Midway Through the Season

As we near the Fourth of July holiday, we're almost halfway through the major league baseball season.

And my predictions are looking a lot better than they did shortly before Memorial Day.

All three of the teams I picked to win the divisions of the National League are leading, but Los Angeles, with an 8–game lead, continues to look like the most likely team to be in the playoffs when October gets here. The other two, Philadelphia and St. Louis, lead their divisions by one game and ½ game, respectively.

In St. Louis' case, that's an improvement. Around Memorial Day, the Cardinals were in third place in their division.

If the season ended today, though, my wild card pick, the New York Mets, would not be in the playoffs. The wild card would go instead to the San Francisco Giants, who have a winning percentage of .542, which is .008 better than Milwaukee and .028 better than the Mets.

In the American League, things are improving. My pick to win the AL East, Boston, is leading and my wild card pick, New York, is leading in that chase (the Yankees trail the Red Sox by four games). My other two picks, Minnesota and Los Angeles, are currently second in their divisions. The Twins trail Detroit by 4½ games while the Angels trail the Texas Rangers by a mere ½ game.

The Twins have lost a little ground in the last month or so, but the Angels have closed the gap considerably and look poised to take control of the race, as I predicted they would.

You can see the current standings here.

Stay tuned.