The narrative in MLB is that the American League East is the strongest division of all.
It’s easy to make the case, in reality: it had the best team in the junior circuit, the Baltimore Orioles, and three other teams over .500: the Tampa Bay Rays, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the New York Yankees.
Only the 78-84 Boston Red Sox were below .500, and they weren’t that far behind.
Besides the O’s, the Rays and Blue Jays also made it to the playoffs.
However, both fell in the Wild Card round: the Minnesota Twins eliminated Toronto and the Texas Rangers sent Tampa home (well, they were already there, but still).
These events leave the Orioles as the only AL East team in contention for the World Series title, per MLB on FOX.
O boy pic.twitter.com/2TEtGyIDdI
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 5, 2023
The AL West, NL East, and NL West are the divisions with the most teams still in competition, with two each.
From 2017 to 2021, the Orioles were not only the worst team of its division, but one of the worst in baseball.
They hit rock bottom in 2018, with 115 losses, and had similar outputs in 2019 (108 losses) and 2021 (110).
The road to redemption started in 2022, when they went 83-79.
This year, every piece of the puzzle fit to perfection, and the team went 101-61 on its way to the AL East title (their first since 2014).
Baltimore already knows its foe in the Division Series that it’s starting on Saturday: it’s the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers are a tough team with lots of heavy hitters, but Baltimore is no slouch and is actually the favorite.
Stay tuned and enjoy one of the best matchups of the next round.
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