Second Half of Baseball Season Will Reveal True Contenders
The first half of the 2010 MLB season has come and gone. Some things have gone as expected others have not, but probably more is true of the latter.
The New York Yankees as expected lead the AL East but that’s about all that has gone according to plan regarding the six divisions.
The Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves all lead their divisions and no one coul have predicted that in March.
Jose Bautista leads the majors in home runs while Joey Votto leads the National League. There's no way you saw that one coming.
However every year in baseball, there are many surprises in the first half of the season only for us to be brought back down to earth in the second half and things return to normal. The second half of the season will be about whether the usual suspects rise to the occasion and retain their spots at the top of baseball or whether these apparently new contenders will truly overtake them.
The Texas Rangers have been one of if not the biggest surprises as they have the largest lead in baseball over the AL West. Vladimir Guerrero, who was a risky signing by the Rangers, is an early candidate for the MVP award.
What’s scarier about the Rangers is that they already have the lead over their division and they traded for an ace in Cliff Lee. Lee was just traded this past winter from the Phillies to the Mariners in order to make room for Roy Halladay in Philly. The Mariners sit in last place and needed to make a move. Lee now has gone from last to first with the move and can be a huge help for the Rangers in protecting their lead in the west.
The Chicago White Sox recently have gone on a tear and have snatched the division lead from the Tigers in the AL Central. This division will likely come down to the last week of the season in which the Sox, the Tigers and the Twins will all have a chance down the stretch to emerge as the AL Central winner.
The AL East saw the Red Sox struggle terribly early on which likely prevented them from leading the division right now but Boston has recovered to stay in contention to regain the crown, although they took a step backwards recently when they were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays. That will be difficult with the Yankees rolling and the Rays' young studs finding their game. This division may likely come down to the wire as well but the Yankees are still the favourites to take it.
The National League is full of surprises as the reigning NL champs from the last two seasons are struggling despite the addition of the Doc Roy Halladay in the offseason. The Phillies have struggled to find their hitting charm and have not been able to take advantage of some stellar pitching. The Braves currently lead the NL East and are an early favourite to go to the World Series but as we know, things can change so suddenly.
The surprise of the NL has been the Reds, who hold a slim lead in the Central division though the St-Louis Cardinals are still the favourites to take the division. The main reason for the Reds success has been Joey Votto who leads the National League in home runs. He’ll need a similar second half to his season if the Reds are to stave off the Cards and win their first division pennant since 1995.
Finally the Padres have been a pitching and defensive machine as they are spectacular with the lead as they are leading the NL West but you can never count the L.A Dodgers out and the Colorado Rockies are not doing too bad themselves.
The next half of the season will separate the pretenders from the contenders and will show who the true clutch players of baseball are.
Tags: