American League East Competition
The East Division of the American League is only one of six of MLB’s six divisions. One of the teams is located in Canada. The other 4 of the teams are in the US. Every year, the team with the overall best record in this division gets one of the AL’s 4 playoff spots. Tampa Bay won the division in 2008. The Red Sox won the division in 2007.
The wild-card has only existed for 14 years. In that time, the American League East has produced the team that filled the last spot in the playoffs.
The Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox were one of the original teams in baseball. Even though the Orioles were one of the original teams, their fans have seen disappointment after disappointment to the point where many stopped attending games or even wearing their Baltimore Orioles merchandise. The Tampa Bay Rays joined the league as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998. The Toronto Blue Jays joined the league in 1977. They were an expansion team. Boston Red Sox merchandise has been very popular ever since they joined MLB.
The Cleveland Indians used to be in this division. They are in the AL Central. The Detroit Tigers used to be in the division. They are in the AL Central. The Milwaukee Brewers were in the division until 1993. They currently are in the NL Central.
The Washington Senators were one of the original teams in baseball.
In 1978, the Yankees tied the Red Sox for the division lead, and eventually beat the Red Sox in a one game playoff. There is nothing that fuels this rivalry up even more than having these two teams play in a one-game playoff. This game would be even sweeter if they could play it at a neutral site and flipped a coin to see who would be the home team. Also, the New York Yankees merchandise would probably be seen more than the Red Sox’s because there are more Yankee fans out there even though lately the team hasn’t been living up to their standards.
In 2005, the Yankees tied the Red Sox for the division lead. Since the Yankees beat the Red Sox in their head-to-head meetings, they were awarded the division crown. Boston was given the wild card seed since no other team in the league had another team that didn’t win the division with the same or better record.
The Yankees won the AL East 15 times.
The Tampa Bay Rays won the division 1 time. Last year was the first year the Rays won the division. The playoffs of 2008 was one of the very few times the stadium was filled although most of the stadium was not filled with Tampa Bay Devil Rays merchandise.
The Orioles won the division 8 times.
The Red Sox won the division 6 times.
The Blue Jays won the division 5 times. Their fans don’t travel well with their team but they do buy a lot of Toronto Blue Jays merchandise.
Tags: Tampa Bay Devil Rays Merchandise | Tampa Bay Devil Rays Merchandise | Baltimore Orioles Merchandise | Baltimore Orioles Merchandise | Toronto Blue Jays Merchandise | Toronto Blue Jays Merchandise | New York Yankees Merchandise | New York Yankees Merchandise | Boston Red Sox Merchandise | Boston Red Sox Merchandise