Matt Chapman got here sliding throughout the plate, touching off a wild celebration in Toronto after the Blue Jays accomplished a three-game sweep of Atlanta.
It was one more second of excellence for the AL East, which may very well be headed to a historic season.
The Blue Jays are in third place within the division, however after their walk-off win over the Braves on Sunday, in addition they have the sixth-best report in all of baseball. All 5 AL East groups are above .500. The staff in final place – the Boston Red Sox – is a strong 22-19, which is about an 87-win tempo for a complete season.
Right now the AL East consists of baseball’s high staff in Tampa Bay (31-11), plus the highest 4 groups within the American League wild-card race. Baltimore (26-14), Toronto (24-16) and the New York Yankees (23-19) would all be within the playoffs if the postseason started now, and the 5 groups within the division have a mixed profitable proportion of .615.
And that features all of the video games they’ve spent beating up on one another. Against groups in different divisions, the AL East has gained over two thirds of its video games, going an unimaginable 93-46 thus far. It’s commonplace for the AL East to be highly effective, given the presence of the Yankees and Red Sox, however this yr has been one thing of an ideal storm, with lower-spending groups like Tampa Bay and Baltimore posting the 2 finest data within the majors thus far.
So it’s not too early to take a position on whether or not this yr’s AL East could be the perfect division in MLB historical past. No division has ever had all of its groups end above .500, and proper now FanGraphs initiatives that the AL East will just do that.
The .615 profitable proportion by the AL East – if it continues – would simply high the all-time checklist for a division. According to Sportradar, the present report belongs to the 2002 AL West, which completed at .566. That division included Oakland (103-59), Anaheim (99-63) and Seattle (93-69), with the Angels profitable the World Series that yr.
Of course, the AL West additionally had Texas, which was 72-90 in 2002. What is setting this yr’s AL East aside is that it has dominant groups on the high, plus groups on the backside which are nonetheless fairly good. With a extra balanced schedule in impact this season, the AL East groups gained’t need to face one another as a lot, and that makes it fairly possible that they may all end with profitable data.
Although no division in MLB or the NFL has had each staff end above .500, it has occurred in basketball, in accordance with Sportradar. And fairly not too long ago, at that. This season, the NBA’s Pacific Division included the Kings (48-34), Suns (45-37), Clippers (44-38), Warriors (44-38) and Lakers (43-39).
If that went largely unnoticed, it’s most likely as a result of the relevance of divisions is fairly low within the NBA nowadays. And even in baseball, you shouldn’t count on an “AL EAST!” chant to interrupt out if a type of groups wins the World Series. Divisional or convention solidarity isn’t the identical within the professional sports because it could be within the SEC.
But a few quarter of the best way by way of the 2023 season, AL East followers are watching one thing particular.
TRIVIA TIME
Before the wild card – when there have been solely two divisions per league – which division had the very best profitable proportion in a season?
RISING
With the AL East trying so formidable, the Seattle Mariners need to watch out to not fall too far behind within the postseason race. They’ve gained 9 of their final 13 to tug again to .500, and so they’re solely two video games behind the Yankees for the third wild card. They’re additionally 5 video games behind AL West-leading Texas.
FALLING
That 107-win season for San Francisco in 2021 looks like a very long time in the past. This previous week, the Giants dropped two of three at residence towards Washington after which misplaced three of 4 at Arizona. They path the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers by 8 1/2 video games within the NL West.
LINE OF THE WEEK
Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins hit for the cycle Friday night time in a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh. He was the seventh Oriole to perform the feat – a listing that features Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken.
COMEBACK OF THE WEEK
Down by 4 runs with one out within the backside of the eighth, Cleveland strung collectively 4 straight singles, slicing the Los Angeles Angels’ lead in half. Then Josh Naylor linked for a three-run homer.
Andres Gimenez added a solo shot to cap the six-run inning, and the Guardians went on to an 8-6 win Saturday night time.
Naylor ended up hitting three go-ahead homers within the eighth inning in that sequence.
TRIVIA ANSWER
That was the AL East in 1983, which posted a profitable proportion of .534. It included Baltimore (98-64), Detroit (92-70), New York (91-71), Toronto (89-73), Milwaukee (87-75), Boston (78-84) and Cleveland (70-92).
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