So we’ve hit the mid-season point and a lot has changed since the beginning, but the question is will this be how it ends. Both Chicago teams, Cubs and White Sox, stand alone in first place in their respective divisions. The Mets’ season has started just as disastrous as it ended last year and the Yankees, well they’re just hanging around waiting for a trade like always. But the big surprise of this season has to be the Twins and the Rays.

Big Surprises

For a team to lose the best pitcher in baseball and get nothing good in return to be 1.5 games back in their division is astounding. The Twins have played it very quietly this season and have made themselves into contenders in the American League. Their ten game win streak came to a close this past Saturday but they easily bounced back with a win over the Milwaukee Brewers. They have a solid, young team with one of the best closers in the game in Joe Nathan. Don’t be surprised if you see this Twin team in the running for the A.L. Wild Card or even the Central Division.

The biggest surprise of the season has the be the Tampa Bay Rays though. They have shocked the American League, putting up a 49-32 record at the mid-way point and have established themselves as a legitimate threat in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, the American League East. Throughout this season people have been calling it a fluke and that it’s just luck, but with half the season gone they are atop the A.L. East and have the players to catapult them into the franchise’s first post-season. They are also beginning to bring in bigger crowds and have been rumored to possibly bring in one of the game’s biggest stars in Ken Griffey. If the Rays can complete a trade for Griffey this team will have to be considered one of the best teams in baseball.

The Second City in First

Is this their year? The Chicago Cubs have finally fielded a team that may be able to get past the curse. But that’s what they think every year. This year is different though. The Cubs have one of baseball’s most potent all-around threat in Alfonso Soriano, and are led by a fiery coach who simply knows how to win in Lou Pinella. The Cubs have the best baseball team with a record of 49-33 and are playoff bound and possibly World Series bound. As for the other side of town, the White Sox have surprised some critics and stand atop a very difficult A.L. Central with a record of 46-35. Ozzie Guillen and his team have played great baseball in a division that was etched in stone by many writers that the Detroit Tigers would win. The White Sox have a powerful team that can score at any moment, and are possibly one trade away from having a team capable of making a significant impact down the stretch.

800 miles east of Chicago sits millions of disappointed New Yorkers. The Mets are crumbling again behind poor management, poor upper management, and poor play on the field. They’ve lost their manager in Willie Randolph in an absolute fiasco that ate up thousands of headlines, and the players such as Jose Reyes, and David Wright, have yet to prove they are as good as their paycheck. Speaking of overpaid, in the Bronx the Yankees are having yet again another unpredictable, chaotic season. New skipper, Joe Girardi hasn’t shown New York much with a 44-38 record sitting 5.5 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays. Injuries of Chien-Ming Wang, Jorge Posada, and M.V.P Alex Rodriguez have hampered the Bombers’ season and have yet to prove that they the best in the bigs as they should be. A trade is looming in New York that could make or break these Yanks but with the tumultuous season they’ve had so far, Bomber fans should consider themselves lucky to only be 5.5 games out.

So with that said I’ll give you the second half predictions with who I think will end up in the playoffs come the end of the regular season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST- Boston Red Sox

CENTRAL- Detroit Tigers

WEST- Anaheim Angels

WILD CARD- Tampa Bay Rays

NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST- Philadelphia Phillies

CENTRAL- Chicago Cubs

WEST- Los Angeles Dodgers

WILD CARD- St. Louis Cardinals

This season has been strange to say the least. After Memorial day the two teams with the highest payrolls, Yankees and Tigers were in last place in their division. Coincidentally, the two teams with the lowest payrolls, Marlins and the Rays, were in first place in their division. So, it only makes sense that someone makes this season even stranger and ends up at the end of the season with a .400 batting average. That someone could be Chipper Jones.

This is simply great for the game. In recent years we have been watching juiced up fools bash home runs over the fence over taking some of the games greats. Finally we don’t have a home run watch this season. We have a .400 watch. This is so refreshing because Chipper seems legit, (but, you never know) and could bring integrity back to this game. So, when does Chipper’s .400 watch begin to scroll below the screen when you’re watching ESPN? How about now. We hype up home run chases from the first swing that Barry Bonds, or Alex Rodriguez take. So why not hype up a pure hitter’s approach to one of the hardest things to do in baseball?

Chipper Jones is hitting .418 right now. 418!!!! Are you kidding me!! All this in the national league, a.k.a. a pitcher’s league. In the past 50 years there have only been three other players to be hitting as well as Chipper is past May 29th. Hank Aaron in 1959, Rod Carew in 1983, and Rico Carty in 1974. People, a .400 watch is extremely rare and we need to be paying attention. It comes about just as often as Haley’s Comet and we need to marvel at it.

I hate the Atlanta Braves just as much as the next guy. I don’t even like Chipper Jones that much to be honest with you. But, if with one amazing, hit filled, unique season this Brave that I hate can bring back respect to the game I love. I’m routing for you Chipper.