MLB's toughest division has undergone radical makeover with Yankees, Red Sox out of power

BALTIMORE – For 30 years, there has been no surer bet in baseball than playing the ponies in the American League East.

Bet an exacta box with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox and you always cashed a ticket. From 1993 through 2022, one of those clubs finished either first or second in the division, claiming the top two spots 13 times and combining for nine World Series titles.

But after countless Octobers of pinstripes and Green Monsters, and divisional dominance abetted in part by their underlings’ futility, the division has finally turned upside down.

Barring a near-mathematic impossibility, for the first time since 1992, when the Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers finished 1-2, the Yankees and Red Sox will be looking up at the top of the division.

The Yankees (61-65) are bound for their first losing season since that fourth-place finish in 1992, and must make up 4 ½ games on the Red Sox (67-60) to avoid their first last-place finish since 1991.

Boston has fared better, hovering near contention most of the season but faces a four-game deficit to snag a wild card berth – and a 9 ½-game hole to reach second-place Tampa Bay.

Yes, the AL East is the toughest division in baseball. It’s just that the rep is probably even better earned now that it’s Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Toronto on top and not New York, Boston and three also-rans, as it was for so long at the turn of this century.

“It’s five teams that are very, very good,” Blue Jays outfielder George Springer tells USA TODAY Sports. “It doesn’t matter what their record says. It’s a dogfight every day.

“Now, when you look at it, you just know every team is going to be good.”

Indeed, it’s not that the storied Red Sox and Yankees are bad; for most of the season, the East looked like it would make history with the entire division finishing above .500. A nine-game Yankees losing streak – snapped Wednesday night against Washington - that took them out of playoff contention cooled that concept.

It’s just that the Orioles (78-48), Rays (77-51) and Blue Jays (70-57) are not only flourishing but possessing that elusive trait – sustainability at a reasonable cost – that the big-budget Yankees and Red Sox have long sought.

“It’s going to be a battle for a long time,” says Blue Jays manager John Schneider, whose club enters Thursday one game behind Seattle for the final AL wild-card berth. “It’s a unique division, for sure. Boston and New York are going to always be there, too.

“That group will be together for a while. It’ll be entertaining.”

The dynamic has largely been turned on its ear by one team.

Baltimore’s resurgence, fueled in part by three 100-loss seasons from 2018-2021 and the high draft picks that dark stretch delivered, was somewhat expected. Yet it's also startling in its fast arrival: The Orioles are 25-15 against divisional foes, including a 15-6 mark against the Rays and Blue Jays.

With the Blue Jays nearly in line for consecutive playoff berths and the Rays a lock for their fifth consecutive postseason trip despite MLB’s third-lowest payroll, the Orioles’ AL-best performance means three former dregs of the division are performing with conviction.

“We saw it last year,” Springer says of an Orioles team Toronto defeated seven times in 10 September meetings to cinch a playoff berth. “There’s no substitute for experience and all of their guys have got a lot more experience and a little more seasoning under their belt, how to navigate the day, the game, the moment. And you’re starting to see the talent come out in all those guys.

“When you watch a team like Baltimore from afar, you knew they were going to be good. It was just a matter of how and when and what time. A lot of people think it may be earlier than expected, but we understood that they were a good team and are a good team. That’s why they’re in first place.”

This week, the clubs are meeting for the final time this season, splitting the first two games of the three-game series. Baltimore’s 7-0 victory Wednesday night, behind two home runs from Anthony Santander, prevented Toronto from easing into wild card position.

The Blue Jays will be done with the Orioles after Thursday's series finale; perhaps that will be a boon down the stretch for Toronto.

"You never feel like you have a huge advantage over them, no matter what point of the game it is," Blue Jays DH Brandon Belt says of Baltimore. "They’re always in it. But I think our team, when we’re at our best, can compete with anybody."

Back at you.

“They’re a really good team from top to bottom,” says Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who menaced Toronto for 11 hits in 13 at-bats in a series earlier this month and currently has a 28-game on-base streak, the longest active mark in the majors. “They’ve got all the talent in the world and it’s going to be a tough battle this series and the next couple years.”

Just don’t expect the hype to reach Yankees-Red Sox level.

The two clubs finished 1-2 in the East from 1998-2005, a stretch that included seven-game ALCS epics in 2003 and 2004. They are by far the most-televised rivalry on MLB’s national broadcast partners since.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays haven’t appeared on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball since 1999, according to the network. They rarely appear on Fox broadcasts, a byproduct of the significant ratings losses U.S. networks suffer when broadcasting a Canadian team.

“Obviously, they’re a very young team and the Rays the same way,” Blue Jays All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette says of the Orioles. “I would assume they’ll be around a little bit longer and I think we will, as well.

“Naturally, that will come with more recognition and that will be good for the game.”

While the Orioles’ $60 million payroll will never reach the Yankees’ or, likely, Red Sox’s stratosphere, they do share one characteristic with the longtime East beasts, who'd often play past midnight: The Orioles’ average game time of 2 hours, 47 minutes is longest in the major leagues.

That’s a byproduct of their heavy bullpen use and an organization-wide plate discipline ethos; they are third in the AL with 3.93 pitches per plate appearance. So even in the pitch-clock era, it takes patience to catch an Orioles game – but not nearly as much needed for significant change to come to the AL East.

They've also committed the fewest errors in the AL, a trait that will serve them well in their almost-certain playoff appearance.

They reached that lofty perch with a 25-15 record within the division, a division that needn't apologize that its most marquee attractions also aren't the most potent.

That's one reason why Orioles manager Brandon Hyde savored Wednesday's victory, giving his club a 9-3 mark against Toronto entering Thursday's season series finale.

"It’s an excellent team, a great lineup, maybe the best bullpen in the game and starting pitchers who know what they’re doing," Hyde says of the Blue Jays, whose ace, Kevin Gausman, gave up two runs but was the losing pitcher. "It’s an extremely hard team to play. I feel good about how we played against them and our the division this year.

"This is playoff teams every night. That’s a postseason starting pitcher with a postseason starting lineup and I’m really proud of how our guys played tonight."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AL East standings: How MLB's toughest division had a historic makeover