As the Major League Baseball regular season approaches the final stretch, numerous ball clubs find themselves in the thick of the playoff picture with roughly 50 games remaining.
Division leaders including the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers have created substantial distance in the standings while teams like the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians have some work left to do in order to secure a postseason bid.
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MLB Standings Breakdown - American League
The Boston Red Sox continue to lead the American League East thanks to a 39-21 record at home this season.
Leading the Tampa Bay Rays by 2.5 games and with significant leads over the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees, Boston looks like a serious contender due to tremendous balance at the plate and on the mound.
David Ortiz remains an offensive force in Beantown, leading the Sox with 21 home runs and 73 RBI's. Add in offensive consistency from Dustin Pedroia (8 HR, 68 RBI) and Mike Napoli (14 HR, 64 RBI) and it's no surprise that Boston has everyone in the division looking up at them.
Reeling off 11-consectuive victories, the Detroit Tigers are clearly one of the hottest teams in baseball. Posting a 67-45 overall record as of August 8, Detroit and manager Jim Leyland look poised for a deep playoff run.
The pitching of Max Scherzer has been unbelievable this season as the 29-year-old owns a 16-1 record with a 2.85 ERA. As the leading Cy Young candidate in the American League this season, Scherzer and the Tigers look well on their way to a division title.
Teams On The Outside Looking In
New York Yankees
The Yankees have battled injury throughout the year and even though third baseman Alex Rodriguez is back in the lineup along with centerfielder Curtis Granderson, the Yankees find themselves 11 ½ games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East and 7 games out in the Wild Card race.
A-Rod may be lost again since he was recently slapped with a 211-game suspension following his involvement with BioGenesis and while Rodriguez has appealed, there's no guarantee he'll remain with the Yankees for the long haul.
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Cleveland Indians
The Indians and first-year manager Terry Francona continue to play solid baseball despite sitting 6 games behind Detroit and 2 ½ games off the Wild Card pace.
Jason Kipnis leads the team in RBI's with 68 while Michael Brantley and Carlos Santana continue to produce at the plate.
If Cleveland is able to stay within striking distance of either the division or Wild Card, this team may be talented enough to sneak in to one of the available postseason spots.
MLB Standings Breakdown - National League
The Atlanta Braves currently own the longest winning-streak in Major League Baseball. Rattling off 13 straight W's, Atlanta and players like Freddie Freeman (13 HR, 76 RBI), Justin Upton (21 HR, 60 RBI) and Dan Uggla (21 HR, 52 RBI) are certainly capable of advancing deep in the playoffs.
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While Atlanta continues to play well, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers currently hold leads in their respective divisions.
The Pirates own a three-game lead over St. Louis in the NL Central while LA -- 8-2 in their last 10 games -- sits 5 games north of Arizona in the National League West division.
Solid pitching and timely offensive from both clubs has propelled each to the top of the standings and if that continues, expect Pittsburgh to end a 20-year postseason drought and the Dodgers to walk away with the NL West.
Teams On The Outside Looking In
Arizona Diamondbacks - 58-55 (5 GB NL West, 4 ½ GB Wild Card)
Washington Nationals - 54-60 (15 ½ GB NL East, 9 GB Wild Card)
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