State of the AL East

For the next couple of weeks I will profile each division in baseball, identifying what is going with each ball club, along with areas they need improvement. Today I will talk about the AL East.

1. Toronto Blue Jays: The Blue Jays currently sit at the top of the AL East with a 35-24 record. They hold a 4.5 game edge on the Baltimore Orioles and are playing some amazing baseball. The three headed monster of Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista and Melky Cabrera have been the reason for the offensive success. Their next six games are a real test, as they are at Detroit and home against St. Louis. If they can get pitching from someone not named Mark Buehrle, they can start taking a stranglehold on this division that has gotten off to a very slow start.
2. Baltimore Orioles: Speaking of big hitters, how about Nelson Cruz? He has 21 home runs and 55 RBI’s while batting .319. However after being by hit by a pitch on his hand the other day, his role in the series vs. Texas was in question, however it seems to not be an issue anymore. This is just another problem the Orioles face who are struggling going 7-7 in their last 14. Matt Wieters is still on the DL, Chris Davis has only 8 HR’s and 26 RBI’s which are shockingly low numbers for him. Additionally, their starting pitching is a mess. Ubaldo Jimenez is 2-6 with a 4.39 ERA. The rest of the starters have over 4.00 ERA’s. They need to turn it around in more than a few areas to catch the Blue Jays.
3. New York Yankees: The Yankees led this division for a while until the Blue Jays started playing like their lives depended on it. However they didn’t lose the lead purely for this reason; they also lost it because they just haven’t played well. They split with the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, took two of three on the road in St. Louis (a positive), but then lost two of three at home vs. Minnesota (a negative). To top that off, they lost the one game makeup vs. Seattle 10-2 on Monday. Now with another loss, this time to Oakland, the situation isn’t looking great. Masahiro Tanaka has been great but the offense has run dry. Jacoby Ellsbury is starting to slow down as he is batting .290 for that stretch. CC Sabathia is still not back and the Yankees are going to need a spark to not only catch Toronto, but also hold off others in the division.
4. Boston Red Sox: The defending world champions have been wildly inconsistent. A ten game losing streak followed up by a seven game win streak and then they lose the first two games on the road at Cleveland. Brock Holt and Xander Bogaerts have been excellent in the one and two spot. However with Stephen Drew coming up to play shortstop, its unclear how Holt will fit in the rotation. John Farrell faces tough choices ahead on his lineup. In addition, they will have to be without Clay Buchholz for long as his time on DL will be longer than expected. That may or may not be a bad thing as Brandon Workman and Rubby De La Rosa have been solid filling in for Buchholz and Felix Dubront. The suspension of Workman begins to raise more questions however. Only time will tell what happens with the Red Sox.
5. Tampa Bay Rays: Houston, we have a problem. The Tampa Bay Rays, who made the playoffs last year are on an epic slide, losing 9 in a row. Adding to their struggles is the fact they lost 6 of those games to divisional opponents and still have 7 games coming up against Miami, Seattle and St. Louis. On top of that, Will Myers is heading to the DL and could miss 2-6 weeks. It’s now or never for the Rays. They need to either get it together, or starting planning where they are going to trade star pitcher David Price. Either way, it’s going to be a long road ahead for the Rays. Better start moving.

Tune in for my next article on the AL Central! Does anyone want to win that division? Find out in my next “State Of” piece!

Note: Stats from ESPN.com