The top two teams in the AL East race have had a Jekyl and Hyde past few weeks.
Through July 31, the Yankees had won nine of 11 games and held first place by a half-game. They also were considered big winners in front of the trade deadline, beefing up their bullpen, getting Todd Frazier's bat and adding Sonny Gray to the rotation.
Meantime, the Red Sox had gone 9-14 since building up a four-game lead in early July and were slightly quiet in front of the deadline. They were dealing with David Price issues (injury and media controversy) and looked to have a hole at third base.
What a difference a week makes in the marathon that is the big-league regular season, eh?
The Red Sox are red hot right now. They've now won seven games in a row. Rookie Rafael Devers is hitting .319/.396/.553 as the everyday third baseman, Eduardo Nunez is playing very well as a utility type, Chris Sale is still stupid-good and the offense overall is starting to come alive.
The Yankees have lost five of seven as the Red Sox have pushed their lead up to four games again.
With the way things have been going, we'll see a few more flips with these two teams, because when one of these two teams has been up this season, the other has been down for the most part. Just a back-and-forth, hot-and-cold battle. It's uncanny.
Head-to-head games will be really fun here in the next few weeks, as the two teams have a series in the Bronx this coming weekend, in Fenway from Aug. 18-20 and then back in New York on Aug. 31-Sept. 3. Notice I didn't say "the rest of the season" instead of "the next few weeks," though?
Because that's it. In a weird scheduling twist, the Yankees and Red Sox don't play each other after Sept. 3.
Perhaps they battle it out in the standings until the final few days of the season, but even then there would be that lack of head-to-head games issue in the final few weeks.
We should also add that these aren't the only two teams of interest in the AL East. The Orioles were widely panned for their efforts before the trade deadline (including by yours truly), but they've climbed to within 1 1/2 of the second AL wild card, a spot for which the Rays are tied right now.
It's kind of funny, I cracked a joke about the division a few weeks ago and now it's totally going to end up being an exciting race the rest of the year. They could even end up with three playoff teams (maybe even two teams playing a game to get into the wild card? Pretty please?).
So here I am, bowing down and eating crow: The AL East is fun.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Here's a good example of how ridiculously good things are going: Hyun-Jin Ryu has tossed 15 straight scoreless innings and -- assuming Clayton Kershaw is back -- he wouldn't even crack their playoff rotation. Rich Hill was the NL pitcher of the month in July and he'd be their fourth starter. | -- | 18-11 |
| 2 |  | Rough stretch, but two of the best position players in baseball are hurt. They'll be fine. At least the rest of the regular season. Pretty worried about that postseason rotation, especially with Dallas Keuchel struggling since his return. Regardless, the Astros remain number two because of a concept we discuss at times in this very space: Built-up credit. | -- | 8-19 |
| 3 |  | A tip of the cap to Gio Gonzalez for his huge bounce-back season. His ERA is almost two full runs better than last season (2.66, down from 4.57). | -- | 12-14 |
| 4 |  | Here's an oddity: Rick Porcello led the majors with 22 wins last year. So far this year, he leads the majors with 14 losses. | 4 | 15-13 |
| 5 |  | It's mildly depressing how underappreciated Paul Goldschmidt it. Such an amazing player. | 4 | 12-16 |
| 6 |  | After a May 2 start, Corey Kluber's ERA was 5.06 and he landed on the disabled list. Since then, he's 7-1 with a 1.70 ERA and 142(!) strikeouts against only 15 walks in 95 1/3 innings. Good lord that's a hot streak. | 1 | 19-8 |
| 7 |  | It's unreal how much of a wall Carlos Gonzalez has hit this season. Fortunately, Gerardo Parra has come to the rescue, hitting .350/.375/.526. | 2 | 7-20 |
| 8 |  | One of Theo Epstein's earliest skills with the Red Sox was grabbing veterans on the cheap and getting a lot out of them. Now look at the 2017 Cubs and the contributions they've been getting from Brian Duensing and Jon Jay. | 4 | 17-10 |
| 9 |  | It was probably inevitable that Aaron Judge would have a down second half after his ridiculous first-half surge. If anyone tries to blame the Home Run Derby, please yell at them. | 3 | 18-10 |
| 10 |  | Just when it looked like they were getting back on track, the Brewers lost three straight, including two gut-punches from the Twins (one on a balk, one a blowout loss). | 2 | 17-9 |
| 11 |  | On Monday, the Cardinals got back to .500 for the first time since June 2. On Wednesday morning, they wake up only 2 1/2 games out of first place. | 3 | 13-14 |
| 12 |  | Taking three of four from the Astros was great, but now they've already turned around and lost three of four. | 1 | 13-15 |
| 13 |  | You ... are hanging on by a very thin thread ... and I DIG THAT ABOUT YOU. (Name the movie) | 2 | 15-12 |
| 14 |  | Get those hands up, because we're on the Rockin' Royals roller coaster. After winning six of seven, they lost seven of eight. Then they won 10 of 11. Now they've lost seven of their last nine. | 4 | 17-11 |
| 15 |  | One of my many mottos is Believe In Buck. I will not stray, either. | 1 | 17-9 |
| 16 |  | The Bucs are hot again, having won five of their last six. Of course, those were wins against the Reds, Padres and Tigers. Hmmmm. | 1 | 14-14 |
| 17 |  | Mike Trout is slugging .710. That's higher than the OPSes of main Angels' regulars like Albert Pujols, Kole Calhoun, Luis Valbuena and Cameron Maybin. | 2 | 10-17 |
| 18 |  | Hey, 5-2 since last week and they're lingering in the wild card race. You never know ... | 4 | 13-13 |
| 19 |  | Josh Donaldson's last 10 games? .297/.400/.838 with six homers and 11 RBI. Can't keep a stud down all season. | 1 | 13-15 |
| 20 |  | Andrew Cashner is having a very nice season when it comes to run prevention. That 3.36 ERA is worth a 137 ERA+. His K:BB has me scratching my head, though. In 107 innings, he's only struck out 55 but has walked 43. Weird line. | 1 | 14-14 |
| 21 |  | Giancarlo Stanton already has a career high 38 homers. We're finally getting that 50-homer season. | 3 | 6-22 |
| 22 |  | Ian Kinsler last season hit 28 homers and slugged .484. It was his highest HR total since 2011 and best slugging since 2009. He was in his age-34 season. This year? He's slugging .388 and on pace to hit 14 homers. Looks like that jump was just a one-year outlier during his mid-30s decline. | 1 | 15-12 |
| 23 |  | Surely they can get something back for Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce this month, right? | 1 | 13-13 |
| 24 |  | Many, myself included, thought the Braves would be better than this in 2017. Not necessarily a playoff team, just better. Some big reasons they aren't would be the terrible season Julio Teheran is having, Dansby Swanson's unexpectedly huge struggles and Freddie Freeman's injury. Still, they aren't awful. | 1 | 18-7 |
| 25 |  | Here's a good trivia question you could use on your idiot friend who for some reason doesn't read the best power rankings on the internet: Who has the most home runs since the beginning of the 2016 season? It's Khris Davis with 72. (But seriously, why even associate with anyone who doesn't read this?) | 1 | 11-17 |
| 26 |  | Wil Myers got off to a scorching hot start to the season, but he's been miserable since. From May 5 on, he's hitting .201/.312/.387. | 3 | 14-16 |
| 27 |  | If you have no other reason to watch this team, you've got to check out the utter cannon that Carlos Moncrief takes out to right field with him. | 2 | 13-15 |
| 28 |  | Homer Bailey is making $21 million next season and $23 million in 2019. It's not his fault that he got hurt and it essentially ruined his career, but this is a pretty crippling deal for the Reds. Since 2014, he's made 17 starts and pitched to a 7.71 ERA. | 1 | 15-12 |
| 29 |  | After I promoted them last week, they promptly went on a five-game losing streak. It's fine, they have a number one overall pick to attain. | 1 | 18-10 |
| 30 |  | After a rough start, Yoan Moncada is coming around. In his last five games, he's hitting .375 with a .524 on-base percentage. Good sign. | -- | 5-22 |
