I disagree with your analysis on why the AL Central is weakest, though. Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, Texas, and Seattle are all within 3 games of one another, hardly a vast difference with 70 some games left in the season. Comparing records to the AL East is not how you determine which division is better. I think head-to-head would be a much more logical way of determining this.

Your Detroit vs. AL East record argument is spot on, as it’s pretty obvious the East is dominant compared to the Central and West. But then you go on to say that Texas is more deserving of a playoff spot than Detroit, relying on the sole fact that Texas is just a game better than Detroit and because they have a better record against the East? What you fail to mention is that Detroit is 6-0 vs. Texas this year, so Texas is actually not a better team than Detroit because head-to-head is a much better testament of who’s better between two teams. The fact of the matter is Detroit is dominant against the West (15-6) and the Central is 41-36 overall against the West. Only Oakland has a winning record against the Central and they are 10-9. If I had to say, I’d probably say the two divisions are more even than anything else; definitely not the Central far and away the worst.

Also, before that Yankees series, where every game was close, Detroit was 9 games over .500, so it’s not like they’re in first place as a .500 team. Worse MLB teams have made the playoffs in the past.

And if scoring 5 runs per game at the new Yankee Stadium is embarrassing, how do you explain the home team Yankees only scoring 9 runs in 3 games vs. the double amputee Tigers?

I don’t consider the Red Sox in the mix for Halladay at all. They have WAY more than enough depth from a starting pitching standpoint as it is, and they have been very reluctant to give away top prospects in recent years.

Not to mention they are already giving themselves headaches attempting to re-sign Jason Bay, who is going to command big money on the free agent market (he has already expressed interest in testing the waters so to speak, and you can’t blame the guy)…it’s hard to imagine them taking on Halladay only to deal with his expiring contract (unless they were able to restructure at the time of a deal).

If their offense would pick it up they could be very dangerous…which is why I consider them a group of underachievers even with a multiple game lead over the rest of that god-awful Central division.