AL Manager of the Year

Since you wanted to drag the strength of the teams' divisions into this, let's see how each matches up when you remove the Angels and Yankees.

The combined record of the other teams in the AL West: 209-202 (50.9 percent)
The combined record of the other teams in the AL East: 268-281 (48.8 percent)

The Yankees are 15 games over .500 when playing AL East competition. The Angels are five games under .500 against the AL West, but 12 games over against the AL East. Kinda looks like the Yankees are the ones whose record has benefitted from their division, doesn't it?

 

Touche.

The AL East is kind of skewed by the Orioles being such a dreadful team.

The Angels are winning the West because the Angels are that much better than the rest of their division. Sort of like the Yankees are to the East, but Boston is better than Texas, Tampa is better than Oakland and the Blue Jays and Mariners are still rivals as they came into the league together.

Girardi isn't getting the credit to the same degree he was getting the blame when the Yankees weren't doing well earlier. It seems he's done a better job this year, not only in record but in the perception that the Yankees are better prepared to play and win with less anxiety.

How many M/COTY awards have Torre, Phil Jackson and Belichick won? When the expectation is being #1, meeting expectations is tough.

 

Actually, the Orioles don't even skew things that much, though getting to play them is definitely an advantage for the Yankees and the rest of the teams in the AL East.

The Red Sox are currently only two games ahead of the Rangers in the Wild Card race.

Tampa is better than Oakland, but Oakland isn't the third-place team in the AL West. Seattle is, and the Mariners and Rays enter today's games with exactly the same record, 72-66. Coincidentally, the fourth-place teams in the AL East and West, Toronto and Oakland, also currently have identical records at 61-76. The real difference is that the West doesn't have a truly awful team like the Orioles and the East does.

Girardi does face more pressure with the Yankees than any other manager in baseball. He also has more talent to work with. It evens out.

 

Sorry for not including this in the above post, but how is Boston better than Texas when Texas is 7-2 against the Red Sox?
Rangers still hanging around without Michael Young and Josh Hamilton.

 

Because some people assume they are better because they are the Red Sox?

 

damn those pesky facts

 

DAMN YOU!

Where's the love for Eric Wedge?

 

For that matter, how can you say the same about LAA when Texas is 9-3 against them?

The fact is, if it came to a one-game playoff, Texas would host Boston.

But obviously, the standings are the bottom line. The Angels and Red Sox were better in interleague play (Texas was 9-9, BOS 11-7, LAA 14-4) and better against AL Central teams (BOS 20-10, TEX 21-19, LAA 25-16), and that's the difference right now.

 

In defense of those who might suggest that the Angels are better than the Rangers, there is that five-game lead they have in the standings. It doesn't really matter who they got those victories against. They got them.