Pennant Races — Baseball Bench Coach

Flags are a tradition in baseball. MLB teams fly flags of players whose numbers have been retired by the team or those of the elite few who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Key moments in a team’s history are also depicted by special flags of player names or nicknames and achievements. And historically, teams have received a pennant from the league office when they won the league championship so they could proudly display it at their home ballpark.

Flying flags and pennants have played a large part in the history of Wrigley Field. P.K. Wrigley, who owned the Cubs from 1932 to 1977, brought his family’s love of sailing to the ballpark. White or blue flags were used to show wins and losses. The Friendly Confines also kept the current NL standings with team flags flying outside the bleacher seats. This is how the term “pennant race” was coined. Today, the practice at Wrigley is to show the updated standings in each of the three NL division races. The pennant “race” up the pole is now a tradition in most MLB ballparks.

Now that it’s Memorial Day, it’s time to check those races. Teams have played about one-third of the 162 game schedule and have had a chance to play at least one series or two with each of their divisional opponents. Which teams have their pennants flying high and steady above their division foes? Which of the others are trying to withstand the battle for the top spot? Let’s take a look at the three divisional races in both the AL and NL.

The surprise team of the American League is undoubtedly the Minnesota Twins of the AL Central. The team’s power burst has been the incredible story. On Friday Eddie Rosario’s blast was the Twins 100th HR of the season, making Minnesota only the second team in MLB history to reach that mark in the first 50 games of the season. The Twins have a commanding 10-game lead over the Indians, who were everyone’s preseason favorite, including mine. It may be that Cleveland may have to soon just start thinking Wild Card as the season progresses.

Another pennant flying high and maybe even more steady is out west, the Houston Astros and their control of the AL West. Astros hitters George Springer, Alex Bregman, and Michael Brantley are dominating the offensive stat lines in the AL, while starting pitchers Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole are putting up impressive numbers in ERA and strikeouts. It’s difficult to see another AL West team stepping up to contend for the division title. The Rangers and Athletics have been surging lately and may make Wild Card bids of their own. Interestingly, that Seattle Mariners team featured earlier in the season for their Strong Start, now finds itself in last place 9 games under .500.

While the Yankees were favorites to contend for the AL East before the season began, no one would have thought they could withstand the numerous injuries to their star players (Stanton, Frazier, Gregorius, Sabathia, etc.) and be in first place on Memorial Day. The fun stat belongs to infielder Gleyber Torres, who this past week hit his tenth home run against the same team, the Orioles! Tampa will challenge the Yankees based on the Rays’ starting staff led by Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell. And don’t forget about the Red Sox who have officially rebounded from a slow start. Two or all three of these AL East teams will be playoff bound in October.

The National League has just one team pennant flying high and strong, that of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Cody Bellinger will be in the NL MVP discussion all year and currently leads in such categories as batting average, RBIs, hits, and on-base percentage. Despite spending some time on the IL, Clayton Kershaw is again shining with a 4-0 record. His cohort, Hyun-Jin Ryu, is leading NL pitchers with a 1.52 ERA. The other NL West teams need to rally to stay in the race. The Padres have won 5 of the last 6 games at week’s end.

The NL East is a two-team race between the Phillies and the Braves. Philadelphia’s star-studded everyday lineup seemed to be their strong point in preseason discussions, yet Bryce Harper has gotten off to less than an impressive start (.227 batting average). The Phillies have been led by first baseman Rhys Hoskins and starting pitcher Zach Eflin. The Braves won the division last year yet no one really talks about them. They are one of those teams in the top half of most team statistics, yet nothing stands out. Atlanta will indeed contend again this year.

Since the Cubs 1-6 start, Chicago has turned it around and has been in first place in the NL Central much of the past few weeks. There is not another team in baseball with a more talented starting pitching group than the Cubs. And when you have a nucleus of position players like Bryant, Rizzo, and Baez, it’s hard to see them do anything but raise the “W” flag much of the season. Yet, the Brewers (Christian Yelich and Josh Hader), Cardinals (Paul Goldschmidt and Jordan Hicks), Pirates (Josh Bell and Jordan Lyles) and Reds (Eugenio Suarez and Luis Castillo) all have offensive studs and pitching flame-throwers to make the division race and possible Wild Card spot wide open and fun to the finish!

There are numerous stories of great late season comebacks to win divisions and championships, so finding your team’s pennant only halfway up the pole at Memorial Day should not be alarming. Anything can indeed happen. Let’s check back on Labor Day on the pennant races. There’s a lot of baseball to be played between now and then.

Until next Monday,

Your Baseball Bench Coach