Strength of Divisions

[traderumor]

The much maligned NL Central is starting to look like the home of three very good teams.

Meanwhile, other divisions seem to be not quite all they were hyped up to be with the dreaded East Coast bias. There is a lot of mediocrity in both leagues' Eastern Divisions, when early in the season there was so much talk of how tough these divisions are.

The AL West is probably the only stronger division than the NL Central, home to the Rangers, Angels and A's.

My ranking:
AL West
NL Central
NL West/AL East
NL East
AL Central

[cincrazy]

The much maligned NL Central is starting to look like the home of three very good teams.

Meanwhile, other divisions seem to be not quite all they were hyped up to be with the dreaded East Coast bias. There is a lot of mediocrity in both leagues' Eastern Divisions, when early in the season there was so much talk of how tough these divisions are.

The AL West is probably the only stronger division than the NL Central, home to the Rangers, Angels and A's.

My ranking:
AL West
NL Central
NL West/AL East
NL East
AL Central

I think the top 3 teams in our division are very good... but the bottom 3 are incredibly bad. So bad in fact that I think it neutralizes how good the top 3 teams are. Sure, the Mets and Marlins aren't great. But I think they're way better than the Brewers, and especially the Cubs and Astros.

[traderumor]

I think the top 3 teams in our division are very good... but the bottom 3 are incredibly bad. So bad in fact that I think it neutralizes how good the top 3 teams are. Sure, the Mets and Marlins aren't great. But I think they're way better than the Brewers, and especially the Cubs and Astros.

I wouldn't consider balance in a division to be more important than the quantity and strength of the division's best teams.

[mth123]

I wouldn't consider balance in a division to be more important than the quantity and strength of the division's best teams.

Are you going by overal record. Maybe the "best" teams just look the best because they are beating up on the crummy guys they get to play a lot? I think the weakness of teams like Houston and Chicago has to be considered. It really skews the other teams. It skews the record and the run differential.

[RedlegJake]

The bottom three somewhat skew the record but to this point in the season the inter-division play hasn't been a factor - it will be from here on out but up to now they've actually played other division's and interleague MORE than their own division. The last 2 months the play within the division really gets heavily skewed. I think its designed that way to make the races more exciting. More late head to head matchups. The myth of the NL Central being a weak division is just that - a Media fabrication partly left over from when it was true and partly always there - both AL and NL Central divisions fight a Media bias that favors the Coasts. If it ain't New York or California it don't matter!