Major League Baseball Midseason Report

The dog days of summer are here. We have hit the unofficial midway point of the Major League Baseball season, the all star break has arrived. Most teams have already played 88 to 89 games, which means we are just a bit past the halfway point of the season. A lot has gone down through the first half of the baseball season, some surprising and some a little underachieving. I don't think that when the season started, many people would have had the Houston Astros to be playing near the top of the AL West, same goes for the fact that the Detroit Tigers are 3rd in the AL Central, behind the Royals and more shocking the Twins. We got a lot to get to so lets dive right into it. Here's a look at what's gone down in the first half of the MLB season.

Here's the Standings around Major League Baseball at the All-Star break:

American League
AL East
New York Yankees 48-40 0.545 —
Tampa Bay Rays 46-45 0.505 3½
Baltimore Orioles 44-44 0.500 4
Toronto Blue Jays 45-46 0.495 4½
Boston Red Sox 42 47 0.472 6½

AL Central
Kansas City Royals 52-34 0.605 —
Minnesota Twins 49-40 0.551 4½
Detroit Tigers 44-44 0.500 9
Cleveland Indians 42-46 0.477 11
Chicago White Sox 41-45 0.477 11

AL West
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 48-40 0.545 —
Houston Astros 49-42 0.538 ½
Texas Rangers 42-46 0.477 6
Seattle Mariners 41-48 0.461 7½
Oakland Athletics 41-50 0.451 8½

National League
NL East
Washington Nationals 48-39 0.552 —
New York Mets 47-42 0.528 2
Atlanta Braves 42-47 0.472 7
Miami Marlins 38-51 0.427 11
Philadelphia Phillies 29-62 0.319 21

NL Central
St. Louis Cardinals 56-32 0.636 —
Pittsburgh Pirates 52-35 0.598 3½
Chicago Cubs 47-40 0.540 8½
Cincinnati Reds 39-47 0.453 16
Milwaukee Brewers 38-52 0.422 19

NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers 51-39 0.567 —
San Francisco Giants 46-43 0.517 4½
Arizona Diamondbacks 42-45 0.483 7½
San Diego Padres 41-49 0.456 10
Colorado Rockies 39-49 0.443 11

A couple of things stand out from the first half, some teams coming in as a surprise while others have been a bit of a disappointment. Who would have guessed that the Houston Astros would be in 2nd place in the AL West. Houston has scored the 4th most runs in the AL (396) and hit the most home runs in the league (124). Five of the Astros have already hit the double digit mark in home runs: Chris Carter (15 HR), Luis Valbuena (19 HR), Colby Rasmus (11 HR), Evan Gattis (15 HR) and George Springer (13 HR). Houston also ranks in the top four in team ERA (3.58) and batting average against (.237). You can also throw the Minnesota Twins into that argument as a big surprise in the American League The Twins sit nine games over .500 and are in 2nd in the Central. Its been a combination of decent power at the plate and solid pitching on the hill. Trevor Plouffe, Torii Hunter, and Brian Dozier are the heartbeat of the Minnesota offense. In order for the offense to hold up, you need to have good pitching and the Twins have been getting that. Its not as dominant as some of the other teams in the AL, but thanks to solid starting pitching from Phil Hughes, Trevor May and even Mike Pelfrey, Minnesota is sitting near the top of the AL Central.

One of the bigger disappointments from the first half of the year has been the San Diego Padres. For all the moves that the Padres made during the winter, bringing in Matt Kemp, Derek Norris, Wil Myers, Ryan Hanigan, Justin Upton, Will Middlebrooks Craig Kimbrel & Melvin Upton, Jr. That's a lot of talent to have brought on board, and with that in the lineup, San Diego is in 4th place in the NL West? How does that even happen?  Eight games under .500 and ten games back in the West isn't where the Padres saw themselves by the time we hit the All-Star break, which is why the Padres let go Bud Black and replaced him with Pat Murphy, who will run the team the rest of the way.

During the first half of the season, a few players have hit some pretty big milestones. We've had two no hitters thrown. First Chris Heston of the San Francisco Giants tossed a no-hitter against the Mets on June 9th. Then, on June 20th, Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals threw a no-hitter against the Pirates. We've also had some big pitching milestones reached during the first half of the year. Mark Buehrle, of the Blue Jays, recorded his 200th career win April 10 against Baltimore. Craig Kimbrel of the Padres and Francisco Rodríguez of the Brewers each recorded milestone saves. Kimbrel picked up his 200th career save against the Braves on June 8th, while K-Rod recorded save #350 against the Reds on April 23rd.

As good as it has been for the pitchers, the hitters haven't been doing so bad for themselves in the milestone department as well. There were some who hit some milestone home runs. Jose Bautista of Toronto hit his 250th career home run against Baltimore on April 21. Adam LaRoche of the White Sox also hit his 250th homer, against Detroit on June 5. Prince Fielder of Texas clubbed his 300th career home run against Toronto on June 26. He and his father, Cecil, become the second father-son duo in Major League history to notch 300-plus homers, the other being Barry and Bobby Bonds. We've seen two new members join the 400 home run club this season. Adrian Beltre of Texas joined the club when he went deep against Cleveland Indians on May 15. The very next day, May 16th, Miguel Cabrera of Detroit joined the Club, going deep against St. Louis.

Last but not least, there's Alex Rodriguez, who has been adding his name to the history books since returning from suspension. Rodriguez passed Willie Mays by hitting his 661st home run against the Baltimore Orioles on May 7, hitting it off of Chris Tillman. Alex then became just the 2nd player in the history of the game to record 2,000th career RBI. He did it with a two-run home run in the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles on June 13. Just six days later, June 19th, Alex joined the 3,000 hit club, launching a home run in the first inning off of Justin Verlander of the Tigers. He became the 29th player to reach this mark.

Since baseball is a very stats oriented sport, here are the league leaders by the all star break around the Majors.

American League
Hitting
Batting Average Miguel Cabrera (DET) - .350
Home Runs Albert Pujols (LAA) & Mike Trout (LAA) - 26
Runs Batted In Mark Teixeira (NYY) - 62
Runs Mike Trout (LAA) - 68
Hits Prince Fielder (TEX) - 114
Stolen Bases Jose Altuve (HOU) - 25

Pitching
Wins Felix Hernandez (SEA) & Dallas Keuchel (HOU) - 11
Loses R.A. Dickey (TOR) & Corey Kluber (CLE) - 10
Earned Run Average Sonny Gray (OAK) - 2.04
Strikeouts Chris Sale (CWS) - 157
Innings Pitched Dallas Keuchel (HOU) - 137.1
Saves Glen Perkins (MIN) - 28

National League
Hitting
Batting Average Paul Goldschmidt (ARI) - .340
Home Runs Giancarlo Stanton (MIA) - 27
Runs Batted In Nolan Arenado (COL) & Paul Goldschmidt (ARI) - 70
Runs Paul Goldschmidt (ARI) - 60
Hits Dee Gordon (MIA) - 122
Stolen Bases Billy Hamilton (CIN) - 44

Pitching
Wins Gerrit Cole (PIT) - 13
Loses Aaron Harang (PHI) - 11
Earned Run Average Zack Greinke (LAD) - 1.39
Strikeouts Clayton Kershaw (LAD) - 160
Innings Pitched Max Scherzer (WAS) - 132.0
Saves Mark Melancon (PIT) - 29

Now that we know who's leading what, its time to hand out some hardware. Here are the midseason Major League Baseball Award Winners.

Manager Of The Year
NL: Mike Matheny St. Louis Cardinals
It always seems like the Cards find a way to stay the class of the NL Central. Think about this. Adam Wainwright, Matt Adams, Jon Jay and Matt Holliday all started on Opening Day. All four are now on the disabled list, as is Jaime Garcia, who had a 1.69 ERA in seven starts before getting hurt again. And the Cardinals keep winning, a tribute to an organization that has also (for now) seemed to survive a hacking scandal. St. Louis just keeps finding a way to stay on top of the division.

AL: A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros
Houston has pulled a 180 from last year. Houston was near the basement in the AL West and are now in the thick of things, not only in the divisional race, but the wild card situation as well in the American League. Hinch deserves a lot of credit for it right now. The Astros have the talent in place, they just needed something to help bring it all together and right now, Hinch has been the perfect guy for the job.

Rookie of The Year 
NL: Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs
After getting the call-up during May, Bryant has been on a bit of a tear. He's hitting .269, a little low of an average but still a solid number. His 15 home runs are 2nd in the NL among rookies, behind only Joc Pederson of the Dodgers who has twenty. Bryant's 51 RBI's are the best out of any rookie in all of baseball. Its not just what this guy has done at the plate that's impressive. He's finally seemed to solidify 3rd base for the Cubs, something that Chicago has been looking for for some time now.

AL: Devon Travis, Toronto Blue Jays
He may not be getting the exposure as some of his other teammates like Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion, but he still has a solid upside to him. Travis is hitting .304, the bet batting average among all rookies in the American League. He's had decent power and run production numbers, and his defense at 2nd base can be comparable with some of his peers in the AL.

Cy Young Award
NL: Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals
Here's where I feel the debate is really going to heat up. You can make a very strong argument for Zack Grienke of the Dodgers, who does have the best ERA in all of baseball and has an 8-2 record and 106 strikeouts. Scherzer's numbers aren't as good as that of Grienke. Scherzer is 10-7 with a 2.11 ERA and 150 strikeouts, the 2nd most in the NL. The reason I'm giving the award to Scherzer is because he has been the rock of the Washington Nationals staff. Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strausberg have been hurt, and even when they are healthy they have been average at best. Mad Max has been the anchor of that pitching staff, and one of the big reasons why Washington is atop the NL East, despite the fact that the team hasn't been playing its best baseball in the first half of the year.

AL: Dallas Keuchel Houston Astros
He has the 2nd lowest ERA in the AL, behind Sonny Gray of the A's. He's one of only two pitchers in the American League with eleven wins, the other being King Feliex of the Mariners. Having an 11-4 record at the break is pretty impressive. One other reason to give him the nod as winner in the AL is his runs against. The most that Keuchel has allowed in a game is five. He's been by far and away the best pitcher in the Houston rotation and for my money one of the biggest reason that Houston has been able to hang around in the race in the West.

Most Valuable Player
NL: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
You can make an argument here for Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who is putting up outstanding numbers this year. Goldschmidt is hitting .320 (1st) with 21 homers (5th) and 70 RBI (T-1st). Those numbers are better than what Harper has put up, as he's hitting .339 (2nd), with 26 homers (2nd) and 61 RBI's (4th). The difference here would be where there respective teams are in the standings. Arizona, despite having one of the highest scoring offenses in the National League, can't seem to get wins (crappy pitching staffs will do that to you). But if you take both Harper and Goldschmidt out of their respective lineups, Arizona will still be able to be a success, sort of, where as the Nationals are not as good a team when Harper isn't playing. Washington seems to be a better team with Bryce in the lineup, which shows how valuable.

AL: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Normally this would be a stronger debate to throw Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers into the mix, but he's been hurt and the Tigers are still moving along. You can also throw Josh Donaldson of the Jays into the mix as he's one of the big three in Toronto who are keeping them afloat in the AL East. I still have to give it to Trout here. He may not have the outstanding offensive numbers he has in the past, but he's hands down still the best overall player in the American League.

So there you have it, a look back at some of what's happened in the first half of the Major League Baseball Season!