North America’s softest sports day has been saved by soccer.
Typically, the day after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is a real snoozer, with the four major leagues on this continent on some form of break. Baseball won’t be back until Thursday, the NFL is still weeks away from pre-season games and the NHL and NBA are in deep slumbers, with the off-season news cycle — save for the occasional interesting flicker — grinding to a halt.
Enter Lionel Messi and Harry Kane.
For a change, this mid-July Wednesday in North America will be alive with high-stakes sports, as Argentina and England battle for a spot in the 2026 World Cup Final.
Still, this brief hiatus from the Big Four club sports in Canada and the U.S. offers a moment to zoom out and have some fun that incorporates the quartet of circuits. As such, we decided to take a World Cup concept — the Group of Death — and rank the 10 toughest divisions across the NHL, NFL, NBA and MLB.
1. NFC West (NFL)
An NFC West team has represented the NFC in the Super Bowl in five of the past eight seasons and the NFC Championship has featured a West team in six of the past eight winters. Last January, the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams — two of four NFC West clubs along with the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals — played an NFC title game that was basically the Super Bowl. Of course, Seattle went on to down the New England Patriots in the actual league championship contest, so the current champ resides in the NFC West. Additionally, the division is home to reigning league MVP Matt Stafford of the Rams and the NFC West also features a pair of top coaches in L.A.’s Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers. And, of course, Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald is a newly minted member of the “Awesome Coach” club thanks to the ring he won in February.
Thank goodness Seattle, L.A. and San Francisco have the Cardinals to kick around.
2. Atlantic (NHL)
If there’s one thing that dampens the optimism of hopeful Atlantic clubs, it’s looking around the group and realizing what a death match it’s going to be just to get into the playoffs.
Two teams — the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning — have won a pair of championships while advancing to three Stanley Cup Finals apiece. The 2026 champs from Carolina were the first non-Atlantic team to advance to the final since the Washington Capitals in 2018. (Technically, the Lightning were representing the “Discover Central Division” during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, but you get the point.)
In 2022-23, the Boston Bruins set an NHL record with 135 points.
A couple years ago, top-flight Atlantic teams Toronto, Florida, Tampa and Boston could always kick around Buffalo, Montreal, Detroit and Ottawa. Now, the Habs and Sabres are two of the best up-and-coming clubs in the NHL.
Toronto finished second-last in the Eastern Conference last season, but is adding a first-overall talent in Gavin McKenna, a Hall of Fame-bound goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky and a top-flight defenceman in Darren Raddysh.
The Bruins always find a way to be competitive, and don’t write off the Senators just because Brady Tkachuk left; Ottawa has a superstar blue-liner in Jake Sanderson, depth down the middle and the Sens made the playoffs this past season despite not really getting a save until March. They’re not falling off a cliff.
That leaves Detroit as, potentially, the weakling of the eight teams and the Wings still have foundational stud pieces Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond.
3. NFC North (NFL)
This is more about a high floor than a high ceiling. All four NFC North teams — the Bears, Packers, Vikings and Lions — finished above .500 last year, while every other NFL division had at least one team lose 11 or more games. (The NFC South didn’t have a single team finish with a winning record.) Two years ago, in 2024, the Lions tied for the NFL lead with 15 victories, and Minnesota was just one behind at 14. Chicago is helmed by one of the best young quarterbacks in the game in Caleb Williams, Detroit could re-emerge as a true league power with better injury luck, Green Bay is hoping to get a full, healthy season from elite pass-rusher Micah Parsons — acquired from Dallas last summer — and Minny has made an upside play by pairing former Cardinals QB Kyler Murray with its quarterback-whisperer of a coach, Kevin O’Connell.
4. Northwest (NBA)
Until Game 7 of the 2026 Western Conference Final, it seemed very plausible that the Northwest Division would produce its third Larry O’Brien Trophy winner in four years. The Denver Nuggets won in 2023 and the Oklahoma City Thunder topped the NBA in ’25. The Thunder — led by two-time defending league MVP Shea Gilgeous-Alexander — were in prime position to return to the Finals with a Game 7 on home court in the West final, but the San Antonio Spurs of the Southwest Division were able to knock them off. Still, OKC is poised to contend for titles for years to come, while Denver is still in the championship mix as long as Nikola Jokic is on the team. Between Jokic and SGA, the Northwest has five of the past six MVPs.
And, honestly, it would surprise no one if Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves claimed an MVP one of these seasons. Though they have not made the final during Edwards’ time in Minny, the Wolves have won five playoff series in the past three springs.
The Portland Trailblazers are on the rise and climbed over .500 last year, while the division’s fifth team, the Utah Jazz, could soon make a huge leap with high draft picks Ace Bailey and Darryn Peterson leading the way.
5. AFC West (NFL)
Assuming the Kansas City Chiefs rebound from a 6-11 showing, the AFC West will feature some stalwart clubs in 2026. Maybe the Chiefs — with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes returning from a torn ACL — won’t be the pre-season Super Bowl favourite the way they have been for most of the decade, but it’s easy to bet on KC being very competitive, assuming Mahomes is healthy.
The arrow is pointing way up in Denver, where the Broncos could have made the Super Bowl last season had starting QB Bo Nix not been injured in a playoff win over Buffalo and missed the AFC title contest one week later versus the Patriots. This fall, Nix will have a new weapon at his disposal after Denver acquired wide receiver Jaylen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins.
The Chargers always seem to have pre-season smoke, but there’s legit intrigue this time out with offensive guru Mike McDaneil joining the club calling plays for big-armed Justin Herbert.
Even the lowly Las Vegas Raiders enter the year with a competent QB duo of veteran Kirk Cousins and 2026 first-overall pick Fernando Mendoza.
6. Central (NHL)
The past two Presidents’ Trophy winners in the NHL reside in the Central, with the Colorado Avalanche finishing first overall last season, while the Winnipeg Jets topped the league standings in 2024-25.
At the high end, Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota represent three of the best teams in the NHL. If the Jets, who missed the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, rebound, the Central will be that much tougher. Throw in an ascendant Utah Mammoth squad and you’ve got one difficult division.
That said, the bottom three clubs — Chicago, St. Louis and Nashville — make it impossible to put the Central over the Atlantic as the NHL’s toughest group.
7. NL Central (MLB)
The Central teams in both leagues are often overshadowed by the coastal elites, but there’s no tougher MLB division top to bottom in 2026 than the NL Central. The division-leading Milwaukee Brewers have the second-best winning percentage (.615) in baseball after the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers (.629), and the Central is the only division with four teams — the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals and Pirates — over .500 entering the back half of summer. Those four clubs also have a positive run differential, while no other division has more than three teams in the black. The Central’s fifth squad, the Cincinnati Reds, have the second-best record of any last-place team in its division. Which brings us to …
8. AL East (MLB)
For years, the AL East was the go-to example for a gruesomely difficult group. And before this season, it seemed plausible — on the heels of the Toronto Blue Jays nearly winning the World Series — that four of the six American League playoff teams would come from the division with the Jays, Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Orioles.
As it happens, the Rays and Yankees still have the best two records in the AL, but the Jays, Sox and Orioles have all disappointed. Boston ended the first half on a nine-game heater, leaving Toronto with the best record of any club last in its division.
The good news for all the struggling East clubs is the overall stinkiness of the AL this year still leaves the door open to snag a post-season berth.
9. Atlantic (NBA)
The still-celebrating New York Knicks headline the division as defending league champs, while the Toronto Raptors are still hoping to welcome difference-maker Kawhi Leonard back to the fold this summer. The Boston Celtics will have star Jayson Tatum back and fully healthy after he sustained a torn Achillies tendon in the 2025 playoffs, while the Philadelphia 76ers benefit from Boston’s shocking decision to trade Jaylen Brown — 1B on the Celtics to Tatum’s 1A for years — to a division rival.
Even if the Brooklyn Nets are roadkill, the Atlantic will be a tough group.
10. NL West (MLB)
Really, this is just an acknowledgement that the Padres, Diamondbacks, Giants and Rockies must deal with the juggernaut that is the Dodgers more than any other squads in baseball.
The Dodgers, of course, are gunning for a third straight World Series title and surely hold the unofficial title of North America’s premier sports club across the four major leagues.
Arizona and San Diego are both .500 teams, and the latter must always be recognized for its willingness to, without blinking, trade its best prospects for Major League talent. While the Giants are having a down year, San Francisco is usually a quality club and has three World Series titles in the past 16 years.
Of course, the Rockies’ ineptitude is basically the counterbalance to the Dodgers’ dominance at the top of the division.
