The One Constant through all the Years Ray has been Baseball.

When you come in on a Monday, and you're not feeling real well...does anyone ever say to you, "Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays?"

Don't you wish that your favorite baseball team could play the Nationals 162 times a season? My goodness, that was fun and relaxing baseball to watch. I knew going in that there wasn't any reason why the Cubs shouldn't take 3 of 4 from the Nats, but after the 1st 2 games I was thinking to myself, "It's going to be nice to get to four games above .500 for the first time since May 20th." Thank you nation's capital. How about the fact that teams in the NL East get to play the Nationals 18 times every year! That's not even fair. It shows you how bad the NL East is when you consider that the four other teams get to play a ton of games against a Triple-A team and yet only two teams are above .500 and the combined winning % of the division minus Washington is only .509%! That be real bad!

Since we're talking divisions in MLB, let's dive a bit deeper. The divisions by winning % are as follows:

AL EAST .539%
AL WEST .519%
NL WEST .509%
NL CENTRAL .500%
AL CENTRAL .470%
NL EAST .465%

No big surprises, we all know that the AL East has been the best division in baseball for the most part of the last ten years with few exceptions. The AL West has had the Angels for awhile, but is having a couple of story book seasons from Texas and Seattle (both teams will fade by September, Texas is already starting.) The NL West is very top-heavy, but with San Francisco's pitching and the coming out party by one Pablo Sandoval (AKA Herb Lawrence...inside joke) and the uprising of Colorado since Jim Tracy took over, they are a very nice division as well. The NL Central has four teams at .500 or better with Cincinnati right in the mix, and the AL Central and NL East are just flat out bad divisions. Wait, What was that? You're upset that I called out your American League Central? Let's take a look shall we?

The AL Central has an overall record of 215-242, .470 Winning % ranking them 5th of six divisions. They are 37-72 vs. the AL East and 41-36 vs. the AL West. Detroit has the best record in the division by 1.5 games at (48-42). There are two other teams in the division at .500 or better: White Sox (47-44) and Twins (47-45). Let's compare your AL Central to the other divisions in baseball.

Versus the other two divisions in their respective league:

AL EAST .552%
NL WEST .525%
AL WEST .522%
NL CENTRAL .521%
NL EAST .453%
AL CENTRAL .419%

The NL East/AL Central are getting tattooed by the other 2 divisions in their respective leagues. I feel bad for the National League East though, those pesky Nats are weighing down the other teams in the division in every statistic. Let's take a look at the divisions minus their worst team:

AL EAST .561% w/o Baltimore
AL WEST .551% w/o Oakland
NL WEST .536% w/o San Diego
NL CENTRAL .512% w/o Pittsburgh
NL EAST .509% w/o Washington
AL CENTRAL .492% w/o Cleveland

There we go, that at least gets the NL East out of the cellar and above .500 as a division. Uh oh, even without their worst team your AL Central is STILL below .500 as a division, and is STILL ranked as the worst division in baseball. Something must be wrong...I know, a lot of these divisions have one really good team which makes them top-heavy. Let's take away the BEST team in every division.

AL EAST .523% w/o Boston
AL WEST .500% w/o LA Angels
NL CENTRAL .491% w/o St. Louis
NL WEST .479% w/o LA Dodgers
AL CENTRAL .455% w/o Detroit
NL EAST .438% w/o Philadelphia

All right!!! We did it! We got the AL Central out of the bottom of the divisions (Thanks again Nationals!), and without those Dodgers, the NL Central jumped into 3rd place. Man that AL East is deep! Even without the Red Sox they continue to play well above .500 as a division. Here's how I would rank the divisions overall as we are approximately 100 games into the season:

6.) AL CENTRAL

There are three teams above .500 but they combine to be only 11 games over the mark. The division has been dominated by the AL EAST (understandably so) but there is NO excuse for those kind of records when you have TWO "gimme teams" in the division. Cleveland (36-57) and Kansas City (37-54) who combine to be 38 GAMES BELOW .500!

5.) NL EAST

Only one "gimme team" in the division but they are the ultimate gimme. The Nationals are (26-65), a .286 winning %. That is barely a Triple A team, and they're threatening to be the worst team in baseball history. The World Champion Phillies appear to be hitting their stride while Gandhi and the Mets are the most disappointing team in the Big Leagues. Look for Florida to make some noise before its all said and done.

4.) NL WEST

The reason that the NL Central jumped them in the standings is that they are below .500 against them (48-50), and the fact that the West has the dreaded TWO "gimme teams." With San Diego (37-55) and Arizona (39-53) its no wonder the Dodgers are running away with the National League. Look for San Francisco to try and add a bat to protect Sandoval and make a serious run at the Wild Card.

3.) NL CENTRAL

Unlike the West (Dodgers), there isn't a great team in this division. However, there are four "good" teams and Cincinnati has been above .500 for a lot of the season recently falling to (44-47). The NL Central is above .500 against the West and the East and has only one "gimme team," Pittsburgh (40-51). But just ask the Cardinals about how much of a gimme team the Pirates are after the Bucko's went into Busch and swept the Red Birds earlier this year. On a side note, does anyone think that it's a bit unfair that teams in the NL Central have to finish better than five other teams to win a division, while teams in the AL West only have to top three? Food for thought...

2.) AL WEST

The only division in baseball to dominate the vaunted AL EAST (56-43). Led by the slow starting Angels, this division has three teams above .500 combining to be 28 games over the mark, with only one gimme team (Oakland 38-52).

1.) AL EAST

No doubt about it. In my opinion the Red Sox, Yankees and American League Champion Rays would EACH be in first place in ANY other division. The Wild Card almost always comes out of here, and it's no coincidence that this division outspends all of the other ones by a lot. There are NO "gimme teams" as everyone is above .500 or only single digits below the mark, all while having to play each other for all of those inter-division series. Boston/New York/Tampa Bay combine to be a whopping 46 GAMES ABOVE .500! Look for the Rays to jump up and steal the division or at least the Wild Card spot from one of the two giants.

It's been fun getting inside the numbers with you a bit. The Cubs now have to face a legitimate Major League opponent starting tonight, so hopefully those Phillies' stats are inflated due to those pesky Nationals. Looking at that stacked lineup...I kind of doubt it.

Hit me up on facebook or in the comments section of this blog. Right now I'm listening to "The Blues, Mary" by Brian Fallon. Quality acoustic number. Drinks of Choice: Is it questionable for a man to enjoy a vodka lemonade?

Peace the F.
Webby