The A.L. East Is Upside Down…Or Is It!

The baseball season is already in it’s second month as we’ve turned the corner into May.  Most of the national pundits who handicapped each division earlier this spring were pretty much in sync, reaching a consensus on the A.L. East Division.  The Toronto Blue Jays had made the biggest splash in the off-season, landing players like R.A.. Dickey, Melky Cabrera, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle and Jose Reyes and were the odds on favorite to win the A.L. East.  With those additions of Dickey, Johnson & Buehrle, their pitching staff was touted as the “best in baseball” and their offense was reported to be the same! A few experts, though, hedged their bets by claiming the division was “toughest in baseball” where no team is likely run away with the race…on paper anyway.

Many of those experts alluded to the Red Sox and Yankees continuing their age-old feud and battling it out all-season.  Battling it out to stay out of the cellar, that is, while agreeing that Toronto and their star-studded team was the favorite to win the division, with Baltimore and Tampa Bay hot on their heels.  Who could disagree? (EDITORS NOTE – WE COULD!) After all, the Yankees were reeling from injuries coming into the season.  Key players like, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira were on the shelf to begin the season and legendary closer, Mariano Rivera was working his way back after major reconstructive knee surgery last June to repair his torn ACL.  No one knew how the 43 year old would bounce back after missing the bulk of last season.  As for the Red Sox, they had dumped 3 of their star players at the 2012 trade deadline (Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford & Adrian Gonzalez) and played the better part of the second half without an injured (Achilles) David Ortiz.  They’ve seemed to be in disarray ever since blowing a huge September lead in the Wild Card race back in 2011.  But rather than make a splash in the off-season by signing a stud like Josh Hamilton, they opted to strengthen their bullpen and rotation while signing solid, “character” players like Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes and Shane Victorino to help rebuild a previously dysfunctional teach chemistry.  There were a plethora of questions about both of these bitter rivals coming into the season regarding health, aging stars and unproven talent and chemistry.  Why would anyone in their right mind pick the Red Sox and Yankees to duke it out for the division or even a wildcard spot unless they were simply nostalgically, waxing poetic?

Though it is still early in the season, with 85% of the season still to be played, something is amiss in the A.L. East. A look at the standings shows that the experts were correct regarding the order in the standings, except for one thing,. . .their predictions are totally upside down.  Toronto is currently running away with the A.L. East cellar position, while the Red Sox and Yankees are battling for the top spot (with a sprinkle of Orioles and Rays thrown in there in the middle).  (EDITORS QUERY: Do you put sprinkle or jimmies on ice cream in New England?)

The A.L. East is totally upside down! Or is it?  It depends on whether you fell in line with the experts who often fall in love with teams that make the big name signings or whether you considered the track record of the Red Sox over the last 10 plus years or of the Yankees over the course of the Jeter and Rivera era. The toughest thing to factor are the intangibles, to wit, they are rarely considered when handicapping a season.  Yes, things like “The Yankee Way,” team chemistry & organizational savvy, are often overlooked when it come to handicapping. But this is why we love this game, why we watch the games, root for our teams and come in to each season with a confident hope; because the games are not played on paper, they are played on the field.

You can’t count out organizations like the Yankees or Red Sox who have proven to be successful, year in and year out over the last 10 plus years.  Each has dismantled, erased and rebuilt their teams during this era, in some cases several times, yet they continue to rise to the top each year (the previous season and a half not-withstanding from a Red Sox perspective when they strayed from their script).   It does not surprise me that the Yankee organization can bring in role players or fresh youngsters to temporarily fill the void left by injured stars like Jeter, A-Rod or Teixiera and still remain highly competitive no more than it surprises me that the Red Sox can rebound so quickly after unloading three elite players and rebuilding with less glamorous, quality, team-oriented players.

Both organizations count on their solid scouting and farm systems.  Both the Yankees and Red Sox organizations have had tremendous success in evaluating talent while also having a keen knack for assessing their team’s current and future needs.  They have been and continue to be built for success from the front office down through their entire organizations, so it is no surprise that they are defying the expert’s predictions.   And from a Boston and New York point of view, there is nothing like the Sox and Yankees battling it out all season and deep into October to let us know that all is right in the world.  To Red Sox and Yankee fans, anything less would be upside-down!

(Yes, all’s right when fans can take swings at others and get hass-kicked in the fucking face.)

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