Wikipedia
Division Standings:
AL East | AL Central | AL West | ||
1. New York Yankees (64-28) |
| 1. Minnesota Twins (50-44) |
| 1. Houston Astros (59-32) |
2. Tampa Bay Rays (51-41) | | 2. Cleveland Guardians (46-44) | | 2. Seattle Mariners (51-42) |
3. Toronto Blue Jays (50-43) | | 3. Chicago White Sox (46-46) | | 3. Texas Rangers (41-49) |
4. Boston Red Sox (48-45) | | 4. Detroit Tigers (37-55) | | 4. Los Angeles Angels (39-53) |
5. Baltimore Orioles (46-46) | 5. Kansas City Royals (36-56) | 5. Oakland Athletics (32-61) |
NL East | NL Central | NL West | ||
1. New York Mets (58-35) |
| 1. Milwaukee Brewers (50-43) |
| 1. Los Angeles Dodgers (60-30) |
2. Atlanta Braves (56-38) | | 2. St. Louis Cardinals (50-44) | | 2. San Diego Padres (52-42) |
3. Philadelphia Phillies (49-43) | | 3. Pittsburgh Pirates (39-54) | | 3. San Francisco Giants (48-43) |
4. Miami Marlins (43-48) | | 4. Chicago Cubs (35-57) | | 4. Colorado Rockies (43-50) |
5. Washington Nationals (31-63) | 5. Cincinnati Reds (34-57) | 5. Arizona Diamondbacks (40-52) |
1st Half Headlines
Yankees Dominance
What a first half for the Bronx Bombers. A 64-28 record has them atop the entire MLB, three games ahead of Los Angeles for the honor. It took them only 67 games to reach fifty wins, the fastest a team has reached that milestone since the 2001 Seattle Mariners. Despite being in a division where all teams are over .500, the Yankees have a thirteen game lead.
Seasons like this are uncommon for any team, and New York fans are surely appreciating the resurgence. The scariest part is this team doesn't even feel like it's reached it's full potential. With terrible first half performances from expensive outfielders Joey Gallo (.164/11/23) and Aaron Hicks (.236/6/29), there is room for improvement for the boys in pinstripes. An outstanding season by Aaron Judge has helped to balance his fellow outfielders shortcomings, leading the team in average, RBI, hits and home runs, and firmly placing himself in the MVP discussion.
The pitching staff has been a revelation, fueling the team's dominance thus far. Not one of the five starters to have an earned run average above four currently. Ace Gerrit Cole (9-2, 3.02 ERA, 11.6 K/9) and emergent Nestor Cortes (7-3, 2.63 ERA, 9.3 K/9) seemingly will be neck and neck in the Cy Young race until the very end. Clay Holmes has locked down the closer role for New York as well, going 16/18 for saves and allowing a batting average against of .182. It seems whoever goes to the World Series from the American League will need to deal with these Yankees at some point.
Orioles Surprise
Being a Maryland based blog...this segment makes me so happy to type. The Baltimore Orioles, with a team payroll less than pitcher Max Scherzer, have a record of 46-46 going into the All-Star break. Following this team closely, there was no way they were going to be worse than last year's 52 win team. The fact they've almost matched their win totals in half the number of games speaks a bit more to how terrible that 2021 team was then how truly good this 2022 team is, in my opinion.
It's hard to pinpoint the exact reason for this team to be surging. Cedric Mullins, who finished in the top ten for MVP voting last year has only batted .256 so far, and ace John Means only threw eight innings before needing to go on the IL for Tommy John surgery. The 23rd ranked defense has been deceptively good, with players like Austin Hays making magnificent throws and diving catches to keep opposing runs off the board. Even rookie phenom Adley Rutschman is only hitting .222. So what's fueled this turnaround?
In my opinion, an elite bullpen, impeccable team chemistry and a steadiness of skipper Brandon Hyde are to credit for the Orioles surprising success. The fifth ranked bullpen by ERA has been anchored by closer Jorge Lopez, who has been outstanding since transitioning from a starting role. Cionel Perez, Keegan Akin and Felix Bautista have navigated the latter halves of games masterfully all season. Credit to development staff for helping turn this motley crew into a dominant force.
The team plays hard every night, with multiple gritty comeback wins during their recent ten game win streak. They have personified the next man up mentality and Brandon Hyde is to thank for this. The overlooked manager has steadied what was a terrible unit of players over these last few years and has many playing the best ball of their careers. I personally hope this will dispel any future rumors of them needing to replace them. The man should be in the discussion for Manager of the Year, don't @ me.
Angels Demise
From a successful squad full of nobodies to a disaster of an team seemingly full of star power. The 2022 season has been a miserable one for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. After a scorching start to the year that had them at 24-13 and contending with Houston, the Angels have completely fallen off. The Halos are rolling into the break fourteen games under .500, going 15-40 since May 15th.
The Angels made their most drastic move of the season on June 7th. Amidst a fourteen game losing streak, the team fired head coach Joe Maddon to try and add some urgency to restore the season. It has not, as they've gone 12-23 since.
Wasted have been the efforts of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, who represented this unfortunate franchise in the All-Star Game as a batter and pitcher. With the 27th ranked farm system, there are not many positives to cling to surrounding Los Angeles. Could Mike Trout be a trade chip? Common sense says no way, but this organization is in the shitter right now. You'd have to think they at least entertain serious conversations for the matter. Noah Syndegaard almost certainly must be dealt in the next two weeks to try and restock the minors. What a mess this once hopeful team has become.
Roller Coaster in Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Phillies' season has kind of gone the exact opposite of the aforementioned Angels. The hype surrounding a talented roster, headlined by Bryce Harper, was met with an awful first two months. The pitching was bad and the offense inconsistent, Harper included.
By the time May rolled around, Bryce began to turn it on, hitting the ball with power and driving his average over .315 at some points. But the team was not winning, ending the month on a 1-7 skid. Joe Girardi fired morning of June 3rd, 22-29, the Phillies won 10-0 that night and have gone 27-14 since. Not the outcome we saw in Los Angeles.
Philadelphia is currently 8.5 games behind New York for the NL East lead and would currently be in the last wild card position if the season ended today. Quite a turnaround for the fanatics. It'll be interesting to see how Dave Dombrowski approaches the trade deadline. Philly could use some reinforcements in the outfield and starting rotation. However, with a pretty thin farm system, I wouldn't expect a high return on any transaction, unless they're willing to part with top prospects Bryson Stott or Mick Abel.
Central Woes
There's something about the central leagues that just haven't produced quality baseball. Eight teams have yet to reach 40 wins in the MLB so far this season, and five of those teams are in either the AL or NL Central. The Tigers have the worst offense in the league, by a long ways, and the Reds have the worst pitching. Milwaukee, St. Louis and Minnesota-- the premier teams in these divisions-- each only have 50 wins and limped into the All-Star break.
The NL Central in particular has been terrible. The aforementioned Reds stormed out of the gate with a 3-22 start to the year. All considered, they've played pretty okay ball by their divisional standards since, but quite a hole they dug for themselves. The Cubs went full fire sale going into the season and they've lived up (down?) to their low expectations, going into the break 22 games under .500. Expect them to be even worse if some of their few quality players are shipped out, like Willson Contreras. Pittsburgh has also been predictably bad, but at least they have a loaded farm system.
The Cardinals and Brewers lead this division, but have not been really competitive outside of it. Going 26-30 and 22-24, respectively, against non-NL Central teams suggests an apparent level of mediocrity. Given some of the high end talents on St. Louis and Milwaukee, this is surprising and concerning. I expect each team to make a play or two at the trade deadline to try and get an edge over the other, but I have my doubts on how far either team will go come October.
Battle for the West
This battle was much more compelling in late April then presently, but the NL West is a solid division. Colorado and Arizona are far from world beaters, but they'll hang with anyone most nights of the week. San Francisco has surprised (as they always do) with a scrappy squad that's going to compete for a wild card spot this fall.
San Diego has one of the best pitching staffs in the league, led by Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish, but have been plagued by anemic hitting in the first half. Outside of MVP candidate Manny Machado, the team has hit for a pitiful .234 average. There was definitely a cumulative gasp by Padres fans when Manny hurt his ankle toward the end of June. Getting back Fernando Tatis Jr. in the coming weeks will help, but this offense still needs some work.
The cream of the crop in this division, the LA Dodgers, are simply too talented and deep of a roster right now to be toppled. With a seemingly endless budget and a top farm system to boot, there aren't many moves Los Angeles couldn't conceive as the trade deadline approaches. I personally think this team is good enough now to win it all without making a splash trade, but this is the Dodgers we're talking about, so expect some news from them sooner then later here.
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@Choppinglines
Compliments to Correspondent Kev for research and input toward this article
*I own no rights to any images found in this blog
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