Parody plays a huge part in professional sports.  When one team does something that brings success to their franchise, without a doubt another team will try to implement their strategy.  This season has been no different.  Teams like the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Indians have tried to follow in the footsteps of the Yankees’ and Red Sox’ recent success stories when they went out and spent big money on free agents.  Other teams, like the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros and Arizona Diamondbacks, have taken an approach similar to that of the Oakland A’s, Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins of looking for chemistry and depth to chase a championship.  Obviously some of these teams are having success and some are not, but what this parody is doing is making this year's division races some of the tightest in recent memory.

If you look at the standings right now, it is amazing to see how many teams are still within striking distance of first place.  Most teams will have played half of their games by the beginning of next week and there are three divisions that are separated by a maximum of 10.5 games.  That’s three divisions where no one is out of the race.  That is unheard of in professional sports by the midway point, but it is the reality of this year’s MLB season.

Predicting which race will be the tightest race all season is not something that is easy at this point because of how tight the races are.  You have the AL East where every team is separated by only five games, and seems to come down to the wire and produce two playoff teams every single year.  You then have the AL Central, which has the defending AL Champion Detroit Tigers sitting on top, but only 10.5 games ahead of the last place Chicago White Sox.  That is another race that was decided in the last week of the season last season, and it could be even tighter this year with the emergence of the Royals and Indians on top of the health of the Twins that has returned them to the top.  Not to be forgotten is the NL West.  Separated from top to bottom by only 8.5 games this division is far from over.  Many experts predicted the Los Angeles Dodgers would emerge and run away with the division, but they’re in dead last and have played well below expectations.  Even as poorly as they have played, though, they still have a shot as well as all four other teams in the division.

Overshadowed by how tight those three races are is the NL Central and the AL West.  The NL Central has three teams that are not only fighting to with the division, but are fighting for the best record in baseball.  What makes that division race even more exciting is the prospect of the Pittsburgh Pirates finally making the playoffs for the first time since 1992.  The AL West doesn’t have three teams fighting for the top spot, but the two that are on top are going back and forth in first place like a tight game of tug-o-war.  The Athletics and Rangers needed all 162 games last season to determine the winner of the division, and the way things are going this year, the division could end up just as tight this year.

So which division will have the tightest race come season’s end?  It is going to be the NL West.  As good as all the divisions have been so far this year, with 22 of the 30 teams currently looking like they could make a playoff run, the NL West could up being the tightest division in recent memory.

The defending Champion San Francisco Giants are going to do everything in their power to avoid another let down season like they had after their 2010 championship season.  They sit in second place three games behind the surprising Diamondbacks.  As mentioned before, the Diamondbacks have taken a new approach of building a team that has good chemistry and depth, and so far it is working like a charm.  They currently have a solid grasp on first place, but before they took first, the Colorado Rockies surprised all of baseball with a hot start aided by a much improved pitching staff.  They also still sit just three games behind the D-Backs and are right there ready to strike. 

The most surprising of the teams in the NL West has to be the San Diego Padres, though.  Just two weeks ago they looked like the team that would be holding down last place before they went on a winning streak that shot them right passed the Dodgers and into a tie for second.  They sit 3.5 games behind the D-Backs right now, and much like the Giants and Rockies, could streak to first at any time.  The only team that is really struggling is the Dodgers, as mentioned earlier.  Even they are only 8.5 games back off the D-Backs, and have a budding superstar in the form of Yasiel Puig could very well push them right back into the running.

So while the NL Central has three of the best teams in the league and there are two other divisions that also have five teams still in the running, it is easy for me to see the NL West being the one that is the tightest in September.  Parody, and a crazy second half run, could change everything though.  Just ask the Angels and Rangers, they know all too well after last season, and if that’s not enough for you, look at the collapses of the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves in 2011.  It’s MLB, and anything can happen.