Major League Baseball Standings So Far

It has been almost three weeks since the start of the Major League Baseball regular season.  Too early at this point to discern many significant trends, it's still fun to check up and see how teams are doing in the standings, especially in the East Divisions where I'm concentrating my attention (as well as the Chicago and Los Angeles teams in the other divisions).

In the American League East, first and last place are separated by only three games, with the New York Yankees on top at 10-7 and the Boston Red Sox in the cellar at 7-10.  Everyone else is bunched in the middle, around .500: Baltimore (8-7), Toronto (9-8), Tampa Bay (8-9).

 In the National League East, Atlanta has propelled itself into first place (11-5), largely through excellent pitching and early dominance over Washington.  The Nationals at 10-7 are right behind, doing it with their bats and benefiting from early-season dominance over Miami, which largely because of their difficulty in beating the Nationals is in last place at 7-10, just behind Philadelphia at 7-9.  The New York Mets, which just dealt away first-baseman Ike Davis to Pittsburgh, are in the middle at 8-8.

The Chicago teams, both in the Central Divisions, are struggling a little, the Cubs more in the National League (4-11, dead last) than the White Sox in the American (8-9, fourth place but only a game out of first).  The Cubs have displayed some really poor fielding over the games I've seen them play...but there was one inning yesterday when their pitcher Jeff Samardzija teamed up with first baseman Anthony Rizzo to execute three consecutive sparkling ground ball plays at first.  But that sort of play regrettably has been the exception, not the rule. The surprise standout team in their division has been the Milwaukee Brewers (12-5), not the three other teams from it that made the playoffs last year (St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati)

The Los Angeles clubs seem to be faring well, with the NL Dodgers tied for the lead in their West Division at 10-7, despite having their premier starting pitcher Clay Kershaw out with a back injury for the start of the season.  The Angels in the AL are smack in the middle at 8-8.

It's too early to tell how all of these teams will do over the course of the season.  Right now, besides noting the promising performances of the Braves and Dodgers, and the slipshod play of the Cubs, it seems that all the others are just trading wins and losses with each other right now...