Mets unify Northeast lineal, but Red Sox end 2019 with it

The New York Mets consolidated the Northeast traveling championship at the start of September 2019, but the Boston Red Sox held the title at the end of 2019 and will next defend it in 2021.

Though the American Northeast is saturated with the American League, it was in the National League where the lineal championship for this regional conference was established.

That occurred on Aug. 30-Sept. 1 in Philadelphia, where the New York Mets put their five shares up against the Philadelphia Phillies and their two shares. The winner would own the first lineal title in this seven-team region.

The Mets won two of three in that series to become the first Northeastern lineal champion. A week later, they became the first former champ when the Phillies took them down, two of three in New York. But the Phillies didn't hold it for long either. They lost both games of a two-game September series at home against the Boston Red Sox, who now have the title when the chase resumes in 2021.

However, two other teams, the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees, were the teams that actually performed best through the year, despite neither yet winning the title. The Indians were 25-14 in their games during the play-down, while the Yankees were 20-14.

Red Sox make mark, fly through First Division

The Boston Red Sox won their second First Division title in 2017, setting the record for the largest winning margin in the games behind column. The San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers fell to the bottom.

New to the First Division in 2017, the Boston Red Sox cruised to the title by five games on their partner in promotion, the Cleveland Indians.

The First Division title normally is a pretty tight affair, but the Red Sox ended the campaign with the largest margin in the history of this competition. The Red Sox won the inagural First Division in 2010 by four games on the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays claimed the 2011 top tier title by the same margin over the San Francisco Giants in the two previous largest margins.

The 2010 title was Boston's only previous First Division championship.

The Giants and Texas Rangers fell to the bottom of the First Division in 2017 and are headed to the Second Division in 2018. Coming up from the Second Division to the First Division are the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees.

The Diamondbacks will be in the First Division for the first time in their history. The Yankees were an original First Division team in 2010 but finished last in the tier in 2013 to be demoted and are headed back to the top level for the first time since then. The Yankees won the Second Division in 2017 by one game over the Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers, who missed the second promotional spot by percentage points.

The Detroit Tigers and New York Mets both won promotion to the Second Division for 2017, but both found the soup a little too thick at the higher level and they're both going back to the Third Division in 2018. In their place are the last two World Champions, the Chicago Cubs (2016) and the Houston Astros (2017), the top two Third Division clubs of 2017.

The fight to stave off relegation to the Fourth Division came down to two losers and one survivor, with the Miami Marlins coming out of it in the preferred position. The Seattle Mariners and Atlanta Braves are going down to the Third Division in 2018.

The Colorado Rockies and Minnesota Twins, easily the best two Fourth Division teams in 2017, are going up to the Third Division in 2018.

Cubs, Mets split Bud Selig East

A tight race in the Bud Selig East ended with no clear winner. The title ended in a split between the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs.

The Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets split the Bud Selig East in 2016.

For the Cubs, it was something of a repeat, as they won the Bud Selig East in 2015. For the New York Mets, it was something of a first-time championship. But it wasn't fully anything for either club. Half of a championship.

The Mets were the easy percentage winners – 46-26 and .639. But the Cubs, at 60-38 and .612, finished one game ahead of the New Yorkers. So, the title is shared.

The Mets are the fourth different club to win the title in the league's seven-year history. The Cubs have won twice, the New York Yankees have won twice, the Cleveland Indians have won twice and the Chicago White Sox have won once.

The Yankees, who won the American League-only Joe Cronin League in 2016, fared much worse in this regionalized mashing of the Joe Cronin and Chub Feeney Leagues, finishing 4 1/2 games off the pace.

Previous seasons:

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Mets capture Feeney title for first time

The New York Mets ripped through their Chub Feeney League schedule with a .644 winning percentage, taking the championship from the hard-charging Chicago Cubs.

The New York Mets won their first Chub Feeney League championship in 2016 in a whopping percentage points advantage over the Chicago Cubs.

The Mets, being the only Eastern team in the Feeney League, tends to play a lighter schedule. In 2016, the Mets plied that schedule for a 38-21 record and a .644 winning percentage. The Cubs, who play a much heavier schedule as a Midwestern club, finished the year 60-46, which only was one-half game behind the Mets in the games behind column, but their .595 winning percentage finished well behind the Cubs.

The Mets became only the third different team to win the Chub Feeney League in its seven years of existence.

The Cincinnati Reds won the first three championships, when the league included only six teams. When the league expanded to eight clubs in 2013, the St. Louis Cardinals began a three-year run with the title.

In 2016, the Cardinals finished in third place, four game behind the Mets.

Previous seasons:

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Rangers ride to interleague traveler win in 2016

The New York Mets, the early front runner for the interleague traveling championship in 2016, ended up falling in that pursuit to the Texas Rangers.

Jacob deGrom, pitching for the New York Mets, who came up short to the Texas Rangers in the interleague traveling championship in 2016 (Arturo Pardavila III/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

The traveling championship across big league baseball most frequently belonged to the Texas Rangers in 2016.

The New York Mets took the early lead, but the traveling championship spent so little time in the National League that they could never challenge after the Rangers won their championship.

Indeed, the Rangers and the Mets, the top two clubs in this contest, each only won one championship. Never before had the team holding the championship for the most days during the season won only one championship that year. In 2013, Team of the Year honors went to the St. Louis Cardinals, barely over the Boston Red Sox. Both of those clubs won two championships that year.

The Mets first took the title and sneaked it across league lines by winning two of three from the Cleveland Indians April 15-17 in Cleveland. The Mets then made eight title defenses before losing losing three straight to the Colorado Rockies in Denver May 13-15.

Before that happened, though, the Mets held the title for 27 games – exactly half of the 54 games that the championship would reside in the National League. It was the smallest amount of games that the championship has spent in either league since it launched in 2011.

The Texas Rangers took the championship from the Pittsburgh Pirates by winning two of three at home May 27-29. And the Rangers didn't let go until they lost two of three to the Minnesota Twins July 1-3 in Minneapolis. By then, the Rangers had held the prize for 30 games, nudging ahead of the Mets.

The Baltimore Orioles finished the year with three national traveling championships, most in the game. However, the Orioles failed to defend two of those titles even a single time, which led to them finishing third in the overall standings.

Following are the results in the national traveling championship, which we have informally called the Henry Aaron Award, for 2016. But first, here are links for the results in previous seasons.

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Mets play spoiler as Cards cop Feeney crown

In the National League, the New York Mets won the 2015 pennant. But in the Chub Feeney League, composed entirely of National League clubs, the Mets were spoilers, enabling the St. Louis Cardinals to prevail over the Chicago Cubs.

In the National League, the New York Mets won the 2015 pennant. But in the Chub Feeney League, they were spoilers.

With late help from the Mets, the St. Louis Cardinals won their third consecutive Chub Feeney League championship, this time by 1½ games over the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals have won all three championships since the league expanded to eight teams in 2013 due to the Houston Astros moving to the American League and, therefore, the Joe Cronin League.

The Cincinnati Reds won the first seasons of the league, 2010-2012, when it had six teams.

The Cubs held a one-half game lead, at 54-33, over the St. Louis Cardinals (54-34) entering the National League Championship Series, which happened to feature two Feeney clubs, the Cubs and Mets.

Of course, the Mets swept in four games, which didn't help their own case much. With the sweep, the Mets (37-31) still finished fourth in the Feeney League.

But the four losses killed the Cubs, who fell all the way to 54-37, finishing 1½  games behind the Cardinals.

Ruling pushes White Sox out of Fourth Division

We needed a special ruling in 2015 to dig up two teams to promote from the Fourth Division. As a result, the Chicago White Sox finally have escaped. along with the New York Mets.

The Fourth Division is always a little difficult to figure, and the 2015 race even required a special ruling.

We dislike special rulings and hope to have everything covered in the rules, but new contingencies arise in new enterprises like this.

The problem with the Fourth Division is that it's desirable to promote two teams (that is, after all, the practice), but the Fourth Division often doesn't have two teams that can make a strong case for promotion. Quite often, one team will wipe out the Fourth Division and leave no one else with a winning record.

With only six teams in the Fourth Division, games already are harder to come by, and the 2015 six came from five different Major League divisions. In the larger and higher divisions, there is more crowding and more games because of it. So, in those divisions, it is required that no team can be promoted without at least 10 wins, no team can be demoted without at least 10 losses, and any team being promoted or relegated must face at least three other teams within that division.

In the Fourth Division, being smaller, we say its necessary to play at least two of the other clubs in the division. What of the win requirement? The 10-win requirement never was really tested until the end of 2015.

Until then, we said that a team that doesn't win 10 within the Fourth Division can't be promoted unless it has won at least 70 percent of its games and there is no other team with at least 10 wins and at least a .500 record to be promoted in its place.

Ending 2015, though, neither of those conditions held.

So, we had the Chicago White Sox, 8-4 in the Fourth Division and clearly the leading team. If the White Sox had just won one more game to go 9-3, there would be no decision here, but 8-4 is just less than 70 percent.

It's murky in the Fourth Division, and it's hard to get out of there. The Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates were in the original Fourth Division in 2010 and it took them each three years to escape. The Kansas City Royals were a Fourth Division original needing four years to escape. The Houston Astros fell to the Fourth Division in 2011 and they're still not getting out. The White Sox fell to the Fourth Division in 2012 and they're just now getting out with a special ruling.

The Orioles and Mets are original Fourth Division clubs that found their way out and back. In 2014, for example, the Orioles were in the Third Division, battling with the Kansas City Royals for promotion to the Second Division. But when the two clubs met in the American League Championship Series, the Royals won a four-game sweep, pushing themselves up to the second tier and pushing the Orioles back into the Third Division basement and demotion back to the Fourth Division.

The Royals are moving up to the First Division in 2016 after splitting the Second Division title in 2015. Meanwhile, the Orioles are doomed to another Fourth Division season in 2016.

Elsewhere in the Fourth Division, the New York Mets are 16-13 in 2015, clearly receiving a promotion to the Third Division in 2016. But the Mets were the second-place team (.583). What about the first-place team?

Who would you promote instead of the White Sox? In third place, we had the San Diego Padres, 9-7. They present the same questions as the White Sox, except their record isn't as good. In fourth place, we had the Houston Astros, 8-8, hardly the breakout season we have seen in the Major League race. Next down, it's the Miami Marlins at 12-17 and the Baltimore Orioles at 8-12. Can't promote either of them.

So, the White Sox will join the Mets in promotion. And the promotion policy will remain as stated above, with one addendum: If there is no team with fewer than 10 wins and a winning percentage of 70 percent or better, and there is no team with at least 10 wins and a .500 record, then a team with fewer than 10 wins and a winning percentage of .600 or better will receive preference for promotion.

A rule change, which is being considered, would lower the promotional requirement to eight wins within the Fourth Division. Supporters of the change say it would be a more realistic measure of promotional merit in a smaller division. Opponents say the 10-win requirement promotes excellence.

We're not sure what promoting excellence is supposed to do with the Fourth Division, but we cite the Oakland Athletics, who were 25-7 in the Fourth Division in 2013. No one else in the Fourth Division had a winning record that year and the second promotion went to the Royals, who were 17-17. So, the A's and Royals went to the Third Division in 2014.

And it was interesting how the Third Division shook out in 2014. Pittsburgh came in as the clear winner at 25-11. At the end of the regular season, Kansas City was second at 11-10, but the A's (17-17) were right there, as were the Orioles (13-14).

As it happened, the American League playoff race took the Athletics to Kansas City for that year's wild card game in the American League. The Royals won, as everyone knows, and they later swept the Orioles, dropping them to last place in the division at 13-18.

So, with that wild card game, the fortunes for the Royals and A's changed a lot. The A's came back in 2015 as the last-place team in the Third Division, which means their immediate future is somewhere down below. They will be joined in the 2016 Fourth Division by the Colorado Rockies.

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.

East League: Flores, Mets fly to tie at top

New York Mets second baseman Wilmer Flores, all but unknown a week ago, has become a national folk hero this week, first for his public display of sadness when he thought the Mets traded him, then for beating the Washington Nationals almost by himself Friday night when it turned out the Mets didn't trade him. Flores pushed the Mets back into a tie on top of the East League.

Wilmer Flores must be happier than ever that he stayed with the New York Mets (slgckgc/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

First place in the East League is on the line this weekend in New York, where the Washington Nationals took a one-game lead over the New York Mets into three games at CitiField.

The Mets brought the East League back to a tie with a 2-1 win in 12 innings, punctuated by a walk-off homer for Wilmer Flores, the man who's tears filled television screens earlier this week after it had been thought he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in a deal that would have brought the Mets Carlos Gomez.

The television cameras caught Flores in tears Wednesday night as he stood on the field. The news had gotten around that he had been traded. In the seventh inning that night, with the Mets trailing, 7-3, Flores went to the plate and received a standing ovation from the Mets fans.

Flores entered Friday's game batting .249 with 10 homers, which doesn't make him even close to being the worst hitter the Mets send up there. But he became a sympathetic figure on the night when he really wasn't traded.

The deal fell through because, according to reports, the Mets were concerned about Gomez's health.

Subsequently, the Brewers traded Gomez to the Houston Astros and the Mets addressed their need for power hitting with a deal for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers.

So, Flores rose Friday night from sympathetic figure to hero, homering to win the game. Earlier, Flores made a highlight reel diving stop at second base in the top of the first inning, then he hit a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning.

Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey went 7 1/3 innings and allowed one run, giving up five hits and striking out nine batters. Washington starter Gio Gonzalez fell to his nibbling ways, leaving with two out in the fifth despite having allowed only one run. At that point, Gonzalez had thrown 105 pitches.

The Mets victory stopped a trend during the last six weeks in which the Nationals gained 5½  games as they played a heavy schedule in the East League and the Mets played mostly outside the East. From July 18 until Friday, the Nats were 12-6 in the East, compared with 1-6 for the Mets.

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.

2014 Bud Selig East standings and summary

Despite falling from first place in the Joe Cronin League, the Cleveland Indians defended their championship in the Bud Selig East. The Indians won the 2014 Selig East title by three games over the New York Yankees and four over the Tampa Bay Rays.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Cleveland Indians finished their 2014 Major League season at 85-77, three games out of the American League playoffs. But the eastern crop of teams in the Joe Cronin and Chub Feeney Leagues was so weak that the Indians still won the Bud Selig East for the second consecutive season.

The Indians finished 47-35, three games ahead of the New York Yankees and four ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays. Another interesting contrast between how the Major League season plays out and what can happen in a league like this. As subtraction tells us, the Indians were 38-42 against clubs that aren't in the Cronin or Feeney Leagues.

Among Bud Selig East teams, the Indians had the best Major League record, with the Yankees right behind them at 84-78. Every other team in the Bud Selig East was below .500 during the Major League season.

2014 Chub Feeney League standings and summary

The Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals went to the National League Divisional Series neck-and-neck on top of the Chub Feeney League. The Cardinals prevailed in that series, and in the Chub Feeney League. The Cincinnati Reds, who won the first three Feeneys, fell all the way to the league basement.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

Once again, the Chub Feeney League came down to the Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League playoffs. Once again, the Cardinals prevailed.

This time, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers in a four-game divisional series during the National League playoffs, securing a three-game margin on the Dodgers in the Chub Feeney. Entering the series, the Cardinals held a one-game lead on the Dodgers in the Chub Feeney League, so the Dodgers would have prevailed if they had won in three or four games. However, it went for the Cardinals.

The Chicago Cubs with their youth movement made a surprising run in the Chub Feeney League. Though the Cubs again finished last in the National League Central, they were 43-41 in the Chub Feeney League, putting them in third place, four games back of the lead.

The Cincinnati Reds, who won the Chub Feeney League in each of its first three years, plummeted all the way to the Chub Feeney basement in 2014, finishing 8½ games out of the lead.

2013 Bud Selig East standings and summary

The Cleveland Indians won their first Bud Selig East title in 2013, taking advantage of an expanded field to beat out the Cincinnati Reds and the Tampa Bay Ray. The Indians had never before finished higher than fifth in the Bud Selig East.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

Just as the Cleveland Indians made a big move up in the Joe Cronin League, they also came a very long way in the Bud Selig East as the 2013 season developed. 

In the first three years of the Bud Selig East, the Indians finished fifth twice and sixth once in a six-team circuit, never finishing within 13½ games of the lead. In 2013, though, the Indians dominated in every way, winning the league by 3½ games over the newly entered Tampa Bay Rays and five games over the Cincinnati Reds.

During the 2013 Major League season, the Indians finished 92-70 for the first wildcard. They ended up losing that wildcard game to the Rays.  

The Indians' rise in the Bud Selig East and the Joe Cronin League somewhat is in step with their rise in the American League Central division. The difference is that the Detroit Tigers stood between the Indians and the AL Central title, whereas the Tigers are no part of the Joe Cronin or Bud Selig Leagues.

2013 Chub Feeney League standings and summary

The St. Louis Cardinals won the expanded Chub Feeney by five games over the Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds, who had won the first three Feeney titles. The Cardinals clinched victory at the very end, when the beat the Dodgers in a six-game National League Championship Series.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The St. Louis Cardinals took full advantage of the new order in the Chub Feeney League, winning the loop by a comfortable five games over the Dodgers and the three-time defending champion Cincinnati Reds.

In fact, the Cardinals, Dodgers and Reds were the only clubs to break even or better in the expanded Feeney League. Among the newcomers, the best was the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished 41-42, 13 games out of first place.

The Dodgers had a chance to win it in the National League playoffs, as they faced the Cardinals during the championship round. Entering those playoff games, the Cardinals were 53-30 and the Dodgers were 38-21, so the Cardinals held a three-game lead. If the Dodgers had swept that series, they would have won the Feeney, and they would have tied the Cardinals for the Feeney if they had won the series in five games. 

Instead, the Cardinals won it in six, padding their cushion over the Dodgers in the end.

2012 Bud Selig East standings and summary

The Bud Selig East came down to a battle between the champions of the Joe Cronin and Chub Feeney Leagues. In the end, the Chicago White Sox out of the Cronin prevailed, beating the Reds by 1½ games. Oddly enough, the White Sox and Reds never played each other, even though the interleague schedule in the Major Leagues pitted the Central divisions of each league against each other.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

For the second straight year, the winners of the Joe Cronin and Chub Feeney Leagues were in the same Bud Selig division, the Bud Selig East.

So, it was a close race between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds for the Bud Selig East title. The White Sox prevailed by 1½ games. The Reds and White Sox should have played each other in 2012, as the Major League interleague play schedule put the AL Central against the NL Central. But the Reds, for whatever reason, didn't play the White Sox. Instead, they played the New York Yankees. And the Sox, instead of playing the Reds, played the Dodgers.

The Reds and White Sox played out a tight race even though neither club was especially good in interleague play. The Reds were 6-6 against teams from the Joe Cronin League and the White Sox were 7-8 against clubs from the Chub Feeney League.

2012 Chub Feeney League standings and summary

The Cincinnati Reds won the Chub Feeney League once again in 2012, making themselves the only Chub Feeney winner in the first three years of the competition. With the league expanding in 2013, the Reds will go down as the only club to win the Chub Feeney in its six-team configuration.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

For the third straight season, the Cincinnati Reds won the Chub Feeney League. They will, in fact, go into the books as the only team to win the Chub Feeney under its six-team configuration.

The Chub Feeney League will be almost unrecognizable in 2013. Because the Houston Astros are being moved from the National League to the American League, they also are being moved from the Chub Feeney League to the Joe Cronin League. That gives the Cronin seven teams and the Feeney only five, so an expansion will be necessary. For 2013, the Feeney League will add the Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres.

The St. Louis Cardinals finished 2½ games behind the Reds. Both teams went to the NL playoffs that year, but they did not face each other, or the Cards would have had an opportunity to win the league under the wire.

2011 Bud Selig East standings and summary

The New York Yankees won their second consecutive Bud Selig East title in 2011, beating the Cincinnati Reds by 7½ games. The Yankees claimed something of a double championship, as they also won their first title in the Joe Cronin League.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The New York Yankees cruised to their second consecutive title in the Bud Selig East in 2011.

Once again, it came to the Yankees against the Chub Feeney League champs, the Cincinnati Reds. However, the Reds faltered badly in their interleague games, going a combined 2-7 against the Yankees and Cleveland Indians. Thus, the Yankees prevailed over the Reds by 7½ games in 2011 after beating them by only one-half game in 2010.

The Reds actually finished closer to last place than to first place. The Chicago Cubs, the last-place team, finished 14 games behind the Yankees.

2011 Chub Feeney League standings and summary

The St. Louis Cardinals can claim the World Championship for 2011, but they weren't as good as the Cincinnati Reds in the Chub Feeney League. The Reds beat the Cardinals in the Chub Feeney by 1½ games after going 9-6 against the Cardinals during the regular season.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Cincinnati Reds won their second straight Chub Feeney League title in 2011, despite falling from the top of the standings in the National League Central.

After winning the NL Central in 2010, the Reds fell to 79-83 overall in 2011. However, they were 29-19 in 2011 against the NL Central teams in the Chub Feeney League — the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals. That gave the Reds the cushion they needed to win the Chub Feeney.

The Cardinals sneaked into the NL playoffs as the wildcard and won all the way through the World Series. But they finished 1½ games behind the Reds in the Chub Feeney League, and it was all in the win column. The difference was that the Reds beat the Cardinals in nine of their 15 meetings head-to-head.

2010 Bud Selig East standings and summary

A superior performance in games against Chub Feeney League clubs propelled the New York Yankees to the first championship in the Bud Selig East. The Yankees barely beat out the Cincinnati Reds, who won the Chub Feeney League.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The New York Yankees finished second in the Joe Cronin League in 2010, while the Cincinnati Reds won the Chub Feeney League.

But mix those two leagues together, throw in their interleague games and divide the whole thing in half, and you get different results. The Reds and Yankees both land in the Bud Selig East, which the Yankees won over the Reds by a mere ½ game.

The Yankees made up the difference with their 8-4 record against NL teams in the Bud Selig League (Houston, the Dodgers and the New York Mets). The Reds were 4-2 in their games against Joe Cronin clubs, but that difference between the Yankees and Reds in these games is a full game, which put the Yankees over the top.

2010 Chub Feeney League standings and summary

The Cincinnati Reds won the first Chub Feeney League championship, beating out the Houston Astros and New York Mets by more than four games. The Reds were the only Chub Feeney club to enter the National League playoffs.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Cincinnati Reds were the only National League playoff club in the Chub Feeney League, so it's not surprising that the Reds won the Chub Feeney League.

The Reds took the Feeney League by 4½ games over the Houston Astros and New York Mets, both of which had losing records in the National League and both of which were one game better than even in the Chub Feeney League.

By the NL standings, the St. Louis Cardinals were the second best team in the Chub Feeney League, but the Chub Feeney League standings (which, quite naturally, include only games among Chub Feeney League clubs), show the Cardinals in fifth place out of six teams.