As baseball remains in hiatus due to the coronavirus, we continue simulating games for the 2020 MLB season. Here are the results for 4/13-4/16 for the AL
Three weeks into the simulated 2020 MLB season, the AL East has become a wide-open, four-team contest.
Through 20 games, the Boston Red Sox have edged into a half-game lead thanks to their sweep of a Monday-Wednesday series in Oakland. But the Sox’ lead over New York is just one-half game, with Toronto and Tampa Bay both just one more game back.
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In the AL Central, the Minnesota Twins swept a three-game series of their own against the Blue Jays to stand two games ahead of Cleveland, which kept pace by sweeping Detroit.
Meanwhile, in the AL West, the Houston Astros seized a huge opportunity handed to them when the Yankees took a three-game series in Texas. The Astros beat Tampa Bay three straight and broke out to a two and one-half game advantage, their largest of the season.
Of the nine American League mid-week series, in fact, only two did not result in sweeps. The Kansas City Royals took two of three from the Chicago White Sox, and the Seattle Mariners split a two-game series with the Washington Nationals.
The results certainly shook up the situation in the East, where Tampa Bay and Toronto began play Monday sharing the lead, both a game and a half ahead of Boston. New York lingered another half-game behind.
At the same time, Houston began playing a game behind Texas only to catch and pass the Rangers.
Despite his team’s setbacks, Tampa Bay’s Brandon Lowe emerged with a surprise lead in the batting race. Lowe had seven hits during the Astros series, two of them leaving the yard. That performance raised his average to .348, 55 percentage points ahead of Xander Bogaerts,
White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu homered twice against the Royals and once more in his team’s 9-3 Thursday victory over the Rangers to seize the league home run lead with nine. Minnesota’s Josh Donaldson drove in three runs against Toronto, extending his league-leading RBI total to 28.
When Zack Greinke beat Tampa Bay Tuesday, it ran his record to 4-0 for the season. Lucas Giolito, with nine strong innings in a 13-inning loss to the Royals Monday, lowered his league-leading ERA to 0.91.
Boston’s Collin McHugh struck out 13 Oakland A’s on Tuesday, taking the league lead in that category with 41 in 31 innings.