleveland 0 — June 26-28 at Baltimore.
Texas 3, Baltimore 1 — June 29-July 2 at Baltimore.
ANGELS 3, Texas 0 — July 3-5 at Arlington.
ANGELS 2, Colorado 0 — July 7-8 at Denver.
ANGELS 2, Seattle 2 — July 9-12 at Seattle (Angels, 20-19).
ANGELS 4, Boston 0 — July 17-20 at Anaheim.
ANGELS 2, Minnesota 1 — July 21-23 at Anaheim.
Texas 2, ANGELS 1 — July 24-26 at Anaheim.
Texas 2, New York (AL) 2 — July 27-30 at Arlington (New York, 35-19).
Texas 2, San Francisco 1 — July 31-August 2 at Arlington.
Texas 3, Houston 0 — August 3-5 at Arlington.
Seattle 2, Texas 1 — August 7-9 at Seattle.
Seattle 2, Baltimore 1 — August 7-9 at Seattle.

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.

Fourth Division: Mets might make it, Sox are sunk

The New York Mets are off to a good start in their bid to finally escape from the Fourth Division after two straight years of limited opportunity. The Chicago White Sox are all but certain to remain stuck in the bottom tier for another year, but they've blown three straight seasons of opportunity to escape.

Chris Sale pitched the Chicago White Sox to a 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles Thursday, but the White Sox have almost no chance of escaping from the Fourth Division this year (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Fourth Division has been pretty slow going until this week, when it has picked up with a torrent of games involving five of the six clubs in this lowest echelon of ordinal competition.

The New York Mets, long overdue for a good shot at advancement to the Third Division, now hold first place in the fourth tier with a 7-2 record, and they play three at home this weekend against the floundering Miami Marlins. The Chicago White Sox, who have blown legitimate opportunities to escape from this cellar for three straight years, already appear to be trapped in the Fourth Division for another year.

The Major League schedule obviously isn't built to make sure all the teams in each division play each other, so the rules for promotion and relegation have to be rigged a little.

The top three divisions, which each include eight clubs, require that any club win 10 games to be promoted or lose 10 to be relegated and, in either case, a team must play at least three others within the division to be promoted or relegated.

The Fourth Division, with only six clubs, relaxes those restrictions, a little. A team can be promoted with fewer than 10 wins, but only if that team wins at least 75 percent of its games and plays at least two Fourth Division opponents, and that team can't stand in the way of promoting another team that wins at least 10 and finishes at least .500 in the Fourth Division.

A light schedule in the Fourth Division will work against some club's chance of advancement, and that has been the plight of the Mets for the last two years. Last season, the Mets finished 9-7 in the Fourth Division, the exact same .563 winning percentage as the Minnesota Twins, who won the division at 18-14. The Mets certainly would have advanced, and won the division, with one more victory. As it was, they had to move over for the Colorado Rockies, who finished 16-16.

But the Mets have a robust opportunity to advance this year with a thick Fourth Division schedule. The lowest division includes the Marlins from within the National League East, the San Diego Padres from within the National League, and the Baltimore Orioles, who the Mets face in interleague play.

The White Sox are on the short end of the stick this year, with only a dozen games in the Fourth Division, six each against American League counterparts Baltimore and the Houston Astros. The Sox split a doubleheader Thursday in Baltimore and now are 1-2 in the Fourth Division with three coming up this weekend in Houston.

The White Sox would just about have to win out in the Fourth Division for any chance of advancement, and they probably don't have that kind of club. But they have nothing about which to complain. The White Sox are in their fourth season at this lowest tier. In two of the previous three, they finished in last place. Last year, their best showing, turned up a 14-17 record against the Fourth Division. Combined in the last three full seasons, the White Sox are 42-61 in the Fourth Division.

Harmon Killebrew Award: No sitting still

Unlike, say, the Dick Allen Award, the Harmon Killebrew Award hasn't found a home this year. Already, six different clubs have won it, and no team has defended it more than once. The Tampa Bay Rays have it now, but who knows for how long?

Logan Forsythe helped lead the Tampa Bay Rays to their Harmon Killebrew Award this week, collecting six hits in a four-game series against the New York Yankees (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).


By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Harmon Killebrew Award is bouncing around a bit this year. Six weeks into the season, six clubs already have won it.

The Tampa Bay Rays hold it right now, after winning three of four at home this week from the New York Yankees. But who knows how long the Rays will hold it? No team has defended the Killebrew more than once after winning it this year. The Kansas City Royals defended it twice at the start of the season after carrying it over from last year. But when the Royals then lost it and won it again, they defended it only once.

The Baltimore Orioles defended the Killebrew as the home team in Tampa Bay against the Rays at the start of May. But the Orioles then lost three of four on the road to the New York Yankees before the Yankees then dropped the prize in St. Petersburg.

The Rays are defending the Killebrew this weekend in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Twins, who have had a way of stepping up their game with that prize on the line in the last couple of years. The Twins led all teams with five Killebrew championships in 2014, and they already have one in 2015.

Logan Forsythe and Steven Souza led the Rays offensively against the Yankees, each with six hits in the series.

The Royals still are working the best season overall for the Killebrew, winning 10 of 15 games and holding it for nine games. The Orioles have held the Killebrew for seven games, the second most in the American League.

2015 Harmon Killebrew Award results 

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

Kansas City 3, Chicago 0 — April 6-9 at Kansas City.
Kansas City 3, ANGELS 0 — April 10-12 at Anaheim.
Minnesota 2, Kansas City 1 — April 13-16 at Minneapolis.
Minnesota 2, Cleveland 1 — April 17-19 at Minneapolis.
Kansas City 2, Minnesota 1 — April 20-22 at Kansas City.
Chicago 2, Kansas City 1 — April 23-26 at Chicago.
Baltimore 1, Chicago 0 — April 29 at Baltimore.
Baltimore 2, Tampa Bay 1 — May 1-3 at Tampa Bay.
New York 3, Baltimore 1 — May 7-10 at New York.
Tampa Bay 3, New York 1 — May 11-14 at Tampa Bay.

2014 Third Division standings and summary

The Kansas City Royals needed a strong playoff run to secure their promotion to the Second Division for 2015, and they got it. The Baltimore Orioles, who lost four straight to the Royals in the American League Championship Series, got it the other way.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Pittsburgh Pirates became a very good club in 2014, actually good enough to overcome a slow start and barrel into the Major League playoffs. Of course, we also saw what kind of club the Kansas City Royals became in 2014, advancing to the World Series.

Somewhat in parallel, the Pirates and Royals will advance to the Second Division in 2015 after finishing one-two in the 2014 Third Division. The Pirates won by an easy four games over the Royals, who finished three games ahead of their nearest threat, the 18-18 Seattle Mariners.

The Pirates finished 25-11 in the Third Division, and 20-6 of that came against the two teams that just dropped into the tier, the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. The Royals would have thrown second place wide open to the Mariners and Oakland Athletics if they had lost their wildcard playoff game to the A's, but they won that game and their next four against the Baltimore Orioles to solidify their position.

The Orioles, on the flip side, sealed their demotion by losing four straight to the Royals in the American League Championship Series. If the Orioles had won just two games in that series, they would have been saved. Instead, they are going down, along with the Miami Marlins.

2012 Fourth Division standings and summary

Following the Fourth Division results from 2012, the Kansas City Royals will be the last original bottom division team in 2013. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles are moving up.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals finally showed real signs of improvement within the Fourth Division in 2012. 

The Pirates and Orioles both improved enough to win Third Division promotion for 2013. The Royal remain the only team in the original 2010 Fourth Division to remain in the basement level.

The Pirates finished with the best winning percentage, though the Orioles didn't finish any games behind them. The Pirates, 79-83 during the Major League season, still didn't go to the playoffs, but the Orioles (93-69) entered as the second wild card in the American League.

The Houston Astros were spared a second consecutive cellar finish, thanks to the tumbling Chicago White Sox, who finished nine games from the top.

Harmon Killebrew Award: O's snag prize in sad city

The Harmon Killebrew Award ran straight into the unrest in Baltimore this week, with the Orioles taking the prize from the Chicago White Sox in a one-game meeting in an empty Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles now will defend the Killebrew as the home team in St. Petersburg this weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Chris Davis homered for the Baltimore Orioles in their meeting with the Chicago White Sox, shortened to one game in an empty stadium this week because of civil unrest stemming from alleged police brutality against a citizen (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).


By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

As it happened, the game played in an empty Camden Yards Wednesday between the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles had the Harmon Killebrew Award on the line. The White Sox had taken the Killebrew from the Kansas City Royals by marking two wins against them Sunday in Chicago.

Of course, riots broke out in Baltimore last weekend, the latest flare-up between interests so readily named as Blacks and police, but which is really about policy makers and Americans not asking the right questions about a swath of people made disposable by a global information economy.

No one has put it better than Orioles Chief Operating Officer John Angelos in a series of tweets:

"(M)y greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.

"The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, and ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importance of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights, and this makes inconvenience at a ballgame irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans."

Amen.

Friday, the Maryland State's Attorney General for Baltimore brought charges against six police officers, including one charged with murder, stemming from the death of Freddie Gray last weekend. All six officers were charged with assault and four were charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Under the circumstances, something as trivial as the Killebrew made barely a ripple. However, the Orioles hit as if their empty stadium were the setting for batting practice. They scored six times in the first inning, keyed by a three-run homer by Chris Davis against White Sox starter Jeff Samardzija.

The Orioles won the game, 8-2, and now take the prize to St. Petersburg, as it was decided that riot-torn Baltimore isn't a suitable place for baseball at the moment. The Orioles will play as the home team in three this weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays.

When last we left the Killebrew Award, the Royals had defended it in their first series of the season at home against the White Sox, then defended it with a sweep of the Angels. But the Twins took the Killebrew from the Royals by winning two of three in Minneapolis, then they defended it by winning two of three from the Cleveland Indians in the same location. The Royals snagged it back from the Twins when those two clubs played a return series in Kansas City before the White Sox took it from the Royals last weekend.

2015 Harmon Killebrew (American League) standings and results

Standings

                        W    L    P    T    G    D    A
Kansas City     10    5    5     1    12    2     4
Minnesota         5     4    3     1     6     1     2
Chicago            2     5    3     1     1     0     1
Baltimore          1     0    1     1     0     0     0
Cleveland          1     2     1    0     0     0     0
ANGELS          0     3     1     0     0     0     0

W — Wins. L — Losses. P — Times played for title. T — Titles won. G — Number of games that team held title after winning it. D — Title defenses. A — Title defense attempts.

Results
Kansas City 3, Chicago 0 — April 6-9 at Kansas City.
Kansas City 3, ANGELS 0 — April 10-12 at Anaheim.
Minnesota 2, Kansas City 1 — April 13-16 at Minneapolis.
Minnesota 2, Cleveland 1 — April 17-19 at Minneapolis.
Kansas City 2, Minnesota 1 — April 20-22 at Kansas City.
Chicago 2, Kansas City 1 — April 23-26 at Chicago.
Baltimore 1, Chicago 0 — April 29 at Baltimore.

2013 Harmon Killebrew Award standings and results

The Tampa Bay Rays made a big move in June and kept it going for two months, holding the Harmon Killebrew Award for an incredible 13 consecutive title defenses on their way to making themselves the Team of the Year in the competition for 2013.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

No team has ever produced a better two months in the corn competition than the Tampa Bay Rays in their pursuit of the Harmon Killebrew Award in 2013.

Going to late June, the Baltimore Orioles were the clear leaders with three victories and four title defenses in five attempts. The Rays had won it three times, but never with a successful defense.

All of that began to change June 24-26 in St. Petersburg, where the Rays snagged the Killebrew for the fourth time in a two-of-three win against the Toronto Blue Jays. From there, the Jays were unstoppable for two months, reeling off 13 consecutive title defenses and holding the Killebrew for 43 games, both all time records in any of the corn competitions. Their record in those games was 32-11.

And who knows how long the Rays would have held it had they not run into a one-game makeup of a previous postponement in Kansas City on August 26? The Royals won that single-game affair to take the prize from the Rays.

By then, though, it really was all over. The Rays finished 41-21 for the Killebrew. They set the all-time record with 13 Killebrew defenses. But they still, in many ways, fell short of the Texas Rangers' landmark 2011 season, which ended 44-22 with five titles and 12 defenses in 16 attempts.

2013 Harmon Killebrew Award results 

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

Minnesota 2, Detroit 1 — April 1-4, at Minneapolis.
Minnesota 2, Baltimore 1 — April 5-7 at Baltimore.
Kansas City 3, Minnesota 0 — April 8-10 at Kansas City.
Toronto 2, Kansas City 1 — April 12-14 at Kansas City.
Toronto 2, Chicago 2 — April 15-18 at Toronto (Toronto 17-8).
New York (AL) 2, Toronto 1 — April 19-21 at Toronto.
Tampa Bay 2, New York 1 — April 22-24 at St. Petersburg.
Tampa Bay 2, Chicago 2 — April 25-28 at Chicago (Tampa Bay 24-17).
Kansas City 2, Tampa Bay 0 — April 30-May 1, at Kansas City.
Kansas City 2, Chicago 1 — May 4-6 at Chicago.
Baltimore 3, Kansas City 1 — May 6-9 at Baltimore.
Baltimore 2, Minnesota 1 — May 10-12 at Minneapolis.
Tampa Bay 3, Baltimore 0 — May 17-19 at St. Petersburg.
Toronto 2, Tampa Bay 1 — May 20-22 at St. Petersburg.
Baltimore 2, Toronto 2 — May 23-26 at Baltimore (Baltimore, 29-27).
Baltimore 2, Detroit 1 — May 31-June 2 at Detroit.
Baltimore 2, Houston 1 — June 4-6 at Houston.
Tampa Bay 2, Baltimore 1 — June 7-9 at St. Petersburg.
Boston 2, Tampa Bay 1 — June 10-12 at St. Petersburg.
Baltimore 3, Boston 1 — June 13-16 at Baltimore.
Baltimore 2, Detroit 1 — June 17-19 at Detroit.
Toronto 3, Baltimore 0 — June 21-23 at Toronto.
Tampa Bay 2, Toronto 1 — June 24-26 at St. Petersburg.
Tampa Bay 2, Detroit 1 — June 28-30 at St. Petersburg.
Tampa Bay 3, Houston 1 — July 1-4 at Houston.
Tampa Bay 3, Chicago 0 — July 5-7 at St. Petersburg.
Tampa Bay 4, Minnesota 0 — July 8-11 at St. Petersburg.
Tampa Bay 2, Houston 1 — July 12-14 at St. Petersburg.
Tampa Bay 3, Toronto 0 — July 19-21 at Toronto.
Tampa Bay 2, Boston 1 — July 22-24 at Boston.
Tampa Bay 2, New York 1 — July 26-28 at New York.
Tampa Bay 1, Boston 0 — July 29 at Boston.
Tampa Bay 2, Seattle 1 — August 13-15 at St. Petersburg.
Tampa Bay 2, Toronto 1 — August 16-18 at St. Petersburg.
Tampa Bay 2, Baltimore 1 — August 19-21 at Baltimore.
Tampa Bay 2, New York 1 — August 23-25 at St. Petersburg.
Kansas City 1, Tampa Bay 0 — August 26 at Kansas City.
Kansas City 3, Minnesota 0 — August 27-29 at Minneapolis.
Toronto 2, Kansas City 1 — August 30-September 1 at Toronto.
Toronto 3, Minnesota 0 — September 6-8 at Minneapolis.
ANGELS 3, Toronto 0 — September 10-12 at Toronto.
ANGELS 2, Houston 1 — September 13-15 at Houston.
ANGELS 2, Oakland 1 — September 16-18 at Oakland.
ANGELS 2, Seattle 1 — September 20-22 at Anaheim.
ANGELS 2, Oakland 1 — September 23-25 at Anaheim.
Texas 4, ANGELS 0 — September 26-29 at Arlington.

2012 East League standings and summary

A thrilling season in the East League ended with four clubs finishing within 2 1/2 games of the top. In the end, the New York Yankees won the first East League title, thanks much to a huge day for second baseman Robinson Cano.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The East League began, in one man's imagination, in 2012, when interleague play put the teams of the American League East against those in the National League East. 

As Major League Baseball rotates the divisions for interleague play, the East League, like the Center and West Leagues, only convene only every third year. It's like the World Baseball Classic that way. We'd like to see it permanent, and have proposed a way to conduct the East, Center and West Leagues alongside the traditional American and National Leagues.

A couple of interesting results cropped up in the East League relative to the AL East and NL West divisions.

For example, the Washington Nationals won the NL East by four games over the Atlanta Braves. However, the Braves won the East League South Division by 2 1/2 games, with the Baltimore Orioles finishing second and the Nationals third.

The power in the East League clearly was in the South Division, with four of the five teams finishing 10 games above .500 or better. By contrast, the New York Yankees were the only North Division team to finish with a winning record, coming in 13 games ahead of the New York Mets.

Overall in the East League, the Yankees squeezed past the Braves by one-half game. The Yankees beat the Braves in four of their six meetings, all between June 11-20.

The Yankees, Braves and Nationals all had a chance entering the final weekend. The Braves were idle within the East League that weekend, but they held leads of one game against the Yankees and 1 1/2 against the Nationals. 

However, the Nats fell out of contention with a 2-0 loss at home against the Philadelphia Phillies on Oct. 1 Meanwhile, the Yankees won on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 at home against the Boston Red Sox, bringing themselves to a tie with Atlanta entering the final game of the regular season.

Needing only a win, the Yankees left no doubt about it in a 14-2 stomp, led by Robinson Cano's four-for-four day with two homers and six RBI. Thus, the Yankees, by one-half game, were the first champions of the East League.

In the real AL East competition, by the way, the Yankees led the Orioles by one game entering the final day. Their victory, along with Baltimore's 4-1 loss at Tampa Bay, gave them a two-game edge for the division title.

Killebrew: Kansas City keeps cruising

The Kansas City Royals defended the Harmon Killebrew Award with a three-game sweep at home against the Chicago White Sox during the opening series of 2015 for both teams. Now, the Royals take the Killebrew to Anaheim this weekend against the Angels, who will set out to avenge their playoff defeat to the Royals from last October.

Royals manager Ned Yost has his club on a tear with the Harmon Killebrew Award, which now has been in Kansas City's hands for five straight title defenses (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution/ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

In addition to their other breakthroughs in 2014, the Kansas City Royals made a huge move up as a player for the Harmon Killebrew Award, the traveling honor in the American League established in 2011.

As with their better known achievements, the Royals became a factor very late in the 2014 season. And they're a factor early in the 2015 season, defending the Killebrew with a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox in Kansas City this week.

The Royals have held the Killebrew for 15 games, going back to a two-of-three capture from the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland last Sept. 22-24. The Royals then won three of four from the White Sox to end the regular season before their wildcard (1-0 over the Oakland Athletics), divisional (3-0 over the Angels) and American League Championship Series (4-0 over the Baltimore Orioles) victories ended the 2014 season with the Killebrew in their hands.

With their rally, the Royals finished 2014 at 27-16 in Killebrew games, taking the prize four times and defending it six times in nine attempts. They also held the honor for 27 games, barely nudging past the Minnesota Twins (24 games) and the Detroit Tigers (23). The Twins won the Killebrew five times, the most of any club, but they only defended it twice in seven attempts. The Tigers only won it twice, but defended it five times in seven tries.

The Royals' combined effort for the 2011-13 seasons came to 26-18 with four titles and four defenses in eight tries. During those seasons, the Royals played for the Killebrew 14 times and held it for a total of 25 days.

Now, the Royals take the prize with them to Angel Stadium for a three-game weekend series against the Angels. Despite their 98-win output in 2014, the Angels seldom crossed paths with the Killebrew. They played for it only five times, finishing 7-8 with two titles, both of which they failed to defend.

Historically, the Angels are 51-41 in Killebrew games, having played for it 29 times and winning eight titles. They are 10-for-19 in title defenses, holding the prize for a combined 58 games.