I doubt anyone will put up even a token argument (mostly because nobody is reading this) when I state that the AL East is the best division in baseball. However, the degree to which this division dominates the sport is understated. I contend that the AL East has the best team in baseball, the top second best team, to go along with the best third and fourth place teams in the sport. Oh and they had the second best bottom-feeder in the league.
The Red Sox are the defending champions and the favorites to win the World Series. Most analysts would probably agree that they are the best team in baseball. And they didn't even win their own division.
If the Rays are, indeed, the second best team in the AL East, they are obviously the best second best team in any division in baseball. They won 97 games and are one of the four remaining teams in the playoffs.
The Yankees are so self-evidently the best third place team in baseball that it isn't worth my time building my case.
Steven Goldman and Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus recently argued that the '08 Blue Jays were probably the best 4th place team since the start of the divisional era of baseball. Thus they were definitely the greatest of this season.
The first four were slam dunks. If I wanted to be slightly disengenuous I would make the argument that the Orioles were the best last place team in baseball. They won 68 games, more than any other last place team besides the Tigers, who won 74. I could argue that the relative strength of schedules (O's play half of their games vs. the BoSox, Yanks, Rays, and Jays) account for the 6 win difference between the Orioles and Tigers. I guess I just made a strong case, but I don't honestly believe it.
(Tremont, grow a pair! The people want provocative opinions. You completely took the edge off of this article by not making the argument for the Orioles. Pussy!!! Also, nobody gets your stupid Jeru the Damaja reference in the headline.)
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