2008 American League

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The 2008 season of the American League was the one hundred eighth season of the league.

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Standings

An asterisk (*) indicates the team won its league's wild card, Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
Central Division
1	Chicago White Sox	163	89	74	0	.546	-.-	811 (4.98)	729 (4.47)	0.263	0.332	0.448	4.06	0.983
2	Minnesota Twins	163	88	75	0	.540	1.0	829 (5.09)	745 (4.57)	0.279	0.340	0.408	4.16	0.982
3	Cleveland Indians	162	81	81	0	.500	7.5	805 (4.97)	761 (4.70)	0.262	0.339	0.424	4.45	0.985
4	Kansas City Royals	162	75	87	0	.463	13.5	691 (4.27)	781 (4.82)	0.269	0.320	0.397	4.48	0.984
5	Detroit Tigers	162	74	88	0	.457	14.5	821 (5.07)	857 (5.29)	0.271	0.340	0.444	4.90	0.981
Eastern Division
1	Tampa Bay Rays	162	97	65	0	.599	-.-	774 (4.78)	671 (4.14)	0.260	0.340	0.422	3.82	0.985
2	Boston Red Sox*	162	95	67	0	.586	2.0	845 (5.22)	694 (4.28)	0.280	0.358	0.447	4.01	0.986
3	New York Yankees	162	89	73	0	.549	8.0	789 (4.87)	727 (4.49)	0.271	0.342	0.427	4.28	0.986
4	Toronto Blue Jays	162	86	76	0	.531	11.0	714 (4.41)	610 (3.77)	0.264	0.331	0.399	3.49	0.986
5	Baltimore Orioles	161	68	93	0	.422	28.5	782 (4.86)	869 (5.40)	0.267	0.333	0.429	5.13	0.983
Western Division
1	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	162	100	62	0	.617	-.-	765 (4.72)	697 (4.30)	0.268	0.330	0.413	3.99	0.985
2	Texas Rangers	162	79	83	0	.488	21.0	901 (5.56)	967 (5.97)	0.283	0.354	0.462	5.37	0.978
3	Oakland Athletics	161	75	86	0	.466	24.5	646 (4.01)	690 (4.29)	0.242	0.318	0.369	4.01	0.984
4	Seattle Mariners	162	61	101	0	.377	39.0	671 (4.14)	811 (5.01)	0.265	0.318	0.389	4.73	0.984

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Justin Morneau	Minnesota Twins	163
At Bats	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	686
Runs Scored	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	118
Hits	Ichiro Suzuki Dustin Pedroia	Seattle Mariners Boston Red Sox	213
Doubles	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	54
Triples	Curtis Granderson	Detroit Tigers	13
Home Runs	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	37
Total Bases	Miguel Cabrera Josh Hamilton	Detoit Tigers Texas Rangers	331
Runs Batted In	Josh Hamilton	Texas Rangers	130
Stolen Bases	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	50
Caught Stealing	B.J. Upton	Tampa Bay Rays	16
Walks	Jack Cust	Oakland Athletics	111
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Vladimir Guerrero Justin Morneau	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Minnesota Twins	16
Hit by Pitch	Jason Giambi	New York Yankees	22
Strikeouts	Jack Cust	Oakland Athletics	197
Sacrifice Hits	Alexi Casilla	Minnesota Twins	13
Sacrifice Flies	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	11
Grounded into Double Plays	Magglio Ordonez Vladimir Guerrero	Detroit Tigers Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	23
Batting Average	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	0.328
On-Base Percentage	Milton Bradley	Texas Rangers	0.438
Slugging Percentage	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	0.573
On-Base plus Slugging	Milton Bradley	Texas Rangers	0.999
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Milton Bradley	Texas Rangers	161

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Cliff Lee	Cleveland Indians	22
Losses	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	17
Win-Loss Percentage	Cliff Lee	Cleveland Indians	0.880
Appearances	Matt Guerrier Francisco Rodriguez	Minnesota Twins Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	76
Games Started	Mike Mussina A.J. Burnett Gil Meche Mark Buehrle	New York Yankees Toronto Blue Jays Kansas City Royals Chicago White Sox	34
Complete Games	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	9
Shutouts	8 tied with		2
Games Finished	Francisco Rodriguez	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	69
Saves	Francisco Rodriguez	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	62
Innings Pitched	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	246.0
Batters Faced	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	987
Hits Allowed	Mark Buehrle	Chicago White Sox	240
Home Runs Allowed	Paul Byrd	Cleveland Indians/ Boston Red Sox	31
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Boston Red Sox	94
Intentional Base-on-Balls	Matt Guerrier	Minnesota Twins	9
Hit Batsmen	Daniel Cabrera	Baltimore Orioles	18
Strikeouts	A.J. Burnett	Toronto Blue Jays	231
Wild Pitches	Daniel Cabrera	Baltimore Orioles	15
Balks	Vicente Padilla Justin Verlander	Texas Rangers Detroit Tigers	3
Runs Allowed	Brian Bannister	Kansas City Royals	127
Earned Runs Allowed	Nate Robertson	Detroit Tigers	119
Earned Run Average	Cliff Lee	Cleveland Indians	2.54
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	1.053

All-Star Game

The American League won the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium in New York, NY on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 by a score of 4 to 3 in 15 innings. The league's manager was Terry Francona.

Postseason

The 2008 American League playoffs featured the champions of the league's three divisions along with a wild card team. The teams competed in a best-of-five Division Series, followed by a best-of-seven League Championship Series. The winner of the League Championship Series represented the league in the World Series.

	Division Series					Championship Series
	West.	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	1
	WC	Boston Red Sox	3
						East.	Tampa Bay Rays	4
						WC	Boston Red Sox	3
	East.	Tampa Bay Rays	3
	Cent.	Chicago White Sox	1

In the World Series, the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays lost to the National League's Philadelphia Phillies, 4 games to 1.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Dustin Pedroia, a second baseman with the Boston Red Sox. In the award's voting, he had 317 out of a possible 392 points and 16 first-place votes.

The winner of the league's Cy Young Award, given its best pitcher, was Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians. In the award's voting, he had 132 out of a possible 140 points and 24 first-place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Evan Longoria, a third baseman with the Tampa Bay Rays, by unanimous vote. In the award's voting, he had 140 out of a possible 140 points and all 28 first-place votes.

Gold Gloves

The following players won the Gold Glove Award, given to the league's best fielders as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
P	Mike Mussina	New York Yankees
C	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins
1B	Carlos Pena	Tampa Bay Rays
2B	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox
3B	Adrian Beltre	Seattle Mariners
SS	Michael Young	Texas Rangers
OF	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners
	Grady Sizemore	Cleveland Indians

Silver Sluggers

The following players won the Silver Slugger Award, given to the league's best hitters as voted upon by its managers and coaches, at their respective position.

Position	Player	Team
C	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins
1B	Justin Morneau	Minnesota Twins
2B	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox
3B	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees
SS	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees
OF	Josh Hamilton	Texas Rangers
	Carlos Quentin	Chicago White Sox
	Grady Sizemore	Cleveland Indians
DH	Aubrey Huff	Baltimore Orioles

Monthly Awards

• Player of the Month Award
  • April: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
  • May: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
  • June: J.D. Drew, Boston Red Sox
  • July: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
  • August: Melvin Mora, Baltimore Orioles
  • September: Shin-Soo Choo, Cleveland Indians

• Pitcher of the Month Award
  • April: Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
  • May: Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay Rays
  • June: John Lackey, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
  • July: Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox
  • August: Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
  • September: Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox

• Rookie of the Month Award
  • April: David Murphy, Texas Rangers
  • May: Aaron Laffey, Cleveland Indians
  • June: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
  • July: Chris Davis, Texas Rangers
  • August: Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox
  • September: Scott Lewis, Cleveland Indians

Hall of Fame Game

The sixty-second annual Hall of Fame Game was to be played on May 16st at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The game, which was rained out, did not feature a team from the American League. It was the last time the game was scheduled.

Umpires

See 2008 Major League Baseball