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As we approach the end of June -- time really is flying again, isn't it? -- let's take stock of the six divisional races. Obviously things can change, teams can get hot, teams can completely melt down, but we've likely seen enough to have a good idea of divisional contenders and non-contenders. 

AL East: Should be fun

I jinxed the Rays by greatly praising them last week. They hit a rut and lost their ace in the process. I'm sorry, Rays fans. Still, they very likely have staying power and will figure in this race come late September. Can the Red Sox hang around? It's been almost three months, so there's a good chance. The Yankees might be waking up. The Blue Jays are pretty far back and would need help, but they have the talent to get hot and make things interesting. It's pretty difficult to handicap this thing moving forward, but it doesn't seem like anyone will run away with it. 

AL Central: Two-team race? Or one? 

The White Sox have been in first since May 7 and aren't going anywhere. They are in a bit of a funk right now, having lost four straight, but those were all on the road to the Astros. The schedule softens back up in the coming weeks and they'll be fine. Can Cleveland find enough offense to hang around? This is the division with the biggest chance to be a runaway, in my mind. It's either a two-team race or the White Sox cruise. 

AL West: Furious two-teamer down to the wire

Hopefully the Angels can hang around in the wild card picture, but the division isn't happening for them. The A's and Astros are two upper-tier teams and I trust both to push each other. Hopefully it's close into late September, because they face each other six times in the final 10 days of the season, with the last three games being A's at Astros. Get excited! 

NL East: All Mets? Four-team race? Five?! 

The Mets have the biggest lead in the league, but are they really going to run away and hide from the field here? I don't think they will. The Braves have badly underachieved but have plenty of talent. The Phillies are so hot and cold that if they hang around until September, one last hot streak could be enough to win it. The Nationals are on fire right now and can't be counted out. The Marlins have a positive run differential and have shown flashes of being contenders. The odds of all five teams being in contention heading to the last month of the season are pretty bad, but we can dream, right? 

NL Central: Best potential for chaos

The Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals and even the Reds at different points in the season have looked like the best team in the Central. They've all had stretches where they looked helpless and just plain bad, too. We've seen the Cubs go from last place to first in less than a month. They went from fourth to first in two weeks. The Cardinals went from first to fourth in two weeks. The Reds went from seven back to two back in just over two weeks. The Brewers went from first to third to first in less than four weeks. On the whole, this shouldn't be all that surprising. Each of the four teams has quality talent and some serious holes on the roster. Expect all this movement to continue and that's all kinds of fun. 

NL West: Three playoff teams? 

A few weeks ago in this very space I discussed how the Giants, Dodgers and Padres might well end up the three best teams in the NL. The Padres have hit a rough patch, but the possibility remains. A three-team race for first here would be amazing theater, but it loses its luster a bit if the consolation prizes are two wild card spots. 

Still, it looks like we're in for some pretty great races. Few, if any, will be runaways. 

Biggest Movers
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1 Giants A few weeks ago, I said I believed the Giants were going to end up in third place and not really push the Dodgers and Padres. I no longer believe this. I believe I was wrong. They really seem to have something going here. Even if you don't believe they are *this* good, they are 20 games over .500. Even playing just .500 ball the rest of the way gets them to 91-71. It's hard to see them missing the playoffs. 2 28-20
2 Dodgers They've won 10 of 12, though the competition hasn't been overly stiff. That changes right now. The Dodgers' next nine games are against the Padres, Cubs and Giants. 2 29-18
3 Astros They've won 16 of 20 and have outscored opponents by 67 in that stretch. They are just brutalizing everyone. 2 25-22
4 White Sox Carlos Rodón really is an ace. There's nothing from underlying stats to the eye test or anywhere in between to suggest this is a fluky run. He's for real. 2 14-34
5 Athletics Matt Olson is going to be an All-Star, but he's actually not far off of the MVP line at this point. He's hitting .305/.381/.617 with 20 homers and 53 RBI. 3 22-25
6 Rays That was a season high six straight losses for the Rays -- including wearing a walk-off grand slam Sunday -- as they reel from the Tyler Glasnow injury. But Wander Franco is on his way. 5 21-26
7 Red Sox The Red Sox have played .500 ball their last 12 games and now have three games on the road against the Rays before hosting the Yankees for three. -- 24-25
8 Padres The Padres were in a bad, bad way, having lost 13 of 17 and then the Reds stormed back to take the lead in the ninth against normally reliable closer Mark Melancon. The Padres themselves then turned everything on its head, improbably won that game and have now swept the Reds in four games. It's possible we'll look back at Thursday as the season-saving comeback. 3 27-18
9 Cubs It's possible that from May 28 until the All-Star break that the Cubs will have only played three games against teams under .500 (this past three against the Marlins). It all depends on where the Cardinals, Phillies and Reds fall, but it's brutal stretch nonetheless. So far the Cubs are 13-10 in this stretch. 3 28-20
10 Mets The split is getting pretty huge. The Mets are now 20-7 at home and 16-22 on the road. The good news is they have a lot more home games left than road ones. -- 29-19
11 Guardians Rough series in Pittsburgh. They had to scratch and claw Sunday to avoid being swept. Still, they are right within striking range. 2 25-21
12 Yankees A 5-1 week against two good teams? Interesting. The series next weekend in Boston could be huge. 4 27-19
13 Brewers Christian Yelich's power still hasn't shown up. He's at just three home runs with a .379 slugging percentage. What gives? 4 23-25
14 Reds The Reds were playing as well as they had all season before that Thursday night gut punch. Perhaps the trip to Minnesota will wake them back up. -- 25-24
15 Blue Jays Rough week, but they have nine straight games against sub-.500 teams coming and George Springer is returning. 3 22-24
16 Mariners The perpetually "tease their fans" team is doing it again. The M's have won seven of eight after taking down the Rays in a four-game sweep. 8 27-19
17 Angels Shohei Ohtani now has six homers in his last six games and his Home Run Derby participation is appointment viewing. -- 20-25
18 Phillies Seriously, I brought him up here a few weeks ago, but not enough people are talking about Zack Wheeler this season. He's got a 2.15 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 118 strikeouts in 96 1/3 innings. To lead the majors in innings with that kind of run prevention is amazing. 3 29-18
19 Braves I wonder if Brian Snitker is on the hot seat yet? Or maybe I wonder more what it would take? This is an awfully long time to disappoint in a season with such high expectations. Then again, they just took three of four from the Cardinals and now get four against the Mets. Can they put all the woes in the rearview? 1 24-23
20 Cardinals The Cardinals only play the Tigers (see their comment below, though!), Pirates, Diamondbacks and Rockies until July 5. Maybe it's time to make another move in the standings. 1 27-21
21 Nationals Kyle Schwarber has nine homers in his last 10 games, the Nationals have won seven of eight and now the Baby Shark is back. It's all happening! 1 21-27
22 Marlins A good example of how run differential can be a bit misleading in small samples. The Marlins outscored their opponents 24-11 last week and went 2-4. -- 19-27
23 Tigers Since May 7, the sneakily competent Tigers have gone 21-18. Sleep on them are your peril, contenders. -- 31-17
24 Royals Late last month, Whit Merrifield was hitting an uncharacteristic .249. In his last 22 games, though, he's gone 31 for 95 and raised his average to .275. 3 27-22
25 Twins It sure is nice to see Byron Buxton back and he immediately got right back to work with a prodigious homer on Sunday. -- 26-21
26 Rockies Regarding the Nolan Arenado trade, Austin Gomber felt like a throw-in. In his previous seven starts before Saturday, though, Gomber had a 1.28 ERA with 41 strikeouts and just three walks in 42 1/3 innings. Of course, since the Rockies aren't really allowed to have nice things, he left Saturday's start with a forearm injury. 2 8-39
27 Pirates The two wins over Cleveland broke a season-high 10-game losing streak. -- 15-33
28 Rangers Since that sweep of the Astros that continues to be baffling, the Rangers have gone just 3-19. 2 25-23
29 Orioles The road losing streak is up to 19. Good thing there's a team overshadowing them ... -- 15-31
30 Diamondbacks They've lost 23 in a row on the road, 17 in a row overall and have gone 5-40 since May 2. It's a total mess. -- 25-22