MLB: National League Starting to Sort Itself Out

Posted on | July 22, 2009 | No Comments

Wow! That didn’t take long. It looked like every division would be a great race right through to September or October. Sure, the Los Angeles Dodgers have been in control for most of the season but it looked the Giants might push them a little. But the Dodgers look like they’re putting a strangle hold on the division now. And, surprisingly enough, the Philadelphia Phillies are pulling away in the National League East too.

The Dodgers have opened up a 9 game lead over the Colorado Rockies and they’re 9.5 up on the Giants. So, unless a major collapse occurs (and it won’t) the Dodgers will easily sail into the playoffs (and they will).

Meanwhile, the Phillies are now 6.5 games up in the NL East. The Braves are in 2nd place and that’s because of a 3 game winning streak. But the Phillies are riding a 10 game winning streak and they’ve just about put the NL East out of reach.

Shockingly, the New York Mets have now fallen to a whopping 10 games back. They are an abysmal 5 games under .500. I know they’ve had injuries to key players but this is just horrendous. Some players have to step up a little bit. I mean, every team has injuries. Sure the Mets have more than most but still, they have no talent below their starting 8 players? Seems like this is the case.

The NL Central is still a race though. In fact, it’s getting closer. The Cards lead the division and then 3 teams – the Astros, the Cubs, and the Brewers – are all bunched at 2 games back. This promises to be a great race unless 1 team gets hot and can rattle off like 12 straight or something.

Over in the AL, the Yankees have taken over 1st place all by themselves. The Tigers were able to extend their lead to 2 games and the Angels held steady at 3 games ahead of the Rangers. So, the AL still had a lot of drama and that drama should continue well past the summer.

Related posts:

1. MLB: A Look at the National League
2. MLB: Looking at the National League
3. MLB: The National League
4. MLB: Looking at the National League in Early August
5. MLB: Looking at the National League Leaders

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