Binge Sports: 2015 MLB Season-Halfway Home
Welcome back to Binge Sports and our continuing coverage of the 2015 Major League Baseball season. Give or take a few games, we’re halfway through the grueling 162-game schedule. The All-Star break is about a week away, and I’ll have full coverage and a much bigger breakdown of the first half of the year in an all-new Binge SportsCast next week. But for now, let’s take a look at where things currently stand in each and every division and where we stand in the playoff picture. The season-long fan vote is still ongoing, and constantly changing, so don’t forget to once again chime in with your vote. And don’t worry if you’ve voted before; you can continue to vote throughout the season. Just don’t go all Kansas City Royals fan on me and punch the same ticket 35 times. We wouldn’t want a skewed vote now, would we? Because that seems to be going over so well. Let’s get started in the American League.
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
W L PCT. GB WCGB
New York 44 39 .530 —- ——–
Baltimore 43 41 .512 1.5 2.0
Toronto 44 42 .512 1.5 2.0
Tampa Bay 43 43 .500 2.5 3.0
Boston 40 45 .471 5.0 5.5
A month ago, the top and the bottom of this division were separated by 4.5 games. As it stands this morning, that’s only changed by a half game, which is pretty remarkable. The Yankees continue to play decent baseball and still lead the division, but from the standings from early June, second place is now in fourth, third place is now in second, and fourth place is now in third, and the Red Sox are still bringing up the rear. I’m guessing the flip-flopping will continue throughout the rest of the season with as many divisional games that these teams have left against one another.
In our last poll, the Yankees had 50% of the vote to win the AL East, but it looks as if you’re noticing some of the movement as well as every team now has some votes. The Yankees and Red Sox are tied at 30%, the Blue Jays are at 20%, and the Rays and Orioles both have 10%. This is the only division so far where every team has been included in the polls. Much like the division race, I’m sure this one will be tight to the very end.
[yop_poll id=”205″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL
W L PCT. GB WCGB
Kansas City 48 33 .593 —- ——–
Minnesota 45 39 .536 4.5 ——–
Detroit 42 41 .506 7.0 2.5
Cleveland 39 44 .470 10.0 5.5
Chicago 37 44 .457 11.0 6.5
The Royals continue to be very consistent. The last time we discussed MLB, their winning percentage was at .592. As you can see, they’re only a point higher this morning. But this time around, instead of being half a game behind Minnesota and leading the Wild Card race, they’ve got a 4.5 game lead and 22 All-Stars. Okay, maybe that’s not completely accurate, but they do have quite a few, even some that are actually deserving. The Twins dropped off a little bit in June, but they do still own the second wild card spot at the moment and continue to play good baseball.
As it stands now, some of you think that the Tigers are still going to make a run. They still lead the voting at 40% with the Royals sitting at 30%. I think a lot of you got caught up in the early Indians hype brought on by the Sports Illustrated cover as those early votes still make up the other 30%.
[yop_poll id=”206″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
W L PCT. GB WCGB
Houston 49 37 .570 —- ——–
Los Angeles 45 38 .542 2.5 +0.5
Texas 41 43 .488 7.0 4.0
Seattle 39 45 .464 9.0 6.0
Oakland 39 47 .453 10.0 7.0
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim North of San Diego South of Sacramento West of…you get the point. Forgive me, but even all of these years later, it’s still ridiculous. However, the Angels continue to close the gap on the young Houston Astros, gaining 2.5 games over the past month. With the Rangers dropping off some in recent weeks, I think the two teams at the top will continue to battle as we make our way towards October. The Angels have much more experience, so it will be interesting to see if the Astros’ talent can get them to the postseason.
You don’t seem to think so, at least as far as the division is concerned. After one month, 67% liked the Astros to win the West. Last month, it was 37.5%. Right now, they’re down to 25%. The big early voting for Seattle is still at 25%, but the Angels lead the way at 50%.
[yop_poll id=”207″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY
NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
W L PCT. GB WCGB
Washington 46 38 .548 —- ——–
New York 43 42 .506 3.5 4.0
Atlanta 42 42 .500 4.0 4.5
Miami 35 49 .417 11.0 11.5
Philadelphia 29 57 .337 18.0 18.5
The Mets are trying so hard to stay in this race, but injuries have really hurt this ball club. The Braves, as they were a month ago, sit at .500 and will try to stay in as well, but as predicted, the Nationals are still the favorites in this division. They’ve got good pitching, good hitting, and are built to make a deep run if they can stay healthy.
It seems you agree with me. One month in, the Nationals had 50% of your vote. Last month, they were up to 2/3. They now sit with 75% of the vote and I only see it going up from there.
[yop_poll id=”208″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL
W L PCT. GB WCGB
St. Louis 54 30 .643 —- ——–
Pittsburgh 49 34 .590 4.5 +3.0
Chicago 46 37 .554 7.5 ——–
Cincinnati 38 44 .463 15.0 7.5
Milwaukee 36 50 .419 19.0 11.5
Much like the American League, the Central is the best division in the National League. Not only are the St. Louis Cardinals the best team in all of baseball, but the second and third place teams are very solid as well. Just think about this for a moment. As of right now, the Pirates would lead four other divisons and would be only percentage points behind in the other. The third place Cubs would lead three others. These two teams will continue to chase the Cardinals, but I’m not sure if either can catch such a great team. But as it stands today, they would play each other in the wild-card round. I think at least one will take one of those two spots, but it wouldn’t surprise me if things stay the way they are now.
The Midwest vote is still very strong, but the 50/50 is gone. The Cardinals now have 62.5% and the Cubs have the other 37.5%. What’s the matter Pittsburgh, no faith?
[yop_poll id=”209″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST
W L PCT. GB WCGB
Los Angeles 47 38 .553 —- ——–
San Francisco 43 42 .506 4.0 4.0
Arizona 41 42 .494 5.0 5.0
San Diego 39 47 .453 8.5 8.5
Colorado 35 48 .422 11.0 11.0
I know the Diamondbacks are hovering right around .500, but I still believe this is a two team race for the NL West. The Padres have taken a big step back, so the Giants and the Dodgers will continue to battle. I still think the Dodgers are the favorite here with all of that talent, but it’s hard to completely bail out on a team that’s won three of the last five titles.
The Rockies are completely out of this race, but some early voting still got them 8.3% of the fan vote. The Giants are at 41.7%, but you agree that the Dodgers will win this division at 50%.
[yop_poll id=”210″ tr_id=””” show_results=”-1″]
IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY
There you have it for today. As I said earlier, I’ll be back next week with an all-new MLB version of the Binge SportsCast. I’m still working on locking down my guest co-host for the show, but it looks as if you don’t have to sit through another solo venture from me. But if you like that sort of thing, check out last week’s show HERE. Also recording late next week is an all-new wrestling show featuring Batch and myself. We’ve been away for a while now, so I’m sure we’ll have a lot to discuss. I’m also taking questions for both shows, so if you’ve got some baseball or wrestling questions you’d like answered, you can leave them below or follow me on Twitter @BingeSports and/or @THElukenorris. We’ll see you next time.