Who would have guessed day one of the MLB season that the Pittsburg Pirated would have the best record in baseball? Or that the LA Angels of Anaheim would be scraping the bottom of the AL West? Okay, not literally, but they are currently nine games out of first. Would you have thought that the Yankees would have as many injuries as they have sustained and yet still be competing in the stacked AL East? Or that the Dodgers would be underachieving once again? How about SF being right there with the Dodgers?
Baseball has a way if kind of doing its own thing, no matter what the experts say. Here is what I predicted on The Hague Sports Podcast, heard weekly on BlogTalkRadio, at the beginning of the season. Lets see how i matched up to what is happening:
NL East
1st – Nationals
NL Central
1st – Cardinals
NL West
1st – Giants
wild cards
Braves
Rockies
Well, it looks like I was pretty good in the central, but not so much in the east or West. Oh well.
AL East
1st – Boston
AL Central
1st – Tigers
AL West
1st – Rangers
wild cards
Rays
Athletics
So I think what I have proven here is that I should only pick American League teams, since I am pretty much spot on in the American League. Boston has been better than advertised and so have the Rangers. Detroit has been advertised, and Baltimore has been as good as Orioles fans hoped they could be.
The stories of the first half to me are as follows:
– Chris “Crush” Davis can hit the baseball. He has become the dominate hitter that a lot of us hoped he would become in his time with the Rangers. Good for him.
– the Dodgers, Angels and Blue Jays spent a lot of money and all three teams stink. Just goes to show that growing your own (Tampa Bay, Texas) gets you to more World Series lately than spending the big bucks.
– Miguel Cabrera can also hit the ball. He may be one of the best pure hitters in the game today, and maybe ever. He is amazing to watch.
– Texas can pitch. This came as a surprise to many national writers, but Yu Darvish is not the only Texas Ranger that can throw good pitches and get hitters out. Derek Holland, Justin Grimm, Nick Tepesch and Martin Perez have done a very decent job and are the main reason the Rangers sit in first place right now.
– the Pirates may be for real. The team is unstoppable right now, and I am starting to believe that the Pirates may be one of the National League power house teams going forward this season. Of course, I have already admitted that I know little of the National League.
So those are some of my observations of the first half of the season, agree? Disagree? Let me hear about it! You can tweet me, Facebook me, google+ me or even old fashioned leave me a comment here! As always thanks for reading.
