Standings Summary - American League

American League East
Let's call this the best division in baseball, and I don't think it is particularly close.  The two teams with the best records in ATB are currently tied for 1st place, and the third place team has the third best run differential in ATB.  Poor Helena.

What's happened so far this season?  Willets Point jumped out to an early lead, opening a 5 game advantage on May 27th.  Since then, Spanish Harlem has slowly but surely whittled away the lead, especially over the last 30 days where they've won 17 out of 26.  During this time their offense has batted .300 / .354 / .443 while the pitching staff has been slightly better than average (3.69 ERA).

Willets Point should have concerns about hanging close.  While Spanish Harlem was busy trading for Turkey Stearnes, Hank Aguirre, Chipper Jones, and Darren Holmes, the "Mechanics" stood pat and have played .500 over the past month.  Any team can have an average month, but a team .319 OBP will not cut it going forward.

Lost in shuffle is Oasis, who keep waiting for Nip Winters (10-6, 3.99) and Randy Johnson (10-9, 4.03) to be the elite starting pitchers they were drafted to be.  Helena, despite showing signs of life as of late, is 15 games back and out of the playoff picture.  Fans will be resigned to watch Willie Mays try and track down Al Simmons and Willie Wells for the home run crown.

American League Central
Perhaps the strangest team in baseball are the Ankhana Adventurers.   With the most raw wins  in ATB they look like a great team on the surface, however, their underlying run differential is still absurdly low at +14.  Their entire success is apparently based upon one-run games where they have an insane 23-11 record, and odds are it's not sustainable.  Owner Lou Poulas disagrees, and states his bullpen management style is so good, the 11 losses are actually unlucky.

Hudson and Rochester are battling for second, 6 1/2 and 8 games back respectively.  Madbum has been in a funk ever since they dealt Mickey Mantle for some help with the pitching.  So far, no good as their return on investment has been awful.  New team members Eddie Cicotte is mired in a 6.56 ERA slump while Tris Speaker is batting .186 with a .222 OBP.  (Meanwhile, Mantle is blazing away the NL batting .365 / .414 / .577).

The Clown Punchers were hanging tough for a while, but have lost 7 of 10 and are now 12 games out of first.

American League West
The tale of the AL West begins and ends with the fortune and misfortune of the Denver RoidBoyz.  On May 27th, Denver was 32-21 and enjoyed a 5 game lead; since they've recorded the worst record in the American League (13-23) and have been outscored by an incredible 51 runs.  Their offense seems average, batting .283 / .319 / .421 during this time frame, but in the extreme hitters park of Fenway this just isn't good enough.  The pitching is a disaster, with the stat line littered with 5.00, 6.00, and even 8.00 ERA results.

This opened the door for Dharma, who put up a .556 wpct during the same time period Denver was crashing.   It was their offense, which led the league in HR's, that led their recent charge.  Barry Bonds caught fire, finally, and has batted .344 / .481 / .592 in his last 36 games.  Jason Giambi and Hugh Duffy were almost as good.

It looks like the Islanders will remain the team to beat the rest of the way.  Here are the Run Differentials for the NL West teams:

+10 - Dharma
-24 - Brooklyn
-42 - Denver
-69 - Downsouth

Brooklyn's Rogers Hornsby is having a tremendous year (22 HR, 71 RBI) but it's not enough to overcome a team ERA over 5.00.  As for Downsouth, kudos to starter Pete Alexander who somehow has a winning record despite a team winning percentage under .400

League Leader Races

Batting Average

.353 - Ross Barnes (SPH)

.343 - Roger Connor (ROC)

On Base Percentage

.427 - Ross Barnes (SPH)

.413 - Barry Bonds (DHA)

Hits

135 - Roger Connor (ROC)

129 - Hugh Duffy (DHA)

Runs

73 - Mel Ott (OAS)

73 - Cupid Childs (ANK)

69 - Barry Bonds (DHA)

69 - Fred Dunlap (ROC)

RBI

77 - Lou Gehrig (ANK)

83 - Jeff Bagwell (DEN)

Home Runs
24 - Al Simmons (DEN)
24 - Willie Wells (WPO)
23 - Lou Gehrig (ANK)
22 - Luis Gonzalez (HUD)
22 - Rogers Hornsby (BRO)

Wins
12 - Harvey Haddix (WPO)
11 - Jason Schmidt (BRO)
11 - Chris Carpenter (SPH)

ERA
2.90 - Russ Ford (ROC)
3.06 - Harvey Haddix (WPO)
3.16 - Cy Blanton (DEN)

WHIP
1.08 - Tex Hughson (SPH)
1.13 - Ted Lyons (ROC)

Strikeouts
150 - Randy Johnson (OAS)
103 - Dutch Leonard (HEL)

Saves
24 - Joaquin Benoit
21 - Tug McGraw