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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Baseball's Second Half

    I can't figure out why this part of the baseball season is called the second "half".  Teams have all finished over 90 games.  Let's do a little math.....90 divided by 162 is....carry the one..... .5555!!!  We are more than half way through the season people! I don't know why the All Star Game doesn't take place after game 81.  My guess is that it's one of those "That's just how it's always been done" things for baseball.  There are a lot of those.  Just check out the screwy rule book.  Anyway, as we move into the second fraction that may or may not be a half of the baseball season I want to look forward and predict how the season will finish.  Sorry Willis, it isn't bright for Los Yankees.



    Our NL division leaders as of today are Atlanta (6 games up), St. Louis (1 game up), and Arizona (2.5 games up).  Atlanta has to move forward after watching their pricey outfield trio all go down with injuries.  I know it must've been hard to hold back the smiles of relief after BJ went down, but replacing Heyward and JUpton is more difficult.  Regardless, their only real threat is Washington who has yet to really catch fire.  I think they will.  Their pitching is still elite and so is their batting.  Bryce is back and possibly pissed he lost to a walk on in the home run derby.  Washington wins the East.  The Central houses the best team in baseball.  No it is not the damn Pirates.  The Cardinals have the highest run differential by far AND bolster a 3.39 ERA, good for 3rd in the league.  They will win this division.  But back to the loveable Pirates.  I want them to succeed.  I really do.  It's just depressing at this point.  Their relief pitching is legit, but I believe their starting pitching has been a bit fortunate.  I think they finish above .500 but narrowly miss the playoffs because the Reds are a better team.  I have the Reds and Braves grabbing the wildcard spots.  Sorry Buccos, maybe if you go out and get a stud like Wandy Rodriguez again you'll push your way into the playoffs.....oh wait...  As for the West I don't like any of the teams.  The Giants look lost and the Dbacks have Paul Goldschmidt-all-on-my-chain, but that's about it.  That leaves us with the Padres *cough* hell no *cough*, the Rockies, and the Dodgers.  My money is on the Dodgers.  They have the pitching and the batting with Hanley coming back hot and that asshole Yasiel Puig (maybe even Matt Kemp will get a paper-mache-sectomy and will return to All-Star form! Probably not...) .  That's right, I dislike Puig.  He's arrogant, out of control, and I don't own him in fantasy.  How dare he.  The Rockies need another pitcher, so if they win the Garza or Lee sweepstakes (they won't) they could have a chance now that Tulo is back.  That gives us the Nationals, Cards, Dodgers, Reds, and Braves in the NL.  Looking forward to it.

    I guess I ought to take a look at the AL as well.  Full of disappointments (looking at you Jays and Angels!), the AL is a bit more clear cut in my opinion.  Our leaders are the Red Sox (by 2.5 games), the Tigers (by 1.5 games), and the A's (by 2 games).  The Red Sox, now off their diet of KYFry and beer, have become this league's best team.  As long as the pitching keeps up they should win this division easily.  But Patrick, the Rays and O's aren't that far behinddd! One of them will get a wildcard OK.  Happy? The Yankees will probably acquire Raul Ibanez and some other old guy, Jeter will continue to get bruised easily (dude is like a peach), and ARod will piss off Cashman until he quits, joins the Dodgers, quits that and relaxes with Joe Torre in retirement. As for the Central, the Tigers will pull away.  They are stacked.  Victor Martinez is finally starting to hit (avg went up from .222 to .260s this past month) for my fantasy team, so I know what's up.  They have two of the league leaders in Ks/9 innings, and really the Indians are in over their heads.  Tigers win and Chris Perez complains about fans not showing up again.  As for West.....I get confused looking over there.  The A's are a mysterious team without a real stud, but have the second best record in the league.  Seeing as they did this last year too I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they win the division.  Sorry Angels, that hole you dug was really deep.  If there is ever a Holes sequel give Shia Lebeouf some tips (too cheesy? Probably. Suck it up).  As for the Rangers they snag the final wildcard spot and lose to the O's again.  If their fans thought losing back to back World Series was rough, wait until they lose back to back wildcard games to the O's.  Now that is depressing.  That gives us the Red Sox, Tigers, A's, O's, and Rangers for the playoffs.  Get psyched.

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