Halfway Home

At Major League Baseball's halfway point, this much is true:

1) The Tampa Bay Rays are for real
2) The NL West is a bigger disappointment than the Vern Troyer sex tape
3) Josh Hamilton is the greatest comeback story since New Kids on the Block
4) Don't raise your voice to Shawn Chacon

In the first season P.B. (Post Barry), most baseball fans have a lot to be excited about. Only 11 teams stand more than 6.5 games away from their respective division lead. Interestingly enough, one team that stands 6.5 games back is the beloved New York Yankees. Go figure.

Regardless, the half season has been full of surprises. The team formerly known as the Devil Rays are undoubtedly the biggest. After spending 10 years as the AL East's black sheep, the Rays finally accumulated enough number one overall draft picks to field not just a decent team, but a very good team. Powered by first half Rookie of the Year, Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton, they Rays have become a model franchise. They're young, athletic and hungry to win. Right now, I think they're another solid starting pitcher away from getting into the playoffs, but they will have much to pick from come trade deadline time.

Over in the AL Central, Ozzie Guillen's verbal diarrhea has once again fueled the White Sox into first place. Don't count on it to last. After a hugely dissapointing April and May It looks like the Tigers are finally putting things together.

Surprise, surprise. The Anaheim Angeles of Los Angeles and the O.C. are comfortably nestled into their usual spot atop the AL West. The Angels have too much pitching depth not to take the division. Cudos go to both the A's and Rangers for hanging tough for the first 81 games.

Meanwhile, the maddeningly frustrating Seattle Mariners are poised for a 100-loss system and have a roster loaded with overpriced underachievers. The pulled a Hootie and the Blowfish on fans (you thought they were pretty good and then they came back for a second act, tanked, and then you realized the never were that good).

In the Senior Circuit, the NL East will once again be the race to watch. Save for the Washington Nationals, the division is up for grabs. Even the Mets, who have looked old and over matched all season, are only 3.5 games back.

The NL Central looks like it's the Cubs division to lose, but they have a history of doing such and just might cough up their once solid lead. St. Louis' outfield of Ludwick, Ankiel and Schumaker are great examples in percerverence. Schumaker and Ludwick are video game free agents (player's who somehow end up in the free agent section in every baseball video game). And everyone knows Ankiel's story (actually would be a better comeback than Hamilton's if he developed a heroin problem during his conversion from pitcher to outfielder). Don't count out the Brew Crew either.

Few could have predicted the NL West would be so painfully bad. Those five teams are trying to determine who sucks the least. The D-Backs were April's best team in baseball. They've been anything but since. The Dodgers are the NL counterpart to the Mariners. The only difference is they have a farm system and some good young players. How much money can you throw at overpriced veterans? Somebody will lose their job over signing Andruw Jones. That was a Sexson-esque mistake.

So here's how I see the season playing out - It's not too far off from what I originally predicted:

ALDS
Red Sox over Tigers
Rays over Angels

NLDS
Cards over D-Backs
Cubs over Mets

ALCS
Red Sox over Rays
NLCS
Cubs over Cards

WORLD SERIES
Red Sox over Cubs