Durham Bulls in First Place, But ...

 

Standings

For the first time this season, the Durham Bulls are in their accustomed spot of first place in the International League, but…

Here’s where things get very odd.

First of all, this is the International League in name only. This is not the league that the Durham Bulls joined back in 1998. That league went away in 2020.

With that caveat out of the way, take a look at that lineup of the top 8 teams in today's 20-team league. Three teams are tied for 1st place Five more teams are within a couple of percentage points of the top. All of the teams have 20 games left on their schedule (unless a couple are making up postponements). Any one of these teams could end up winning the second half of the season. 

To add just a little bit to the weirdness, if the Norfolk Tides keep up with their run (they’ve won 8 of their last 10) and win the second half, then the #2 team in the second half will play Norfolk for the title. How’s that for oddness?

Meanwhile, today is September 1. You can expect all these team’s rosters to go into a blender. Who has the better AA team in their system? That’s very likely to make the difference.