The Blue Jays are in 1st and the AL East race is ridiculous

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The Blue Jays won on Wednesday, and the Orioles did not. That gave Toronto sole possession of first place in the American League East, which they have not possessed since July 30, and that was only by a half-game and for one day. Before that, the Jays were alone atop the division on April 4, when they were all of two games into the season and neither of the Red Sox nor Yankees had even played yet. Toronto has spent a total of 10 days in first place, and was as far back as seven games of the division lead at one point. Yet, here they are as we near mid-August.

The thing is, though, that they are just one game up on the Orioles, and 1.5 games up on the Red Sox. Baltimore has spent 109 days in first this season, and the furthest behind they’ve been all year is just three games — they’ve hovered near the top the entire time. The Red Sox were in first when the O’s and Jays were not, racking up 35 days, with the largest lead those three games over Baltimore. The East has been tight all year, and it’s presumably going to continue to be that way from here on out, too. One team seems to play hot for a week or two at a time, the others fall behind ever so slightly, and then roles reverse, and the back-and-forth continues. Given how the trade deadlines for all three went, you can expect all that to continue.

Whoever wins the division might not necessarily be the best team — they’re just going to be in the right place when the music stops. The existence of two wild cards means there’s a good chance at least one, if not both, of the division losers in this trio will also end up with meaningful October baseball, but given only one of them can survive past a one-game playoff, a division win is still the most highly sought after prize in the AL right now. To make things that much more intense out East, the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Orioles are also contending with the Tigers, Astros, and the surging Mariners for those two wild card spots -- Seattle has won six in a row and is suddenly just 1.5 back after seemingly sliding back and nearly out of this close race. The next eight weeks are going to be something.

• The Jays received bad news before taking over the East for themselves, as Jose Bautista hit the disabled list with a sprained knee. David Ortiz also went down after fouling a ball off his shin, but he’s day-to-day for a return.


• Prince Fielder announced his retirement, and it got emotional. This sport is cruel.


• Here is an ode to Prince Fielder and his beautiful, violent swing. It’s the reason we’ll remember him, even though his career was cut short.



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