What it means to be in first place entering June

11:06 AM ET

As baseball enters June, the Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants might feel as if they are sitting pretty, leading their divisions as the season enters the summer months.

But the longevity of the divisional prowess is not a given.

Since 1996, the first full season with at least one wild card, 69 of 120 division champions held that division lead on June 1 (58 percent). The 69 teams have been almost evenly split between the American League (34) and the National League (35).

In that span, there has been only one division leader that held on to first place from June 1 through the end of the season — the 2014 Detroit Tigers.

There have been two “shutouts” per league when none of the division leaders held over. In the AL, the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros did not …

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