Memorial Day usually marks the date where teams start to evaluate their seasons. Sportswriters will sharpen their pens to begin to write their updated "buyer" and "seller" trade deadline stories. GMs will begin to see if their teams are over-achieving or under-performing so far this year.
What have been the biggest surprises so far this year?
Tampa Bay in first place in the AL East was something no one saw coming at the end of spring training. It was supposed to be a Boston runaway rebuild and the Yankees sneaking around second.
Kansas City itself believes its last year playoff run was real so it is not a surprise that the Royals are in first place. But the Tigers being in third place is more of a surprise. But not as bad as the White Sox being in last place in the division when on paper Chicago had the best off-season.
Houston is the biggest surprise with best 29 wins and a 5.5 game lead in the AL West.
The Mets hot start was a surprise with its young rotation, but being in second is still better than expected for this underachieving team.
The Cubs being in second place for most of the season is a surprise. Being four games over .500 (24-20) and 4.5 games behind the Cardinals is better than most people expected from the young Cubs.
The biggest downside surprise may be the Padres. An aggressive off-season has yielded a weak fourth place (7 games behind) in the NL West.
Based on these surprises, there may be less "sellers" this year as teams that should not have been so competitive (Rays, Astros, Cubs, Mets) won't be looking to next year.
