MLB Standings Suggest Surprising Division Could Be in for Historic Year – Sports Illustrated

In this story:
Look no further than the struggles of the Red Sox, Phillies and Mets to understand that preseason projections are only as good as the paper upon which they are printed. Baseball is a funny game and the marathon nature of a 162-game season guarantees some twists and turns with surprising stretches along the way. The American League East, which many thought would be the most difficult division in baseball, sees Boston and Toronto, the defending pennant winner, floundering at the bottom, struggling to pick up victories. The National League East is upside-down as Philadelphia and New York are a combined 15-29. Meanwhile there's another division that has shocked everyone by continuing to rack up wins across the board.
Despite a solid 12-9 start the Brewers find themselves in the cellar of a division with five teams over .500. They are looking up at the 15-8 Reds, and a trio of teams (Pirates, Cubs and Cardinals) locked together at 13-9. We're only somewhere between 14-15% of the way through the year but the heartland looks as though it's going to be intensely competitive.
Since Major League Baseball went to a divisional format in 1969, there has never been an instance in which all teams in a division finished with a winning record. There have been two instances of all the teams finishing with a .500 record or better—the 2005 NL East and 1991 AL West.
1991 American League West standings
Team
Record
Games Behind
Twins
95-67
—
White Sox
87-75
8.0
Rangers
85-77
10.0
Athletics
84-78
11.0
Mariners
83-79
12.0
Royals
82-80
13.0
Angels
81-81
14.0
2005 National League East standings
Team
Record
Games Behind
Braves
90-72
—
Phillies
88-74
2.0
Marlins
83-79
7.0
Mets
83-79
7.0
Nationals
81-81
9.0
The bad news for teams in the NL Central this year is that it might be difficult to separate themselves from the pack. The good news is that playoff expansion has made it much easier to be rewarded for having an excellent year even if a division crown is not realized. Back 1991 only the Twins made the postseason from the stacked West, going on to win the World Series in an epic seven-game showcase with the Braves. In 2005 the Braves were the NL East's sole playoff representative and were quickly bounced by the Astros.
If the season ended today there would be a lot of unhappy people but the Reds, Cubs and Pirates would all be in the playoffs. The Cardinals, by virtue of a very premature tiebreaker, would be left out as well as the Brewers just a half-game behind their divisional rivals.
Red Sox 8, Tigers 6
Astros 9, Guardians 2
Reds 6, Rays 1
Marlins 5, Cardinals 3
Braves 9, Nationals 4
Orioles 7, Royals 5
Cubs 5, Phillies 1
Dodgers 12, Rockies 3
Blue Jays 5, Angels 2
Athletics 6, Mariners 4
American League East
Team
Record
Games Behind
Yankees
13-9
—
Rays
12-10
1.0
Orioles
11-12
2.5
Blue Jays
9-13
4.0
Red Sox
9-13
4.0
American League Central
Team
Record
Games Behind
Guardians
13-11
—
Tigers
12-11
0.5
Twins
11-11
1.0
White Sox
8-14
4.0
Royals
7-16
5.5
American League West
Team
Record
Games Behind
Athletics
12-11
—
Rangers
11-11
0.5
Angels
11-13
1.5
Mariners
10-14
2.5
Astros
9-15
3.5
National League East
Team
Record
Games Behind
Braves
16-7
—
Marlins
11-12
5.0
Nationals
10-13
6.0
Phillies
8-14
7.5
Mets
7-15
8.5
National League Central
Team
Record
Games Behind
Reds
15-8
—
Pirates
13-9
1.5
Cubs
13-9
1.5
Cardinals
13-9
1.5
Brewers
12-9
2,0
National League West
Team
Record
Games Behind
Dodgers
16-6
—
Padres
15-7
1.0
Diamondbacks
13-9
3.0
Giants
9-13
7.0
Rockies
9-14
7.5
All times ET:
Astros vs. Guardians, 6:10 p.m.
Reds vs. Rays, 6:40 p.m.
Cardinals vs. Marlins, 6:40 p.m.
Brewers vs. Tigers, 6:40 p.m.
Braves vs. Nationals, 6:45 p.m.
Yankees vs. Red Sox, 6:45 p.m.
Twins vs. Mets, 7:10 p.m.
Orioles vs. Royals, 7:40 p.m.
Phillies vs. Cubs, 7:40 p.m.
Pirates vs. Rangers, 8:05 p.m.
Padres vs. Rockies, 8:40 p.m.
Blue Jays vs. Angels, 9:38 p.m.
Athletics vs. Mariners, 9:40 p.m.
White Sox vs. Diamondbacks, 9:40 p.m.
Dodgers vs. Giants, 9:45 p.m.
Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.
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