‘American League Beast’ living up to its nickname this year

TORONTO — With the season now officially past the halfway point in games played, it’s become very clear the AL East is the best division in baseball.

Winning the division was a priority for the Toronto Blue Jays coming into the season, and the first three months have shown exactly why it was deemed so vital.

The American League Beast is rearing its head and breathing fire once again, leaving five solid ball clubs, including the best team in baseball, duking it out for another three months until the regular season comes to a close on Oct. 1.

“Tough,” Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman said simply when asked to describe the AL East. “It’s hard to win any division, but we have four teams — even the Red Sox, five teams — that are right there. When I was in the AL West it wasn’t as deep but, I mean, we won 97 games [in Oakland] and lost to the Astros by 10 games. I know what it’s like to be in a dogfight every single day and you’re trying to run someone down that doesn’t seem catchable. That’s the race for everybody in this division right now.”

Midway through the schedule with the dog days approaching, it’s fairly clear each of the five clubs is for real in various ways, even if there are some obvious warts, too.

If there’s a team that could sell come the Aug. 1 trade deadline, it’s the Boston Red Sox, a club that needs a good month of July to convince the front office they can hang with the other four teams in the division.

That still would leave four for-sure buyers at the deadline, likely competing against each other for similar talent on the market.

If you’re the Rays, you can’t feel anything but good about where you are, even if injuries have hit the rotation hard.

If you’re the Orioles — and the fan base in particular — you’re over the moon about your young core of position players coming together this early and an elite farm system that will allow for myriad moves.

If you’re the Yankees and Jays — you’re wanting more. More offence, more consistency, more everything, especially when you’re looking up at the Rays, a club full of talent and fundamentals.

“Definitely strong arms all around,” noted Danny Jansen, who’s now in his sixth season of battling division foes in a Jays uni. “It seems to be every year that it’s the AL East throwing jabs at each other, and it’s always been a super-competitive division. It’s always like ‘here we go’ because there’s five good teams going at each other.”

Let’s take a closer look at each team, starting with the best and worst in the division, followed by a statistical breakdown of each team and a look at what they could do at the trade deadline.

BEST OFFENCE: Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays are well-rounded, deep, and versatile. There’s not a bad offence in this bunch, though, as they’re all above average, and the Yankees have even got by without Aaron Judge for a good chunk of the season.

BEST ROTATION: Tampa Bay Rays
Statistically, they’re tops, but injuries have changed things a bit. Same with the Yankees. What’s very clear here is the Orioles and Red Sox both have some catching up to do in this area, while Alek Manoah’s struggles have thrown a wrench into the Jays’ previously solid plans.

BEST BULLPEN: Baltimore Orioles
If you just go by the numbers, the Yankees have the best ‘pen in baseball with a 2.82 ERA, but the Orioles boast the most dominant closer in the game in Felix Bautista and have some depth behind him. The Orioles, Jays, Red Sox, and Rays are all between 3.78 and 3.94 in bullpen ERA, giving each and every team in the division a solid group.

BEST DEFENCE: Tampa Bay Rays
Defensive Runs Saved loves the Jays and has them atop the heap at 42 DRS, but the Rays aren’t far behind and have consistently displayed solid glove work as a team for a number of years now. Outs Above Average also gives the Rays a slight edge.

WORST OFFENCE: New York Yankees
This is a bit unfair because they’re all strong and the Yanks have been missing their best hitter for a good chunk of the season, but with some vets and rookies disappointing this year, a big bat or two may be on the shopping list at the deadline.

WORST ROTATION: Baltimore Orioles
It’s a no-name group that’s done enough to get by, but this is the area where the Orioles could go from very good to scary good with some investment. The Red Sox aren’t far behind here and really need rotation help, too.

WORST BULLPEN: Boston Red Sox
As mentioned above, all of these bullpens are at the very least fairly solid, but the Red Sox are a step behind the rest of the bullpen groups. If there’s a team that is one injury away from being in a very different position, however, it’s the Jays.

WORST DEFENCE: Boston Red Sox
The Orioles don’t grade out very well, either, in certain areas, but both the statistics and the eye test paint the Red Sox defence as the leakiest and it might not be close.

*Stats as of Friday, June 30

RAYS

Tampa Bay Rays

OFFENCE RUNS PER GAME: 5.5 (2nd)
OPS: .796 (3rd)
HOMERS: 125 (3rd)
ROTATION ERA: 3.43 (1st)
BULLPEN ERA: 3.78 (10th)
TEAM DEFENSIVE RUNS SAVED: 32 (4th)
TEAM OUTS ABOVE AVERAGE: 8 (8th)

DEADLINE NEEDS: Pitching depth
DIVISION FARM SYSTEM RANK: 2
KEY TRADE CHIPS: 3B Curtis Mead, 1B Kyle Manzardo, SS Osleivis Basabe

Injuries will have the Rays looking for pitching depth across the staff at the deadline, but don’t rule out this club making a big splash to add a big bat. They know their time is now after some near misses, and they have a very good farm system that will allow them to maneuver.

ORIOLES

Ryan O'Hearn Anthony Santander Baltimore Orioles

OFFENCE RUNS PER GAME: 4.9 (8th)
OPS: .746 (10th)
HOMERS: 95 (13th)
ROTATION ERA: 4.66 (21st)
BULLPEN ERA: 3.79 (11th)
TEAM DEFENSIVE RUNS SAVED: 1 (20th)
TEAM OUTS ABOVE AVERAGE: -12 (26th)

DEADLINE NEEDS: Rotation, rotation, more rotation
DIVISION FARM SYSTEM RANK: 1
KEY TRADE CHIPS: 2B Connor Norby, 3B Coby Mayo, OF Dylan Beavers

With maybe the best farm system in baseball and a number of redundancies at certain positions, the Orioles have timed this rebuild up nicely. Expect them to be connected to every big-name starting pitcher available, and they have the prospect capital to get them if they want.

YANKEES

Gerrit Cole New York Yankees

OFFENCE RUNS PER GAME: 4.5 (16th)
OPS: .709 (21st)
HOMERS: 116 (5th)
ROTATION ERA: 4.19 (13th)|
BULLPEN ERA: 2.82 (1st)
TEAM DEFENSIVE RUNS SAVED: 19 (7th)
TEAM OUTS ABOVE AVERAGE: 5 (12th)

DEADLINE NEEDS: Big bats, rotation depth
DIVISION FARM SYSTEM RANK: 3
KEY TRADE CHIPS: SS Oswald Peraza, 3B Trey Sweeney, SS Roderick Arias

The Yanks have done a tremendous job with player development, and they have a number of of low-level talents that could easily headline a trade package. Roderick Arias, who got $4 million to sign in 2022 as the top international player available, just took Manoah deep in the FCL.

RED SOX

Enrique Hernandez Rafael Devers Boston Red Sox

OFFENCE RUNS PER GAME: 4.8 (9th)
OPS: .748 (8th)
HOMERS: 84 (21st)
ROTATION ERA: 4.83 (24th)
BULLPEN ERA: 3.94 (17th)
TEAM DEFENSIVE RUNS SAVED: -19 (24th)
TEAM OUTS ABOVE AVERAGE: -28 (30th)

DEADLINE NEEDS: Rotation, bullpen
DIVISION FARM SYSTEM RANK: 4
KEY TRADE CHIPS: 2B Nick Yorke, SS Mikey Romero, RHP Angel Bastardo

They’re much more likely to be sellers than buyers at this point, but the next month of baseball will tell that story. It’s probably just tinkering if they somehow hang in the race until Aug. 1.

BLUE JAYS

Bo Bichette Mark Budzinski Toronto Blue Jays

OFFENCE RUNS PER GAME: 4.5 (13th)
OPS: .749 (7th)
HOMERS: 90 (17th)
ROTATION ERA: 3.94 (7th)
BULLPEN ERA: 3.81 (12th)
TEAM DEFENSIVE RUNS SAVED: 43 (T1st)
TEAM OUTS ABOVE AVERAGE: 3 (13th)

DEADLINE NEEDS: Bullpen, rotation depth, bench punch
DIVISION FARM SYSTEM RANK: 5
KEY TRADE CHIPS: RHP Dahian Santos, OF Gabriel Martinez, SS Leo Jimenez

It would be absolutely stunning to see Ricky Tiedemann traded, but you just never know when a team is in full win-now mode. Past the lefty, there’s not many headliners. In order to get splashy, the Jays are going to have to hope teams are in love with specific prospects, which happens, but the depth of this system isn’t great.