Reviewing 2020, first half of 2021, in triennial baseball leagues

Of all the baseball leagues we run on these pages, the only one that actually happened in 2020 was the triennial regional alignment corresponding with the correct alignment for interleague play. We can compare 2020 with the first half of 2021.

It's the All-Star break in 2021 and we still haven't gotten around to publishing the results from the only baseball competition on these pages that survived coronavirus in 2020, the triennial regional leagues.

We track these leagues during the years, ideally one out of every three, in which MLB aligns the divisions for interleague play so east plays east, etc. In an ordinary season, if every team in both central divisions play each other, we end up with a round-robin, though still unbalanced, schedule of 96 games. And if we get rid of the National League and American League labels, the 10 teams in each of the three resulting leagues can be divided into two regionally interesting divisions.

As it happens, the ideal alignment for running these leagues actually has been popping up much more than every three years, due to travel cautions over coronavirus. Indeed, 2021 is the third year of the last four to be aligned this way, and the second year in a row. We tracked for the first time in 2015, the alignment returned in 2018 and it was going to come back for 2021, anyway, but 2020 was forced by the virus.

So, when we look at these leagues now for 2020, we can compare them directly with how they shape up at the All-Star break in 2021.

We'll start with the East League, where the Boston Red Sox show their cyclical tendencies. In 2015, the first year we tracked, the Red Sox were all the way down from their 2013 World Champions, 78-84, and in the East League they were 48-48, second division overall and second from the bottom of the North Division. 

The 2018 edition ended with the Red Sox dominating, as they actually did. In the East League, they were 68-28, 11 games ahead of the nearest contender. Over the full season, they won 108 during the regular slate, then won the World Championship with three playoff wins in which no opponent beat them more than once.

But we revisited the triennial leagues prematurely in 2020 because of coronavirus, and the timing was poor for the Red Sox, who perhaps didn't have enough time in a 60-game campaign and finished 24-36. Then again, Chris Sale was out for the year with Tommy John surgery, so it might have been to no avail.

We don't have this in the agate, but the playoff championship in the 2020 East League would have gone to the Rays. If two division champs in one of these leagues meets in the playoffs, we count that as the league championship series, and the Rays beat the North Division champs, the New York Yankees, in a five-game ALDS.

We come now to the All-Star break in 2021 and the Red Sox, still without Sale, are leading the East League, holding on tight with a two-game lead on the Tampa Bay Rays, who blitzed through last year's regional season with a 40-20 record, winning the East League overall and the East League South on their way to a six-game loss to the Dodgers in the World Series.

The very next year, this year, the Yankees are hapless against Eastern competition, 21-30 in this East League, protected from the bottom only by the Baltimore Orioles. Thus, it looks like the East League in 2021 will come down to the Rays and Red Sox, though the Toronto Blue Jays, third-place at the break, can be influential, as they are in the same Major League division.

The difference a year makes in the Center League is rather stark. In 2020, the Twins blew through a 60-game season at 36-24. They were the regular season champions across the league, the premiers, as they are sometimes called in Australia. 

At the All-Star break in 2021, the Twins were 39-50, a .438 winning percentage. In the Center League, they were much better, 24-27, .474. In the Center League, they're a middle entry, the top team in the second division. In the North Division, they're fourth out of five.

The Twins nosed out the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians by one game and the Chicago Cubs by two in a thrilling race last year. Through Sept. 18, the White Sox held a two-game lead on the Cubs, a three-game lead on the Twins and a five-game lead on the Indians. But the White Sox lost seven of their last nine. A six-game losing streak during that span involved getting swept four in Cleveland. Meanwhile, the Twins were winning four in a row, including two against the Cubs. By the final weekend, the Twins were a game up on the Sox, two up on Cleveland and three up on the Cubs. 

The Twins lost two of three during the final weekend at the Cincinnati Reds, who were fighting to enter the expanded playoffs. The Indians won two of three at home against cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cubs beat the Sox two out of three at the South Side venue. 

As the visiting Twins licked their wounds in Cincinnati, having lost a chance to clinch the Center League by losing, 5-3, on the final day of the season, the Cubs and White Sox were putting the finishing touches on a strange game. A loss by the Twins and a Sox win would tie them atop the final standings, and the Twins certainly lost. But anyone watching the scoreboard would also have given up on the Sox, who trailed, 10-1, after seven innings.

In the eighth, new Cubs reliever Brailyn Marquez really needed to just throw strikes with a 10-1 lead and six outs to get. But he walked the first two batters of the eighth before wild pitching them to second and third. A ground ball scored the lead runner. The next hitter struck out. The inning should have been over. Then, a walk, a hard single that advanced each runner two bases, a wild pitch, a double ... Then a new pitcher, another wild pitch and another hit. Five runs brought the White Sox within 10-6.

The second Cubs pitcher in the eighth, Duane Underwood, Jr., allowed a leadoff single in the ninth, followed by Yasmani Grandal's homer. 10-8. Two outs later, with a runner at third, still another reliever, Andrew Chafin, struck out Nomar Mazara looking at a 2-2 pitch. Game over. All around Minnesota, we presume, toasts were raised to Andrew Chafin for helping the Twins win the Center League and its North Division. The Cubs got to spoil the White Sox ... Chafin, by the way, was having quite a nice year for the Cubs in 2021 as a specialty left-hander out of their bullpen before they traded him just now to Oakland.

At the All-Star break in 2021, the White Sox and Indians have returned as contenders, but the Twins and Cubs have not. Instead, we see the Reds sitting one game behind the Sox at the pause. The Brewers, the top team in the 2021 NL Central, are strangely low in these standings, seven down at the break. In fact, the Brewers swept three from the Reds right after the break, and later won two of three from the White Sox, so they have moved to within five games of first place ten games after the break.

We've seen the Dodgers run hot before. The 41-8 run in 2013 was one for the ages. But the Dodgers were on just a slightly slower pace during the 2021 regular season, 43-17. Play at the clip over 162 games and you're finishing with 116 wins. Not happening.

So, the Dodgers won the West League without a fight. The San Diego Padres, up and coming, still were close to a week behind the Dodgers in the end. After the strong third-place Oakland Athletics, the remaining seven teams in the 2020 West League finished with losing records.

Flash forward to the West League in 2021 and we've got a smoking race with the Dodgers, Padres and San Francisco Giants all within a game of the top, and the Houston Astros three games down.

That was at the All-Star break, these standings. Since then, and including games through July 28, the Dodgers have found rough sledding in the west, going 6-6, including four losses in six games to the Giants. Those are the only games the Giants have played in the West, while the Astros were 5-1 against the West and the Padres were 1-1.

Put it all together and the Dodgers were tied with the Giants in first place, one game ahead of the Astros and 1½ ahead of San Diego.

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.

Indians fall short, Astros claim 2019 AL lineal

The Cleveland Indians, falling from the First Division in 2019, needed to snag a traveling championship to at least qualify for the Super League. But the Houston Astros outpointed them.

The 2019 lineal championship in the American League offered up five contenders, each with such a different story to tell that one longs for a bygone day when decisions about them did not have to be made.

But that day is not today. Now, we need to name a winner, and no such thing emerges from these standings. Fortunately, we've worked up criteria so we won't go to the Christmas holidays every year arguing with ourselves about it.

First, of course, we decide which clubs are entered into the glamorous criteria stat-off that will decide which club will win the Super League berth that goes to the winner. For that decision, we also have criteria, which amount to requiring some combination of championships and defenses adding up to five or more. Five teams made that cut: the New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners.

One interesting team that did not make it: The Toronto Blue Jays, who won the championship three times, tied at the top, but could not produce two defenses to go with them. Until mid-September, the Jays had only one undefended championship to their credit, but they then beat the Yankees two of three in Toronto before defending that title with a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.

Now, the Jays were two series of championship away from the stat-down, but it was not to be. The Yankees took them down in Yankee Stadium, two-of-three, Sept. 20-22. A week later, as the season ended, it happened that the Rays had taken the title from the Yankees when they arrived in Toronto. The Blue Jays won that series, putting themselves at three titles and one defense. All they needed was one defense to make cut. But the season was over.

Next, we run the five remaining teams through the criteria. The winner in each category gets a point, which is split in cases of ties. Here's how it ended up:

1. Most championships. (New York .5, Tampa Bay .5)

2. Most title defenses per championship. (Cleveland)

3. Best winning percentage in traveling championship games. (Houston)

4. Most victories per time playing for the championship. (Houston 2.22, Cleveland 2.14, )

5. Most games as champion per time playing for the championship. (Cleveland 2.71, Houston 2.44, New York 2.28)

6. Fewest failed challenges. (Houston, Cleveland)

7. Head-to-head record in traveling championship games (Houston).

The last of those, the head-to-head record in traveling championship games, really functions as a tie-breaker. The only teams worth considering are those that are within a point of the top when we get to it. In this case, those teams were the Astros and Indians. The Astros were 3-0 and the Indians were 2-1.

So, it was close, but the decision matters. The Super League goes to the Astros, who didn't need it because they finished in the top half of the 2019 First Division. The Indians, relegated to the Second Division, still could have gone to the 2021 Super League by winning this traveler. Didn't happen.

 

Yankees win 2019 First Division

The New York Yankees could have been caught on top of the First Division during the 2019 playoffs, but they weren't. They finished ahead of the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays.

Of all the sports in 2020, none took a worse hit for timing from the coronavirus than Major League Baseball (MLB), which was half into spring training when all went dark in mid-March.

The process of starting baseball again in 2020 was labored, in more ways than one, but the solution landed on playing as, in effect, three separate leagues during the regular season, then as two leagues in the postseason. The season, only 60 games, isn't enough for teams to really get around. 

So, we decided to suspend the usual alternative league configurations in baseball for 2020, simply because they weren't played. Same with the traveling championships. As an example, Colorado ended 2019 with the older circuit's lineal championship, but defending it in 2020 would have been a matter of just doing it against the four other clubs in the National League West. What's the point?

The only exception is that we ran the original version of the East, Center and West Leagues, as the compromise schedule in 2020 was accommodating Unlike the MLB season, the regional leagues here actually produced some interesting results.

The 2020 schedule also made the pyramid and the Elite League not feasible. Which means that when we pick these up in 2021, we will pick up from the 2019 results.

Let's, then, review the pyramid from 2019.

In the First Division, the New York Yankees entered the postseason in firm control of the lead. However, by its nature, the First Division is bound to produce many playoff teams and there's no telling in advance how the postseason will change the standings. 

It happens that the three leading First Division teams at the end of the regular season – the Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Houston Astros – all went to the American League playoffs.

Down two games to the Yankees, the Rays had the best chance of catching them in the playoffs. If they could have taken down Houston in the divisional series, even if it took five games, they still could have gone in front of the Yankees by sweeping them in the championship series. It was a stretch.

And it didn't happen, anyway. The Astros eliminated Tampa Bay in the divisional round, so they entered the championship series needing a sweep against the Yankees just to reach a tie at the top. As it worked out, the Astros won the championship series in six games and the Yankees pulled through the postseason with a one-game lead in the First Division.

So, a little drama came to us, but the outcome wasn't much in doubt. The Yankees won the First Division, the Astros rallied to second, the Rays dropped to third after losing their playoff series to the Astros, and the Dodgers finished fourth. All four teams will be in the 2021 Elite League, as the 2020 version was suspended because of adjustments to the coronavirus.

On the bottom of the top division, the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox struggled mightily in the 2019 First Division and now will try their luck in the Second Division as the new relegants in 2021.

The Milwaukee Brewers faced little opposition in the 2019 Second Division, ending with a five-game cushion on top, with the Minnesota Twins and the Washington Nationals behind them. The Twins will join the Brewers in the 2021 First Division. Both, along with the Nationals, will be in the 2021 Elite League. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers continued their declines in 2019 and finished that season at the bottom of the second tier. They are going to the Third Division in 2021.

The free-agent signing of Bryce Harper didn't help the Philadelphia Phillies into the 2019 National League playoffs. Did it help the Washington Nationals win the World Series? Either way, it might have been the difference for getting the Phillies out of the Third Division. The Oakland Athletics actually won the third tier, with the Phillies in second place, a robust 3½ games behind Oakland. 

The Phillies finished a mere one-half game ahead of the Seattle Mariners in the Third Division. That difference matters in these pyramids, because the top two Third Division teams are simultaneously promoted to the next season's Second Division and Elite League, while the third-place club gets neither.

The two worst teams in the American League Central Division, the Detroit Royals and Kansas City Royals, also were the worst two teams in the 2019 Third Division. Each is going to the Fourth Division in 2021.

The winners in the Fourth Division, easily, were the Atlanta Braves, who will be promoted to the Third Division and the Elite League in 2021. The Cincinnati Reds, finishing second in the Fourth Division, will go up to the Third Division in 2021.

Astros rule easily in South League lineal

The Houston Astros began the new South League lineal championship with the first defense in 2019, then they showed why that was the right call.

There was no better big-league baseball team in the American South than the Houston Astros before the 2019 season, and there certainly was none better during that season.

The Astros were the obvious pick to start the Southern lineal after winning 103 games and the American League West in 2018. The schedule makers did us a favor and pitted the Astros against another strong Southern club, the Tampa Bay Rays, to begin the 2019 season.

The Rays won that series, then defended the new title twice. The Astros won the title in May, then defended it twice.

Right after the Fourth of July, the Astros won it again. And they never lost it for the rest of the 2019 season. After 11 Astros title defenses, the schedule simply ran out.

So, the Astros mark up two titles and a gigantic 45 games of championship in first year of this effort. The Rays, with 10 games of title, finished second.

The only other teams to win the Southern championship in its first year were the Angels, the Cincinnati Reds and the Kansas City Royals.

Rays rally with big September for 2018 AL traveling title

The Tampa Bay Rays aren't saying a lot for their 2018 season, but their strong September run against playoff clubs put them ahead of the rest of the American League in the traveling championship.

The Tampa Bay Rays were going nowhere when the Boston Red Sox dropped into St. Petersburg on Aug. 24 with the American League traveling championship in hand. The Rays were 67-61 overall, which could happen to any club on a steady diet of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

The Rays were nine games behind the nearest playoff spot and 22½ games out of first place in the American League East. And they somehow salvaged something from their season.

The Rays are the Team of the Year in the AL traveling championship in 2018 for their 20-9 late to a 31-17 record for the season, which included 37 games of title defense. The Rays tied four other teams for the league lead with two championships, but the Rays came out on top in wins games of defense.

The Rays took the prize with a three-game sweep when the Reds Sox went to their dome, then they produced seven straight defenses. Counting the win against the Red Sox, four of the first five series in this title defense came against teams that would be in the playoffs. As they continued their streak, the Rays surpassed the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and the Houston Astros on their path to the top of the traveling championship standings.

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.

Mariners clobber Rays for third AL traveling title

The Seattle Mariners, the only team to win multiple American League traveling championships this year, did it for the third time this season with a three-game sweep at home against the Tampa Bay Rays during the weekend. The Mariners outscored the Rays 28-7.

Mike Zunino drove in 10 runs for the Seattle Mariners during their three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

The Seattle Mariners captured their third American League traveling championship of the season over the weekend, trouncing the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-game sweep. 

Neither the series not any game within it was ever close. The tightest contest was a 7-1 Seattle win on Sunday. The Mariners outscored the Rays 28-7 over the three games in Seattle. 

The Rays failed in their bid to become the first team to defend the American League traveler twice this year. They won it by taking two of three from the Minnesota Twins in Minnesota May 26-28, then defended it by winning two of three from the Texas Rangers in Texas May 29-June 1. 

The Mariners are the only club that has won the AL traveler more than once this season. They last held it with a defense May 5-7 against the Rangers in Seattle, only to lose four straight against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto May 11-14. 

The Mariners batted .362 and OPSed .971 in the three games against Tampa Bay (totals from baseball-reference.com). Mike Zunino led the way for Seattle with 10 RBI, including seven in a 9-2 victory on June 3. Nelson Cruz hit two homers for Seattle, leading the club.

Seattle will put the American League traveler up against Minnesota in a three-game series at home Tuesday through Thursday. The Mariners are second in the AL with 11 games of title defense, following the Angels, who have 16.

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.

First Division: Three ways the Rays do it

The Tampa Bay Rays weren't supposed to win this year, but they lead the American League East and they're thick in the race for the First Division and the East League. The Rays succeed by doing a lot right under the radar.

Tampa Bay pitching coach Jim Hickey is one of the main reasons the Rays keep winning (Wknight94/Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

We all thought it must have been good while it lasted, but we also thought it must be over. We all thought the Tampa Bay Rays couldn't win anymore.

After six straight winning seasons – five with 90 or more wins – the Rays fell to 77-85 in 2014, and the losses didn't end there. Within the same four months in 2014, the Rays traded pitching ace David Price, lost manager Joe Maddon to the Chicago Cubs and lost general manager Andrew Friedman to the Los Angeles Dodgers. That's a No. 1 starter and a brain trust gone from a team playing in a stadium no one likes, a team that couldn't afford big free agents even if it could attract them, and a team with little apparent appeal within its region.

But the Rays are back on top this year, leading the American League East and, incidentally, contending hard in the First Division. The question of the day: How do the Rays do it?

We don't have the answers, but here are three aspects of the Rays that we like, and which might, at least, pass for clues:

1. The pitching coach. About 10 years ago, it seemed as though FOX Sports was on a mission to make a media star of Jim Hickey, the Houston Astros pitching coach back then. Some of us got kind of tired of looking at him, and, anyway, who couldn't coach that pitching staff? The Astros has Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Brad Lidge, among others.

Hickey became Tampa Bay's pitching coach in 2007. The Rays don't have guys like Clemens, Pettitte and Lidge this year. They don't even have Price or James Shields. But, according to baseball-reference.com through June 24, they have the best ERA (3.28) and the best ERA-plus (121) in the American League, and they've thrown the second-most strikeouts (617).

None of this is unusual in Tampa Bay. In Hickey's first eight seasons as the pitching coach there (2007-14), the Rays led the AL in strikeouts (9,924), WHIP (1.28) and opponent's batting average (.247), while running second in ERA (3.94). That WHIP, according to the Rays' website, is the lowest over an eight-year period by any team since the New York Yankees hit the same number from 1976 through 1983.

By the way, the Rays are doing it right now with Matt Moore, Alex Cobb, Drew Smyly and Jake Odorizzi – all of whom would be in this rotation if they were healthy – making a total of 15 starts this season. Put those four healthy with Chris Archer and you've got an enviable rotation.

Jim Hickey can get it done without Clemens, Pettitte, Lidge, Price, Shields or any stars. This man can coach up a pitching staff. And he might be Reason No. 1 why the Rays are where they are.

2. Strong defense up the middle. So many teams under-estimate the importance of having guys who know how to defend behind the plate, at second base, at shortstop and center field. But if you're looking for a cost-effective improvement with under-valued skills – let's just say the whole world has caught up to on-base percentage by now. Strong defense up the middle is another matter.

The Rays are paying catcher Rene Rivera, second baseman Logan Forsythe, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier a combined $10.3 million this season – $7.5 million of it for Cabrera, who they signed this year as a free agent. By the count of baseball-reference.com through June 24, they combined for 3.0 defensive WAR. All of these players are plus defenders through their Major League careers.

You don't see the Rays give up many bases defensively. They don't hit enough to get away with that, and everyone knows it. When the Rays give up bases defensively, they lose. With good pitching and good defense, the Rays win, even if they are 13th in the American League with 273 runs scored.

3. Prime-aged players. Maddon made a fascinating remark when the Rays signed James Loney as a free agent before the 2013 season. It's safe to say that Loney's previous two franchises, the Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox, did not engage the Rays in a bidding war. But the Rays were glad to sign him, and Maddon noted at the time that Loney was 29, an age when a lot of players, Maddon said, start to figure it out.

Why don't the rest of us think like that? We'll see a player who's 27, 28, 29 and never made much impact in the Major Leagues, and we just suppose he's not worth the trouble because ... what? Because he's not going to have a Hall of Fame career?

We must be crazy. The Rays have it exactly right. They don't shop for Hall of Famers. But they will run a guy out there in his late twenties athletic prime so long as he can produce a little bit and not kill them fundamentally. They're happy to take his two or three good seasons, then move on. There are always a few guys lying around who are 28 or 29, just now figuring it out, and they're not expensive.

Every heard of Joey Butler? That's because he's 29 and never done anything. Until this year, when he's giving the Rays a 140 OPS-plus (.840 OPS), mostly as their designated hitter. Forsythe was a first-round pick by the San Diego Padres in 2008 and has never distinguished himself. But he's 28 now, playing a good second base and OPSing .824.

Rivera is 31, Loney is 31, Cabrera is 29, Evan Longoria is 29, David DeJesus is 35, Kiermaier is 25, Steven Souza is 26, Brandon Guyer is 29 and Jake Elmore is 28. That's the lion's share of Tampa Bays at-bats and defensive innings. It's a no-name group, and definitely not a young group. It's an experienced group and, to be sure, those experiences haven't all been glorious throughout their lives in professional baseball, but it is experience and it does matter. At the same time, it's not so much experience that the players are flat-up old.

The Rays do an awful lot well under the radar. That's why they're above everyone else in the American League East.

First Division: Dodgers dying again against top club

A trip to Dodger Stadium this weekend appears to be just what the San Francisco Giants needed to end a three-week run of losing baseball. The Giants solidified their teetering hold on first place in the First Division by winning the first two games of this weekend's series.

San Fransicso Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum will try for his third win of the season against the Dodgers Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium (Acordova/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

So, the San Francisco Giants are in Los Angeles this weekend, and we think, by now, that we know what that means.

It means that Friday night, within an hour of the first pitch in this weekend's three-game series, Dodgers starting pitcher Mike Bolsinger loaded the bases before hanging a breaking ball to Buster Posey, who put it very quickly into the left-field seats to give the Giants a 4-1 lead in the third inning. Grand slam.

The game kind of went on like that Friday night. The Giants won, 9-5.

Saturday afternoon, Dodgers right-hander Carlos Frias hung a two-strike, two-out pitch to Justin Maxwell, who turned it into a two-run homer to give the Giants a 4-2 lead in the fifth. Brandon Belt added a two-run homer for the Giants in the sixth, finishing off a 6-2 San Francisco win.

Middle-inning, game-breaking homers are the kind of events markinig encounters this season between the Dodgers and Giants. The Giants have won nine of those 11 encounters already this season. By early Saturday evening, this series was more of the same.

A visit to Dodger Stadium has come as something of a tonic for the Giants, particularly in the First Division, where their lead was diminished to one-half game this week while the Tampa Bay Rays took three of four from the Washington Nationals. With their wins on Friday and Saturday, the Giants (14-4 in the First Division) are back to a 1½ games ahead of the Rays (13-6) in the top tier.

From a more conventional perspective, the Giants had been less than an ordinary club for the last three weeks. Starting on May 30, they lost two straight to the Atlanta Braves, then three straight to the Pittsburgh Pirates, all at home. They went on the road to win two of three against both the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, hardy a signature achievement.

Then the Giants came back west to lose three straight against the scuffing Arizona Diamondbacks and split four games against the wuffling Seattle Mariners.

Sounds like a ball club that needed a visit to Dodger Stadium for a set of games against more than $250 million of baseball talent assembled by the brain power of elite universities.

At some point after watching the Dodgers consistently die against the best clubs, we have to stop being mystified. Until the Dodgers can beat some of the best clubs, we can't say they're one of them.

In the First Division right now, the Dodgers are 6-15, the last-place team by a two games. That includes a combined performance of 4-14 against the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.

The good news for the Dodgers right now is they won't have to worry Sunday about facing San Francisco left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who already has beaten them twice this season. But they do have to face right-hander Tim Lincecum, who also has beaten them twice this season.

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.

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 Joe Cronin League standings and summary

The Angels took the Joe Cronin League in a dominant performance in 2014. The Angels' .704 winning percentage was the highest ever in the Joe Cronin, the Chub Feeney or either Bud Selig League. The Angels won it by 10 games over the defending champions, the Cleveland Indians.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Angels came from almost nowhere to win the Joe Cronin League in a romp in 2014.

In four previous seasons, the Angels never finished within five games of the Joe Cronin League lead. But they cruised in 2014 to a 50-21 record. Their .704 winning percentage was the highest ever in the Joe Cronin, Chub Feeney or Bud Selig Leagues.

The Angels finished 10 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians, who were defending their 2013 Joe Cronin championship. The Texas Rangers, who finished only three games behind the Indians in the 2012 Joe Cronin standings, fell all the way to last place in 2014, 22 1/2 games behind the Angels.

Finishing 29 games over .500 in the Joe Cronin League, the Angels built about half of that cushion against their Joe Cronin competition from the American League Central, hitting a combined 17-3 against the Indians, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins.

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 Joe Cronin League standings and summary

The Cleveland Indians improved from worst to first in the expanded Joe Cronin League, winning a red hot race with the Texas Rangers by three games. The Indians did all of their damage against the Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

A new alignment in the Joe Cronin League helped to produce a worst-to-first scenario.

Because the Houston Astros were moved in 2013 from the National League to the American League, they also had to be moved from the Chub Feeney League to the Joe Cronin League. In the interests of evening out all of these leagues, it became necessary to add an eight team to the Joe Cronin League, leading to the addition of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays made a nice showing in their Joe Cronin debut, finishing in third place. But the winners were the Cleveland Indians, who finished last in the Joe Cronin League in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, the Indians rolled over the Joe Cronin League, much as the Chicago White Sox did in 2012.

The Indians actually were much better than that, 48-22. Despite their dominant .686 winning percentage, the Indians still won the Joe Cronin League by only three games over the Texas Rangers, who were 46-26. The Rangers finished with a .639 winning percentage, same as the Rays. But the Rays were 39-22, so they finished 4 1/2 games behind the Indians.

The Indians were a combined 36-9 against the White Sox, Astros and Minnesota Twins, meaning they were only 12-13 against the other Joe Cronin teams. The White Sox fell hard in the league, all the way from first place to seventh, 23½ games behind the Indians.

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 First Division standings and summary

The Angels survived a minor postseason scare and hung onto the First Division championship, taking the top-level title for the first time. They nosed out the St. Louis Cardinals. The Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds both battled injuries and did poorly in the 2014 First Division competition, earning demotion for 2015.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

An interesting race took place for the First Division championship between the newly promoted Angels the top-level stalwart St. Louis Cardinals in 2014. The Angels won it, but by only one-half of a game.

The Angels held leads of 1 1/2 games on the Cardinals and Dodgers at the end of the regular season and entering the divisional playoff round, which pitted the Cardinals and Dodgers against each other.

If the Cardinals or Dodgers would have swept that series, then that team would have tied the Angels in the games column, though the Angels still would have and had the best winning percentage. As it happened, the Cardinals won the playoff series, 3-1, to finish one-half game behind the Angels, while the Dodgers fell to 2 1/2 games back.

The Angels became the third straight freshly promoted team in four years to win the First Division, and the second straight.

The Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers both endured injury-scathed campaigns and got themselves demoted for failing to hang with the First Division. The Rangers became the second consecutive team to win the First Division one year, then get demoted the next.