American League East
Current number correct: 3/5
The Jays started fast and then reality caught right up. Now you can't go a day without hearing about how Toronto is entertaining offers for the ace of their staff—whom is also starting for the AL tomorrow night.
Still, while I'm guilty of letting wishful thinking leading me to willfully ignore how good the Red Sox would be, it's rather widely acknowledged that Tampa Bay is now stepping on the gas and breathing down the necks of the Yankees heading into the break. I knew I was going against recent history by picking the Rays to win it all this year (the last time a World Series loser came back to win it all the following year was exactly two decades ago), but I remain confident that Tampa will definitely be hanging around and has the talent to keep this a three-horse race all the way to the very end.
American League Central
Current number correct: 0/5
Wow. Nearly an exact reverse order of my predicted finish, but had that been the case then I would have at least had that middle team right. Alas, my original division winner and cellar-dweller here have ended up being completely off as the Indians have the second-worst record in all of baseball and the Tigers seem to be getting the right amount of offense they were lacking last year as well as some solid pitching (bullpen aside).
So while those two rather critical finishes will more than likely be incorrect at the end of the year, the ever-consistent Minnesota Twins are only a half-game out of second place and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them being the team that swipes the division away from Detroit in the second half.
I remain skeptical about the local White Sox, but will probably have to accept that they're likely to finish ahead of the Royals.
American League West
Current number correct: 1/4
Yes, it's a surprise to see the Texas Rangers hanging around so close to the top, but I do believe I've seen this story before. While three of the four teams in this division are over the .500 mark, I seem to recall Oakland traditionally being a club that always turns it on in the second half.
I suppose some things have to change eventually, but by the end of the year this will still be the Angels' division.
National League East
Current number correct: 2/5
I believe it was a collection of bloopers from the first half of the season they were featuring tonight on ESPN, and not surprisingly, the Mets were quite often the subject. For a team that struck me as being so immensely talented on paper at the beginning of the year, New York is doing their best to top Cleveland as my biggest disappointment this season.
This is arguably the weakest division in baseball at the moment, but it's still anybody's to win—except D.C., obviously. As Dan Patrick joked in his conversation with John Smoltz when the former Brave was scheduled to make his first start for Boston against the Nationals, "Does a win against them still count toward your career total?"
National League Central
Current number correct: 2/6
That number looks bad at first glance, but the two correct picks are the bottom-feeders in Cincy and Pittsburgh—which almost certainly isn't likely to change in the second half. And considering there's only three-and-a-half games separating fourth from first, anything's possible—especially with the moves that can happen near the trade deadline.
You would have thought the Cubs would have been a bit more dominant by this point, but we'll just say that I'm not feeling the least bit rueful for not picking them to get out of the first round of the playoffs again. The question now is if they'll even get into the playoffs.
National League West
Current number correct: 2/5
I fear for America when it appears that there is a strong possibility that both the Lakers and Dodgers could bring L.A. championship glory in the same season. And few would argue right now that the Dodgers have been the best team in baseball so far this season—all the more impressive when considering that they were without their star player for 50 games.
The "annually ugly division" was what I called it, but as it currently stands, there's a good chance the Wild Card could actually come out of the West. And considering that I had predicted both League Championship Series would be between teams from both leagues' East divisions, that's not appearing very likely at the moment—thanks in large part to the lackluster NL East and a stronger-than-expected NL West.
I'm of course standing by my belief in Tampa Bay to emerge victorious at the end of the year for the moment, although I'm already guessing I won't be so eager to be picking the Mets come October anymore. There's still a lot of baseball to be played and while right now only one-third of the teams are where I had said they would be, I'm feeling pretty good about that number going up rather than down.
But I'll gladly take the latter if it means the Braves end up getting into the post-season instead. In that case, I wouldn't be happier to have been wrong.
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