The defending NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers have won five consecutive NL West titles and were widely expected to win a sixth. However, NL Wild Card champion Arizona Diamondbacks led by manager Torey Lovullo are taking charge of the division with a 20-8 start. The D'Backs own the best record in the NL. A.J. Pollock has supplanted Paul Goldschmidt has the team's best offensive player while Patrick Corbin appears to have returned to his 2013 form when he earned a selection to the NL All-Star Team.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers find themselves in an unfamiliar position. They are in fourth place, 8 games back of the D'Backs. After losing 9 of their first 13 games, the Dodgers have gone 8-7 since. The Dodgers sorely miss Justin Turner who fractured his wrist late in spring training. Even if Turner comes back they will also miss Corey Seager who will miss the remainder of the season to undergo Tommy John surgery for a torn UCL. Kenley Jansen has been struggling out of the bullpen and Clayton Kershaw is 1-4 despite a respectable 2.84 ERA. This just might not be the Dodgers' year.
The San Francisco Giants are certainly doing better than they did after owning the worst record in the NL in 2017. Their 15-14 record is good enough for second place in the division, a half game ahead of the Colorado Rockies fresh off a NL Wild Card berth. The only team the Dodgers are ahead of is the San Diego Padres which everyone expected. However, no one expected the Dodgers to be only three games ahead of the lowly Padres.
The NL Central race is a competitive four team race with the Chicago Cubs leading the division by half a game over the Pittsburgh Pirates, a game over the Milwaukee Brewers and 1.5 games over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs have won five in a row and 8 of their last 10. Of these four teams, the Pirates are the most surprising considering the loss of their ace Gerrit Cole and one time NL MVP Andrew McCutchen. The NL Central is anyone's race. Anyone that is but the Cincinnati Reds. At 7-22, they own MLB's worst record and have already dismissed their manager Bryan Price in favor of Jim Riggleman. The Reds will have to do everything not to surpass the 1962 New York Mets 120 losses.
The 2018 edition of the New York Mets has rebounded from a poor 2017. New Mets' skipper Mickey Calloway has brought a sunny disposition to Citi Field and seems to have had a good effect on everyone save for Matt Harvey. But the Mets have competition in both the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies who are 1.5 and 2 games back of the Mets in the NL East. After an inauspicious first week in which new Phillies' skipper Gabe Kapler made a pitching change with no one warming up in the bullpen, Kapler vowed the team would make the post-season. Kapler might very well make good on that vow. The Washington Nationals, on the other hand, might regret firing Dusty Baker after leading them to back to back NL East titles. Aside from Bryce Harper, the Nats have not responded to new manager Dave Martinez. The Nats, who were widely predicted to win the NL East in their sleep, are 13-16 and are 5.5 games back of the Mets. As expected, the Miami Marlins are in the cellar after selling off Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon during the off-season. But the Marlins can take pride they have a better record than the Reds.
Over in the American League, the defending World Series champion Houston Astros have picked up where they left off winning 20 of their first 30 games with an astonishing team ERA of 2.54. The Astros lead the Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West by 2.5 and 3 games, respectively. After treading water, the Mariners have won 7 of their last 10 games while the Angels finished April losing 7 of their last 10 games despite the presence of Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Justin Upton and Japanese pitching and hitting sensation Shohei Ohtani. The Oakland A's finish April with a .500 record and could turn the division into a four team race with the Texas Rangers 9 games back with an 11-19 record through late March and April.
While the AL West has four teams at or above .500, the Cleveland Indians are the only team above .500 in the AL Central. The Tribe has a four game lead over the Detroit Tigers. Despite an 11-16 record, the Tigers are doing better than I expected. I think a lot of it has to do with new Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire who got the most out of many of his team in the Twin Cities. The same cannot be said for the current edition of the Twins. After earning an AL Wild Card berth, the Twins finished April losing 9 of their last 10 games and are a half game behind the rebuilding Tigers. At 8-18, the Chicago White Sox are mediocre as advertised while the Kansas City Royals hold the AL's worst record at 7-21. The Royals have come down a long way since winning back to back AL pennants in 2014 and 2015 along with a World Series title in 2015.
By contrast, the Boston Red Sox own MLB's best record at 21-7 under new manager Alex Cora. But the New York Yankees under new manager Aaron Boone are hot on their heels having won 9 of their final 10 games in April and are only three games back of the Bosox in the AL East. The Toronto Blue Jays wish they were in the AL Central because they would be leading that division. As it stands, they are five games back of the Red Sox. But the sleeper of this division is the Tampa Bay Rays. Don't let their 13-14 record fool you. After starting the season 3-12, the Rays have won 10 of their last 12 games including 9 of their last 10. At this point, the only team in the AL East who find themselves in trouble are the Baltimore Orioles. Although their 8-20 record isn't the worst in the AL, they are already 13 games back of the Red Sox. There are rumblings that longtime manager Buck Showalter is on the hot seat. The bigger issue is Manny Machado. A free agent at the end of the season, it seems a question of when rather than if they will trade Machado for prospects. And if they trade Machado will Adam Jones follow him out of Camden Yards? We'll see at the end of May.
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