If the playoffs started today, the Yankees would be at home… watching them on TV.
Most Surprising Team: The Red Sox. If you judged how a team was doing by reading local press coverage, you’d think the Bosox were in third place and fading fast. They have a losing record in their own division. Their ace has missed half the season and still hasn’t returned to the rotation; their closer couldn’t close a screen door and is now out with knee surgery; middle relief has mostly been relief for opposing batters; their slugging first baseman has a grand total of 4 home runs for the season and has been publicly unhappy; their single best player has been loafing in the field and publicly demanded a trade. Yet somehow they’ve pulled off the second-best record in the AL and are 4.5 games up on the second-place Yankees. Of course, it helps that they’ve scored the most runs in the majors.
Second-Most Surprising Team: The White Sox. 14 games up? They could coast and play under .500 ball the rest of the way and end up with a 97-65 record. To catch them, the Indians would have to go 40-15—a .727 winning percentage—and that would only tie the ChiSox.
Comeback Player (so far): Nomar. I’d earlier written that it looked like he was out for the season; now it looks like he’ll return within a week. Too bad the Cubbies are five games out of the the wildcard…
Most Pathetic Division: The NL West. The Giants apparently played 10 games under .500 in June and July yet still managed to gain 3.5 games in the standings. Division-leading San Diego is under .500, with only a winning record against their own division.