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AL East Race Heats Up: Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox Battle
SportsGrid
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7 weeks ago
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00:00
Let's start in the AL East.
00:01
Every single week, I love to look at the standings because they change so much.
00:05
Hey, the Toronto Blue Jays, four, five, six games up here.
00:07
That's no longer the case.
00:08
They have a two-game lead over the New York Yankees
00:10
and a three-and-a-half-game lead over the Boston Red Sox.
00:13
Why? They've lost two in a row.
00:14
We're talking about the Blue Jays.
00:15
The New York Yankees playing some easy opponents and piling up wins, Tom,
00:20
seven in a row.
00:21
The Boston Red Sox, losers of two in a row.
00:23
Look at the Yankees starting to leapfrog teams
00:26
and heading back to a possible AL East championship.
00:30
It really has been crazy, and the overall take I would have at this point is
00:34
if you say with certainty that you know who's going to win this division,
00:39
you're just lying at this point.
00:40
That's what it comes down to.
00:41
You can have your fandom.
00:42
You can want your team to win.
00:44
You can want the team that you bet on to win, whatever it might be,
00:47
but the way things have changed in just the last week
00:50
or the last two weeks have increased.
00:51
Like you said, a six-game lead for the Blue Jays at one point,
00:53
that has evaporated.
00:54
The Red Sox, who were scorching hot and take three out of four games
00:58
versus the Yankees, have now lost two in a row.
01:00
To the Pirates, the Yankees, like you said, playing the Nats and the White Sox,
01:02
they are picking up wins left and right.
01:04
It really comes down to the final few weeks of the season,
01:07
and I looked at some of the schedules.
01:08
The Yankees have a very easy stretch to close out the season
01:11
in the second half of September after they finish the series with the Red Sox.
01:16
The Red Sox have a tough end to the season because they have to play
01:18
against those Blue Jays.
01:20
They also have a series versus the Tigers.
01:22
So everything's going to be in flux up until those last few days of the year.
01:25
There's no way to tell at this point.
01:28
If we do look at the standings, right, Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox,
01:31
but when we do also look at the team that's favored to win that division,
01:35
I'm looking at the Toronto Blue Jays right now, Tom, about a minus-150 price.
01:38
The New York Yankees, plus-165.
01:39
They're the Sox at a seven-to-one price.
01:42
A two-game lead is better than a no-game lead, right,
01:44
heading into the month of September.
01:45
But the Toronto Blue Jays, I always thought we're – and it's not fair to do this.
01:49
Like, we're going to talk about the Tigers in just a few moments.
01:52
But it's just – is the pedigree there for them to win this division, Tom?
01:55
Now it's down to two games.
01:57
I don't know.
01:59
Like, at a certain – they were scorching hot in July.
02:03
And you have to wonder at a certain point, it's like,
02:04
was that just like a flash in the pan?
02:06
And I don't want to say flash in the pan because it was over an extended period
02:08
of games.
02:09
Like, they were really hot for 20, 25, 30 games.
02:12
You know, do they have the fortitude?
02:14
Do they have the stamina?
02:15
Whatever you want to call it, to really extend this lead, like you said,
02:18
and then kind of push over and know that they're going to struggle at some
02:21
points.
02:21
Do they have that pedigree?
02:23
I'm not sure.
02:24
Because at the end of the day, like, do you want a team like the Yankees –
02:27
like, you know, you don't want to be looking over your shoulder,
02:29
essentially, at a team like the Yankees who do have the playoff pedigree
02:32
to get to the postseason where it might be.
02:34
I would be more interested in taking a shot on the Red Sox because if things
02:37
fall favorably, that 7-1 number could turn into 2-1,
02:40
and I'd rather just have the 7-1 ticket when it's all said and done.
02:43
And it's only three and a half games back for the Red Sox,
02:45
but an interesting race now.
02:46
Love to see it.
02:47
It's really the three teams here, right?
02:48
The Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, dead and buried at this point.
02:50
Sox, Yankees, and also the Jays as we look forward to that.
02:53
Let's get to the Central Division.
02:55
It's not as if, Tom, that the Detroit Tigers are playing great baseball.
02:57
They don't need to.
02:58
They built up a big league.
02:59
They still sit eight and a half games over the Kansas City Royals
03:01
and nine and a half games over the Guardians,
03:03
but they've only been playing 500 baseball, particularly the last 10 games,
03:06
being 5-5.
03:07
But the Royals, Guardians, Twins, they're just not good enough to close that gap here.
03:11
And again, the Twins are 17 backs.
03:13
You're really focused on the Royals and the Guardians.
03:15
It's the Tigers Division.
03:16
I just don't want to see them, Tom, get into a malaise.
03:18
I want them playing their best baseball in the month of September,
03:21
not saying, hey, if we just play 500 baseball, we'll win this division.
03:24
I'd like to see them turn it up a notch.
03:26
Yeah, I think that they have to use this, obviously, with their manager,
03:30
A.J. Hinch at the helm.
03:31
They have to use this as, I don't want to say a testing period, but it's your point.
03:35
They can't just say, okay, we'll make the postseason and we'll be fine.
03:38
No, you actually have to turn things to a new level to not really just ensure the lead,
03:43
but ensure that you're playing your best baseball, like you said,
03:45
at the last few weeks of September into October.
03:47
So if it's a five-game lead, a 15-game lead,
03:50
which they realistically could have had at this point in the season if they played better baseball,
03:54
you still need to be peaking at the right time.
03:56
So experiment with the lineup, get things moving on the right track.
03:59
The pitching staff has to get in order,
04:01
and then they will be playing their best once October 1st rolls around.
04:04
It's a shame when you get a closer, like, divisional race,
04:07
or maybe Kansas City could have pushed them.
04:08
We thought with that slippage for the Detroit Tigers,
04:10
but nobody's really good enough to step up.
04:11
They really didn't arm themselves at the trade deadline,
04:13
and the Tigers are the best team, and I still do like that Tigers team, one through nine.
04:17
You got Tarek Skubel at the top of the standings there,
04:19
certainly for the AL and the, excuse me, the AL Cy Young Award,
04:22
which we'll get to in a few moments, but also Flaherty pitching well.
04:24
They're the team, minus $20,000 price, Tom.
04:26
Nobody's going to bet against that and take the Guardians 65-1.
04:29
We don't think that's going to happen.
04:31
Here's a really interesting race.
04:32
Does anybody want to win it, Tom?
04:33
And I'm talking about the AL West, the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners,
04:36
and look at the Texas Rangers.
04:38
Still alive, Tom.
04:39
Eight and two in their last ten.
04:40
Everybody gets injured, and now they start to win ballgames.
04:42
But the focal point is the Astros and the Mariners,
04:44
and particularly for me, Astros get some base hits with runners in scoring position
04:50
for the love of God, try to help me.
04:52
But they're still in the lead by three games.
04:54
Like you said, does anyone want to win this division?
04:56
Because not only have the Tigers, excuse me, not the Tigers, the Texas Rangers,
05:01
Corey Seager had an appendectomy last week, and he's now apparently out for the season.
05:06
And now they're playing their best baseball.
05:08
DeGrom's on the mound for them today.
05:10
They are in a winnable spot.
05:11
But when it comes to the Mariners, you think they have all this momentum,
05:14
and then they struggle when they, you know, a couple weeks ago when they play the match,
05:17
then they have to play the Little League, you know, special World Series game
05:20
that they lost at, that they get smoked by the Phillies.
05:23
Like, they're all over the place.
05:24
They go back home, they win, but they still can't put together wins.
05:27
The Astros are seemingly not fully healthy.
05:29
They're getting healthier, but now they're not winning when they're getting healthier,
05:33
and it's all over the place.
05:34
Again, I would say, to say who wins this division,
05:37
you're probably lying to yourself if you know who's going to win.
05:39
Because it's very plausible that the Yankees, who are hot right now,
05:42
who start a series at the Astros on Tuesday,
05:46
if they take two or three there, and whoever the Mariners end up playing,
05:48
they win that series two to three,
05:50
oh, all of a sudden the Mariners have the division lead,
05:52
and the Astros are sitting a game behind.
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