MLB Divisional Races To Watch Over Final Two Months

As July approaches its conclusion, the MLB regular season has just a couple of months left. With the season starting to get to the home stretch, let’s take a look at a few divisional races that are worth keeping an eye on over the last two months.

NL West

Current Leader: San Francisco Giants (61-35)
Contenders: Los Angeles Dodgers (59-39); San Diego Padres (57-42)

With the top three teams separated by less than six games, this may be by far the most intriguing division in all of baseball. In fact, the three top teams in the division have the most wins in the entire National League.

The three top teams have been led by Brandon Crawford (Giants, 18 HR, 58 RBI), Max Muncy (Dodgers, 22 HR, 59 RBI), and Fernando Tatis Jr. (Padres, 29 HR, 66 RBI).

The other two teams in this division, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks are long out of it. The Rockies are 18 games back, and Arizona is 31 games back of the Giants.

Despite being in second in the division, the Dodgers have the best odds to win the division at -220. The Giants are +230 to win, while the Padres are +550 to win the NL. West.

AL East

Current Leader: Boston Red Sox (58-38)
Contenders: Tampa Bay Rays (58-39); New York Yankees (50-44), Toronto Blue Jays (48-44)

At this point, the division is a two-horse race as the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are separated by just a half-game. Still, with winning records, you can’t completely rule out the Yankees or Blue Jays from making a run.

As for the Red Sox, they are led by Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers. Bogaerts is currently hitting .312/.377/.529 with 15 home runs, 51 runs batted in, and 59 runs scored. For Devers, he leads the team in both home runs (24) and runs batted in (74).

Tampa Bay is not backing down either. In fact, on Thursday, they made waves by trading for designated hitter Nelson Cruz. With Minnesota, Cruz is hitting .294/.370/.537 with 19 home runs, 50 runs batted in, and 44 runs scored.

The Rays are hoping that the addition of Cruz will help with their already solid 4.89 runs per game, which ranks seventh in the majors.

The Red Sox are currently -110 to win the division. The Rays follow closely behind at +145. The next best odds to win the division are the Blue Jays (+800) and Yankees (+900). The Orioles are +50000 to win.

AL West

Current Leader: Houston Astros (58-39)
Contenders: Oakland Athletics (55-42), Seattle Mariners (51-45)

Houston is currently leading the AL West thanks to the best offense in baseball. They currently rank first in scoring (5.37 runs per game), batting average (.266), on-base percentage (.339), and hits per game (9.08).

For the Athletics, they are succeeding in large part due to MVP candidate Matt Olson. The first baseman has been sensational this year, hitting .291/.379/.588 with 25 home runs, 63 runs batted in, and 63 runs scored.

At 51-45, the Mariners have been hanging around in the division, 6.5 games back of the Astros. They have been led by outfielder Mitch Haniger, who is hitting .265/.322/.511 with 23 home runs, 59 runs batted in, and 66 runs scored after missing all of last season.

The Astros are currently -1050 to win the division while the Athletics are +500. The Mariners, just 6.5 games back, are +6500 to win the AL West.

The Angels (+13000) and Rangers (+50000) are significantly behind in terms of odds to win the division.