Midseason Review

There is no better time to review the season than the All Star break. I believe in accountability. Here's a link to my preseason expectations.

It's true that the Padres may reach my preseason win total prediction next week (with two and a half months left in the season). In fact, I'm a bit all over the map in the NL. But I was pretty close on everything in the AL.

If you don't want to look at numbers, skip below.
Actual standings (wins/win percentage):
American League
East
Yankees 56/.64
Rays 54/.61
Red Sox 51/.58

Central
White Sox 49/.56
Tigers 48/.56
Twins 46/.52

West
Rangers 50/.57
Angels 47/.52

National League
East
Braves 52/.59
Mets 48/.55
Phillies 47/.54

Central
Reds 49/.54
Cardinals 47/.53

West
Padres 51/.58
Rockies 49/.56
Dodgers 49/.56
Giants 47/.53

Midseason Awards
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera
Red-hot Josh Hamilton comes into the All Star break tied with Cabrera in home runs and batting average and his team is in first place while Cabrera's Tigers just dropped into second. I give the slight edge to Miggy since he doesn't have the same caliber sluggers around him in Detroit and he leads the league in team runs production percentage (runs + RBI divided by total team runs). But it's really close.
I was a bit off on Mark Teixeira, but after a pathetic start he's really heating up.

NL MVP: Joey Votto
The media's favorite forgotten All Star is among the NL leaders in just about every offensive statistic and his surprising team is in first place. Sounds good to me. Runner up has got to be Adrian Gonzalez, who's also mashing for a first place team with production from no one else.
Pujols was my pick, and he's doing fine but not his regularly dominating self.

AL Cy Young: David Price
The guy leads the league in wins and ERA and his team is looking good for the playoffs. Sounds good to me. Cliff Lee is probably the runner up, averaging an incredible 8 innings pitched per game, and on pace to shatter the strikeout to walk ratio record.
Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee's former teammate is doing fine, but gets even less help from the Mariners than Lee did.

NL Cy Young: Josh Johnson
The National League pitching may be having the best season ever, with Johnson, Halladay, Ubaldo, and Adam Wainwright cruising. Sixteen straight quality starts, and twelve games allowing one or zero runs gives Josh Johnson the edge here.

AL Rookie: Brandon Boesch
Okay, so Miguel Cabrera does have this guy in his lineup.
Feliz has been great in the Rangers' closer position.

NL Rookie: Jaime Garcia
Heyward and Strasburg may overtake this spot by season's end, but Garcia hasn't missed a start for the Cardinals and has a 2.17 ERA.

AL Manager: Terry Francona
Red Sox have had tons of injuries (read my last baseball blog for details) and still lead the majors in runs scored. The pitching has been sketchy, too, but the Sox are still in competition for the division or Wild Card. I don't think it will last, but I've been wrong before.

NL Manager: Bud Black
No question, Black has turned a team full of no-names into a competitive division leader.

Update Playoff Predictions
Tigers and White Sox will be a great race to the end. I guess I like the White Sox pitching a little better, and NEVER doubt Ozzie Guillen. And while I don't understand how the Phillies could miss the playoffs, the hole is getting a little too deep to dig out of.

Yankees over White Sox
Rangers over Rays
Yankees over Rangers

Rockies over Reds
Braves over Padres
Braves over Rockies

(Say what, Miles is picking the Braves to be in the World Series?)

WORLD SERIES:
surprise surprise: Yankees over Braves