A Division-By-Division Review Of The MLB In July

(All statistics referenced are from https://www.mlb.com/.)

The last 60 games of the season are here as teams make their March to October. July was especially important for teams in tight divisions to either close or widen their gaps. The AL Central and NL East are two-team races and the NL Central is a three-team race, but every other division is almost finalized at this point outside of Wild Card races. So, let's look at how each division is shaping up.

NL East

The Nationals are coming for the Braves as they have a three-game set in Washington at the end of July, right after a series split in Atlanta. Still, they sit 4.5 games back of the Braves, who are in a little bit of a rut right now and have started to have bullpen issues again. For some reason, the Mets bought Marcus Stroman and sent to lower level prospects over to the Blue Jays, getting a good starter for cheap despite not being in the playoff race. The Phillies are getting ruined by poor management, and the Marlins have lots to look forward to in the form of young starters like Jordan Yamamoto.

NL Central

This division has started to narrow itself down, but only from a five-team race to a three-team race. This division is certainly living up to its hype, as the Cardinals and Cubs seem to always somehow find themselves right in the mix late in the season. The Brewers are still just one game back of the Cubs and Cardinals, who are both tied for the division lead currently. The divisional matchups between these three teams are going to make for some great baseball and feel like the postseason.

NL West

The Dodgers are the best team in baseball at 69-39 and have the largest lead over any second-place team by a huge margin with a 14.5 game lead. Meanwhile, the rest of the division is around .500, with the Giants making a huge push after the All-Star break to find themselves in the mix of the NL Wild Card race, and now look to buy rather than to sell at the trade deadline.

AL East

Yankees have continued their great play despite an abysmal starting rotation, one of the worst in baseball over the past couple of weeks. They will likely try to add Thor or another good starting pitcher at the trade deadline this year. This year looks lost for Boston, who will probably try to sell at the deadline, unless they can make one last push for the Wild Card spot. The same goes for the Rays, but the Rays are only 0.5 games back in the Wild Card race. The Yankees have their blistering hot offense to thank for their dominant play in divisional games recently, accounting for the Rays fall to 6.5 games back. Toronto and Baltimore are still very much the same, but the Orioles are actually above .500 after the All-Star break, which is nice.

AL Central

The Cleveland Indians continue their red-hot run from June and are at the throat of the Twins, just a mere two games back of them, thanks to a temporary Twins slump. The Indians are definitely going to make the postseason along with the Twins one way or another, barring any collapses. The White Sox are still struggling, Detroit is really struggling, but the Royals have actually improved as of late, even sweeping the Braves in a two-game set in Atlanta.

AL West

The Astros have have pretty much run away with the division at this point, although the A's are only 8 games behind despite Houston being 68-39. That means while the A's are in the second AL Wild Card spot, they have to play well against Houston despite not being in the run for the divisional race if they want to have postseason hopes. The Angels are playing .500 baseball still and so are the Rangers. But the Mariners are still at the bottom and will be for the rest of the season.