Approximately one year ago, the race to play in October was much more different than it is today. At this point in the season there is currently only one team that is in first place that was also in first place at this same point last year. That team is the Texas Rangers. What’s even more shocking is that a majority of the teams that were in first place last year, are sitting in third place or worse! If someone were to hop in a Back-to-the-future style DeLorean and go forward one year to today, they would ask “So you mean to tell me that teams like the Nationals, Giants, White Sox, Yankees, and Reds are all out of first place and are in third pace or worse?” I would simply say “Yes and here are my reasons why”.

Let’s start with the disappointing Nationals

The Nationals are utterly the biggest disappointment of any of the teams that I listed above. Last year’s team that achieved so much success is, essentially, the same team that has taken the field this season. As a whole, the team actually improved in the off season when they signed players such as OF Denard Span and RP Rafael Soriano. Even with losses of RHP Edwin Jackson and OF Michael Morse, the team still had enough talent to win another division and compete for a World Series. So, what’s the problem? Run production has been scarce, which has been accompanied by an inconsistent pitching staff. Run support has dropped down to nearly a run less than last year and only two of the five staying pitchers have an ERA of under 3.50. This combination causes closer ballgames to be lost and the bullpen doesn’t help with a closer whose ERA is near the mid 3’s and 6 blown saves on the year. The team is also setting less of the power production this year with a surprisingly low .392 slugging percentage, compared to last year’s .428. Now, this years team has seen its fair share of injuries but even with their top players on the field they still struggle to hit above .250 (batting average) and get on base with consistency (.309 on base percentage). This is still a great ball club on paper and may see more favorable times in 2014, but for this season they will be going home early.

The Giants are not so Giant

The Giants have come from the top of the mountain and have fallen a long and hard way down. Some may say that the Giants are the biggest disappointment but considering they weren’t as highly favored for this year’s World Series, then I would put them as the 2nd biggest disappointment. It’s said that in football “Defense wins championships”. The same can be said for pitching in Baseball. The Giants are in this position, because much of that championship pitching that was present in 2012 is not present in 2013. In a nutshell they have been awful. Four out of the five starters on this years current rotation have ERA’s above 4.00, which includes top pitcher RHP Matt Cain. If you weren’t mistaken, you would think the Giants play in Colorado. Any team that allows that many runs per game has a tough time winning ball games. Especially for an offense that isn’t as strong as, say, the Washington Nationals. The offense this year has not seen much of a chance from last year, but has seen a big part of their offense disappear. This would be their ability to gather extra base hits. The Giants slugging percentage is third worst in the league and as a team they have nearly half as many triples this year as they had last year (28 compared to 57). So pitching can’t get all the blame, but they sure are the biggest reason for the Giants struggle this season.

The torn White Sox

Considering that the White Sox missed last year’s playoffs at the end of the season to the Tigers, I can’t say that this team is a big disappointment. First off when a team loses a leader on the field and in the clubhouse, then team overall suffers. Losing C AJ Pierzynski was a blow to the White Sox, especially since this year’s team is struggling at the plate. They lost their homerun leader, which has shown in this years production with a much lower .382 slugging percentage compared to last year (.422). Also, last year’s team finished the year with five of its players having 20 HR’s or more. This season the club has only one member in that group, 1B/DH Adam Dunn. But, offense isn’t the sole reason for this slump. Injuries have also plagued the White Sox, with only three players out of the starting nine to play 120 games or more. The pitching staff has been relatively efficient in terms of both starting and relieving roles, but the lack of run support keeps it hard for this team to stay in the game. But even with decent run support and a good pitching performance, closing the door in the 9th seems to be a problem with 16 blown saves (36 saves). This year won’t be the year for the White Sox, and after losing more team leaders in RHP Jake Peavy (traded to Red Sox) and OF Alex Rios (traded to Rangers), it may take some time before this team comes back into the limelight.

Age is catching up on the Yankees

The Yankees have not disappointment this season, rather they been the result of bad luck. The Yankees began the year with something you call a “WTF moment”. The opening day lineup did not include C Russell Martin (signed with Pirates), 1B Mark Teixeira (DL), SS Derek Jeter (DL), 3B Alex Rodriguez (DL), CF Curtis Granderson (DL), and 1B/OF Nick Swisher (signed with Cleveland). Not to mention, the starting lineup was also missing guys like OF Andrew Jones (signed with Japan League team) and OF Raul Ibanez (signed with Mariners). All together, that is a total of 178 HR’s that is lost before the season even started. Now for the most part, the Yankees have been in contention this season. But as of late, the team has dipped down to 7.5 games for the division and 4.5 games for the wild card. Because of injuries that have left most of the lineup to be of of sync for the entire year, the team, with their age, has not been able to keep up with younger teams in the division. Older players in result have not received the proper rest time to stay efficient, which results in a team batting average of .246 and a slugging percentage of .377 (2012 slugging percentage of .435). On the pitching side, the rotation has seen inconsistency while the bullpen has been very effective. Ace CC Sabathia has struggled with command all year along with a drop in fastball velocity, which has resulted in a 4.81 ERA. While the bullpen has been very effective in one run ball games with over 42 saves converted this season, which has been a big reason for their winning record this season. Overall, the Yankees are hurting but not completely out of the picture, but they are in this situation today because some of their starting nine this season are not necessarily first team choices on contending teams.

The Reds are oh so close

The only people that may consider the Reds to be a disappointment are Cincinnati fans. But, they don’t need to feel that way. The Reds are currently almost 20 games over. 500, they are in the second position for the Wild Card race, and are only 4.5 games behind first place in the division. For the most part the offensive and defensive production has been similar to last year’s, even with a drop in power and extra base hits. The biggest difference from last year is the amount of stolen bases that the team has this year (41) compared to last season (87). But this is due in large part to the loss of OF Drew Stubbs, which has been offset with the acquisition of OF Shin-Soo Choo. What separates the Reds from any other team in the division, and the biggest reason why they are not in first place, is that RHP Johnny Cueto has been down for most of the year. Last year’s Cy Young candidate has been battling injuries with his shoulder all season and doesn’t seem to be coming back any time soon, after being placed on the 60-Day Disabled List. The Reds have a silver lining though, as power hitter OF Ryan Ludwick has rejoined the club and will provide much needed support to this lineup. The Reds will make the playoffs, but it won’t be easy and in my opinion it won’t be as a division winner.