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  "path": "/the-american-league-is-putting-the-mid-in-middling",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-07T13:09:17.000Z",
  "site": "https://defector.com",
  "tags": [
    "MLB",
    "American League",
    "baseball",
    "chicago cubs",
    "los angeles dodgers",
    "new york yankees",
    "tampa bay rays"
  ],
  "textContent": "Yes, it's early. There, we undercut your complaint before you even had a chance to assemble it. But it's not so early that we can't look at the American League standings and have a laugh at the sheer absurdity therein.\n\nBaseball is giving Rob Manfred a moment, in that the four good teams in baseball are the marquee-est of marquee teams: the Yankees, Braves, Dodgers, and Cubs. One on the East, one South, one Midwest, and one West. Couldn't have planned it better, Rob; you can use this to keep you warm when the lockout enters its eighth month.\n\nThe American League having only one of those four teams if anything undersells how baffling the rest of that league has been. The Yankees are 25-12, with a run differential of +74—both admirable statistics if ultimately of minimal value given that we're still weeks from Memorial Day. The second-best team is Tampa Bay, at 24-12, and they also have the AL's second-best run differential, at an extremely modest +15. And those are all the teams in the American League with an actual winning record. Nearly a quarter of the season has gone by, now, which is enough time to at least make some assumptions. Let's start with this one: The American League stinks.",
  "title": "The American League Is Putting The Mid In Middling"
}