"I'm preparing my management team for all possibilities. "All is not lost yet, but it's getting late," the 67-year-old told reporters. Though Cohen wanted nothing to do with Verlander/Scherzer speculation when he held a press conference on June 28, he notably wasn't a firm no on selling in general. Even Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, they of the $43.3 million salaries and six total Cy Young Awards, could conceivably end up as trade bait. It would be quite the story if the Mets went into sell mode, and that much more so if they labeled nobody as untouchable. We'd like the record to show that the last sentence on the previous slide included a conspicuous "maybe." New York's Justin Verlander (L) and Max Scherzer (R) Dylan Buell/Getty Images Only three clubs have scored more runs since June 1. Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove comprise MLB's hottest pitching duo, and the club's supposedly vaunted offense has been actually vaunted of late. The Padres wish they could claim as much, yet sleeping on them is a bad idea. And as if to prove their worth, the D-backs and the Giants both have winning records against the Dodgers. Who's the favorite to win the darned thing? Heck if we know.įanGraphs gives the Dodgers a 61.4 percent chance, but it's hard to feel that bullish after gazing at their injured list and seeing Clayton Kershaw among a dozen out-of-commission pitchers.
Or, for that matter, the San Diego Padres (43-47) being in fourth place behind the San Francisco Giants (49-41). The Los Angeles Dodgers (51-38) being in first place tracks with recent history, but nobody could have predicted that they would end the first half with just one more win the Arizona Diamondbacks (52-39). Meanwhile in the National League, the NL West standings don't resemble a proper order so much as somebody having randomly spilled the five member clubs onto a spreadsheet. Los Angeles' Mookie Betts (L) and Freddie Freeman (R) Stacy Revere/Getty Images As the Houston Astros lead the AL in that department, the blood is firmly in the water.
And while their league-best offense has thus far maintained remarkable consistency, the team's ERA just keeps going up. The Rangers' lead in the AL West is likewise down to two games. The Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees (more on them later) are also lurking, and even the Boston Red Sox aren't out of it. The Rays' AL East lead is down to two games over the Baltimore Orioles, who have pretty much graduated from upstarts to upstanding citizens. The Rays are 29-28 since going fully bonkers with a 29-7 start, while the Rangers hit the proverbial skids by losing 19 of 31 after winning 40 of their first 60. Surely, it sounds like we're saying this in jest, but we're serious and.well, you know the line. Every single one was a day that the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers held at least a share of first place.
When the first half concluded on Sunday, it marked 101 days since Opening Day. And as we'll discuss, it's not like there's a clear favorite in the American League anyway.
But at 45-46, they're not so much chasing the Guardians for first place as standing, hands in pockets, waiting for them to fall down.Īnd yet, the question of why anyone outside of Ohio and Minnesota should care about this race does have a good answer.īecause the Twins and Guardians rank second and sixth in the AL in ERA, respectively, each has the pitching to potentially play spoiler in October against ostensibly superior teams. 500.Īs the Minnesota Twins were once six games over the break-even point, they at least have the Guardians beat in that regard. They're 45-45 and have never been more than three games over. The Cleveland Guardians are in line to repeat as division champions, but with a bit less style than they had amid their 92-70 romp through 2022. If ever there was a case for why MLB should adopt an NBA-style playoff structure-wherein the outcomes of division races don't matter-it's what's happening in the AL Central. Minnesota's Carlos Correa Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
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