Around the Majors: AL East
Jasson Dominguez First HR (Getty Images)
The American League East has been MLBs best division all season. The Baltimore Orioles sit atop of the division with a record of 88-51, the Tampa Bay Rays sit in second with a record of 85-55, then the Toronto Blue Jays are 77-63, following the Boston Red Sox at 72-68 and the New York Yankees in dead last at 70-69.
The Orioles are 7-3 in their last 10 games and just recently lost closing pitcher Felix Bautista, due to an elbow injury that he suffered last week. This injury could end Bautista’s All-Star season as one of the best closers in all of baseball. Baltimore brought back former relief pitcher Jorge Lopez, who helped the team have a solid season in 2022. The O’s swept the Los Angeles Angels in three games, and they took two out of three to start August against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Tampa Bay Rays will be without ace Shane McClanahan for the rest of the season as he is dealing with left forearm tightness. Losing the southpaw will be a huge loss for the Devil Rays and so will the absence of Wander Franco, as he deals with off the field issues. The return of Tyler Glasnow makes the McClanahan loss easier to deal with, but having 1a and 1b pitchers in your rotation would be huge for October. McClanahan was the fifth pitcher that this team has lost this season, making it difficult for Kevin Cash’s ballclub to deal with. With all of that, the Rays still sit in second place in the AL East and they are 7-3 in their last 10 games played.
The Blue Jays are currently the third and final Wild Card team with a loss from the Texas Rangers a night ago against the Houston Astros. Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette remains on the IL as he’s dealing with right quad tightness. The Blue Jays also lost catcher Danny Jansen as he hit the 10-day IL with a right middle finger fracture. Toronto has recorded three consecutive series wins against the Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockie and Oakland Athletics. They will continue to compete with the Rangers, Red Sox and the red hot Yankees for the third Wild Card spot.
Things aren’t looking good for Boston as they have gone ice cold as of late. The Red Sox are 3-7 in their last 10 games played and they start a three-game series against the Orioles on Friday, September 8 and then the scorching hot Yankees, though they’ve handled the Pinstripes with ease to this point in the season.
The New York Yankees have been disappointing all season, failing to get hot. Well just as it looked like the Yanks were done, the Baby Bombers showed up to save the season. Since the series before Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells were called up, New York is 8-1 and 6.5 games out of the last wild card spot. In five games played, Dominguez is batting .333 with 3 homeruns, 5 RBI and an OPS of 1.143. The Young Bucks are single handedly pulling this team out from the depths of defeat and making a playoff push in the last month of baseball, but is it too late?
