Visions Part Deux …..
Posted: July 14, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: A's, Albert Pujols, American League, Andre Ethier, Angels, Arizona, ASG, Astros, Athletics, Atlanta, Baltimore, Blue Jays, BoSox, Braves, Brewers, Canada, Cardinals, Chicago, ChiSox, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado, D'Backs, Detroit, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Florida, Florida Marlins, Giants, Halladay, Houston, Indians, Jayson Werth, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Mariners, Marlins, Mets, Milwaukee, mini-soda, Minnesota, National League, Nationals, Nats, New York, No Hitter, Oakland, Orioles, Padres, perfect game, Philadelphia, phillies, Pirates, Pittsburgh, Rangers, Rays, Red Birds, Red Sox, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Ryan Howard, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa Bay. Boston, Texas, Tigers, Toronto, Trade Deadline, Tribe, Twins, Washington, White Sox, Yankees 11 Comments
The National League managed an upset of the American League by taking the All Star Game victory, because of recent history showing the dominance of the American League this is a good way to move forward into the second half of the 2010 season for National League teams.
At the beginning of the season I laid out how I thought the season would progress and how teams would position themselves for October baseball, with just over half the games played it’s a good time to reflect and update my season ending visions.
The American League has shown some surprises, out West the Mariners have not faired as I thought so this has left the Rangers and Angels duking it out for a post season place. In the Central the Indians are not performing in the manor they could have been and in the East the top 3 are as expected, but the Jays are doing better than I had thought, as a mid way summary I now have the following possible outcomes.
AL WEST
Angels ……..88-93 wins
Rangers ……..86-91 wins
The A’s will hover around the .500 mark and the Mariners will finish below .500 with about 70 wins.
AL CENTRAL
ChiSox ……..84-89 wins
Twins ……..81-86 wins
Tigers ……..81-86 wins
The Royals and the Tribe will fight, but fail to reach .500 this year.
AL EAST
Yankees ……..93-98 wins
Rays ……..92-97 wins
BoSox ……..90-95 wins
As you can see this could be any of these, I had considered the Yankees breaking 100 wins again, but recent history shows last time they had 56 wins in the first half they had a dismal second half with only 33 wins, so the Yankees number is a crap shoot, the Jays should end around the .500 mark and the O’s will probably break 64 wins, but no more than 70 wins.
The National League has also given us a couple of surprises, the Padres are the biggest one for me, kudos to them, I thought they would struggle to be a .500 team this year, but they proved me very wrong. The Pirates are more disappointing than anything, I really thought they could be a above .500 team this year, but not going to happen, the Reds are better than expected or are the Cardinals not as good as expected. The East is as expected a 3 horse race and will continue through season end.
NL WEST
Padres ……..85-90 wins
Rockies ……..84-89 wins
Dodgers ……..83-88 wins
Giants ……..79-84 wins
Arizona will struggle to reach 70 wins this year.
NL CENTRAL
Cardinals ……..85-90 wins
Reds ……..85-90 wins
The Brewers and Cubs will struggle stay around the .500 mark on the year, the Pirates and Astros will have chance to play spoiler or helper in September as the Cards and Reds are on target to give us a game 163 this year, but as the Astros and Pirates play out the year they’ll both struggle to get over 65 wins.
NL EAST
Phillies ……..90-95 wins
Mets ……..88-93 wins
Braves ……..87-92 wins
Still a close 3 team race and could go to any of the 3, itll be up to the Nats and Marlins to play spoiler, since both those teams wont even be knocking on the .500 door.
So these are my mid-term visions as far as the divisions are set, as for Phillies players and that dreaded date of July 31st, where teams negotiate to the wire to get the best possible deal, or they think is the best possible deal. The past few seasons the Phillies have faired pretty good at the trading deadline, this year I would say look to see Jayson Werth end up with one of 3 teams, Astros, Pirates or even the Reds, also movers could include, Dobbs, Castro or Ransom and maybe even Kendrick or Happ, I do not think anything major will occur, it is possible we could get Oswalt, but no breath holding here, or even one of the Reds pitchers, it maybe that the Dodgers decide they can lose Broxton, so the Phillies can lose Lidge, but that’s as farfetched as a straight trade of Pujols and Howard, or Werth and Ethier, dream on people ESPN’s got no inside track and the second half is just beginning. So tighten that safety belt, keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times and enjoy the ride, don’t forget to scream and raise your arms at the appropriate times, but most of all have FUN.
Phillies Outside Archive Vault 
Peter,
This weekend series might be a good indicator of the state of the Yankees. As they remember and grieve this weekend for the loss of both their solid voice of the Yankees for so long, and the passing of the man who madethem what they are today…The game will take a backstage for a bit.
This is not to say the team will backpedal, lose or even seem uninspired at times. It is a solid fact that emotions will run high this weekend and that can cause mental mistakes. Those mental mistakes could cause a change in the current A L East standings.
But then again, it could provide a emotional high that propels them onwards also….Should be an interestiong weekend in the A L East race.
Rays Renegade
http://raysrenegade.mlblogs.com
As an Angel fan I really hope you enjoyed the all star game and what The Big A had to offer. It’s not New York or Philadelphia but it has it’s own little Disney Magic to lure in fans 😉
Congrats to the NL for a well deserved win! Man the first half was a wild ride! Hope second half is just the same!
http://mimi.mlblogs.com
I have no idea how the second half will break down, since there are always injuries and unexpected trades. Should be exciting though!
– http://janeheller.mlblogs.com
Why does everyone think it was an upset? The NL has some damn good pitching. Everyone wants the All-Star game to be a slugfest. I think in the future we’ll see a lot more wins for the N.L. Let’s go Phillies… Enjoy the second half.
http://phanaticaddict.mlblogs.com/
I’ll tighten my belt… but I don’t think the Reds will be stickin’ around… and yeah, the Redbirds might lose a ton to the LOLstros (it’s in their nature) but they’ll come out on top and host Game 1 of the WS. Whadyathinkaboutthat!?! 🙂
–Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
http://mtrredstatebluestate.com
Well Peter, the only thing was we had to see an Angel highlight video at the All-Star and I was like this is supposed to be the All-Star not an Angel game.
Emma
http://crzblue.mlblogs.com
RR – I am going to try and watch this weekends series of the Rays and Yankees, as you say may be a good indicater as to how the Yankees handled the short break heartaches…
Mimi – I think the Los Angels organization did a great job with the ASG, they seemed to handle everything in a very unbiased manner, salute to their organization….
Jane – A Time Machine would work wonders, excitement we are sure to get that…
Michael – I think both teams were more evenly matched this year than any other in the last 10 years, the expectations of it going the AL way has become a norm, hence the surprise…:-)
Jeff – Unless it’s an all NL world series the Redbirds will have trouble hosting game one, unless CBP is unusable and they select Busch as the alternate… thatswhatithink..:-)
-peter
Emma – I am sure they were expecting majority of Angels fans and its probably a standard filler highlight reel, it also gave them the opportunity to put a highlight reel on a national stage…self promotion is normal I just thought they didn’t ram it down everyones throats at every oppportunity…
-peter
I do not think of it as an upset, either. The NL had several close games over the last few years where they were in line to win, but for a late comeback by the AL. Just so proud I was there to help turn the tide, and happy to have been a part of one of the most successful ever All-Star weekends. This was not the first time I volunteered, but it was perhaps the most rewarding. I met so many international fans it was almost like my experience at the World Baseball Classic. Also loved the Futures Game. The Big A is not a great stadium, but the surrounding area is a very popular vacation destination, and that got a lot of rave reviews from out of state visitors.
BTW, the Angel highlight video would not be possible without the Dodgers starting that trend, either. 🙂
I think the Reds are much improved and will continue to be tested, but could hang on to win the Central. I still say our division is toughest in the NL, overall, with the best pitching.
http://behindblueyes.mlblogs.com
bbe – regardless of how close past games have been the AL seemed to get the edge in the past and I think the expectation of many was that it would happen again, it doesn’t matter whose better, the fact that the higher expectation was that the AL would win is what makes it an upset, because for once the AL didn’t get to have things go their way, the way of the media and I am convinced the way of Selig….
-peter
2 things…I agreed with you in not believing the Pirates would be THIS bad. And I too thought the Padres weren’t going to have a pleasant time of it. Should be a fun second half. This may be a very wacky trading deadline.
mike