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.

Jays quickly reclaim interleague traveler for AL

The Cincinnati Reds defended the interleague baseball traveling championship for only three days before losing it back to the American League. The Toronto Blue Jays took it from the Reds with a prodigious surge of home run power.

Russell Martin batted .500 with two homers as the Toronto Blue Jays reclaimed the interleague traveling baseball championship from the Cincinnati Reds with a three-game sweep (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

It was fun while it lasted, perhaps, but it didn't last for very long.

About as quickly as the Cincinnati Reds won the traveling championship across big league baseball, securing it for the National League for the first time since the middle of last August, they lost it.

The Reds did defend it once. After winning the title by capturing the only game of a rain-shortened one-game series against the Cleveland Indians on May 24, they defended it by winning two of three on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies.

But the schedule then sent the Reds to Toronto for three games to be played May 29-31. The Toronto Blue Jays were waiting with their home run bats. The Jays beat the Reds in all three games they played, outscoring their visitors by a combined 28-10. A 17-2 win in the opener had a lot to do with that total margin.

Here is the rendering from baseball-reference.com of how the Jays hit against Cincinnati. The Jays hit nine homers – two by Russell Martin and one each by seven other players. Ezequiel Carrera had six hits for Toronto in the series, followed by Martin, Kendrys Morales, Jose Bautista and Devon Travis with five each.

The Jays are at home against the New York Yankees this weekend, with the Yankees winning two of the first three games. The final game of the series is on Sunday. If the Jays win, they will gain a split in the series and maintain the interleague championship, which does not change hands in a split series.

Seattle secures first title in tight MacPhail League

The Toronto Blue Jays, across the full schedule, were the best team in the Lee MacPhail League. But considering only the games within those clubs, the title went to the Seattle Mariners.

Though the Lee MacPhail League included a very strong 2016 postseason club in the Toronto Blue Jays, the Jays were outgunned for the league championship by the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners finished 31-22 and .585, two games ahead of the Blue Jays and their 34-29, .540 production.

But it was a tightly packed league, with all seven teams finishing within seven games of each other. The basement club, the Baltimore Orioles, were 30-35 and .462, seven games out of first place.

Playoff push takes Dodgers to First Division title

The Dodgers won their first title in the First Division, rallying past the Washington Nationals during the playoffs to break open a five-way race.

Clayton Kershaw finished off the Washington Nationals in the playoffs, nailing down the First Division championship for the Dodgers (Tony the Tiger/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license).

The Dodgers, who have spent as much time in the First Division as anyone, finally won the premier league crown in 2016. Playoff results, which are included in our baseball divisions, dramatically turned the race for the Dodgers.

The Texas Rangers actually led the top division at the end of the regular season, 14-9 with a winning percentage of .609, one-half game ahead of the second-place Dodgers at 21-17 and .553. But the post season included two series in the divisional round pitting First Division performers. The Dodgers were to play the Washington Nationals, while the Rangers were to face the Toronto Blue Jays. All four of those clubs, plus the San Francisco Giants remained in the championship hunt during the postseason.

The Giants also were in the playoffs, going against the Chicago Cubs in the first round. If the Giants and Dodgers had both won in the first round, they would have met in the National League Championship Series, possibly with the First Division on the line.

Entering the first round playoff games of Oct. 11, the picture boiled down, just a little. The Rangers had taken themselves out of contention by losing in three straight against Toronto. The Dodgers and Giants both were down, two games to one, in the playoffs. So, the Giants (21-18, .538), Dodgers (22-19, .537), Blue Jays (22-19, .537) and Nationals (14-12, .538) all were rather stuck together.

October 11 was the day of Game Four both for the Giants/Cubs and the Dodgers/Nationals. But the Giants lost their Game Four to the Cubs, thus losing the series in as many games and missing their chance to face the Dodgers in the next round. Meanwhile, the Dodgers took a 5-2 lead in their Game Four against the Nationals, who then tied it with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Then the Dodgers regained the lead with Chase Utley's base hit to drive in Andrew Toles in the bottom of the eighth, and Kenley Jansen saved the ninth for a 6-5 Dodgers win.

Now, it came down to Game Five for the Dodgers and Nationals. The Dodgers were 23-19 and .547, first place, but barely ahead of the Giants (21-18, .538) and the Blue Jays (22-19, .537). The Nationals were 14-13 now, falling out of the race even if they were to win Game Five. With a loss, the Dodgers would have finished in a tie with Toronto and the Giants in the games back column, with the Giants leading by one percentage point, the slimmest of margins for the First Division title.

But the Dodgers wiped out that controversy with their 4-3 Game Five win against the Nationals at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers brought in Clayton Kershaw in a save situation, and, somehow, the Nationals resorted to Wilmer Difo as their two-out hitter with the tying run at second base in the top of the ninth. Kershaw struck out Difo in three pitches, giving the Dodgers, at 24-19 and .538, the undisputed First Division lead.

It remained that the Dodgers and Blue Jays could have met in the World Series with the First Division on the line between those two clubs. But neither club made it that far, the Dodgers falling to the Cubs in the National League Championship Series and the Jays losing to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series.

So, the 2016 standings in the top two divisions divisions ended like this:

We forewarn the Dodgers, though, that defending the First Division championship is a perilous station. For the last four years, a team defending the title fell to the relegation zone the very next year and was banished to the next level down.

In 2016, that team was the St. Louis Cardinals, the last standing charter member of the First Division in 2010 without since then being relegated. But once the Cardinals claimed their first share of a First Division title in a split with the Tampa Bay Rays and San Francisco Giants in 2015, they plummeted to 9-18 in 2016, last place in the top tier. They will be joined in relegation by the Kansas City Royals, who had just been promoted to the high level for 2016.

With the Cardinals now gone, Tampa Bay is the longest running member of the First Division, winning promotion to the top division in 2011 and staying there since. For all of their larger apparent troubles, the Rays hang tough every year against this high level of competition. Even in 2016, when they didn't contend, they still finished 19-20.

In fact, the Rays are the last team to win the First Division outright without being relegated the next season. They entered league and won it in 2011, then finished within a game of the top in each of the next two seasons before claiming a share of the 2015 title.

The New York Yankees won a First Division title in 2012 and earned relegation a year later. The same happened with the Texas Rangers, who won it in 2013, and the Angels, who won it in 2014 before it happened to the 2015 co-champion Cardinals in 2016.

Through the regular season, the Cleveland Indians were an afterthought in the Second Division – fifth place 13-10 and .565, well behind the first-place Boston Red Sox at 25-14 and .641. The second promotional position was held by the Pittsburgh Pirates (20-15, .571), barely over the Milwaukee Brewers and the Yankees, both 20-16 and .556.

But the Indians had an opportunity that the Pirates, Brewers and Yankees did not have – a divisional playoff series against the Red Sox. Winning three straight against the Red Sox, the Indians hoisted themselves through the standings, all the way up to the winning percentage portion of the Second Division title at 16-10 and .615, but still behind the Red Sox (25-17, .595 ) in the games column.

A key performer for the Indians, reliever Andrew Miller, notched the victory in Game One, then pitched two key shutout innings in Cleveland's clinching 4-3 win in Game 3 against the Boston Red Sox (Artura Pardavila III/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).

Thus, the Indians and Red Sox are the two clubs being promoted to the First Division in 2017, replacing the Royals and Cardinals, who will come down from the First Division to the Second Division. At the bottom of the Second Division, the Angels and Atlanta Braves appear joined at the hip in their decline. Both were freshly demoted to the Second Division in 2016, and both are being demoted again, to the Third Division, in 2017.

The Detroit Tigers, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs dominated the Third Division in 2016. Each had a Third Division patsy within its regular big league division, and each took advantage. The Tigers were 15-4 against the Minnesota Twins, the Cubs were 15-4 against the Cincinnati Reds, and the Mets were 12-7 against the Philadelphia Phillies.

By being just a nudge better, nine winning percentage points, the Phillies staved off the Twins and averted relegation. The Reds, who finished in last place, are to be relegated, with the Twins, to the Fourth Division in 2017. The Twins, a charter First Division club in 2010, now are headed to the bottom level.

On the top of this heap, the Tigers were unstoppable. They roughed up the Twins pretty good, but they also were 20-12 against their other Third Division opponents and notched winning records against every such team that they played. At 35-16 and .686, the Tigers needed every bit of it to avoid sharing the division championship with the Mets and Cubs.

The Mets were the second-place team, 28-13 and .683. The Tigers, playing so many more games, still won the games column by two, but barely finished ahead by percentage. The Cubs were right there, too, 26-13 and .667. However, the Mets won five of their seven games against the Cubs to secure Second Division promotion with the Tigers in 2017.

Coming down from the Second Division and replacing the promoted Tigers and Mets in the Third Division are the Angels and Braves. Neither team seems likely to become a noise maker in the Third Division.

The more likely Third Division noise makers figure to be the teams coming up from the Fourth Division, the Houston Astros and the Miami Marlins. The Astros became a strong club across big league baseball in 2015, but only now have they been able to escape from the Fourth Division dungeon, a house of horrors they first entered in 2011.

The Fourth Division is loathe to give up good teams that fall into its clutches. The Baltimore Orioles fell to the Fourth Division in 2015. Last year, in their second attempt to escape, they finished at the bottom of this lowest division for the second straight time.

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.

Harmon Killebrew Award: Jays to tackle Twins for trophy

Two teams with very different fortunes in the Harmon Killebrew Award will meet for the prize Sunday in Minneapolis, where the Minnesota Twins will meet the Toronto Blue Jays in the rubber game of their three-game series. The starting pitcher for each club has been through some strange times this year.

Drew Hutchison will try to pitch the Toronto Blue Jays to their first Harmon Killebrew Award in more than a year Sunday afternoon in Minnesota (Keith Allison [cropped]/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

In addition to being named after the greatest player in their history, another prosperous relationship has cropped up between the Minnesota Twins and the Harmon Killebrew Award. 

The Twins are winning it. The Twins lead the American League this year with two Killebrew captures, a record of 13-7 in Killebrew games and 14 days with the prize in 2015. And they're going for their third consecutive title defense Sunday at Target Field, when they take on the Toronto Blue Jays in the rubber game of a three-game series. 

The Twins also won the Killebrew five times in 2014, more than any other club. In the three years that the Killebrew was observed before 2014, the Twins won it a total of three times.

By stark contrast, the Blue Jays haven't won the Killebrew since Sept. 1, 2013, when they completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. The Jays made only one successful title defense, sweeping the Twins Sept. 6-8 at Target Field. Last season, the Jays played for the Killebrew only once, losing two of three last April 15-17 in Minneapolis as the Twins made their only successful defense of their first Killebrew in 2014. The Blue Jays, who are taking their first crack at the Killebrew in 2015, were the only American League club to not win the Killebrew in 2014.

Sunday's pitching match-up presents a rather odd mix of ill and good fortune. The starting pitchers, Ricky Nolasco for the Twins and Drew Hutchison for the Blue Jays, both are sitting on a 5.12 ERA this season (around 30 percent higher than the American League ERA of 3.92 entering Saturday's games) and, yet, they have a combined record of 9-2, with Nolasco at 5-1 and Hutchison at 4-1.

We might write off Nolasco's ERA as an artifact of his first start, a disastrous performance in which he allowed six earned runs in three innings of an 11-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on April 8. Right after that, he went on the disabled list with inflammation in his right elbow. He has come back to go 5-0 this month, even though his ERA is of 3.77 in those games is more befitting a 3-2 pitcher. But the Twins have scored 32 runs in those five starts, averaging 6.4 runs of support per outing. That will make almost anybody 5-0.

Another oddity about Nolasco is the huge differential between his ERA and his Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) mark of 2.86. His ERA is a whopping 2.26 runs per nine innings higher. Nolasco has helped bring that about by allowing only one homer in his 31 2/3 innings this year, an average of 0.3 homers per nine innings. For his career, Nolasco allows 1.1 homers per nine innings, almost a full home run more.

According to Fangraphs.com, the 2.26 run differential between Nolasco's ERA and his FIP is the third-highest in the game among pitchers with at least 30 innings this year, behind the Miami Marlins' Mat Latos (2.66) and the Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg (2.58). Nolasco's Twins teammate, Trevor May, is fourth on the list at (1.96).

By the numbers, as one might expect from all that, the Twins aren't much of a defensive team. Entering Saturday's games, Baseball-reference.com put their defensive efficiency at .691, 11th in the AL and below the league average of .697. Baseball-reference also puts the Twins at minus-0.9 in defensive WAR and minus-11 in fielding zone runs above average. Not exactly according to form when we look at the better Twins teams General Manager Terry Ryan has put together through the years.

Hutchison also appears high on the Fangraphs list of ERA/FIP differential, 11th across the Major Leagues at 1.39. It's different with the Jays, though, as baseball-reference marks them up as a good defensive team – second in the AL at 25 zone runs above average (the Kansas City Royals lead with 26), tied for fifth at .705 defensive efficiency and 2.2 runs to the good in defensive WAR. 

Somehow, apparently, the Jays don't support Hutchison defensively they way they support their other pitchers. But they support Hutchison huge offensively. They have averaged 7.03 runs of offense in his 10 starts, and have scored fewer than six runs in his starts only twice.

In four different starts this year, Hutchison left the game in fewer than five innings, allowing four, six, six and seven earned runs in those starts. In every case, the Blue Jays scored enough to take him off the hook for the loss.

Hutchison was pretty good in his last start, though, tossing a complete game, four-hit shutout while striking out eight and walking no one for a 6-0 win against the Chicago White Sox on May 25.

If he shows up that way Sunday, the Jays are quite likely to win the Harmon Killebrew Award for the first time in more than a year, breaking the longest drought in the league.

2014 Second Division standings and summary

The Toronto Blue Jays have won promotion for the second straight season, finishing with more wins than any other Second Division team in 2014. The Blue Jays will join the San Francisco Giants in promotion to the First Division in 2015, while the Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks are going down.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Toronto Blue Jays, who were stuck in the Third Division for four years, suddenly are headed to the First Division after two consecutive years of promotion.

The Blue Jays will join the San Francisco Giants on their way to the top tier. The Giants won the Second Division in 2014, and they did it without a single postseason game on their way to the World Championship counting in their Second Division totals.

The Giants were solid throughout the year in Second Division games, finishing 22-9. The Blue Jays played a lot and won a lot, going 32-22 for second place. The New York Yankees made a strong bid for promotion back to the top tier, but finished 31-24, 1 1/2 games down to the Jays.

The season went down disastrously for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox, both of which are going down to the Third Division for 2015. Since their promotion to the Second Division after the 2011 season, the Diamondbacks made little impact at that level. The Red Sox, demoted to the Second Division after the 2012 season, now have a long road back to the top.

2013 Third Division standings and summary

The Toronto Blue Jays finally are moving up from the Third Division after three straight near misses. They are joining the Cleveland Indians, who romped through this group. On the other side, the Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies are being demoted together for the second straight season. They're both headed to the Fourth Division in 2014.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Toronto Blue Jays are the perennial bride's maids in the Third Division, never finishing more than two games from promotion in the first three years of these standings.

At last, they move up. The Jays finished 22-18 in 2013, second place in games (five behind), though third in winning percentage (.550). The Pittsburgh Pirates finished 9-7 and would have nosed out the Jays if they had won one more game.

The Cleveland Indians trounced through this group with a 28-14 mark, so they receive the first promotion to the Second Division in 2014. The Indians have climbed slowly, but steadily, needing two years to pass though the Fourth Division, then another two years to pass through the Third Division.

The Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies have become partners in futility. Both are being demoted for the second straight year, so they are headed to the Fourth Division in 2014. The Twins have fallen from the First Division to the Fourth Division in the shortest possible time, taking three straight demotions.

2012 Third Division standings and summary

The Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers won the promotion sweepstakes from the Third Division in 2012 to the Second Division in 2013. The Nationals stomped through this group with a .654 winning percentage, while the Brewers have earned their second consecutive promotion.

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The New York Mets and Cleveland Indians have been to the Fourth Division before. The Mets are going back. The Indians are saved by a technicality.

The Mets were a clear choice for relegation, finishing the furthest out of first place and with the second worst winning percentage in this group. The Indians (7-10) had the worst winning percentage, tying with the San Diego Padres at 9 1/2 games back. However, the Indians played only the Toronto Blue Jays and the Miami Marlins within the Third Division, short of the three opponents needed for promotion or relegation. So, the Padres are going down the the Fourth Division in 2013.

The winners in this group were the Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers. The Nationals finished 34-18 to win this race by 7 1/2 games over the Brewers. But the Brewers were the only other club with a winning record in the Third Division, clinching their rise from the Fourth Division to the Second Division in two years.

2010 Third Division standings and summary

The Cincinnati Reds blitzed through the Third Division to win easy promotion to the Second Division for 2011. The San Diego Padres beat out the Toronto Blue Jays by one game to earn the second promotion. Going down to the Fourth Division in 2011 are the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Arizona Diamondbacks had a bad enough record in 2009 to be assigned the Fourth Division in 2010, but they won a tiebreaker with the New York Mets.

Somehow, though, the Third Division suited the Diamondbacks. Although they finished their Major League season 65-97 for the second worst record in the National League, they finished 19-23 in this Third Division group and easily escaped relegation for 2011.

The Cincinnati Reds, who won their first full-season Major League division since 1990, were the class of this group, earning the first promotion to the 2011 Second Division by five games. The San Diego Padres won a close race with the Toronto Blue Jays for the second promotion.

On the bad side, the Houston Astros were starting their long downward slide and got themselves kicked down to the Fourth Division for 2011, but they didn't struggle in the Third Division quite as badly as the Milwaukee Brewers, the last-place team in this group and, therefore, the first to be relegated for the following season.

2013 Henry Aaron Award standings and results

The St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox could have played in October 2013 to decide who would carry the Henry Aaron Award into 2014, but they merely met in the World Series. The Cardinals barely nosed out the Red Sox as the Team of the Year for the interleague prize.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

For the first time in history, the Henry Aaron Award didn't go into the postseason.

But that didn't keep the two World Series teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox, from staging  a tug-of-war for the prize. They just didn't play for it in the World Series.

It was a tough call for Team of the Year in the Aaron. The Cardinals finished 22-14 with two titles, seven defenses in nine tries and 26 games with the title. The Red Sox were 23-11 with six defenses in eight tries and 23 games with the title.

The Red Sox won the World Series and held a slightly better record in Aaron games than the Cardinals, but the Cardinals received the nod for Aaron Team of the Year for that one extra title defense.

The Cardinals completed their body of work in mid-May with a nice run of four defense after taking the Aaron from the Milwaukee Brewers with a four-game sweep May 2-5 in Milwaukee.

The Aaron moved to the American League at the tail-end of May and stayed there for most of the balance. When the Red Sox took it from the Dodgers with two-of-three at Dodger Stadium Aug. 23-25 the momentum took a big shift. The Red Sox held the prize for six defenses before losing two of three in Baltimore Sept. 17-19.

At season's end, the Toronto Blue Jays took two-of-three from the Tampa Bay Rays in Toronto, capturing the prize. However, because the Jays didn't go to the postseason, the trail ended there.

If the Red Sox had held the Aaron and taken it into the playoffs, they surely would have been the run-away winner in all categories. But their six-game World Series win against the Cardinals, though important in its own right, had no bearing on the Aaron competition.

2013 Henry Aaron Award results 

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

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

Second wild card starts race to the middle

Now that fifth best in some league is good enough to reach the playoffs, even the worse clubs know they're only one or two good players and a dozen good bounces from surviving to October. Thus the distance from the middle of the league to the bottom is shorter than ever.

Nathan Eovaldi, traded by the Dodgers to the Miami Marlins for Hanley Ramirez, now is helping the Marlins into the National League playoff race (Cbl62 at en.wikipedia/Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike Unported 3.0 license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The two weeks between the quarter pole and the one-third mark changed the face of the baseball season, or at least brought it into focus.

The divisional races became much thinner, particularly after the first weekend in June, which ended with the first-place Oakland Athletics sweeping the second-place Angels in the American League West and the first-place Atlanta Braves sweeping the second-place Miami Marlins in the National League East.

The divisional races already were looking weak. Three weeks ago, though, the leads in two divisions were one-half game and the leads were within four games in three others. But as of June 2, every division leader had at least a three-game advantage.

Some of us are old coots who remember a day before divisions, and a year like this makes us half-relish those days. In the American League, we would have a smoking race right now between the Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers, all within two games of the top. In that past world, nine clubs would be within 6 1/2 games of first place.

Then again, the National League would be a dreary snooze, with the San Francisco Giants three games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers, 5 1/2 ahead of the Braves and seven ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals.

So, we take what we have now, universal wild card races in which a scrum of mediocre teams is playing for something, which is better than playing for nothing, but not much better. It's one game in the playoffs. It's enough to give most clubs a feint whiff of a chance, but it's not enough to make fans of shadowy contenders forget that they hate their local ownership.

One hates to annoint the division leaders, but no one else is playing so well that it's clear how any of the present leaders would fall. The races in the NL East and AL West looked further apart than ever after Memorial Day. The Giants were 7 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Dodgers in the NL West. The Detroit Tigers are the dominant club in the AL Central and they stoll held a 4 1/2-game lead after losing 10 of their last 14.

The St. Louis Cardinals have enough pedigree to claim that they might make up their four-game deficit to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, and the Toronto Blue Jays don't have enough pedigree to assume they will stay in the AL East lead, so there is that little bit of suspense at the top. But most of the puzzles are in the middle of each league, where the solutions don't stand to be gratifying.

On the morning of June 2, when every team had now played one-third (54) of its games or more, the two National League wild cards were the Dodgers and Cardinals, last year's contestants in the National League Championship Series. Under the present scenario, it would be a one-game playoff, which doesn't bode well for the Dodgers, the way the Cardinals have fared against Clayton Kershaw. The Cardinals beat Kershaw in all three of his starts against them last year.

The Cardinals were within a half-game of the Dodgers, the Marlins were within a half-game of the Cardinals, the Colorado Rockies were within a half-game of the Marlins, and the New York Mets and Washington Nationals were each within a half-game of the Rockies. The Mets and Nationals both were a game below .500. The only team in that group that was winning lately, the Mets, took seven of nine against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies, none of whom are in thick of this year's race to the middle.

The Pirates and Cincinnati Reds both were within 2 1/2 games of the second wild card, but that's a long distance considering the faltering states of their bullpens and the number of teams in between. The Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs were unable to make a move between the one-third mark and the quarter pole, so they remained at the bottom of the standings. It would appear they will be joined by the Phillies and San Diego Padres, who both lost traction in May while the Pirates and Reds gained traction.

The Angels lost traction in the AL west by losing three straight at Oakland, but they oddly remained in the first wild card because the fifth-place team, the New York Yankees, lost two of three at home against the Minnesota Twins. The rubber game had to hurt – Phil Hughes held the Yankees to two runs in eight innings of a 7-2 victory, raising his record to 6-1 and lowering his ERA to 3.12. Hughes did good work with the Yankees, but he botched his walk year in 2013 and fell to the Twins in free agency for three years at $24 million.

The Angels might have made a bid for Hughes, who went to high school in Santa Ana, but they're still holding the top wild card spot despite jitters in their pitching staff. If the Angels could straighten out their bullpen, they'd have a good game going, because they're top-half of the AL everywhere else except third base. The Angels have gotten nothing from their major off-season acquisitions – Hector Santiago, David Freese, Joe Smith, Fernando Salas, Raul Ibanez – except that Tyler Skaggs has been a solid fifth starter. Their combined WAR was minus-0.6. Yet, the Angels are a much better team.

The Yankees are spending $197 million on the most mediocre team that money can buy. It probably isn't true that you can just go out and buy a championship, but you can certainly go out and just buy a mediocre team, and that's enough for fifth place. The Yankees have attended wild-card playoffs more than any other club. They've only missed twice, and the first of those (2008), they would have been the second wild card. Last year was the first time the Yankees fell out, but they didn't fall out until September.

Last year might be counted as a freak occurence, though this season says different. The Yankees added breadth to the offense by letting go of Robinson Cano and signing three bats on the free-agent market, but everyone is scuffling except for Mark Teixeira Yangervis Solarte, the replacement at third base for Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees were only 11th in AL runs scored and the team was really living off a pitching staff ranked seventh in AL ERA (4.02).

Presumably, the Yankees were vulnerable at 29-27. Definitely, the Yankees are ordinary, which is fifth place. The Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers were only one-half game behind them, while the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals all were within 2 1/2 games or less. That's your AL wild card division. The Twins and Tampa Bay Rays appear to have fallen out, and the Houston Astros have never been in.

But the Astros are showing long-awaited signs of progress and have become, quite out of nowhere, a very competitive team. Last year, the Astros were competitive with poor teams -- 33-35 against teams that finished below .500. But they didn't belong on the field against better clubs -- a deep-bottom 18-76 against clubs finishing .500 or better. The next worst AL club in that regard, the Twins, were 33-71.

Through two days of June, The Astros were 19-28 against clubs .500 or better, which isn't great, but it already exceeds last year's win total, and it does give them more wins against winners than any other club except the Giants (21-11). The Astros had faced the better clubs 47 times, more games than any other Major League club, with the Red Sox coming in next at 39 (18-21).

The Astros may yet climb the steep hill to mediocrity and make themselves playoff contenders among this bunch. Following their series this week against the Angels, the Astros embark on nine games against the most of badly faltering clubs out there – the Twins, the Diamondbacks and the Rays. After two at Washington, they go to St. Petersburg for four.  They won't face a contemporary powerhouse for two weeks. Last year, the Astros broke even against these clubs. If they can win nine or 10 of these 15, they'll pick up a couple of games on the fifth-place scrum and place themselves on the outer fringe of the race.

It is, after all, a race to the middle for that coveted position that tells the world you're fifth best. May the most mediocre team prevail.

Editor's note: All advanced statistics in this piece are from or are extrapolated from Baseball-Reference.com, unless otherwise indicated.

AL East: Can Red Sox repeat?

The Boston Red Sox, who seemed resigned to scratching out a down season, ended up winning the whole thing. Having David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury for the full season helped a lot. But Ellsbury has jumped to the New York Yankees this year, and that might be enough to usher in a new winner.

Of all the offseason moves in this division, none changes the balance like Jacoby Ellsbury jumping from the Red Sox to the Yankees (Parkerjh at the English language Wikipedia/Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

Entering 2013, no one figured the Boston Red Sox would win the American League East. Entering 2014, no one figured they won't.

However, considered entirely from the standpoint of 2013 WAR value, the transactions of the offseason have considerably narrowed the gap between the Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox lost Jacoby Ellsbury and Jerrod Saltalamacchia, while the Orioles gained Nelson Cruz and David Lough.

The club that finished tied last year with Baltimore, the Tampa Bay Rays, are looking 85ish in the win column based on 2013 WAR value, but we all know better than to believe the Rays won't be there at the end.

A more interesting case is the New York Yankees, who gave up on their grand plan to come in below the $189 million luxury tax threshold by signing free agents Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran as major league free agents. With all that, the Yankees still have a relatively small amount of 2013 WAR value, but that doesn't take into account the signing of Japanese right hander Masahiro Tanaka.

Again, the AL East appears to be the strongest of the divisions from top to bottom. The worst team here, the Toronto Blue Jays, would be a third- or fourth-place club anywhere else.

Following is a list of each team in the division, giving each club's "top half" position players by 2013 WAR, its "second-level" position players, its top-level pitchers and second-level pitchers. For the top-half position players, we give the player's position and where he ranked at the position across big league baseball in 2013 WAR, then the actual WAR value for the player. For every other category, we give the player's overall 2013 WAR ranking, understanding that pitchers and position players are ranked separately.

More about all of this, including some important clarifications, can be found here. Bear in mind, though, that the 2013 WAR totals for each club only include these top players, and every club will have players with little, no or negative WAR value that actually would drag down its totals.

Boston Red Sox (49.1 in 2013 WAR)

Top-half position players — 1B: Mike Napoli, 8, 4.1; 2B: Dustin Pedroia, 2, 6.5; RF: Shane Victorino, 1, 6.1; LF: Daniel Nava, 7, 2.9; DH: David Ortiz, 1, 4.4. Totals: five players, 24.2 WAR.

Second-level players — A.J. Pierzynski, 164; 1.6. Mike Carp, 185; 1.3. Jonny Gomes, 190, 1.2; David Ross, 244, 0.7. Totals: four players, 4.8 WAR.

Top-level pitchers — Clay Buchholz, 20, 4.3; Koji Uehara, 30, 3.6; Jon Lester, 48, 3.0; John Lackey, 56, 2.8. Craig Breslow, 116, 1.6. Totals: five pitchers, 15.3 WAR.

Second-level pitchers — Edward Mujica, 123, 1.5; Jake Peavy, 131, 1.4; Junichi Tazawa, 179, 1.0; Felix Doubront, 190, 0.9. Totals: four pitchers, 4.8 WAR.

By 2013 WAR, the Red Sox have two players — right fielder Victorino and designated hitter Ortiz — who were the best across the big leagues at their positions. Reliever Uehara finished with the highest WAR among all Major League relief pitchers. Second baseman Pedroia was No. 2 across the majors.

It's easy to see how the Red Sox could have won the World Championship — and did. The Red Sox also have a firm No. 1 starter in Buchholz, while Lester and Lackey both were No. 2 starters by WAR. Very nice club, across the board.

Baltimore Orioles (44.1 in 2013 WAR)

Top-half position players — 1B: Chris Davis, 4, 6.4; SS: J.J. Hardy, 6, 3.7; 3B: Manny Machado, 3, 6.5; CF: Adam Jones, 7, 4.4; LF: David Lough, 8, 2.7. Totals: five players, 23.7 WAR.

Second-level players — Nelson Cruz, 140, 2.0; Ryan Flaherty, 208; 1.0. Totals: two players, 3.0 WAR.

Top-level pitchers — Chris Tillman, 18, 4.4; Ubaldo Jimenez, 58, 2.7; Darren O'Day, 85, 2.1; Miguel Gonzalez, 86, 2.0; Bud Norris, 86, 2.0; Tommy Hunter, 88, 2.0. Totals: six players, 15.3 WAR.

Second-level pitchers — Ryan Webb, 161, 1.2; Brian Matusz, 214, 0.7. Totals: two pitchers, 1.9 WAR.

The Orioles' late free-agent signing of Cruz for $8 million not only was the steal of the offseason, but he gives depth to an every day lineup that would be lacking without him. Cruz looms especially large with Machado missing the early portions of the season.

The Orioles also made a needed late free-agent signing in Jimenez, without whom they wouldn't have a real No. 2 starter according to 2013 WAR. O'Day and Hunter both hit good WAR totals as relievers in 2013, but it remains to be seen how Hunter will fare as the club's closer.

Tampa Bay Rays (37.9 in 2013 WAR)

Top-half position players — 1B: James Loney, 13, 2.7; 2B: Ben Zobrist, 4, 5.1; SS: Yunel Escobar, 9, 3.3; 3B: Evan Longoria, 4, 6.3. Totals: four players, 17.1 WAR.

Second-level position players — Desmond Jennings, 85, 3.0; Wil Myers, 143, 2.0; David DeJesus, 170, 1.5; Jose Lobaton, 174, 1.4; Matthew  Joyce, 191, 1.2; Jayson Nix, 223, 0.8. Totals: six players, 7.9 WAR.

Top-level pitchers — Alex Cobb, 24, 4.0; David Price, 54, 2.8; Matt Moore, 62, 2.6; Chris Archer, 76, 2.2. Totals: four pitchers, 10.6 WAR.

Second-level pitchers — Grant Balfour, 139, 1.4; Erik Bedard, 193, 0.9. Totals: two pitchers, 2.3 WAR.

The overall WAR totals from 2013 aren't great, but the Rays do have 10 position players ranking this high, against eight for an average club. So, there's depth in this everyday lineup.

The pitching staff lines up with four starters who slot in one through four, and Balfour passes as a quality closer by 2013 WAR. The rest of the bullpen is a puzzle, but it's always a puzzle for this club and manager Joe Maddon always puts it together.

New York Yankees (34.1 in 2013 WAR)

Top-half position players — RF: Carlos Beltran, 13, 2.4; CF: Jacoby Ellsbury, 5, 5.8; Brett Gardner, 9, 4.2; LF: Alfonso Soriano, 13, 2.4; C: Brian McCann, 14, 2.2. Totals: five players, 17.0 WAR.

Second-level position players — Ichiro Suzuki, 172, 1.4; Kelly Johnson, 182, 1.3; Francisco Cervelli, 221, 0.8; Brian Roberts, 241, 0.7. Totals: four players, 4.2 WAR.

Top-level pitchers — Hiroki Kuroda, 22, 4.1; Ivan Nova, 31, 3.5; David Robertson, 68, 2.4. Totals: three pitchers, 10.0 WAR.

Second-level pitchers — Adam Warren, 160, 1.2; Vidal Nuno, 211, 0.7. Totals: two pitchers, 2.9 WAR.

As an indication of how little the Yankees had going offensively last year, three of the players listed here (Beltran, Ellsbury and McCann) weren't with the club at all, and Soriano was only with the club for the last couple months of 2013. The Yankees lost Robinson Cano's star power and big production, but they now have more bats throughout the lineup.

The factor not accounted for here on the pitching staff, of course, is Tanaka. If he's for real, this might add up to a nice club. If not, then the Yankees will struggle to make the playoffs out of this very deep division.

Toronto Blue Jays (32.8 in 2013 WAR) 

Top-half position players — 1B: Edwin Encarnacion, 9, 4.0; SS: Jose Reyes, 13, 2.6; RF: Jose Bautista, 7, 4.1; CF: Colby Rasmus, 6, 4.8; C. Dioner Navarro, 15, 2.0. Totals: five players, 17.5 WAR.

Second-level position players — Adam Lind, 148, 1.9; Ryan Goins, 176, 1.4; Munenori Kawasaki, 185, 1.3; Moises Sierra, 240, 0.7. Totals: four players, 5.3 WAR.

Top-level pitchers — Mark Buehrle, 84, 2.1; R.A. Dickey, 91, 2.0. Totals: two pitchers, 4.1 WAR.

Second-level pitchers — Aaron Loup, 122, 1.5; Casey Janssen, 139, 1.4; Brett Cecil, 152, 1.3; Santiago Casilla, 176, 1.1; Steve Delabar, 229, 0.6. Totals: Five pitchers, 5.9 WAR.

Hard to believe, but the best player at any position for this club, based on 2013 WAR, is Rasmus in center field. A full season from Reyes at shortstop would certainly push him well up in the ratings.

The pitching was a huge disappointment last season, with only Buehrle and Dickey making it into the top level of these rankings. And Buehrle added up as barely a No. 2 starter, while Dickey added up to a No. 3 by 2013 WAR. This club didn't really have an ace, and probably still doesn't.

Deadline trades only to be guessed, not judged

The trade deadline has passed in Major League Baseball, which often means contending clubs have given up too much for too little. Who are the winners and losers this year? It's way too early to tell. All we'll say is if a contending club dealt for a player who isn't getting it done right this moment, that club probably made a mistake.

The Baltimore Orioles gave up two top prospects to the Houston Astros for right-hander Bud Norris, who has been pitching poorly. (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Share Alike-Attribution Generic 2.0 license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

We're supposed to be declaring winners at the trade deadline. Of course, that's kind of dumb, because more than half of the players involved in deadline deals are minor league prospects who can't be assessed for a good five years or more. If we know we're going to change our minds about these trades down the road, and for entirely predictable reasons, then why declare winners now?

Way back in 1990, the Boston Red Sox won at the trade deadline by acquiring reliever Larry Andersen, who did a good job and helped them into the playoffs. But the Houston Astros won that trade for the next 15 years, because they received Jeff Bagwell. Last season, it wasn't too hard to find experts singing for the Angels because they acquired Zack Greinke from the Milwaukee Brewers. Now, all anyone wants to say about that trade is that the Angels would be so much better off if they still had Jean Segura.

It goes on like that all the time. Back in 1987, the Detroit Tigers made a terrific summer trade, bringing in Doyle Alexander from the Atlanta Braves. Alexander did an outstanding job for the Tigers, 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA in 11 starts as the Tigers came from behind in the last week to overtake the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League East championship. Everyone who followed the game knew the Tigers had to be very satisfied with the trade. By now, though, it's in the books as one of the club's biggest mistakes, because they parted with John Smoltz, who was a 20-year-old losing in Double-A.

So, even if it does turn out that the Baltimore Orioles struck gold by trading for Bud Norris -- and it almost certainly won't -- and even if the Orioles go deep into the postseason with him, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, who will tell you that they made the right move. Because that very same man behind the curtain will curse the Orioles in years to come if it turns out that a prospect they gave up, L.J. Hoes or Josh Hader, turns into an All-Star.

Thus, there are no winners at the trade deadline. There are only teams that, perhaps, upgraded their major league rosters for the moment, and other teams that, perhaps, upgraded their ranks of prospects.

We tend to think of the trade deadline as contending clubs addressing needs, but it's every bit as much about failing teams addressing needs, and it often turns out that the latter type makes the much better deal, from a raw value standpoint. There's a lot more to be gained by the latter type of team in the summer trade, because contenders are so driven by the opportunity to win that they will overpay.

It would seem that very few contenders understand the point of making the deadline trade, which is to add a player who is getting it done right now. Not a guy with a nice name who is good enough, not a guy who is barely better than what you already have, but a player who is getting it done right now. That's because you are trading for right now.

Example: At the deadline in 1999, the Cincinnati Reds traded for Juan Guzman, who pitched a 4.08 ERA in ten years and was very near the end of the line. At the deadline, Guzman was 5-9 with a 4.18 ERA for the Baltimore Orioles. In exchange, Reds general manager Jim Bowden sent the Orioles left-handed reliever B.J. Ryan, who was drafted a year earlier and rose all the way to the major league club. By the large numbers, probably not a very solid decision. By the skinny numbers, it was a sharp trade.

As the trade happened, Guzman was hot, throwing five quality starts in his last six for a 3.20 ERA with the Orioles. The Reds plugged him into their rotation and he kept going that way -- 12 starts, a 6-3 record, a 3.03 ERA and a .238 batting average against. The Reds pushed themselves into a tie for the wild card and wound up facing the New York Mets in a play-in game, which would, today, be a wild card playoff game.

Ryan ended up having value, but not really until years later. He matured into a reliable reliever in 2004, saved 36 games for the Orioles in 2005 and turned that into a four-year, $35 million free-agent deal for the Toronto Blue Jays, for whom he produced two good seasons. By then, the Reds had such poor starting pitchers that Ryan would not have been of use to them, anyway. Trading the prospect who would have three 30-save seasons for the fading vet who gave them 12 starts and helped them past the regular season was the right deal for the Reds.

In 1989, the Minnesota Twins traded Frank Viola to the New York Mets at the trade deadline with his 1990 season under contract. Viola pitched well down the 1989 stretch for the Mets, fashioning a 3.38 ERA and a 1.195 WHIP, though he was only 5-5. In 1990, Viola went 20-12 for the Mets and led the National League with 249 2/3 innings.

The Mets received everything they could ask for in that trade. But they didn't do nearly as well as the Twins, who picked up Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani, among others, in the deal. In 1991, Tapani was 16-9 with a 2.99 ERA and Aguilera notched 42 saves. The Twins won the World Series. If it's about winning, the Twins won.

Later, in 1995, Tapani was involved in the wrong kind of deadline deal. The Dodgers, evidently mesmerized by the name, sent a package of prospects to the Twins for Tapani, although the right-hander had only two quality starts out of his last eight before the trade. Predictably, Tapani continued to pitch poorly down the stretch in Los Angeles and produced a WAR of minus-three for them in 11 starts, which means the Dodgers would have been better off just plugging a 4A guy into that spot. By playoff time, Tapani wasn't even in the rotation.

Getting back to Bud Norris: In his last three starts before his trade to the Orioles, he pitched 17 innings and allowed 16 earned runs. In the last two starts, he threw 120 and 119 pitches. Do the Orioles actually believe that trading for this guy is going to help them down the stretch? To receive Norris, the Orioles gave up Hader, a 19-year-old left-hander who is dominating in Class A, and Hoes, a 23-year-old outfielder who produced a .791 OPS in 181 games Triple-A for Norfolk, about ten percent above the International League average. Kind of hard to believe.

But the trade deadline and playoff contention sometimes draw teams into strange decisions. Whether or not they are good decisions, it's too early to tell.