First Half Recap

July 17, 2018

The All-Star break is always a good time to reflect on what transpired in the first half of the season. For the most part, the playoff teams are set, although there are still many games left on the schedule.

Major league baseball can be divided into three categories: the really good teams, meddling teams with no chance and the rebuilders. The Cleveland Indians are currently leading the A.L. Central by 71/2 games. The left side of their infield is the best in baseball. Shortstop Francisco Lindor hits for power and average, and his on base plus slugging is .920. Third baseman Jose Ramirez has a 1.062 OPS. The pitching staff has two studs- Trevor Bauer (2.24 ERA) and Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber (2.76 ERA). The bullpen has been shaky but should improve when Andrew Miller comes off the disabled list.

 The Houston Astros are leading the A.L. West by five games. The Seattle Mariners were close, but they have gone 3-7 to close out the first half. The Astro’s is .920 lineup is anchored by the threesome of Carlos Correa (.832 OPS), batting champion Jose Altuve (.865 OPS) and- up and coming star third baseman Alex Bregman (.928 OPS). They are second in runs scored with 500. They also possess the best starting pitching in the game:  Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Dallas Keuchel ,  Charles Morton and Lance McCullers Jr. They lead all of baseball with a team ERA of 2.94.

The Boston Red Sox and the N.Y. Yankees have the two best records. The Red Sox have a 4½ game lead, and Boston’s powerful offense is first in runs scored with 530. The Yankees are third with 493. Leading the way for the Red Sox are Mookie Betts, first in batting average, seventh in home runs and third in runs scored. J.D. Martinez leads the majors in home runs and RBI and is third in average.  The Yankees lead the majors with 161 home runs .Aaron Judge has 25 and OPS .934. Giancarlo Stanton has 23 home runs and .864 OPS. Four other players have an OPS of.800. Injured rookie Gleyber Torres’s OPS is .905.  With Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello, Boston has better starters. The Yankees have the best closer in the game, Aroldis Chapman, who has 26 saves, and a deeper bullpen. The Yankees’ 3.48 ERA is a tad lower than the Red Sox's. This race can tighten up in a hurry.

The National League is not quite as settled as the American.  Most considered the Dodgers favorites to win the N.l. West. With Arizona, Colorado and San Francisco (I don’t know how they win games) playing well, the Dodgers were in fourth place 71/2 games out. Arizona went ice cold (how ironic), the others played poorly and the Dodgers as usual rode their great pitching to first place.

 Washington was supposed to run away with N.L. East.. Right now the Nationals trail the two most surprising teams, the first place Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. The Phillies, who are sixth in pitching and only 12^th in runs scored have a slim lead.  Freddie Freeman (.938 OPS) and newly acquired Nick Markakis (.877 OPS) propel the Braves offense to fourth in runs scored. They are fifth in pitching. I still expect Washington to make some second- half noise.

The Milwaukee Brewers were in first place for a majority of the first half with the Chicago Cubs lurking. The Brewers have lost six straight, the last five to a bad Pittsburgh Pirates team. The Cubs swept a three game series against an even worse San Diego Padres team.  Hence, the Cubs are 21/2 games up, five in the loss column. The National League leaders in runs scored and with the second -best ERA won’t look back. They will win this division running away.