As the season gets ready to blast into the month of June, the American league East looks great. They weren’t supposed to be all that great this year but so far they’ve clearly been the best division in the Americna league if not in the entire Major Leagues.

Right now the Tampa Bay Rays are surprising everyone by sitting atop the division. The Rays are 10 games over .500. They have a .593 winning percentage and the second best record in the Majors. In second place are the Boston Red Sox, the defending World Series champs. The Red Sox may be the best team in baseball but right now they’re only the second best team in their own division.

In the third and fourth spots are the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles. The Blue Jays are sitting at four games over .500 and the Orioles are playing .500 ball. So four teams in the East are at or above .500. The other two teams in the American league have just two teams at or above .500.

And this brings us to the basement team in the AL East - the New York Yankees. The Yankees have A-Rod back and they’re now looking better. In fact, they are just one game below .500. So the AL East may be just one night away from having every team in the division at or above .500.

An argument can be made that the NL East is a stronger division in all of baseball. However, there is no denying that the AL East is the strongest division in the American league.

After looking like the best team in baseball for about the first quarter of the season, the Arizona Diamondbacks are suddenly looking very ordinary. The D-Backs have now lost 4 games in a row and suddenly they’re sitting at just aix games over .500. The D-Backs have only won twice in the last ten games.

If not for the Los Angeles Dodgers losing four straight games too, the National league Central would be a lot closer. But the San Francisco Giants, who just finished up beating up the D-Backs are now just seven games back.

From the recently bad to the recently hot, the Chicago Cubs are suddenly looking like the best team in baseball. The Cubs hace won four straight games to raise their record to twelve games over .500. The Cubs’ .611 winning percentage is the best in baseball as no other team is at .600. This must be giving all the Cubs fans hope that perhaps they can finally break their long drought of not winning the World Series.

Also in the National league, the Philadelphia Phillies have strung together four wins while the NL East leading Florida Marlins have lost a pair of games. That combination draws the Phillies to within a half game of the Marlins.

So things in the National league are getting more and more interesting. What once looked like the Diamonbacks’ league to lose now looks like anyone’s to win. Things should continue to get more interesting as we roll out of May and into June. There are literally a few teams that can win the National league this year. And it’ll be fun to watch everything unfold throughout the summer.

Here we are just a couple days away from June and the Tampa Bay Rays are still holding onto first place in the American league East. I know I wrote about this a couple weeks ago but it’s worth touching on again. Because not only are the Rays leading the AL East but they’re also leading the entire Major Leagues.

That’s right. The Rays have the best record in baseball. They are currently tied with the Chicago Cubs with a .596 winning percentage. And the Rays are still a half game ahead of the Boston Red Sox.

If we get into June, we need to at some point admit to ourselves that this isn’t madness. Sure the Rays could dive and finish in the basement but with each passing night that’s looking less and less likely.

The Rays are actually beginning to look like the Detroit Tigers of 2 years ago. They are coming out of no where to grab a firm hold on the best record in baseball. Of course the Tigers faded in Septemeber that year. But then they regrouped to go from winning the Wild Card to winning the American league and appearing in the World Series.

It would be amazing if the Rays were able to do something similar. Especially since the mighty Red Sox are right their breathing down their necks.

Meanwhile, soon it won’t be a surprise to see teams like the Detroit Tigers, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets wallowing below .500 or even in the basement of their divisions. Once it gets past Memorial Day, a team pretty much is what it is.

Sure, one or two teams always turn either up or down every season but there’s no guarantee that any of those three teams will be able to turn things around. Sure, they all have injuries and pitchers who are expected back soon and who will help them in games. But there troubles go beyond those injuries.

But we will see. In the meantime, it will be a joy to watch the Rays and absolute misery for fans to watch the Tigers, the Yankees, and the Mets.

Well the early voting for the All-Star game is in and all I can really say is “so what?”

Let’s get one thing straight here, the All-Star game is a popularity contest and nothing more. That’s all it is. And it’s a popularity contest amongst people who barely follow the game.

How can I know this? Well, there are a couple ways.

First, look at last year’s voting and this year’s voting. Which team leads the voting? The team who went to the World Series. Gee could that be because more people watch the World Series and those are the only players they remember.

Secondly, these players that are at the top of the list are all very good players but not all of them are doing very well this year. And shoudn’t they be?

Look at third base, A-Rod leads the voting in the American league but he’s been hurt for most of the season. Even when he has played he’s hitting under .300. How is that All-Star worthy. For this year? Sure, I get it. He’e the best 3rd baseman in the MLB but he hasn’t played enoug this year.

Further proof can be gotten by looking right beside A-Rod. The Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter leads the voting at his position and he’s batting just .282 with only two homers so far this season. Again, I get it. And I love Jeter, I really do. He’s class act and he’s been the heart and soul of the Yankees for many, many years. But does he deserve to be leading the voting this year.

My final piece of proof really gets me fired up. Gary Sheffield, yes that Gary Sheffield who still isn’t hitting his weight and who has almost single-handedly ruined about 20 innings for the Tigers, is in the top 5 of the voting for DH.

Do we need more proof about how insane the voting is? Do we need anymore proof about how insane the voters are? They recognize the name “Sheffield” so they click on it. They don’t bother to make sure he’s actually hitting the ball this year. Because if they did, he wouldn’t even get one vote for this year’s All-Star game.

With Memorial Day being celebrated all over the United States, the unofficial start to summer has arrived. And now is when the games really begin to have a little more meaning. And so do the standings. If a team is still around at this point they have to be seen as a contender. And if a team is at the bottom of their division then that has to be considered real as well.

And that’s why the Tampa Bay Rays have to wake-up feeling pretty good about themselves today. They are back in fist place in the AL East - a half game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. The Rays have won four straight and they do look like a team that just might still be around on Labor Day.

And that’s also why the Detroit Tigers have to be considered a huge failure. They lost again on Monday and dropped back to 9 games under .500. If not for the Royals being on a 9 game losing streak, the Tigers would be alone in the basement of the AL Central.

And there is a lesson to be learned here.

Two years ago the Tigers went to the World Series. They did it with very strong pitching, a couple All-Star players, and a bunch of role players. Last year they had basically the same roster and they had the best record midway throught the season. The injuries decimated them and caused them to fall back and miss the playoffs.

For some reason the Tigers figured they had to do somethign different. So they did what never worked for the Yankees. They traded away very good young talent - mainly Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin - for Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. They thought they’d be one of the best hitting teams in the Majors. Instead they are horrible.

The Tigers got shutout in 12 innings on Monday. That’s their 8th shutout in 51 games. What? That’s right. They are being shutout 15% of the time. That is horrible. In fact, you could pretty much put a Triple A team out there everynight and expect to socre at least one run more than 85% of the time.

But this just proves that you can’t buy wins. You can’t buy team chemistry. And you can’t buy heart. And I know Jim Leyland, the Tigers manager, claims they’re all working hard to right the ship but I don’t buy it. Sure, they might be going through the motions but they aren’t really working hard. If they are then everything I’ve ever been taught and seen in sports is wrong. Talent + hard work + heart = success. That is a winning. So since the Tigers aren’t hitting at the plate then there is something missinig and it isn’t talent. So it’s either hardwork or heart. I suspect it’s a lot of both.

But the lesson here for other clubs is not to mess with a good thing and don’t trade away young talent for older talent. It just doesn’t pay. Just look at the Tigers.

There were some very interesting games on Saturday. We saw a great pitching performance in the Oakland and Boston game, the Tigers exploded for major runs, and the Yankees continued to show signs of getting things going.

Justin Duchscherer threw one hit ball for eight innings and nearly had himself a perfect game. He hit Varitek early in the game to lose the perfect game and then David Ortiz broke-up the no hitter in the seventh inning. And in his eight innings, Duchscherer only faced one more batter than the minimum. It was a great pitching performance from a pitcher against the Boston Red Sox less than a week after Jon Lester three a no-no for the Sox.

Over in the AL Central, the Detroit Tigers have show a little more life recently. Mainly their bats have come alive. They knocked the ball around the park in all three games during their series with the Mariners. Then after scoring only four runs in the first game of their series against the Minnesota Twins the Tigers exploded for 19 runs last night. And with their pitching improving, the Tigers may finally be turning things around. Of course, one - or five games - doesn’t mean much yet, but we might end-up looking back at these games with the knowledge that this is when the Tigers finally pieced things together. Of course, if the Tigers lose today then that will mean they lose the series and suddenly their good feelings from a 19 run outburst will fade away.

Finally, back in the AL East, the New York Yankees are also showing signs of life. Of course it’s pretty easy to come alive against the Seattle Mariners. But the Yanks have won four straight games and they are now just one game under .500. Since A-Rod returned the Yanks have only lost once - his first game back. So this too might be a stretch of games that we point to later on as the time when the Yankees got it going.