The American League East

[Roll Tide]

I was looking at the standings:

 

Allstar Break -Mid July

Quote

New York Yankees, 64-28

Tampa Bay Rays, 51-41 — 13 games back

Toronto Blue Jays, 50-43 — 14.5 games back

Boston Red Sox, 48-45 — 16.5 games back

Baltimore Orioles, 46-46 — 18 games back

As of today

Quote

NY Yankees   71 - 42

Toronto           60 - 51      -10

Orioles            59 - 53      -11.5

Rays                 58 - 53      -12

Red Sox           56 - 58       -15.5

 

So in a little under a month we have picked up 7 games in the standings. The Yankees are currently on a 3 game losing streak.

Do we have a shot? If we picked up 7 (actually 7.5)more by mid September we’d be 4 games back. I’m assuming we’ve played a makeup by then and will have the same number of games as them. That would leave us 20 games need to pick up 4 more. If we continue to play well and they can’t get it together we might have a shot. Plus we have 3 left with them Sept 30, Oct 1, & 2.

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Roll Tide

[schittenden]

3 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

I was looking at the standings:

 

Allstar Break -Mid July

As of today

 

So in a little under a month we have picked up 7 games in the standings. The Yankees are currently on a 3 game losing streak.

Do we have a shot? If we picked up 7 (actually 7.5)more by mid September we’d be 4 games back. I’m assuming we’ve played a makeup by then and will have the same number of games as them. That would leave us 20 games need to pick up 4 more. If we continue to play well and they can’t get it together we might have a shot. Plus we have 3 left with them Sept 30, Oct 1, & 2.

 

Love the optimism!

[emmett16]

Yankees are 7-14 since the break? Wow, I knew they were struggling but that’s hard to believe.  Just keep winning Os!

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, emmett16 said:

Yankees are 7-14 since the break? Wow, I knew they were struggling but that’s hard to believe.  Just keep winning Os!

Some of that is evening out.  They weren’t as good as they were showing.  Just the trials and tribulations of a full season worth of games.

[Mooreisbetter27]

Yankees would have to really continue this swoon since we only play them 3 more times this year. 

[spleen1015]

Anything can happen over the long season. The Braves showed us last year and the Nats showed it the year they won the WS as well.

Heck yeah the O's can do it too!

[Moose Milligan]

This is probably a different season if Tampa doesn’t have so many injuries. 
 

I get it, I get it, it’s part of the game. But they’re missing a lot of key contributors. 

[yark14]

1 hour ago, emmett16 said:

Yankees are 7-14 since the break? Wow, I knew they were struggling but that’s hard to believe.  Just keep winning Os!

All while Aaron Judge is playing out of this world...

Since the AS break:
.403 BA

13 HR

1.561 OPS.  !!!!!!!!!

[Jammer7]

The Yanks had stayed largely healthy, and then they have had several injuries since June. Especially Stanton and the pen.

I’m not sure our pen can withstand the current workload. And our starters have pitched amazingly well for a largely mediocre at best bunch. They’ll need to go deeper in games. We have stayed relatively healthy. That is tough to maintain.

I love the optimism, though. I would say that if anyone takes down the Yanks in the AL East, the Blue Jays have the most talented roster and they have played better since they fired the manager, Rojas?

[Babkins]

12 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

This is probably a different season if Tampa doesn’t have so many injuries. 
 

I get it, I get it, it’s part of the game. But they’re missing a lot of key contributors. 

Honestly, who cares. I’m sure Royals fans in 2014 didn’t care that we were playing Ryan Flaherty at third and Nick Hundley at catcher. A hypothetical 2022 featuring a healthy Tampa Bay Rays gets a massive “So what” from me given the actual season that’s playing out. 

[Mooreisbetter27]

5 minutes ago, Jammer7 said:

The Yanks had stayed largely healthy, and then they have had several injuries since June. Especially Stanton and the pen.

I’m not sure our pen can withstand the current workload. And our starters have pitched amazingly well for a largely mediocre at best bunch. They’ll need to go deeper in games. We have stayed relatively healthy. That is tough to maintain.

I love the optimism, though. I would say that if anyone takes down the Yanks in the AL East, the Blue Jays have the most talented roster and they have played better since they fired the manager, Rojas?

Blue Jays have lost 3 in a row and are 4-6 in their last 10.

I’m curious to see what we do when Wells comes back. 6 man rotation? Piggyback Voth and Watkins? (Seems like they both start to struggle around 70-80 pitches)

[Jammer7]

3 minutes ago, Mooreisbetter27 said:

Blue Jays have lost 3 in a row and are 4-6 in their last 10.

I’m curious to see what we do when Wells comes back. 6 man rotation? Piggyback Voth and Watkins? (Seems like they both start to struggle around 70-80 pitches)

Yeah, hard to say which team gets on a roll. The way Bichette was swinging the bat the other night is a good sign for them. They miss Robbie Ray and Marcus Semien this year, but that is still a talented roster. 

[Mooreisbetter27]

2 minutes ago, Jammer7 said:

Yeah, hard to say which team gets on a roll. The way Bichette was swinging the bat the other night is a good sign for them. They miss Robbie Ray and Marcus Semien this year, but that is still a talented roster. 

Bichette seems to ALWAYS hit us. He drives me crazy. But you’re right, they definitely have a talented roster. 
 

edit: and for the record I don’t think anyone is going to catch the Yankees. That would be a colossal implosion by them. 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Mooreisbetter27

[Sports Guy]

40 minutes ago, Babkins said:

Honestly, who cares. I’m sure Royals fans in 2014 didn’t care that we were playing Ryan Flaherty at third and Nick Hundley at catcher. A hypothetical 2022 featuring a healthy Tampa Bay Rays gets a massive “So what” from me given the actual season that’s playing out. 

So, I agree with all of this.  And part of the reason Tampa (and Boston) aren’t as good is because we are better.

That said, I do think we have to recognize these things no matter how the rest of the year unfolds.  This offseason needs to be about a lot of improvement.

One of the biggest mistakes this organization has made in recent memory is not doing more to capitalize on the success of the teams in 2012-2016.  They didn’t do enough to make the team better in those years.

This offseason we need to see major improvements on the pitching staff because this same staff could come back next year and pitch to a collective 5 ErA and no one would be surprised.

[Fiver6565]

Love the optimism but this is not happening. I’m staying focused on the WC.