Parity Shows in Major League Baseball in 2015

When Major League Baseball began its mission to grow the brand and try, for lack of a better term, emulate the National Football League a word that we the fans heard a lot of was parity. During the 90’s and the early 2000’s you generally had the same teams winning the division every year, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the San Francisco Giants, the Atlanta Braves, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Texas Rangers, etc. MLB can be proud in 2015 though because with the additions of a second wild card playoff spot, luxury taxes, profit sharing and the growing baseball television network market parity may have finally arrived and may be here to stay for the foreseeable future.

In the American League every single team had at least a .450 winning percentage at this year’ All-Star break which is the first time an entire league has done that in the majors since 1944. You have to keep in mind that the league was very thin in 1944 due to World War II while the game in this day and time is star rich with at least one or two on every single team. Even in the American League East Division parity, or mediocrity depending on how you look at it, is evident with the last place Boston Red Sox trailing the first place New York Yankees by just 6.5 games entering the All-Star break this season.

The Oakland Athletics have the worst record in the American League at 41-50 entering the All-Star break and are a good month away from eliminating just an 8.5 game deficit to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The same can be said for the last place Chicago White Sox who went into the break sporting a 41-45 record and a 5.5 game deficit in the American League’s second wild card chase. Parity means interesting and this major league season is shaping up to be very interesting, especially with the scheduling change that has every single game starting at the same time on the final day of the regular season. With seemingly every race heading down to the wire Major League Baseball made a heck of a risky move and it looks like it is going to pay off immensely.

The same could be said for the National League if it were not for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Miami Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers both other than those three teams and maybe the Colorado Rockies the parity can be seen there as well. Almost every team is within single-digits of a playoff berth which makes for some exciting baseball in the second half. Parity is here in MLB for better or worse, it is time we start getting to love it.