All Hail the AL West as Baseball’s Best and It’s Not Even Close

As we close in on the halfway mark of the Major League Baseball season, the AL West reigns superior from top to bottom. 

Using win-loss records as the litmus test, the division is better than their closest competitor by 12 games.  The aggregate performance totals 173 wins and 158 setbacks for the A’s, Angels, Mariners, Rangers and Astros as of June 13.  By comparison the next best is the AL Central’s 164-161 mark.

Only one Senior Circuit grouping has a winning mark with the NL Central barely above water by two games (163-161) and the vaunted AL East is lagging behind them all with a 162-169 posting.

One other interesting facet of this snap shot comes from the aforementioned AL Central which has the shortest distance from peak to valley.  Four games separate the first place Detroit Tigers and cellar dwelling Minnesota Twins.  By end of business on Sunday it’s conceivable though not likely that the entire division could be at .500 or better.  Isn’t parity great?