Anyone who thinks East Coast teams get too much attention in baseball might want to take a look at the current MLB standings. None of the teams in the AL East nor NL East divisions have a losing record going into Tuesday's play.
It's no surprise to see teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays at .500 or above and competing for a division title or wild-card spot in the American League.
But It's been quite a while since we've seen the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays in playoff contention. And the O's are tied for first place in the AL East with the Rays, holding the second-best record in the junior circuit through 49 games.
Over in the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies are certainly no stranger to playoff contention during the past few seasons. And the Atlanta Braves have been one of the dominant clubs over the past two decades, with 11 division titles and 12 postseason trips in a 15-year span.
Yet right now, both of those teams comprise the bottom of the NL East. It's the emerging Washington Nationals that lead the division, with the revived New York Mets and Miami Marlins trailing close behind.
Will the current standings maintain throughout the season, with none of the 10 teams out east finishing with a losing record? It sure doesn't seem likely. Yet we're about 50 games through the season with most teams, and that's the situation we see now.
Both divisions finishing with records of .500 or above isn't impossible, either.
Most importantly, having other East Coast markets besides New York, Boston and Philadelphia involved in playoff chases provides a major boost for the game. For instance, how long have the D.C. and Baltimore areas been deprived of pennant races and postseason baseball?
It's been almost 20 years since the Orioles were one of the AL's power teams. Baltimore loves the O's and still has one of the best ballparks in the game. Yet the team has been a doormat throughout the 2000s, disenchanted with an ownership that's tried to patch holes with money and aging veterans instead of showing it can build a team.
Down I-85, fans in D.C. have been yearning for baseball since the Senators left for Texas in 1971. Going 33 years without the sport can create quite an appetite. But the long wait looks like it's finally being rewarded with a team that's not only contending, but should do so for years to come with young stars like Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.
Parity among baseball's East Coast teams also keeps another country emotionally invested. The Toronto Blue Jays are Canada's team, by virtue of being the only MLB team north of the border.
Even so, major apathy set in as the Blue Jays became a punching bag for the AL East elite. But savvy trades and revitalized players have finally made the Blue Jays a contender again.
The Braves have already established a presence as the south's MLB team, but with the Marlins and the Rays playing like contenders in their respective divisions, baseball is digging in a footprint even further south and getting another region of the country involved in the sport.
The Marlins, especially, have taken major steps toward becoming a perennial contender in the NL, building a brand-new ballpark and throwing major cash at free-agent talent to build a winner around stars like Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Johnson.
The Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies have begun to look pretty creaky this season, which might mean they slide down a notch while the other teams in the east catch up to and surpass them.
But does anyone expect that those teams won't return to prominence? Even that's presuming they take a step back. There's still a lot of baseball to be played in 2012, and all three could still be major factors in the postseason.
Still, with other markets and their fanbases drawn in by the hope and promise of meaningful baseball, the eastern part of the country won't tune out if the teams we're used to seeing in October begin to falter.
That's an excellent development for baseball as it progresses into a new postseason format with two additional teams, a wild-card playoff and league realignment next year.
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