Sometimes, it seems like the best teams in a given sport will remain that way forever — just ask anyone who’s not a fan of the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Lakers or New England Patriots. But when that status quo changes, it can change quite dramatically.
That’s what appears to be happening in MLB’s 2023 season, already one where pitch clocks have altered the way the game is played. Great empires have been toppled, underdogs now seem unstoppable and anything seems possible.
Don’t believe us? Just check out these numbers:
Yankees and Cardinals in last place
Just ask any fan whose team is in the AL East or NL Central: The road to win either division often goes through the Yankees or St. Louis Cardinals. They’re both iconic franchises with big payrolls and attractive destinations to any player wanting a big payday or a chance at a World Series title. Last year, both squads finished first in their respective divisions, with Aaron Judge hitting 62 home runs for New York and the one-two punch of Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt giving pitchers fits for St. Louis.
All that changed this year. Judge’s injury and a Cardinals pitching collapse have both squads languishing in last place. It’s the first time the Yankees have been in last in August since 1992, and the first time the same thing has happened for the Cardinals since 1998. You have to go back to 1990 to find a time when both teams were in their respective divisional basements. It’s only the fourth time for the Yankees and the seventh for the Cardinals that they’ve been in last place this late in a season since divisions were introduced in 1969.
The two squads’ struggles aren’t completely comparable, however. The Cardinals were 48-61 entering Thursday’s contest against the Minnesota Twins, with a vanishingly small chance of even competing for a wild-card spot. The Yankees, on the other hand, are 56-52 — certainly not great, but not bad at all. So, what gives?
Beasts of the AL East
It’s because the American League East, usually a pretty tough division, is an absolute juggernaut. Every team in it is above .500. How rare is that? It’s only the second time in the divisional era that every team in a division has a winning record entering August (the only other time was the NL East in 2005), and it’s the first time ever that each squad is multiple games over .500. The Tampa Bay Rays, currently in second place in the division, would be in first in every other division save for the NL East, where the Braves have the best record in baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays, third in the division, would be in first in the NL or AL Central, and the Yankees and Boston Red Sox would be the best teams in the AL Central.
The Baltimore Orioles have a precarious grip on first in the AL East. It’s the first time they’ve had a share of first entering August since 2016.
They’re doing this with a payroll more than $200 million less than the Yankees are spending.
Speaking of payrolls …
Mo’ money, mo’ problems
The New York Mets, Yankees, San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies have the top four payrolls in baseball. None of those teams are in playoff position, and the Mets and Padres both have losing records. Only one time in the wild-card era (since 1995) have the teams with the top three payrolls all missed the playoffs (2008). If these teams continue their current trajectories, it’ll be the first time the top four have all been denied a playoff spot.
Welcome to the new age
In all this chaos, some teams have returned to the top of the standings for the first time in quite a while. Aside from the Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds have a share of first place in August for just the second time in the past 25 years and the first since 2012. The Texas Rangers haven’t had to wait quite as long, but they haven’t had a share of first place in August since 2016.
And even with Mike Trout out with an injury, the Los Angeles Angels (due in large part to Shohei Ohtani making a case for being one of the greatest players of all time) are only three games out of a playoff spot. It’s the first time they’ve been this close to a playoff berth since September 2017.
Statistics from ESPN Stats & Information were used in this article.
George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.
The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.
Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.
Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.
Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.
New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.
DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.
Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.
He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.
“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”
Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.
The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.
“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”
Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.
Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.
Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.
Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).
As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).
During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.
Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.
Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.
Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.