Word to the Winners - Fantasy Baseball Advice

Summer Classic Year in Review - by Paul AJ Pelletier.

As we move into the all star break we are looking at the standings trying to figure out what is going to happen.  At the beginning of the year I made some predictions and a lot of them haven’t looked good, but are beginning to slowly take shape, just like they should.  The baseball season is a long one and like anything else, it is hard to stay on top, especially for 162 games of the year.  The first half of the season showed that a few teams lost faith in their managers and even a change hasn’t helped all.

Two months ago we were focussing on the high flying D-Backs, looking like they were going to breeze into the playoffs without a challenge.  Now we wonder if they will be able to hold off the Dodgers. One thing is for sure, and that is the wild card team won’t be coming out of the National League West as none of the four teams are sporting a .500 record.

The most interesting division is the National League east where you have three teams within 1.5 games of each other making every series they play a must win.  The surprise there is the Braves who are 7.5 games back, but will try to catch the division leader Phillies who are now focusing on the Mets who are making a great run going into the last all-star game played at Yankee stadium.  The Mets made a change at manager as they should have prior to the start of the season and have seen a change in all areas of their game as they have caught the surprise of the National League, the Florida Marlins.  Before the end of July alone, the Mets face both Philadelphia and Florida in what will start to show who might make a move to the top of the Division.

In the American League Central the Cubbies have a 5 game lead on the Cardinals who are still surprising people with their consistent play and a 10 game over .500 record.  Also in the hunt are the Brewers, who will do their best to catch up the Cubs by improving their home record as they are only winning 66% of their games at home.  Chicago, who boasts the best record in baseball, will go into the break and try to come out of the summer classic and win a few more games on the road so they can solidify first place.

The American League East has the League leading Tampa Bay Rays in front of the World Champ Red Sox.  Yes you read correctly, Tampa Bay who is showing no signs of letting up are the talk of MLB.  With a combination of pitching and hitting the Rays are winning 72% of their home games, but do have a harder schedule coming off the All Star Game and into the fall. More consistent play in every aspect will be needed to hold off the Red Sox who have been near the top of the division the entire year and look to be heading to the playoffs if they continue to dominate at home.  If they improve their road record, which is lighter in the end of summer and fall, then they should be a lock to take a wild card berth at minimum.  However, you can never count the Yankees out. They just won’t go away as they continue to win over .500 of the road games telling me that maybe even they are a little tired of Yankee Stadium as their home record leaves a lot to be desired.

In the American League Central, the Chicago White Sox are keeping the other half of the Windy City very happy as they are holding off the Minnesota Twins who are surprising all with the .559 record, in front of the Tigers.  The Twins are hoping to continue to challenge in August and September in order to make a run at winning the division or at least the wild card spot.  Meanwhile, the Tigers who had a terrible start and couldn’t get any momentum are finally showing signs of making all the off-season money they spent count as they are finally at .500 and shouldn’t see the .400`s again in the year.

In the American League West, the Angels top their Californian Counterparts out north, the Oakland Athletics, who’s complete overhaul of the their roster this off-season has proven to pay off as they are surprising all being 9 games over .500 at this point.  The biggest surprise of the AL West is the lack of everything out in Seattle.  The Mariners were picked to compete for the division and instead find they sport the worst record in the American League with .383; only one loss away from being the worst in all of MLB.

So, what have we learned about MLB at the break.  That pretty much everything is still up for grabs with only a handful of teams who are not in a position to pull a Rockies and if I was to give my predications on who will grab the playoffs I would truly look at heading to Vegas and make a lot of money off it.  I speculate that the Red Sox, Angels and Tigers will take their divisions with the wild card being won again in the east.  In the National you should see the Cubbies, Mets and D-Backs be joined by someone in the East as well.

Coming on the other side of the All Star Game is a Look at the Japanese Invasion and how it relates to modern day baseball.

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