I don't think it should surprise anyone that the AL East is this competitive. Even the Red Sox were gonna be a good bad team rather than a total bottom feeder, so the Sox being a 21-15 fourth place team right now is somewhat understandable. Same with the Jays and Yanks starting the year at first and second and dropping. Everyone in this division is good. This sort of thing is gonna happen all year.
Like, just look at this Blue Jays team. Another star making performance from Bo Bichette, hitting .329 with 22 RBIs. Kevin Gausman, though not impenetrable, with 58 strikeouts in 7 games. Matt Chapman having his best season since Oakland. Vlad Jr. hitting .318 with 7 homers. Kiermaier and Varsho being great on contact and defense. Merrifield making 2nd base his own after coming to the team as a utility man. Jordan Romano being one of the best closers in the game and carrying 9 saves. Yusei Kikuchi undefeated after 7 starts.
...and they're in THIRD. As good as they are, at 21-14, a record better than 3 first place teams, they are in third place, behind the Orioles and Rays. That says all you need to know about this division. You could be playing as well as the Blue Jays are and you'd still be in third in the AL East.
On paper, this is still a pretty packed division. No team that has enough money to sign someone like Carlos Rodon or Masataka Yoshida is gonna completely bottom out and lose 100 games. Similarly, no team that's engineered a grassroots youth/low-budget campaign as confidently as the Rays or O's have is going to end up even slightly less than .500. And the Jays, even if they underperform, still built themselves up enough to guarantee 70 or 80 wins. So even if things go back to equilibrium, or if the Yanks or Sox do end up in the last two positions, nobody in this division is likely gonna be one of the absolute worst teams in the game at the end of the year. Nobody's shat away more than the A's, or stumbled more than the Royals.
So we're really just gonna have a footrace, which isn't new for this division. The Jays, thankfully, have long legs. Vlad is trying to outrun some small injuries, but he's still hitting. The last few games have been prosperous, and they look to continue the fight. I genuinely think they'll have a much better go of things this October than they have in the past, and I think the other AL East guys are gonna need to worry about them down the line, even if they're doing well enough now.
Coming Tonight: The Mets put a lot into re-signing him over the offseason, and it's paying off.
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