The baseball season is approaching its final month and the pennant races are heating up. While several teams are getting hot at the right time, a few clubs are headed in the opposite direction. Let’s take a look at each division in the American League and sort out who will prevail in the end.
American League East
The Baltimore Orioles are running away with their division. They currently have a nine game lead over the Yankees and Blue Jays, which is the largest lead in any division in baseball. The defending World Champion Red Sox are completely out of contention and are building for next year while the Rays are just out of contention.
The Orioles were just a .500 team at the end of May with a 21-21 record. Since then they have lost back-to-back games only four times. They are now 73-52 and don’t have an opponent on their schedule with a winning record until September 12. The rest of the AL East is not playing good ball but the O’s have earned their spot at the top of the division and should finish as East champs for the first time since 1997.
American League Central
Surprise, surprise. While the Tigers won the David Price sweepstakes at the deadline and made everyone jealous, the Kansas City Royals just continued to win. The Royals are leading the Tigers in the AL Central by a game and a half entering play Friday. In the month of August the Royals have played really good ball with a record of 15-4. The Tigers have slipped up this month and have gone 10-9 while giving up their division lead in the process. The White Sox and Twins are all but out of it this season while the Indians are just treading water trying to stay above .500.
With two more series between the Royals and Tigers, this chase might come down to the last day. It will be hard to bet against the Tiger’s rotation and big boppers, though. I think the Tigers edge out the Royals for the Central Division title.
American League West
Now, on to the heavy weights. Like Detroit, the Athletics have been scuffling since their GM pushed all his chips to the middle of the table at the trade deadline. The A’s looked like they would run away with their division but gave up their lead to the Angels. The Angels currently have the best record in baseball and lead the A’s in the West by two games. Shout out to the Astros for not being the worst team in baseball. That achievement goes to the Texas Rangers.
The Mariners are hanging around and are 10 games over .500 but this truly is a two-team race. Seattle has a legitimate shot at one of the Wild Card spots, however. The A’s have a losing record this month by going 8-11 while the Angels have won 12 out of 19 games in August. Maybe trading Cespedes was a mistake by the A’s. Maybe they didn’t need to trade him for another ace in Jon Lester. Or maybe, the Angels are that good and will win their first division title in five years. I’m not counting on that to happen, though. The Angels suffered a huge blow last night when Garrett Richards went down with a season ending injury. Expect the A’s to right the ship and win more than just an AL West championship this year.
My Predictions:
AL East Champion: Baltimore Orioles
AL Central Champion: Detroit Tigers
AL West Champion: Oakland Athletics
AL Wild Card (1): Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
AL Wild Card (2): Seattle Mariners
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*Featured image credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images
