The Boston Red Sox are back in second place after a surging Tampa Bay Rays team took over first place Tuesday evening. This is the first time the Rays are in first place in the month of August, so they are at least peaking at the right time. Check out the A.L. East standings entering Wednesday morning, as the bottom teams in the division are also giving us something to talk about.
July 30 was the last time the Red Sox were in second place. They were half a game behind Tampa Bay in the standings, but by the next day, they had regained the top spot in the division. How did the division wind up the way it is today? That's an easy answer. The Rays are winning at the right time. They haven't gone on a magical winning streak. In fact, entering Wednesday, since they were last in possession of first place, the Rays are 8-9. However, they have won three straight games, while the Red Sox have gone 10-10 in the same time span, having lost 4 of 10.
Due to percentage points, the Rays awaken Wednesday morning with the top spot in the East. Here's what the standings look like:
Rays: 72-52 (.581)
Red Sox: 74-54 (.578)
The Rays have less victories, but they also have less losses, which favors them for now. Eventually, those games will have to be made up and we'll have a better idea if the Rays indeed are the top dog in the A.L. East.
Don't count out the New York Yankees. You should know better. Fourth place seems like one of the worst places a team could be entering the last 10 days of August. However, the surging Yankees wake up Wednesday just 6.5 games back from the Rays and just one game behind the third place Baltimore Orioles. After all their trading and moving, the Orioles find themselves a game from dipping to fourth place, which is a disappointment. Here's how the bottom of the A.L. East standings are looking entering Wednesday morning:
Orioles: 67-58 (5.5 GB)
Yankees: 66-59 (6.5 GB)
It is a dangerous time to struggle in the waters of the A.L. East. Though the Red Sox's success in 2013 was unlikely, the division has been their's for most of the year. Will they be able to regroup or will the Rays run away from the pack? Can the Orioles make their midseason acquisitions count or will the Yankees use the Alex Rodriguez saga to ignite their 2013 playoff run?
Stay tuned as this real life sports opera won't likely reach its conclusion until the latter stages of the season.
By the way, the Toronto Blue Jays are 57-69, sitting in last place, 16 games behind the Rays.
