May 30, 2006

AL Central the best ... so far : By the end of next week, Chicago should be at the top looking at the Tigers from the rear view mirror.....

read story | posted by zippinglou to Baseball at 1:19 AM CDT (22 comments total)

this is a dumb article. the headline is that the AL central is the best so far, then he goes on to say, except for the indians, twins and royals. usually, when you're a journalist, don't you have to rely on "facts?"

Each Div's respective win%
AL east: .524
AL central: .508
AL west: .456

NL east: .480
NL central: .486
NL west: .539

that's my personal math and i won't take offense if anyone finds a mistake in it, as i haven't had a math class in 6 years. i've been tracking these numbers because after the NL west was nearly historically bad last year, it's pacing the MLB so far this year. a lot can change, but this article can't. it blows.

posted by ninjavshippo at 2:56 AM CDT on May 30

With 3 teams under .500 and the division including Minnesota and KC, I don't think its the best, or the toughest. Their out-of -division and interleague records don't point to that, either. The White Sox are very impressive, however. They can beat you in a lot of ways, and their starters are probably the best group in baseball.

posted by mjkredliner at 3:29 AM CDT on May 30

So the AL Central isn't the best... so far. Whoopie.

posted by jerseygirl at 6:12 AM CDT on May 30

I think that the argument here is possibly one of semantics.

While the NL west may have the highest average winning percentage, the AL central does have the two best records in the entire majors. The fact that KC has failed to win even a quarter of their games really shoots the whole average win percentage theory to shit... There is no chance... in Hell, that KC is going to make the playoffs, but if the season were to end today the AL central would have the wildcard locked up! Why can we not call them the strongest division in baseball?

posted by everett at 6:22 AM CDT on May 30

Why can we not call them the strongest division in baseball?

Because the season doesn't end today (unless Bud does something really, really stupid, which is never out of the question), and in this case, "so far" means "until the AL East takes over."

posted by The_Black_Hand at 7:15 AM CDT on May 30

season were to end today the AL central would have the wildcard locked up! Why can we not call them the strongest division in baseball?

Because according to ninja's win% numbers, they are the third strongest division in baseball?

Also, its May.

posted by jerseygirl at 8:47 AM CDT on May 30

Why can we not call them the strongest division in baseball?

Because combined, CWS and DET are 35-13 against MIN, CLE and KC.

It isn't a strong division if it's comprised of one good team and one team (Detroit, 21-5) that has 60% of their wins against the other two mediocre-bad teams and another atrocious team in their division.

Not only that but the White Sox haven't played the Yankees or Red Sox yet, are 3-3 against the Jays, and have been running up their record against the weak West. Detroit's record is purely a function of their intradivision play, which won't last.

posted by loquax at 8:50 AM CDT on May 30

I'm a Tiger fan and I've waited for them to field an actual baseball team for years now. They finally have. Still, they need to figure out how to beat the Yankees and Red Sox and White Sox and... well, you get the idea. The White Sox don't show any signs of slowing down from last year. Cleveland would have a winning record if they weren't constantly getting spanked by Chicago and Detroit. Having said all that, I'm not convinced that it's the best division. Let's see where evryone stands in September, huh?

posted by ctal1999 at 8:52 AM CDT on May 30

Why can we not call them the strongest division in baseball?

For the same reason it was a bit silly to call the AL-East the strongest division in baseball between 1999-2004. Sure, Boston and NY had great records, but they were beating the tar out of the three weak sisters in their division.

The same thing is happening in the AL-Central with the White Sox and Tigers.

The next 3 weeks are the "shakedown" weeks in the AL-Central and AL-East.

Toronto, NY, Boston, Detroit, Chicago have series among themselves in that time period. I think we'll have a much better indication of how things stand at the end of June.

posted by grum@work at 9:33 AM CDT on May 30

Too early. Period.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 9:49 AM CDT on May 30

You'd think Detroit fans would be used to this by now. How many points did the Wings earn against the Blues/Hawks/Jackets?

posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:01 AM CDT on May 30

Because the season doesn't end today

Also, its May.

Let's see where evryone stands in September, huh?

I think we'll have a much better indication of how things stand at the end of June

Too early. Period

I cannot for the life of see how this might have been counterintuititive, but surely you all realize that I meant the best division in baseball up till this point in time, and that I was not saying that it is: the best division ever, or the best division of the decade, or even the division that is necessarily going to provide the world series winner, or any such thing, no?

As far as the argument that they have won a dispraportionate number of games against the bottom teams in their division... That makes sense to me. It is not something that really occured to me at the time, but on preview it looks like i should have picked that up before i made my comment. But... they still do have the two best records in baseball ( I don't mean ever, I swear).

posted by everett at 11:37 AM CDT on May 30

Again...

Why can we not call them the strongest division in baseball?

Because they aren't the strongest division in baseball?

And even so, it's May and it means very little.

And you touched upon the reason for the "It's only May" et al, reasoning. Most teams haven't seen a full sample of their league - good or bad - nevermind interleague play. It's too soon to extrapolate anything from anything, really. Long road ahead.

posted by jerseygirl at 12:06 PM CDT on May 30

Why can we not call them the strongest division in baseball?

(Note: not to pile on Everett specifically, but his question is kinda the whole point of the article.)

-- Because not a single team in the AL Central has a winning record against the collective teams of the AL East. (The AL East is the only division in either league with collective winning records against both the other divisions in its league.)

-- Because Detroit has played one series against a strong >.500 team (Chicago),and got swept. They have only played 3 games against the AL East (split 2 with BAL and lost to NYY last night). Their next 16 games are against the AL East and the White Sox.

-- Because two teams have a sub-.500 record even though they are in the same division as the Royals. Cleveland is 4-2 against the Royals, 20-24 against everyone else. Minnesota is 3-2 against the Royals, 20-25 against everyone else. (The article actually suggests that the AL Central is the strongest division even though they have the Royals because it's not the division's fault they have the Royals. That makes my head hurt.)

posted by BullpenPro at 2:05 PM CDT on May 30

off topic. Welcome back bpp.

posted by jerseygirl at 2:11 PM CDT on May 30

I'll start jumping for joy when the Tigers find a way to consistently beat the top-tier teams. I've been a Tigers fan for too long to honestly get excited over this. It just seems too good to be true.

don't break my heart again, you fuckers!

posted by wingnut4life at 5:45 PM CDT on May 30

Too early. Period

Good point Weedy. I think that this article was pretty dumb, it didn't have any point to it. As for the best division (right now), you can make the argument that outside of KC- the AL Central is pretty solid. I personally think that the AL East is the strongest, mainly because of NY and Boston. You also have to consider that Toronto, Baltimore, and even TB can hurt you. None of these teams are pushovers, and the AL East has the highest winning percentage. But, it's pointless to say who's the best in May- it's meaningless.

posted by redsoxrgay at 5:50 PM CDT on May 30

Tigers drop two in a row to the Yanks, and yesterday give up 5 in the 11th and squander all kinds of opportunites, despite poor Yankee pitching.

posted by loquax at 10:24 AM CDT on May 31

and in this case, "so far" means "until the AL East takes over."
posted by The_Black_Hand at 7:15 AM CDT on May 30

TBH, you're beautiful. If I was of the other persuasion, I'd kiss you.

posted by drevl at 4:52 PM CDT on May 31

Amen, wingnut!

posted by ctal1999 at 6:24 PM CDT on May 31

I don't know TBH. The Tigers need more seasoning before they will consistently hang with the big boys, but I'm not sure the Yanks or Red Sox will be able to take it away from those OTHER Sox.

posted by ctal1999 at 6:30 PM CDT on May 31

ctal, we're not talking best team, we're talking best division. By the All-Star Break, I firmly believe the strongest group in the AL will once again be the big, bad East.

drevl, while I appreciate the sentiment, you better be careful talking that crazy shit, living in Texas and all.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 4:34 AM CDT on June 1

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