2023 AL East MLB futures odds: Division on pace to be first with five teams with winning records, Yankees and Red Sox could make unwanted history

Major League Baseball realigned to three divisions in each league ahead of the 1994 season, and no division since has had every team finish a season with a winning record, despite both West divisions having only four clubs for a while. History is on track to be made this year, as all five AL East teams are above .500 coming out of the break, but the Yankees and Red Sox could finish fourth and fifth (in whichever order) for the first time ever.

The AL East had four teams with winning records last year, but Boston finished last at 78-84. The closest a division has come to every team finishing above .500 was the NL East in 2005, when the Washington Nationals finished last at 81-81. There was only one wild card per league then and it didn't go to an NL East team. Of course, now there are three wild card spots in each league.

At the beginning of June, the Rays (58-35) had a huge lead atop the AL East thanks to their record-setting start, but they are now just two games up on the Orioles (54-35). Those clubs have two four-game series in the second half, one each in Baltimore and St. Petersburg, Fla. Tampa Bay is -210 to win the East at DraftKings, Baltimore  is +400, Toronto (50-41) is +750, NY Yankees (49-42) is +1000 and Boston (48-43) is +4500.

The favored division straight forecast at DraftKings is TB/BAL at +280, with TB/TOR actually second at +350, even though the Jays are five games behind Baltimore. A BAL/TB straight forecast is +650.

The most playoff teams any division can have is four: The champion and all three wild card teams.  DraftKings offers a prop on the number of playoff teams for each division, and the AL East favorite is three at -150, followed by four at +200, two at +650 and one at +30000. The NL East is the only other where three is favored (-110).

In past years, it would have been much tougher for four teams in any division to make the playoffs because clubs had been playing 19 games (76 total) against divisional foes. That was cut back this year to 13 games (52 total) so that every team in the majors plays every other club for at least one series.

Baltimore leads the AL wild card chase and Toronto is tied for the No. 2 spot with Houston. The Yankees are fourth, a game behind those two. Boston is two games back – the Red Sox are last in the AL East but would be leading the AL Central. 

Divisions were created in 1969, and the Yankees and Red Sox have never finished as the bottom two teams, where they currently sit.

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