Don't get me wrong. The Cleveland Indians are a good ball club. They are certainly the best team in the AL Central with a comfortable 9 game lead over the Minnesota Twins.
But let's be honest. The Tribe is thanking their lucky stars they are in the AL Central where the Chicago White Sox and the Kansas City Royals are likely to lose over 100 games with the Twins and the Detroit Tigers likely topping 90 losses. If the Indians were in the AL West they would be a fourth place team. The Indians would be 8.5 games back of the Houston Astros and 4.5 games back of the Seattle Mariners who remain in the second berth of the AL Wild Card. The Oakland A's are 3.5 games ahead of the Tribe. But if the season were to end today, the Indians would play in October and the A's would go home. (Of course this could change as the A's begin August only a game behind the Mariners for the second AL Wild Card spot.) The Los Angeles Angels are a .500 club, but if they were in the AL Central they would be five games back of the Tribe and would have been buyers instead of sellers at the trade deadline.
The margin would be even more dramatic if the Indians were in the AL East. While they would be in third place instead of fourth, but it would be of little consolation. The Indians would be 15.5 games back of the Boston Red Sox and 10.5 games back of AL Wild Card top spot holder New York Yankees. The Tampa Bay Rays are 20 games back of the Bosox. But if they were in the AL Central they would be 4.5 games back of the Tribe. Chances are they would not have traded Chris Archer and Nathan Eovaldi much less Jesus Colome earlier this season.
But barring a complete collapse, the Indians are going to the post-season. And when the playoffs begin every team is 0-0. Indians fans have been waiting 70 years for a World Series title. Should they win the World Series, Tribe fans won't care if they don't win 100 plus games. After all, the 1954 Cleveland Indians won a then AL record 111 games in 1954 only to be swept by Willie Mays' catch, Dusty Rhodes' pinch hitting along with the rest of the New York Giants.
There's not much I can say about the Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles or Texas Rangers and it's probably just as well.
The National League is a far less certain proposition. The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers begin August tied for first in the NL Central. The Arizona Diamondbacks have a half game lead over both the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. After beginning July a game under .500, a 17-6 puts them back into the mix. Meanwhile in the NL East, the Philadelphia Phillies have a 1/2 game lead over the Atlanta Braves.
The Brewers (who are technically .002 points behind the Cubs, Rockies, Dodgers and Braves are in the thick of the NL Wild Card race. After a 17-9 July, the Pittsburgh Pirates have to be given serious consideration as well. The St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants are just above .500, but have a fighting chance. The Washington Nationals begin August at .500. But when a 25-4 shellacking of the New York Mets reveals a clubhouse in chaos one wonders if firing Dusty Baker was such a good idea. I never thought so. You know things are bad when the Miami Marlins have a brighter future than the Nats.
Aside from the Mets and Marlins, the only teams in the NL that are truly out of it are the San Diego Padres and the Cincinnati Reds. The Padres went 5-20 in July and finished the month with seven straight losses.
I began this post in Ohio so let me end it there. While the Reds will very likely finish in the basement of the NL Central they are over .500 under Jim Riggleman after an awful 3-15 start under Bryan Price (who succeeded Dusty Baker). And yet he remains an interim manager. While Phillies' skipper Gabe Kapler is likely to win NL Manager of the Year, Riggleman deserves a strong vote. The Reds must remove the interim tag forthwith.
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