Parity is the official meme of the second half of the baseball season. In the American League, there are seven teams within 21Ú2 games of the final wild-card spot. The National League is a little more spread out with seven teams within six games of the final berth — though realistically only a handful of them have positive run differentials and appear to be legitimate contenders.
And you could pick apart most of those contenders anyway. The Braves lost their top pitcher, Brandon Beachy, to Tommy John surgery. The Giants have a negative run differential (minus-8) and their ace, Tim Lincecum, has been one of the sport’s worst pitchers this season. The Mets have one of the sport’s worst bullpens and are facing a starting pitcher shortage, too. The Diamondbacks, who have a positive run differential, also have a losing record.
If you’re looking for two teams that could make a run, try St. Louis in the NL and Boston in the AL. The Red Sox have had their share of drama but could get Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury back from injury. The Cardinals somehow have a plus-70 run differential despite losing Albert Pujols to free agency. That’s in large part thanks to an offense that has put up a league-best 426 runs — 13 more than the second-best club — and a .775 OPS.
All of this parity could leave the trade market a little thin as teams progress toward July 31. But this is exactly what commissioner Bud Selig wanted when he expanded the postseason. Now there’s even less incentive for a team to give up. As we have seen again and again, including with St. Louis last fall, all it takes is making the tournament.
– Brian McNally
