UPDATED MONTHLY TEAM PITCHING SUMMARIES THRU JULY: AMERICAN LEAGUE

We've been swamped with non-baseball work for the past few weeks; we've just enough time, however, to update the monthly pitching summaries, which we think give you an excellent "birds-eye" view of the performance ebb and flow for starters and relievers.

Today, the American League:

We start with the "stinky division" (aka the AL Central). You can see the White Sox' fire sale coming in the July numbers, along with the continuing decline of the Twins' starting pitching. Somehow their bullpen managed to go 8-4 in July despite a 5.19 ERA, which saved them from a third consecutive losing month. The smart money (such as it is) is probably on Cleveland...

On to the East, where the Rays slid and the O's flew high in July. Baltimore's relievers have a cumulative 29-14 record, which is bailing out a spotty core of starters. The Jays seem to be gearing up to give chase to the front runners, with their starter/reliever ERAs staying steadily above-average. The Red Sox are probably not going to pull it together, as their starters are still sub-par, but their bullpen had a fine July, helping them to their best month of the year. The Yankees' pitching faded notably this past month, leaving them in danger of becoming AL East cellar-dwellers at season's end for the first time since...*

And the red-eye to the West, which shows those ever-lovin' A's as just a bad team instead of an all-time travesty. The Rangers have been giving ground over the past two months, and that's let the Astros back in the division race despite pitching woes: Houston got away with murder in July, as their bullpen pitched poorl overall but managed to pull it together in key spots and post a 7-2 record anyway. The Mariners got great pitching and their July was the best in the AL West; the Angels continue to float along at just a tad over .500 as they try to gather enough momentum to challenge for a Wild Card slot before they (presumably) lose Shohei Ohtani to the highest bidder. 

Tomorrow, the National League...

---

*Since 1990...haven't you kept pace with the "Expansionist Extravaganza," for Crissakes? (Update on that coming up later this month...stay tuned.)