Hands Down The American League East is The Toughest Division in Major League Baseball

In spite of all the injuries, the Yankees find themselves in familiar territory which is first place in the AL East. Yankees manager Joe Girardi has found a way to keep this ship on the right course despite injuries to infielders Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira that that have kept them out of action all season. Center fielder Curtis Granderson missed the first 38 games of the season for the Yankees after suffering a fractured forearm in spring training.

The Yankees are still living up to their nickname as “The Bronx Bombers” as they are tied for fourth in the American League in home runs with 52. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has found a new cast of players to fill the void and keep The Yankees in contention. Outfielder Vernon Wells is second on the Yankees in home runs with 10. After several disappointing seasons with The Los Angeles Angels, Wells was thought to be an afterthought, but Cashman rescued him from the abyss in a trade just prior to the start of the season as he is paying huge dividends.

Yankees starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda leads the club with 6 victories and he has been a workhorse lately. In his last four starts Kuroda has totaled 29.2 innings. The ace of The Yankees pitching staff CC Sabthia might not have the win-loss record of Kuroda, but he is still an innings eater as his 59.1 innings pitched are eighth in the AL. You cannot discuss Yankee pitching and not talk about relief pitcher Mariano Rivera. Aside from being MLB’s all-time saves leader with 624, Rivera is a perfect 16-for-16 in save opportunities on the season.

Last season the Red Sox went through their worst season since 1965. Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington sought out to change the culture in the clubhouse by going back to the “idiot” days of the mid-2000’s when the Red Sox won a pair of World Series Championships. The big free agent contracts of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez are a thing of the past as they have been replaced by players such as catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli and outfielder Shane Victorino. Both players have playoff experience as they have fit in comfortably into the Red Sox clubhouse. Napoli helped the Texas Rangers make consecutive World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011. Entering play today Napoli is tied for the team lead in home runs (7) and runs batted in (34). Victorino helped The Philadelphia Phillies win The World Series in 2008 and his 34 hits this season are fourth on The Red Sox.

Mainstays in the Red Sox lineup such as second baseman Dustin Pedroia and designated hitter David Ortiz are cult icons in Boston and they are giving the fans at Fenway Park exactly what they want to see. After missing the first 15 games of the season as he recovered from an Achilles injury, Ortiz returned at a time when the Red Sox and the city of Boston needed him; in the wake of the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. The man that is affectionately known as “Big Papi” has returned in full effect as he has blasted 7 home runs while totaling 29 runs batted in. Pedroia is finally healthy this season as his .335 batting average leads the Red Sox.

Former Red Sox pitching John Farrell was brought back to Boston after two seasons as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. Farrell’s biggest impact can be seen in starting pitchers Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. Lester won 19 games in 2010 and he appeared to become the ace of The Red Sox starting rotation, but he fell on hard times in the past two seasons which was highlighted by a 4.82 earned run average last year. This season Lester has a record of 6-0 and his 2.72 earned run average is 10th in The AL while Buchholz’s 1.78 earned run average is currently leading the Junior Circuit.

The Baltimore Orioles enjoyed a worst to first turnaround last season under manager Buck Showalter. Now the Orioles and Showalter are showing everyone that last season wasn’t a fluke. Orioles general manager Dan Duquette has put together a young nucleus of players such as catcher Matt Wieters, center fielder Adam Jones, and third baseman Manny Machado. This Oriole team would make former manager Earl Weaver proud. Weaver lived and died by the three-run home and the Orioles currently are tied for fourth in the American League in home runs with 52.

The Orioles are currently 4 games behind the Yankees for first place in the division and a big reason for that is relief pitcher Jim Johnson. Johnson has 14 saves which is second in the American League behind Mariano Rivera of the Yankees.

The Tampa Bay Rays have always been an ultra tough team under manager Joe Maddon. Since 2008, the Rays have enjoyed four seasons of 90 or more victories. The Rays are currently hanging in there despite an ineffective starting pitcher in David Price. Price is the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, but he has been stuck in first gear this season. Price’s 1-4 record with an earned run average of 5.24 isn’t a reflection of him, but his season was summarized in a nutshell this past Wednesday when he was taken out of a game against the Red Sox after just 2.1 innings pitched. Price is now on the disabled list with a triceps injury.

Price has been picked up in the Rays starting rotation by Matt Moore. Moore is 8-0 on the season with an earned run average of 2.29.

The Rays lineup is happy to see a healthy Evan Longoria return to third base. Hamstring injuries limited Longoria to only 74 games last season, but a quarter through this season Longoria is on pace to fully eclipse his 2012 numbers as he leads the team in home runs (9), runs batted in (27), and hits (54). The biggest surprise to the Rays lineup has been first baseman James Loney. Loney was a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2002, but he was never able to step out of the shadow of Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier in Los Angeles. Loney is a career .285 hitter, but this season his batting average is at .356 which is third in the American League.

The only team in the AL East that is currently sporting a losing record are the Blue Jays. The Jays came into this season with the highest expectations within the division, but the results have not been on display on the baseball diamond. Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos was extremely busy in the off-season. Infielders Jose Reyes and Emilio Bonafacio along with starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buerhle were acquired from the Miami Marlins. Anthopoulos also traded with the New York Mets to acquire 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner R.A.Dickey. Former Jays manager John Gibbons was brought back into the mix, but Toronto has floundered in last place all season.

Reyes has only played in 10 games this season for the Jays which has really hurt the team’s offensive production as he was expected to be a table setter for the big bats of first baseman Edwin Encarnarcion and outfielder Jose Bautista. As Reyes recovers from an ankle injury, the Jays are 13th in the American League in on-base percentage at .307.

Dickey was expected to be the dominant 20-game winner like he was last season for the Mets, but his knuckleball hasn’t been dancing around the plate like it was in 2012 which is evident by his 4.83 earned run average. All you need to know about Toronto’s season so far is that Dickey has the lowest earned run average this year of any Blue Jays pitcher that has made at least four starts.

At the quarter point of the season this division will continue to be interestin
g. It will be extremely tough for these teams to separate themselves from each other because they will beat up on each other during the season which was evident this weekend by the Rays sweeping the Orioles in Baltimore this weekend. That is what truly makes the AL East the best thing going in Major League Baseball.

Source:Baseball-reference.com