Baseball: Most competitive division in MLB?

Just wondering which division you all thought was the most competitive in all of MLB? I'd have to say it's pretty close between the AL east and the NL east. I can't really say which is the better division since i don't watch much AL baseball. But you've got the Yanks, the Red Sox, and the suprisingly good Orioles this year in the AL east. On the NL side you've got the Marlins off to a great start, the Braves are sliding lately but most certainly will bounce back, The Nationals in their first season stateside have probably won double the amount of games they would have won if they were still in Montreal. and even though the Phillies stink so far they've got a team capable of taking the lead any minute now. What do ya'll think?

Top to bottom, you have to go with the NL East, there are only 5.5 games separating first from last, and the last place team is only 3 games below .500.

The numbers for the AL East are 13 games behind and 15 below .500. Your division is only as strong as your weakest link.

I have to agree with Gibbs, there isn't an easy series vs a division foe in the NL East. The AL East sure is good with the O's, Bosox, and Yanks but 20+ games a year against Tampa Bay and Toronto kind of balances things out a bit. We'll see if Baltimore can keep it up, they have a great lineup and their pitching has been pretty good, they might just be able to hold off NY and Boston.

The NL East is tough top to bottom, with the Braves and Marlins picked to battle for the division. The off-season moves by the Mets are starting to pay off and the Expos/Nationals move to DC has seemed to give them a spark and have a pretty good team, led by Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. And then of course my perennial underachieving Phillies, who with the 4th highest payroll in baseball cant seem to get things right and consistent. One night they look like World Series contenders and the next the Bad News Bears.

The NL West has some potential but the Giants are a different team w/out Bonds and the Dodgers who started out 12-2 have lost it and gone 11-18 since their hot start. The Padres are ok too, but nothing to write home about and the Rockies, well they're the Rockies. Arizona is the surprise team in that division, in first place now at 27-18.

St Louis almost has the NL Central wrapped up and its only May. The two top contenders, the Cubs and Astros, havent lived up to expectations. The Astros have been horrible, they're an astounding 2-20 on the road this year, hard to believe with pitchers like Clemens, Oswalt, and Petitte.

The AL Central has some good teams including the 31-14 Chicago White Sox, who are playing great baseball. The Twins are also a very solid team and the Indians and Tigers are pretty good and still improving. The anchor in this division is the dismal KC Royals, at 13-31.

The AL West has some pretty good teams too, the Angels are finally playing better although they just lost Vlad for a few weeks. Dont forget this division only has four teams as opposed to the NL Central which has six and all others five. Texas is loaded with offense but they all havent quite clicked yet and their pitching is suspect. Seattle hasnt gotten what they expected from their big off-season acquisitions Beltre and Sexson, but they have some big hits in the past few games. The M's pitching has been somewhat questionable as well. Oakland is struggling at 17-26, they cant seeem to find much offense these days. Losing Hudson and Mulder didnt help either.

Most competitive division - NL East

i think that the al east is the division to watch this year, the orioles appear to be for real, the red sox an dyankees have spent too much money to field teams to be left out in the cold and they are coming to the top
in the nl east i don't see washington with the staying power to keep up with the big boys, they are a couple of years away from being a true contender, they are the same team that was so woeful in montreal last year
i think that the division that will suprise is the nl west, the padres are playing good baseball but the giants are lurking, if they can get bonds back around the all star break they have a good chance to make a run in the last half of the season

The AL east might have the best teams, but, the whole division doesn't stack up to the NL east, IMHO.

Of course, as Philly fan, I am more than slightly biased.

OK, the most competitive. The difference in the NL east is 1.5 games, from top to bottom. The Phils are on bottom, and are 2 games over .500. You just don't get much closer than that.

EDIT: spelling

[Edited on 3/5/2006 by Gibbs Baby!!!]

No division has ever had all the teams above .500 with a separation of less than 2 games this late in the season.

Ever.

I'd say the Division the Phillies are in, i looked at the standings earlier and thats the closest division so far this season. But i guess you have to look at the Yankees div, they are way down in 4th place and a few games behind. A bit later on it might be much closer between the three.. (Baltimore, Sox, Yankees)...