Major League Baseball - Week In Review

While the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros have been coasting along in their division races this season, the American League East race has been much tighter, evidenced again on Friday when the Tampa Bay Rays overtook the New York Yankees once again for the top spot (half-game lead) following a 9-4 win against the Los Angeles Angels while the Yankees were drubbed by the Chicago White Sox, 10-2. ChiSox rookie slugger Eloy Jimenez had a pair of three-run home runs in the win and Sox starting pitcher Lucas Goilito won his tenth game of the season.
The wild card race is much more interesting in the American League as the Texas Rangers have come from nowhere in recent weeks to grab the second spot. The Rangers have gone 17-10 since May 17 and have a slight edge over the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Oakland A's, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels with just 3 1/2 games separating them all.
Over in the National League, the Atlanta Braves are the hottest team going and now have a 2 1/2 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the East division race. The Braves won their eighth consecutive game as they rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night to stun the Phils, 9-8. Atlanta scored seven runs in the final three innings to overcome a 7-2 deficit.
The Los Angeles Dodgers won for the second night in a row in come-from-behind fashion against the visiting Chicago Cubs, 5-3 on Friday as they roughed up Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks to secure the victory. The Dodgers have a 10 1/2 game over the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks in the N.L. West race.
In the N.L. Central, the Cubs and Brewers continue to be neck and neck with Milwaukee up by one game for the top spot. Both teams lost on Friday night. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals are creeping back up in the division race as they won a pair of games from the host New York Mets to get back to within 3 1/2 games of first place.





AL STANDINGS (through June 14)                                   NL STANDINGS (through June 14)
East                                                                                      East
Tampa Bay 42-27                                                                Atlanta 41-29            
New York 41-27                                                                  Philadelphia 38-31
Boston 37-34                                                                       NY Mets 33-36
Toronto 25-44                                                                      Washington 32-37
Baltimore 21-48                                                                   Miami 24-43


Central                                                                                Central
Minnesota 46-22                                                                  Milwaukee 39-30
Cleveland 35-33                                                                   Chicago 38-31
Chicago 34-34                                                                      St. Louis 35-33
Detroit 25-41                                                                        Pittsburgh 31-38
Kansas City 22-47                                                                Cincinnati 30-37
                                                                                                                                 

West                                                                                     West
Houston 47-23                                                                      LA Dodgers 47-23
Texas 37-32                                                                          Colorado 36-33
Oakland 35-35                                                                      Arizona 37-34
LA Angels 34-36                                                                  San Diego 34-36
Seattle 30-43                                                                         San Francisco 29-38