In 1965, there was a movie titled The Great Race that starred Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Natalie Wood. Forty one years later, there's another Great Race going on and it's not from New York to Paris, it's the American League Eastern Division race between three teams. They are the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Going into Monday's games, the Orioles have a half game lead over the Blue Jays and the Red Sox trail by one and a half games. The Orioles had the night off while the Blue Jays battle the Astros and the Red Sox headed west to Seattle to take on the Mariners. Just in, the Astros beat the Blue Jays 2-1 in 14 innings on a walkoff double by Carlos Correa that scored the AL's leading batter Jose Altuve.
Here's a look at where the three teams stand in the race. The Orioles upgraded their pitching by acquiring Wade Miley from the Mariners and welcomed back Steve Pearce, who they got in a deal with the Rays. The Orioles now have a top starting staff with the addition of Miley and their ace Chris Tillman. Tillman, who has a record of 14-3, is two wins shy of his career win total of 16 in 2013. They also have a solid bullpen anchored by a couple of Bs, Brad Brach and Zach Britton. Britton has 32 saves this season, his third consecutive season with more than 30 saves. The Orioles will also need production from Adam Jones, Chris Davis and Manny Machado to clinch the AL East.
As for the Red Sox, the best description of their lineup came from Fox Sports play-by-play man Joe Buck during the All-Star Game. "That lineup is young, deep and good." Plus, they have a veteran who is playing his final season at age 40 and he has hist 25 home runs, former Twin David Ortiz. They also have their version of the Three Bs. Mookie Betts, Xander Boegaerts and Jackie Bradley, Jr. All three were All-Star Game starters. Mix in first baseman Hanley Ramirez and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, add a third baseman in Travis Shaw and a left fielder in Brock Holt and they have a very solid lineup that could be headed for post season play in October.
But let's not overlook the Red Sox pitching. They have a strong starting five in Steven Wright (not the comedian), David Price, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and a key addition via trade with the padres Drew Pomeranz. Red Sox general manager David Dombrowski made a great move in obtaining Pomeranz as well picking up just before the trade deadline Fernando Abad from the Twins. Abad will be the closer due to the absence of Craig Kimbrel, who is on the disabled list. Keep an eye on the Red Sox. They can go pretty far in the post season and even advance to the World Series.
And the last team in the race is the Blue jays. Though they have a solid lineup anchored by Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Michael Saunders, they bolstered their pitching staff by acquiring former Twins pitcher Francisco Liriano from the Pirates and Scott Feldman from the Astros. The defending AL East champions are also in the hunt but can they get quality starts from their starters such as Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada and J.A. Happ?
Who will come out on top? This is a race that could go down to the final day of the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment