Woeful AL East appears to have long way to go to pose any challenge to Yankees

There are lies, damn lies and the AL East.

We have become so conditioned to parrot that the division, top-to-bottom, is MLB’s best that we have kind of missed that for a while now there has been a lot more bottom than top.

It isn’t that the Yankees have been great. But they avoided the divisional undertow that had pulled every other AL East team under .500 to begin the weekend. And it is not a new phenomenon.

From the All-Star break last season through Friday — roughly the equivalent of two-thirds of a 162-game season — the Yankees had MLB’s sixth-best record at 62-46. The Rays were 20th best (52-58) while the Blue Jays (50-59), Red Sox (50-62) and Orioles (48-61) ranked 22nd to 24th, respectively — bracketed by the Reds (51-59) and Marlins (45-63), no one’s idea of stellar clubs. Baltimore responded to the extended downturn on Saturday by firing manager Brandon Hyde.