The Best Part About Being Unemployed Right Now

Leading Off - Wow, so much good tennis and soccer over the last two days. And I picked three out of four of the victors correctly! I will say this though, I have spent entirely too much time in front of the TV this weekend and feel very lazy. Still, it was worth it.

Midseason Review - We have arrived at the halfway point in the baseball season. I forgot to do this last year due to all the NCP commotion, but this year I want to make sure I get my midseason baseball picks locked in for all the world to see.

NL East:
Preseason pick: Atlanta Braves
Current Leader: New York Mets
Notes: Braves in 3rd; trail by 13 games
Midseason pick: New York Mets

NL Central:
Preseason pick: St. Louis Cardinals
Current Leader: St. Louis Cardinals
Notes: Cardinals lead by 4 games
Midseason pick: St. Louis Cardinals

NL West:
Preseason pick: Los Angeles Dodgers
Current Leader: San Diego Padres
Notes: Dodgers in 2nd; trail by 2 games
Midseason pick: Los Angeles Dodgers

NL Wild Card:
Preseason pick: New York Mets
Current Leader: Los Angeles Dodgers
Notes: Mets lead NL East; Dodgers lead by 1.5 games
Midseason pick: San Diego Padres

AL East:
Preseason pick: New York Yankees
Current Leader: Boston Red Sox
Notes: Yankees in 2nd; trail by 3 games
Midseason pick: Boston Red Sox

AL Central:
Preseason pick: Chicago White Sox
Current Leader: Detroit Tigers
Notes: White Sox in 2nd; trail by 2 games
Midseason pick: Detroit Tigers

AL West:
Preseason pick: Oakland Athletics
Current Leader: Oakland Athletics / Texas Rangers
Notes: Athletics and Rangers are tied for division lead
Midseason pick: Oakland Athletics

AL Wild Card:
Preseason pick: Cleveland Indians
Current Leader: Chicago White Sox
Notes: Indians in 9th; trail by 16.5 games
Midseason pick: Chicago White Sox

What Do You Have To Say For Yourself? - Okay, I admit it. My preseason picks sucked. Technically speaking, if the playoffs started today, five of the eight teams going would be teams I picked. They’re just not all stacked the way I thought they’d be. One of my problems was that I stuck to conventional wisdom, that wisdom being to not pick against the Braves or the Yankees. Well, from the looks of things I don’t think either will make the postseason this year. I did have a feeling there would be a surprise team in the AL Central, I just thought it was going to be the Indians, who sadly are one of the worst teams in that league. But who could have foreseen the Tigers’ pitching being as good as it is?

I’m not going to wuss out on all my original picks. I’m going to stick with my preseason picks for the NL Central, AL West and AL West even though they’re all pretty close calls. The hardest one for me to pick here at the midseason point is the NL Wild Card. The NL doesn’t deserve to send four teams to the postseason. I’d rather see the Twins than any of the teams trying to get that fourth spot in the NL. The Twins, a team in third place in their own division, have a record that’s only a half-game worse than the second best team in the entire NL. That’s sad.

Interesting little side note: There was only one team over .500 in the NL West at the break last year (Padres, 6 games over). This year in that same division there’s only one team under .500 (D’Backs, 2 games under).

Sadly my Marlins will not be joining the postseason party this year barring a miracle. They’re currently ten games under .500, but I guess in the NL that’s still in contention. I will consider their season to be a success if the Marlins finish with a better record than the Braves. That’s never happened before; every year the Marlins have been in existence the Braves have won the division. Going into the break the Marlins are only a half-game behind the Braves. I like their chances for “success”.

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