2014 A.L. East Standings

[TouchemAll]

o

PLAYOFF ODDS O (ESPN)

ORIOLES .....)0O 52-42 OOOOO 56.8

BLUE JAYS)..O 49-47 OOOOO 40.2

YANKEES .....)Oo 47-47 OOOOO 13.4

D-RAYS........).0O 44-53 OOOOO 3.60

RED SOX OOOOO 43-52 OOOOO 2.60

Damn that sure looks NICE!

[Guest]

Baltimore 52 43 -

NY Yankees 48 47 4.0

Toronto 49 48 4.0

Tampa Bay 45 53 8.5

Boston 44 52 8.5

[primetime]

We all know the division is down this year, we get it. But it bugs me that on ESPN or any other national source mentions the O's in 1st place, it's quickly couched with how the division is mediocre and what not.

If the Yankees or Red Sox were atop the East, I sincerely doubt there would be any references about the rest of the division struggling. The Yanks/Sox would instead be "dominating" the division.

I know it's a silly thing to care about it but I can't help my"Balmer" inferiority complex.

[Guest]

Baltimore 53 44

NY Yankees 50 47 3.0

Toronto 51 48 3.0

Tampa Bay 47 53 7.5

Boston 46 52 7.5

[Fla_O'sfan]

Following their respective sweeps of the Twins, Royals, and Reds, I bet the Rays, RedSox, and Yankees are all feeling re-charged now.

[Guest]

I think any team can still win the east.

[Guest]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rays?src=hash">#Rays</a> are 23-11 since June 11, cutting our AL East deficit in half, from 15 GB to 7.5 GB. <a href="http://t.co/GlD0OKv3ug">pic.twitter.com/GlD0OKv3ug</a></p>— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) <a href="

">July 20, 2014</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I bet they don't sell.

[Frobby]

The entire AL East is playing pretty well right now. As a group, the division is +15 in July. The division was -9 for the season through June, and now they are +6.

The O's are 12-5 for the month.

The Rays are 12-4.

There's +15 right there. NY is 10-8, Boston 9-8, Toronto 7-10.

[SeaBird]

The Orioles are slightly off last year's pace when they were 57-44 on July 23rd.

[BohKnowsBmore]

We all know the division is down this year, we get it. But it bugs me that on ESPN or any other national source mentions the O's in 1st place, it's quickly couched with how the division is mediocre and what not.

If the Yankees or Red Sox were atop the East, I sincerely doubt there would be any references about the rest of the division struggling. The Yanks/Sox would instead be "dominating" the division.

I know it's a silly thing to care about it but I can't help my"Balmer" inferiority complex.

I agree, if Sox/Yanks were switched with Jays/O's right now in the division race, we would hear about what a strong division this was. I seem to remember many years of mediocre-to-awful Jays/O's/Rays teams populating the division when the Yanks and Sox were lauded for being in the toughest division in baseball.

[Palmoripken]

Well it's official since tomorrow is my birthday and we're 4 games ahead of the Yanks and Jays. Tomorrow will be my first birthday since 1997 that the O's will have been in first place. Glad to see they went on a tear during my European trip. Let's sweep the Angels tonight.

[PA724_Oriole]

How awesome would a sweep of the Ms be right now?

No matter what happens in the next couple if weeks, this division will be decided in the final month with the inner division post like most years.

[Guest]

Rays about to be only 2 games under .500.

[Jonesy10]

Rays about to be only 2 games under .500.

The orioles have to go 33-26 to reach 90 wins. The Rays have to go 39-19 if they win tonight, which would mean they ended the season on a 59-24, and 48-19 run. I don't see it happening. I think they could win the 2nd wild card but it will be extremely tough for them to to get even 10 games over .500 (55-28 in last 83 and 44-23 in last 67). Look at the Rays and Dodgers streaks last season. They both cooled down after because it's simply not sustainable. The Orioles just need to take care of business and win 90 games. Then no matter what happens, they should be just fine.

[OFFNY]

o

POSTED ON JUNE 10th (The O.P.)

o

The Blue Jays are sitting pretty, atop the division.

The Orioles and the Yankees are treading water.

The Red Sox are floundering.

The Rays are down and out. I believe that they have to go on a stretch of at least 32-18 over a 50-game period to give themselves even a modest chance at getting themselves back into the playoff race.

This is from the O.P., back on June 10th.

I didn't quite bury the Rays, and asserted that they needed to go on at least a 32-18 run at sometime during the season in order to even have a modest chance at a playoff birth.

Since the O.P. they've gone 27-11 over their last 18 games to get themselves off of the proverbial life-support.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TBR/2014-schedule-scores.shtml

They need to go 5-7 over their next 12 games in order to have reached what I had asserted what they would need (AT LEAST a 32-18 run at some point during the season) just to get themselves back into the conversation. I think that they can do it.

And again, as hot as they are, they are still very much on the outside looking in at 2 games under .500 with only 58 games left to play. I said that it would give them a modest chance at a playoff birth, and I believe that that is what they have played themselves into with their torrid streak.