If you're not into baseball trivia, you should stop reading immediately. I said this last year and the year before and everybody (or nobody?) listened.
Major League Baseball's All-Star Game will be played in Cincinnati at Great American Ballpark tomorrow, July 14th. The All-Star Break has been considered by many to signify the midpoint of the baseball season. Today's NY Times included a "Baseball Intermission Report, assessing the best and worst of baseball at the midway point of the season". Actually, the teams finished the first half of the schedule this year between July 1st, when the Houston Astros and the Oakland A's played their 81st game, and July 7th when the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox became the last of the 30 teams to complete 81.
Due to scheduling and rainouts, there is obviously no single date upon which every team plays its 81st game. What follows is each team's record after 81 games displayed as standings for all the major league divisions. The standings below reflect a standings that never actually existed on any one day. It's just a way for me to see at the end of the regular season schedule on October 4th how each team performed in each half of the 162 game season. This is extreme baseball trivia to be engaged in only by retirees and others with an excessive amount of time on their hands.
AL East:
New York Yankees 44 - 37 (7/4)
Toronto Blue Jays 42 - 39 (7/2)
Baltimore Orioles 42 - 39 (7/4)
Tampa Bay Rays 42 - 39 (7/2)
Boston Red Sox 37 - 44 (7/2)
AL Central:
Kansas City Royals 48 - 33 (7/7)
Minnesota Twins 43 - 38 (7/4)
Detroit Tigers 41 - 40 (7/5)
Cleveland Indians 38 - 43 (7/5)
Chicago White Sox 37 - 44 (7/7)
AL West:
Houston Astros 47 - 34 (7/1)
Los Angeles Angels 43 - 38 (7/4)
Texas Rangers 41 - 40 (7/3)
Seattle Mariners 37 - 44 (7/4)
Oakland A's 36 - 45 (7/1)
NL East:
Washington Nationals 45 - 36 (7/4)
New York Mets 41 - 40 (7/3)
Atlanta Braves 40 - 41 (7/4)
Miami Marlins 35 - 46 (7/3)
Philadelphia Phillies 27 - 54 (7/2)
NL Central:
St. Louis Cardinals 53 - 28 (7/5)
Pittsburgh Pirates 47 - 34 (7/5)
Chicago Cubs 44 - 37 (7/6)
Cincinnati Reds 37 - 44 (7/6)
Milwaukee Brewers 33 - 48 (7/2)
NL West:
Los Angeles Dodgers 45 - 36 (7/3)
San Francisco Giants 42 - 39 (7/3)
Arizona Diamondbacks 40 - 41 (7/4)
San Diego Padres 38 - 43 (7/2)
Colorado Rockies 34 - 47 (7/4)
When looking back on a season, I've heard commentators say, for example, that a player had 25 HR's at the All-Star break but his second half production dropped off so he finished with only 38. If he had kept up his first half pace he would have had well over 40 HR's. If the diminished production wasn't due to an injury, they may trot out the old explanations that the dog days of August or the pressure of the pennant race got to him.
Let's take a closer look. As noted above, 2 teams played their 81st game on July 1st. Five teams including Tampa Bay, Toronto, Houston, Oakland and Philadelphia have played 91 games at the break for the All-Star Game. As a result, they play only 71 games after the break. (Last year the Dodgers played 97 games before the All-Star break.) It's tough to match your 1st half production in the 2nd half when you're playing about 20 fewer games! The teams that have played the fewest games so far, the White Sox, Royals and Reds, have played 86 so 76 games remain on their schedules.
If you're still with me, you can stop reading now if you're not a Yankee fan. The Yankee team leaders after 81 games:
HR's - Teixeira - 20
RBI's - Teixeira - 59
Avg. - Gardner - .299
OBP - Rodriguez - .388
Hits - Gardner - 87
Runs - Gardner - 60
Dbls - Gardner - 21
Tpls - Gardner - 3
SB's - Gardner - 15
Walks - Teixeira & Rodriguez - 43
Pitching:
Wins - Pineda & Eovaldi - 8
Saves - Miller 17, Betances 7
ERA (Starters) Warren - 3.52, Pineda - 3.79
ERA (Relievers) Miller - 1.03, Betances 1.50
Innings (starters) Pineda - 99 (K's - 105)
Innings (relievers) Betances - 42 (K's - 68)
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