It might have taken me a month to post anything simply because I've been attempting to recover from the shock of witnessing two upside-down division races early in 2011.
I'm speaking of the American League East and Central, where two teams I felt had great chances to finish last in their respective divisions are currently leading the pack instead. I'm speaking of the Cleveland Indians and the Tampa Bay Rays, neither threatening on paper, neither holding high expectations, neither projected to reach glory this season. Yet here they are, a month and a half in, one with the best record in baseball, the other at the top of the best division in baseball. Who would have thought?
The same is true for the cellars of these divisions. Minnesota, a perpetual contender in the AL Central, finds themselves on an eight game losing streak and, in fact, the worst team in baseball to this point, believe it or not. Boston was like that for a while too, but now is coming off a weekend sweep of the Yankees in New York and looks well on their way to changing things around in the AL East. Still, they are currently fourth, just half a game ahead of Baltimore and the dungeon.
You might still say its too early to tell, and you might be right. But Cleveland and Tampa have to be the most intriguing stories in baseball so far this season. I mean, seriously, neither of these teams was supposed to do ANYTHING this year, but they both have firm holds on division leads forty games in?? To say that is surprising would be a gross understatement. I can't wait to see where Cleveland and Tampa are at the All-Star Break. Can they seriously keep this up?
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