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The American League East has been a competitive division over the past couple of years, with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 2013 and the Baltimore Orioles taking the division crowd last year.
Again 2015 looks to be a competitive year for the American League East, but not because the teams are playing well.
AL East champion is projected to finish with 84 wins -- 84! -- according to most recent @baseballpro playoff odds.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) May 25, 2015
The Tampa Bay Rays, who sit atop the AL East at 24-21, are the only team in the division above .500, which is a farcry from what the American League East is used to.
AL East standings 5/25:
Team W L GB
Rays
24
21
-
Yankees
22
22
1.5
Red Sox
21
23
2.5
Orioles
19
22
3
Blue Jays
20
26
4.5
AL East news & notes 5/25:
- Speaking of the Rays, their offense has gone cold lately and that was no different in their 7-2 loss to the A's on Sunday.The Rays are also making headlines for the wrong reasons, as they cancelled their minor league affiliate's "A-Rod Juice Box Night".
- Yesterday the Yankees honor Bernie Williams and retired his number 51 but dropped their fifth game in a row. One of their bigger bats, Chase Headley, is having a rather unique problem at the plate.
- Rusney Castiilo has been promoted by the Red Sox and Jackie Bradley Jr. was sent back to Pawtucket. Despite the Red Sox promoting one of their top prospects, the talk this weekend is about Mike Napoli, who lead the team's offense to a victory on Sunday.
- Napoli has a ritual of letting kids sign his bat. A 9-year-old named Ethan signed his bat on Thursday. During the series with the Angels, Napoli went 5-for-9 with eight RBIs while homering in three straight games.
- Another pitcher has been ejection for the ever-so-mysterious 'foreign substance'. This time it was Orioles reliever Brian Matusz getting tossed in the 12th inning of a game against the Miami Marlins.
- Substance issues aren't the only problem that the Orioles are having. Their offense is coming back to Earth, and specifically the corner outfield spots are not contributing.
- Lastly, the Blue Jays are getting Jose Reyes back from the 15-day disabled list today and they won yesterday. Things are trending in the right direction for Toronto.