The A's are a stronger team with Jeff Samardzija in the starting rotation. (Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports)
By John Perrotto, The Sports Xchange’s baseball insider. He has covered Major League Baseball for 27 seasons.
Bud Selig was using his two favorite words earlier this week during the All-Star Game festivities in Minneapolis.
“I know I say hope and faith a lot,” the Major League Baseball commissioner said. “But every team’s fans should have hope and faith every season. There is a lot of hope and faith this year.”
Indeed, 17 of the 30 clubs are within five games of a playoff spot as the second half of the season gets set to begin Friday night. Just seven teams face double-digit deficits.
Let’s take a look at the six divisional races at the traditional — if not actual — halfway point of the season:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
The Baltimore Orioles (52-42) lead the Toronto Blue Jays (49-47) by three games, the New York Yankees (47-47) by four games and the Tampa Bay Rays (44-53) and Boston Red Sox (43-52) by 9 1/2 games.
After so many years of being the most difficult division in baseball, the AL East has become the weakest because of the fall of the Yankees, Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. It would be fun if the race came down to the final three days of the regular season from Sept. 26 to 28 when the Orioles and Blue Jays meet in a three-game series at Toronto.
The winner: Orioles, with the Blue Jays gaining the second wild card
Central
The Detroit Tigers (53-38) lead the Kansas City Royals (48-46) by 6 1/2 games and Cleveland Indians (47-47) by 7 1/2 games.
The Tigers are the class of the division and kicked it in gear by winning 17 of 23 games to end the first half. Royals fans can only hope Kansas City’s three-game series from Sept. 8 to 10 against the Tigers in Detroit means something.
The winner: Tigers
West
The Oakland Athletics (59-36) lead the Los Angeles Angels (57-37) by 1 1/2 games and the Seattle Mariners (51-44) by eight games.
The Athletics swung the balance of power of the best division in the AL on the night of July 4 when they acquired right-handers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. The Angels will have to scramble to find enough pitching make their three-game series from Sept. 22 to 24 in Oakland meaningful
The winner: Athletics, with the Angels gaining the first wild card
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East
The Washington Nationals (51-42) and Atlanta Braves (52-43) are in a virtual tie for the first place, seven games in front of the New York Mets (45-40) and 7 1/2 games ahead of the Miami Marlins (44-50).
The Braves host the Nationals for a three-game series from Sept. 15 to 17. Because the Nationals have the better all-around team, the Braves will have to hope they are still within striking distance for that series in Atlanta.
The winner: Nationals, with Braves gaining the second wild card
Central
The Milwaukee Brewers (53-43) lead the game’s tightest race by one game over the St. Louis Cardinals (52-44), 1 1/2 games over the Cincinnati Reds (51-44) and 3 1/2 games over the Pittsburgh Pirates (49-46).
The Brewers took command of the division with a 10-2 start but lost seven games in a row before beating the Cardinals last Sunday in the last game before the break. The Cardinals have been running in place all season but are poised to blow by the Brewers and defend their division title.
The winner: Cardinals
West
The Los Angeles Dodgers (54-43) lead the San Francisco Giants (52-43) by one game.
The Giants held a 9 1/2-game lead on June 8 but then lost 22 of 32 games to end the first half while the Dodgers passed them. While one game separates the teams now, the reality is this race is over as the better team is in front.
The winner: Dodgers, with the Giants gaining the first wild card
AROUND THE HORN:
–One of the top moments during three days in Minneapolis was seeing Twins general manager Terry Ryan, who has been battling oral cancer since just before the start of spring training. One of the game’s true gentleman, Ryan looked good and said he’s “getting there” in his recovery.
Ryan is a fighter and so is his organization.
After visiting beautiful Target Field and seeing the excitement for baseball in the Twins Cities, it is hard to believe that Major League Baseball had the Twins, along with the Montreal Expos, targeted for contraction in 2002.
While the Twins have lost at least 96 games each of the last three seasons and are 10 1/2 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central, the future looks bright with two of the game’s best prospects, center fielder Bryon Buxton and third baseman Miguel Sano, in the farm system.
“Terry is a good man and he’ll get the thing turned around,” said Cardinals relief pitcher Pat Neshek, who pitched for the Twins from 2007 to 2011 and grew up in suburban Rochester Hills, Minn. “I would never bet again him.”
–The praise poured on Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter at the All-Star Game was excessive.
He is a Yankees legend but not in the category of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig or Mickey Mantle. And while Jeter has been the “face” of baseball for many years, he has never been the game’s best player.
Jeter is certainly a first-ballot Hall of Fame player, but the unyielding hero worship from a significant portion of the media stems from style — looks, celebrity, charm — over substance.
–It was easy to wonder what would happen to the Major League Baseball Players Association when executive director Michael Wiener died of brain cancer last year. However, after having had the opportunity to spend some time around successor Tony Clark this week, it is easy to see the union is in good hands.
The former first baseman is passionate about defending the players’ right but also open-minded enough to continue the good relationship the MLBPA and MLB have developed during recent labor negotiations.
