The first half of the MLB season seemed to produce some surprises, a few teams rising up and a couple expected contenders stumbling.
And then you look at the standings at the midway point and see who’s in first place: the Yankees, Tigers, Rangers, Phillies, Brewers and Giants.
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Is there anything really surprising about that? Well, no. And would there be anything surprising about those teams being in first place at season’s end? Well, no. OK, maybe the Giants considering their injuries, though it’s not as if the NL West is a power division. And if the season ended today, the other playoff teams would be Boston and Atlanta. Shocking, we know.
But that doesn’t mean the second half won’t be interesting. Here are a few things to pay attention to:
Triple Crown pursuit » The Dodgers’ Matt Kemp is second in the National League in batting average and RBI but leads in home runs. The problem is Kemp is hitting .331 — 40 points above his career average. Meanwhile, Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez is nine homers shy of a Triple Crown in the AL. He leads in batting average and RBI, but he’s also hitting 65 points above his career mark.
The race for .500 » OK, not exactly a sexy category, but if the Pirates finish at or above .500 for the first time since 1992, they might as well throw a parade. The Nationals posting a similar mark would qualify as equally surprising, though they’ll have to get past the Riggleman Curse.
The race for best pitching staff » This is a pitching-rich season. Teams that rely on offense (Yankees) will be left disappointed in October. Meanwhile, look out for Philadelphia and Atlanta. How good is the Phillies’ staff? Cliff Lee has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball the past month, yet he has only the third-best ERA among the Philly starters (behind Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels). The Phillies have three starters with ERAs of 2.66 or lower; Atlanta has two such starters. No other team has more than one.
