MLB made a ton of rule changes this year. One that slipped under the radar and is now looking prominent is the more balanced schedule.
Teams play every other team and 24 games LESS inside the division.
So, for Blue Jays or AL East team fans, that’s 24 less murderous games.
How good is the AL East so far this year? They are 57-24* against the rest of baseball. That’s a a 114 win pace halfway through the year if they were a single team. Record breaking. Winning 70% of games.
For bettors and power raters, strength of schedule is huge as is understanding opponents. The American League have the Royals and A’s playing like Rachel Phelps wanted Cleveland to play in Major League. The AL East has a group of solid to top teams that are ransacking the rest of the league. Under the new rules, they won’t beat each other up as much and should produce 3 and maybe even 4 playoff teams.
*as of Apr 25, Tamps was 15-1, O’s 12-3, Jays 10-7, Yanks 10-7 and Redsox 10-6.
