A complicated picture has taken shape ahead of Major League Baseball’s All-Star break. No team has shown itself to be especially dominant in either the American League (AL) or National League (NL), which means that cruise control isn’t an option for the second half of the season.
Let’s examine five teams that will need to outperform their results from the first half of the season if they want to emerge as competitors in October.
New York Yankees (49-41, 2nd in AL East)
Aaron Judge is slashing a historic .360/.468/.734, however, he can’t keep the Yankees atop the AL by himself. New York went 13-14 in June and 3-7 in their last 10 games. The Bronx Bombers also lost control of first place in the AL East after the Toronto Blue Jays completed a four-game sweep of them during the first week of July.
While they stopped their losing streak with a win over the New York Mets on Sunday, avoiding another series sweep, the team must look ahead. If the Yankees are truly the best team in baseball, as general manager Aaron Boone believes, they’ll need to prove it by taking back the division.
St. Louis Cardinals (48-43, 3rd in NL Central)
The Cardinals were the surprise team of the early season, going 19-8 in May and showing their rebuild may be ahead of schedule. Since then, they lost 18 games but are just one and a half games back of the third NL wild-card spot.
St. Louis must come out of the gate hot after the All-Star break if they don’t want to be a seller at the trade deadline. If pitcher Sonny Gray can keep up his strong season, then there’s a chance St. Louis can end their three-year postseason drought.
New York Mets (52-39, 2nd in NL East)
Outfielder Juan Soto’s 10 home runs and .330 batting average in the last 30 games weren’t enough to stop the Mets from going 12-15 in June. Like the other New York team, the Mets are ready for an All-Star break reset.
Outfielder Brandon Nimmo led the rest of the lineup out of their slump by hitting two grand slams in four days. Injured right-hander Kodai Senga will return before the All-Star game alongside lefty Sean Manea. The Mets will need all their top talent to remain healthy and consistent to pace the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies. They can’t afford another month like June.
Texas Rangers (44-47, 4th in AL West)
The Rangers are within striking distance of the third AL wild-card spot. With right-hander Jacob deGrom (9-2) in vintage form, posting a 2.29 ERA, the Rangers have an ace to anchor them. Their pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.27 — the best in baseball.
Their offense is the opposite. The team has the third-worst batting average in MLB (.228) and has recorded 331 RBI, the sixth-lowest in the league. No matter how good their pitching is, the Rangers must provide run support soon.
San Francisco Giants (50-42, 2nd in NL West)
The Giants’ offense started red hot, knocking in 113 RBI in April. Since then, they’ve leveled out and are six games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. If the season were to end today, they’d make the postseason, but there are still three months to go.
San Francisco seems to feel the urgency, with the team making a blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox for designated hitter Rafael Devers in June. While Devers has just three RBI in his past five games, the move shows the front office in SF believes their team can compete. The Giants will need to prove that quickly after the All-Star break.
