With the first half of the season gone, many illusions went away with it, while other expectations materialized. Now there is a clearer scenario of which teams will fight for the playoffs tickets, and which ones need to seriously take a sit and think about the mistakes they have done to avoid them during next season. Things begin to get hot in the race for the top seats with 71 games to go.
Baseball is a team sport, that is a fact, and that several individualities are giving grateful surprises to their teams is a fact as well. A name like Ubaldo Jimenez from Colorado, who has tied his statistics from the past season in just half of this one, is just one of them. The 25 years old rookie, Brennan Boesch, from Detroit Tigers with a .342 AVG and .593 SLG is another one. The White Sox being lead by the 20 HR and 63 RBI from Paul Konerko, or Martin Prado’s being the batting leader of the National League with a .334 AVR are just some of those surprises.
Not only some players are having great performances, also some coaches like Ron Washington from the Texas Rangers, leading them to the first place of the Western Division of the American League. In the National League, Bud Black has done an awesome job with San Diego Padres, in the lead of the Western Division. By working on their defense, the team has found the balance necessary to have regularity in their game.
Now going into teams that don’t surprise with their performance, since they are fulfilling the expectations, there are the Yankees with 56 victories on top of the Eastern Division in the American League. Tampa has also been playing some good baseball, and is only 2 games behind them. And third comes Boston, that even though they are 3 games down from Tampa, there are still 71 more games to go before the playoffs.
Continuing with the American League, but now on the Central Division were the White Sox come in first place and with Detroit .5 behind, things seem hard for Minnesota. About the Western Division and the great coaching from Mr. Washington with Texas, Angelinos will have to deal with their good moment if they want that top spot.
The National League has Atlanta on top of the Eastern Division, followed by the Mets 4 games behind, and Philadelphia, 4.5 games away. The Central Division seems to be a matter of two, Cincinnati and St. Louis, enjoying of a good difference from the rest. And finally there is the Western Division, with LA and Colorado tied in second place, only two games away from the leader, San Diego.
Yankees mourn their loss
The Yankees will have to face the toughest opponent there is in life; death. A sad event has tarnished what was supposed to be a happy day during the MBL All Star Game; George Steinbrenner suffered a heart attack and passed away early that morning. ‘The Boss’, as he was known, had just turned 80 years old this past Independence Day. The man who bought the Yankees in 1973 leaves a legacy of seven World Series championships.
In times like this is when the spirit of a great team becomes even stronger to overcome the pain, and honor the memory of their beloved. On the other had, this is the time when a weak team falls apart and looses its way. Rest in peace “Boss”.
About the Author:
Andrew Hill is a high-ranking sports writer, currently writing reviews on the MLB for the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, making sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.
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