Currently the New York Yankees are fourth in the American League's Eastern Division with a 5-8 record, which has stirred George Steinbrenner into a ball of fury.
Even more surprising in that division is Toronto's surge to an 8-6 record, despite losing Carlos Delgado in the off-season.
The Artists Formerly Known as the Montreal Expos, playing these days as the Washington Nationals, are leading the National League's Eastern Division. Without aces Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder, Billy Beane's Moneyball machine in Oakland leads the AL West along with the Los Angeles Angels.
So what is the cause of such anomalies in the baseball world?
Well, it is only April, and baseball teams usually take a while to play to their abilities. To notice this, one only has to look as far back as last season.
On this day last year, the Cincinnati Reds were 8-5 and a half game back of the Houston Astros for first place in the NL Central. The Reds went on to ride the arm of Paul Wilson for the first half of the year, who won his first seven decisions.
But when October rolled around, the Reds were nowhere to be found, for they finished 76-86. As for Wilson -he lost six of his last ten decisions to finish with an 11-6 record.
Going into the 2004 season, the Detroit Tigers were looked at as a doormat after their sensationally poor 2003 season in which they lost 119 games.
So imagine the surprise baseball fans got when the Tigers won their first four games of the season and were 8-6 on April 20 last year. The Tigers' early-season growl diminished to a purr as the season wore on and they finished 72-90.
Finally, the New York Yankees stumbled out to a 7-7 start despite adding the league's most desired superstar, Alex Rodriguez. Once May rolled around, the Yankees finally played like -well, the Yankees -in winning 101 games and the AL East.
Yes, this year's surprise teams might be generating some interest around the majors now, but don't expect to see that Toronto vs. Washington World Series in October because the contenders find a way to win when it counts the most -at the end of the season.
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Jason Fazzone
