BS Report: Where We Are at the All-star Break

The All-Star game is tonight in Philadelphia, the best of the National League against the best of the American League. Now, the All-Star game is not like it used to be, when there were only 3 or 4 channels on television, and you didn’t have as many things to do in mid-July. So it’s a little bit different now. Obviously, it’s not appointment television like it used to be, but it is still fun to see how your favorite teams players will do in the Midsummer Classic.

It’s also a chance for everybody to look at the standings, to see where your favorite team is, and where everyone else is, and what can happen when the second part of the season starts on Thursday. For some teams and most of the teams on Friday, including the Braves, who will open up against the Texas Rangers, the National League.

The Dodgers continue to be at the top of the hill they have been for the last several years, unfortunately, and they continue to be with a game and a half lead over Milwaukee for the best record in the National League. The Braves held that pose for most of the first half of the season. And of course, they’ve fallen off and they’re now five games back of the Dodgers.

But you’ve got the Dodgers, Brewers and Braves as the leaders in the three divisions in the National League, then the wild card teams, the Cubs, the Phillies and the Marlins. Those are the next three. So the Cubs lead the wild card and then the Phillies and the Marlins are right after that with the Cardinals and the Pirates falling behind.

It’s a tight race there for the wild card, so there are still plenty of possibilities for teams to get hot. And that’s one thing to kind of keep in mind. Look, it’s not the halfway point of the season. A lot of people say they’ll probably say tonight, well, we’re at the midway point. Well we’re not. They’ve already played more than 81 games, which is technically the midway point in the season.

So most teams are about 95 to 97 games played so far. So they’ve got 62 to 65 games or so 67 for the Braves left in the regular season. So they’re still a little over a third of the season left to go. So there’s still time for teams that have not been playing well to play well. So like the Braves who since June the 9th, they have not been very good at all, can turn it on again when they start back up on Friday.

And teams that have been even worse than Atlanta, who are not in first place, can catch fire and make a run for a playoff berth. And that is still possible for many of the teams that right now trail in the National League standings in the American League. It’s been really Tampa Bay. That’s been the main story in the American League.

They lead the American League East by three games over the Yankees. Then you’ve got the White Sox and Cleveland that are tied for the top spot in the American League Central Division. There are six and a half games back of Tampa Bay for the best record in the American League. Then Texas leads the Western Division by a game over eight and a half over Seattle.

So a lot of bunched up teams and the American League as well. You could say, well, the Dodgers, with all that money, with all that talent, with all that payroll, they’re a good bet for the World Series. But look, you never know in baseball. Just think, five years ago, we never could have imagined that the Braves, who were struggling at the time and had just lost Ronald Acuna to an injury in Miami, would go on a run starting in the second week of August and go on to win the World Series.

So things can happen in the second part of the season. But we got to get through the All-Star game tonight first in Philadelphia.