Has anybody else noticed that four of the five best records in the American League belong to teams from the East? The Rays and Yankees are one, two, split up only by Minnesota, who is a half-game ahead of both Boston and Toronto. Behind them is the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, who are two games back of them. From the Rays to the Jays, there is a 3.5 game gap, and there’s still two-thirds of the season left to play.

When the teams in the East face opponents from their own division, Boston has the worst record at 15-14. Toronto is 11-9, New York is 15-9, and Tampa Bay is 16-8. However, much of the wins has come at the hands of the Orioles, who have been walloped 23 times compared to just six victories; three of which were part of a three-game series sweep, the longest winning streak of their season.

The Blue Jays are playing way above expectations, while the Red Sox are playing way below. The Yankees and Rays are right around where everyone thought they would be, except maybe in each others’ spot in the standings. However, the teams still have a lot of games left to play against each other (the Jays and Yankees are meeting for the first time this year this weekend), and it’s very likely that at least one or two of their records will fall as a result.

Still, the fact that we’re almost at Draft day and the standings look the way they do, there is a problem with parity in the American League. It’s true that each division’s pennant race is tight, but what does that say if after 162 games, two, maybe three of the best teams in the league by record don’t make it into the playoffs? This situation needs to be addressed. However, the only way it likely will be is if the two teams that do not make it into the postseason are the Yankees and the Red Sox.