Before the season started I previewed both the National and American Leagues on the Outsports blog. The All-Star break is the unofficial midpoint of the season, as teams have actually played a little more than half their games. The pointless (despite that crap about deciding which league gets home-field advantage for the World Series) exhibition game is now over and the season is about to resume. That got me wondering, how well have I done so far? Here's how I called each division, and how things have actually turned out so far:
AL East: Tampa Bay, Boston, NY Yankees, Toronto, Baltimore
The Red Sox and Yankees have the two best records in the AL, with Boston up by 3 games, thanks to a surplus of starting pitching and their 8-0 record against the Yanks. The defending AL champion Rays are in third, trying to recover from a poor start. The Blue Jays and Orioles are living up (down?) to my expectations, although the last-place O's are only 8 games under .500 -- probably because they gave up pretty quickly on Adam Eaton. Toronto is now contemplating trading ace pitcher Roy Halladay (to the Phillies, pleasepleasepleaseplease!).
AL Central: Minnesota, Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Detroit, Kansas City
The Tigers are one of the AL's surprise teams and hold a 3 1/2-game lead over the White Sox and a 4-game bulge over the Twins. A win on May 7 gave the Royals an 18-11 record; since then they're 19-40. The Indians have been a big disappointment, falling to the cellar with the AL's worst record.
AL West: LA Angels, Oakland, Seattle, Texas
The Angels also got off to a slow start but now have a 1 1/2-game lead over the Rangers, who have unexpectedly gotten better pitching. Maybe even more of a surprise is that the Mariners are just 4 games out. The A's sit well out of the race, and presumably will trade Matt Holliday for prospects.
NL West: Arizona, LA Dodgers, Colorado, San Francisco, San Diego
Despite losing Manny Ramirez to a 50-game suspension because he was trying to get pregnant -- hey, why else would he take a women's fertility drug? -- the Dodgers have baseball's best record. However, the Giants (7 games back) and Rockies (9 out) have been better than expected and could make it a race if LA falters, or at least challenge for the Wild Card. The Diamondbacks have been the biggest flop, while the last-place Padres started well but quickly sank to the bottom of the division.
NL Central: Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Houston, Pittsburgh
The top five teams in the division (Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, Astros and Reds) are within 5 games of each other. The teams aren't very far over .500, if at all, with the Cubs seriously underachieving. The Pirates were in the pack for a while, but what may be the worst ownership in baseball doesn't seem to give a damn about trying to win, as they continue to make bizarre trades, sending away talented players just headed into their prime for even younger, more raw and undeveloped players.
NL East: Philadelphia, NY Mets, Florida, Atlanta, Washington
It's been a bizarre season in this division. The Phillies had a poor home record and a stellar road record, their starting rotation was hideous early and only somewhat improved since; they then hit interleague play and hit a wall, only to return home and get hot against weaker NL teams. The defending world champs have pulled 4 games ahead of...the Marlins, who have a poor bullpen and shaky defense but otherwise have been strong. The Braves have the best starting pitching in the division but their hitting is severly lacking. Still, it's been enough to put them ahead of the Mets. The Mets' injury woes, shoddy defense and lack of power are making New Yorkers miserable. As for the Nationals, the worst team in baseball, well...just read this post on Outsports.
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