The baseball season is 162 games and has been since 1961 in the AL and 1962 in the NL. It stretches from early April to late September and usually sees canyon deep slumps and stratospheric streaks, sometimes from the same player or team. Yet despite that, every year we see the same doomsday prophets or championship crowners less than a quarter into the season.
The Red Sox spent more money in the off season than any previous year with a combined $296m invested in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez and were considered by all pundits and fans to be serious contenders not only for the AL East but also for a third ring in eight years. On the other side of the spectrum the Cleveland Indians set a historical precedent when they in consecutive years traded away the reigning American League CY Young winner, CC Sabathia to the Brewers in 2008 and Cliff Lee to the Phillies in 2009. In 2010, the purge continued when they traded star catcher and slugger Victor Martinez to the Red Sox and the Tribe finished fourth in the AL Central with a 69-93 record.
Going into 2011 with a roster filled with occasional greatness (Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore), surprising imports (Shin-Soo Choo), promising talent (Carlos Santana, Asdrúbal Cabrera) and trade bait (Justin Masterson, Andy Marté) not many believed this was the year of the Indians, as the 200-1 odds for a WS win indicated. Yet Cleveland opened the season with an 18-8 April , leading to optimism on the reservation as Cabrera showed his sensational defense, Grady Sizemore led a surprisingly potent line up to a league third-best 34 homers in their first month and Masterson showed the potential that had him highly rated as a Red Sox prospect.
The Red Sox on the other hand started 2-10 and limped into May in last place in the AL East with a 11-15 record, “led” by Crawford’s .155 average – so far below the Mendoza line you’d need a ladder to see it. Naturally the experts were wondering if either side would sustain their fortunes, or lack thereof, although some corners saw several nay-sayers already closing the book on the Sox. As we know, the Red Sox has gone 14-6 in May, including winning 8 of their last 9 and sweeping division rivals Yankees in the Bronx and are now only ½ game out of first place. The Indians young squad has continued riding their wave of success and with a 11-7 May (up to the 23rd of May) now have an AL best 29-15 record.
Elsewhere in the MLB, Pittsburgh is still close to .500 with signs of their young squad finally threatening to end decades of futility, Tony La Russa has somehow managed to steer the Cards to the top of the NL Central despite Pujols longest HR drought ever and losing his ace pitcher Wainwright only days before the season and San Fransisco is riding high on the Beard and the 2010 WS win, leading the NL West by 3 ½ games.
Will all these standings remain?
Will the same teams win again and again?
Of course not.
History has shown us that even though market size and subsequent purchase power does influence some aspects, the ten different champions since the 1994 strike season is a spread fans of equality dream about.
One of the greatest appeals of baseball is that the number of games guarantees only one thing; (almost) anything can happen.
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