The Halfway Point of the MLB Season

This is a weird-ass season, instead of 162 we get 60 games. That means that each game is roughly the equivalent to 2.7 games in a normal season. Again, there are no fans in the stands and the teams are only playing ones that are geographically close. As we talked about on the pod, the playoffs are slightly different this year. There are six divisions total, and each of those divisions will take the top 2 teams. Then the 2 best records remaining in each league will join them as the wild card, eight teams total for the National League and American League. The seeding will be just like the NBA, the 1 seed plays the 8 seed, 2 plays 7 and so-on. The first round will be a best of 3 all played at one stadium. Then it will go back to normal with 5 games in the division series, 7 in the championship series, and 7 again in the world series.

There is talk of a bubble for the playoffs as well, it is being reported the AL will play in southern California and the NL will play in Texas with the World Series being held in the brand-new ballpark in Arlington. We all want to watch these games live but we won’t be able to this year. Other than the two outbreaks, the Marlins and Cardinals, the season is going along decently well. Players seem to be taking it seriously, well maybe not Clevinger and Plesac of the Indians. But let’s focus on the positive, as I write this at the end of August.

The best record in baseball is the Los Angeles Dodgers and the worst record is just down the road on the other side on the freeway with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Dodgers look like the team to beat in the NL. They do not seem to have any glaring weaknesses. Pitching, hitting, and fielding are all looking elite. In the NL, the Cubs and Braves are each leading their respective divisions, with the Padres, Cardinals and the Marlins in the second spot. Both of those teams as mentioned earlier had COVID out breaks and haven’t played as many games as others. The Marlins are a feel-good story right now, they were not expected to compete and during the Pod our boy Tyler mentioned how crazy shit could happen and here we are. Currently the Rockies and the Phillies are in those two wild card spots. Realistically in the National League every team still has a shot except for the Pirates.

Moving over to the AL the best record is held by the Oakland Athletics. The Rays have the lead in the AL east. The AL central has three teams that will make the playoffs, the White Sox, Indians, and Twins. Also, the Astros are a thing. Out of those three AL central teams one will win the division, one will finish second and make the playoffs and one will be a wild card team. Rounding out last in the AL, the team from Toronto wait no Buffalo, it’s the Blue Jays. No other team has a shot at the playoffs. The closest team is the Orioles and they can’t keep this streak going. I expect almost all of the AL teams not currently in a playoff spot to be sellers at the deadline.

Let’s talk about my picks for award winners. In the National League I had Mackenzie Gore winning the rookie of the year race. Well he hasn’t thrown a pitch for the 2nd place Padres, so that was an awful pick. Although his teammate is probably leading the race right now. Jake Crowenworth is hitting .360 with 3 bombs and 12 rbi’s and playing second base for a very good Padres team. I might have the team right but guessed the wrong rookie. For Cy Young I had Jack Flaherty, well the Cards haven’t played enough games for his candidacy to really count. The big surprise is Trevor Bauer who after a breakout year a couple years ago, a couple down years as well, and today has turned his ERA around to under 1. For MVP, I picked Christian Yelich, he’s played well, but not up to his lofty expectations. It is really a two headed race for MVP in the NL, Fernando Tatis Jr and Mookie Betts. Tatis is having an amazing year but if the Padres get blown out of the NL West, can he hold off Mookie Betts? If the Dodgers end up with the best record and their WAR (Wins above Replacement) are similar, I would vote for Mookie, Dodgers, biased aside.

Moving to the American League, I had Luis Robert winning the ROY for the Chi Town White Sox. He is having a good year and if the Sox can push for the division, he has a good shot at the award. His biggest competitor coming from the Seattle Mariners, Kyle Lewis. Lewis is having a breakout year, he is hitting .350 with 7 bombs and 20 RBIs and has cut down on his strikeout rate. For Cy Young, I had Mike Clevinger winning, well I fucked up on that one. He was demoted to the alternate site after going out and breaking covid protocol with fellow Indians pitcher Zach Plesac. Their other teammate though is the front runner Shane (not Justin) Beiber. He is the first Indians pitcher to start the season with 7 games of 8 or more strikeouts since hall of famer Bob Feller. For AL MVP I went with the easy pick, Mike Trout, the Angels though have the worst record in baseball, and he won’t get the attention he deserves. But Nelson Cruz and Jose Abreu are both having fantastic seasons and they are the two front runners for the award as I write this article.

Let’s look forward now as we get closer to the end of the season. The trade deadline is August 31st, with the extra playoff spots, I don’t expect a lot of big named players to be moved. But how teams react to having a new player in the clubhouse will be very interesting. We have some intriguing moves so far. Austin Nola, the catcher and brother of Phillies pitcher Aaron was traded to the San Diego Padres. In separate trades with the Red Sox and Indians Mitch Moreland and Mike Clevinger are headed to San Diego as well. The last time the Padres made a lot of trades and blew up the rebuild, it went poorly. This looks better than it did last time: Kemp, Kimbrell, Shields, and the Upton brothers. The real questions, does the Padres clubhouse trust a player like Clevinger who has already lied to his teammates before? It does mean that Padres are going for it this year, good for them! The Oakland A’s have traded for Mike Minor, he had a great season last year and is struggling this year. Moving from one AL West team to the other will be interesting for Minor. I like this trade for the A’s, a hopefully reliable veteran arm for the A’s to use to push towards an AL West title. Finally, maybe the biggest surprise. The Miami Marlins are going for it, they have traded for Starling Marte formerly of the Arizona Diamondbacks. This could be a piece that pushes the Marlins into the postseason.

To finish this article off these are the top 3 things I want you to watch for the last month of the season. Which team out of the Twins, White Sox, and Indians comes out of the AL Central? With Clevinger gone I am worried about the Indians; the Sox are unbelievably fun to watch and the Twins mash. It should be a very interesting race. Second thing is which AL team will finish with the number 1 seed? Any of those three central teams? The A’s, Rays, or Yankees? Finally, the last thing to watch for is Fernando Tatis Jr and Mookie Betts. They are the two of the best players in the national league and play for the two best teams in the national league and are the two front runners for the NL MVP. Enjoy this crazy season and enjoy all these teams going for these extra playoff spots.