TOWSON, Maryland, Sunday, July 9, 2017 - Major League Baseball has come to its annual All-Star Break, and the standings in the always interesting American League East are as jumbled as ever. The Yankees are on a down-bound train with no stops planned. The Bronx Bombers have lost 18 of their last 25 games. The Orioles, who at one point near the middle of May had the best record in all of the Big Leagues, went on a streak of poor play that nearly equaled that of the Yanks. Almost. A big difference, however, is that the Birds won their last two games in Minnesota behind the dependable bats of Jonathon Scope, Mark Trumbo and rookie Trey Mancinni. The Orioles' outstanding radio play-by-play man, Joe Angel, noted that in a year that comes after he blew up several Orioles home run records and set the pace in all of the Major Leagues, Trumbo has put up less spectacular power numbers but replaced them with leadership stats in a number of meaningful categories. Trumbo has not gone into any slumps. He has continued to knock in runs, including clutch runs. And he takes his position dailey come hell or high water. If the Birds are to make a run in the second half - and here is one pundit who believes strongly that they will, it will be anchored by Trumbo and the emerging Jonathan Schoop, the Orioles' second baseman. Schoop does lead the Orioles in homers and was the only Oriole named to the American League All Star Team. In the All Star game, he doubled and scored the AL's only run in the first nine innings. Without Schoop's heroics, there would have been no top of the tenth to host the late power of Seattle's Robinson Cano.
All this being said, here are the American League East Standings heading back into regular season play tomorrow:
1. Boston Red Sox: 50 wins, 39 losses, .562 pct.
2. New York Yankees: 45 wins, 41 losses, .523 pct., 3.5 GB
3. Tampa Bay Rays: 47 wins, 43 losses, .522 pct., 3.5 GB
4. Baltimore Orioles: 42 wins, 46 losses, .477 pct., 7.5 GB
5. Toronto Blue Jays: 41 wins, 47 losses, .466 pct., 8.5 GB
And here are the American League Wild Card Standings. Remember, the top two teams qualify for the American League Playoffs. The two Wild Card Teams play each other in a winner-take-all one game playoff, with the winner advancing to the best-of-five divisional series against the American League Divisional Winner with the best overall record. In the standings below, the three current divisional leaders are not listed. If any of the three fall out of their divisional lead, the team that replaces them will no longer be in the Wild Card Standings, but the team losing the top spot in their division will be.
American League Wild Card Current Standings (7-14-2017)
1. New York Yankees: 45 wins, 41 losses, .523 pct.
2. Tampa Bay Rays: 47 wins, 43 losses, .522 pct.
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3. Minnesota Twins: 45 wins, 43 losses, .511 pct., 1 GB
4. Kansas City Royals: 44 wins, 43 losses., .506 pct., 1.5 GB
5. Los Angeles Angels: 45 wins, 47 losses., .489 pct., 3 GB
6. Texas Rangers: 43 wins, 45 losses, .489 pct., 3 GB
7. Seattle Mariners: 43 wins, 47 losses, .478 pct., 4 GB
8. Baltimore Orioles: 42 wins, 46 losses, .477 pct., 4 GB
9. Toronto Blue Jays: 41 wins, 47 losses, .466 pct., 5 GB
10. Detroit Tigers: 39 wins, 48 losses, .448 pct., 6.5 GB
11. Oakland Athletics: 39 wins, 50 losses, .438 pct., 7.5 GB
12. Chicago White Sox: 38 wins, 49 losses, .437 pct., 7.5 GB
It is quite amazing, when you give it some thought: no fewer than nine major league teams bunched within five games of each other in the Wild Card Standings.
And this, inevitably, leads me to my pet peeve with the Wild Card format. You have this amazing race shaping up for the last three months of the season. And when it is all said and done, the winners will get a one game playoff. One measly game. The second Wild Card team won't even get a home game. Last season the Orioles and Toronto prevailed in an epic Wild Card chase. They ended up tied in the race, but Toronto got the one game playoff at home for some off-the-field reason. Oriole fans vividly recall that the one game went into extra innings before Toronto won. Three months of being glued to the tv and radio, and it all ended in a few hours. There is no reason at all why the series cannot go three games. Don't feed me any nonsense about TV schedules. Where there is a will, there is a way.
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