AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION WINNERS & WILD CARDS
We start off in the East where neither of us even had the Yankees making the playoffs, let alone running away with baseball's most competitive division on paper by 14.5 fucking games. Colin and I both selected the Blue Jays and I even made the bold statement that if Toronto didn't win 95 games something would have had to have gone horribly awry. They're going to have to win 45 of their final 69 (nice) games to fulfill that prophecy which with the current state of the division doesn't seem very likely.
While the AL East was a complete misfire at the top, the AL Central is such a mess that our dual selection, Chicago, is just 3 games behind Minnesota feels like a misprint. There are so many doubleheaders in the Central that it feels like we are back in the 1950's again. Well, at least that is a fun reason why we feel like we're back in the 50's. Nevertheless, I'm not ready to call this a total wash yet as Minnesota and Cleveland could definitely find themselves on a bad run at any given moment.
The West is where our prediction roads diverged for the first time. I begrudgingly went with the Astros while Colin channeled his inner Papa Gino's demons and went with the Mariners. Houston is currently nine games up in the division but Seattle is on a historic winning streak entering the break and has quickly built one of the most balanced lineups in baseball in the process. I personally don't think the Astros will gag this one away but if it was going to be to anybody I wouldn't want it to be anybody but Seattle.
We knew going in that Colin's Wild Card picks were long shots at best. Having any faith in the Angels or Tigers is a dangerous game and picking his beloved Red Sox over the unkillable Rays didn't seem prudent. Alas, my selections almost mirror the current Wild Card standings with Tampa Bay in the driver's seat with Seattle close behind. The only bad thing on my end is that Boston, currently two games out of the final Wild Card spot, would have to knock our division pick, Toronto, out of the playoffs entirely to complete my triumvirate. Is that a fair trade? I'm not sure.
NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION WINNERS & WILD CARDS
We were both correct in the Central...by half a game. It is the Brewers and Cardinals and nobody else in this one and it will surely stay that way in the second half. Neither of us had the Cardinals in our playoff pictures, presumably out of spite, so if Milwaukee doesn't get through our Wild Card predictions will suffer as well.
The Dodgers were probably the easiest division winner to predict heading into the season despite the rampant noise coming from the fan bases in both San Diego and San Francisco. Neither team is within single digits of the Dodgers heading into the All-Star Game in their home park and with some incredibly wild trade rumors swirling (you have Google) the gap could widen even more after the Trade Deadline. We'll see.
None of our current Wild Card selections are more than half a game out of contention. As it stands we each would have two teams in from our three. Colin has San Diego and Philadelphia with San Francisco being that half game out. Replace Philadelphia with the current NL East leading Mets and you have my trio. While I believe the AL Wild Card race will thin out substantially by the start of September, the NL's will probably go to the final days, if not FINAL day, of the season.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
In the NL, quite a bit could be said to make us feel intellectually inferior. Jorge Soler isn't even in the conversation to win the Marlins team MVP let alone the league's honor. His .209 batting average is second-lowest among regular Miami starters and his .706 OPS is the lowest of his MLB career. Mookie Betts may be an All-Star starter but like Guerrero isn't even the top MVP candidate on his own team. He leads the team in home runs (20) but a couple spells on the sidelines has allowed Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman to inch past him in terms of Dodger candidacy. It would truly take a Herculean effort from either of these two men in the second half to surpass Paul Goldschmidt, Austin Riley, or the aforementioned pair of Turner and Freeman.
CY YOUNG
Colin knew the risks with selecting Jacob deGrom and I'll say it again that squelched bet karma can be a bitch. The Mets righty's lone work this season has come in Single-A rehab starts ruining the lives of 11 teenagers over 2 starts (4 2/3 innings). At least Max Fried is paying dividends on my laziness in rehashing his selection from last year. He is currently sitting at 10-3 with a 2.64 ERA and 109 strikeouts to 22 walks. He probably won't pass Miami's Sandy Alcantara, Los Angeles' Tony Gonsolin, or Milwaukee's Corbin Burnes unless any of them completely tank in the second half. But given some of the histories of those three, that isn't out of the realm of possibility.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Bobby Witt Jr. has been one of the bright parts of another dreary season in Kansas City. He leads the AL in triples and is fifth in stolen bases. But while those accomplishments are impressive for the 2019 2nd overall pick, they are currently second-best to Seattle's Julio Rodriguez. An All-Star selection, an .814 OPS (best among AL rookies), 16 HR & 52 RBI (best among all rookies), and 21 stolen bases (2nd best in AL) is one hell of a debut first half if you ask me. Realistically only Houston's Jeremy Pena could pip either of these men come season's end.
In the NL, woof. Colin's pick Max Meyer was battered in his Major League debut for five earned in 5 1/3 innings taking the L in an eventual 10-0 loss to the Phillies. You would have thought that my pick Cade Cavalli would have been in line for a similarly timed debut for Washington given that they are 32 games under .500 but alas that time hasn't come. Despite some recent success (3-0, 2.31 ERA since 5/22) he left his most recent Triple-A start with a finger issue and is sitting on a 4-3 overall record and a 4.31 ERA in Triple-A for the season. The NL ROY is a wide open race at the moment but it'll probably end up being either Atlanta's Michael Harris II or Chicago's Seiya Suzuki on their current trajectories.
So that's that! Let us know on Twitter (@BEWHYCE) and Facebook (Bleeding Your Colors) which of our picks were the best, worst, most likely to rebound, or most likely to crater in the second half!
Image Credits: Player Photos (Baseball Reference), Logos (Wikipedia)