Signor Baseball's Midseason Update

Repeat after me, "the balls are not juiced, the balls are not juiced, the balls are not juiced."

Feel better?

Apparently the powers that be have decided that what the fans really want is a season long episode of Home Run Derby.

So, anyway, as we race past the halfway mark of the MLB season, let us pause to ask the eternal questions: where the hell are we and what the hell is going on?

In the AL, several surprises surprise us. Minnesota is much better than anyone expected, and if the Indians don't get their asses in gear, their reign in the Central will be over. The Yankees are also out performing expectations, especially considering that they've been without their best starter and their two top power hitters practically all year. I still expect Boston to make a race out of it, but like  Cleveland, they better do it soon. Tampa is also a surprise, and has a good shot at a Wild Card berth.

In the West, Seattle has been the biggest disappointment and Texas the biggest surprise. But Houston is still the class of this division, and the best the Rangers and maybe the A's can hope for is one of the Wild Cards. The Angels have the best player in baseball in Mike Trout, a future Hall-of-Famer in Albert Pujols, and that Japanese cat, Ohtani, who is very, very good. This makes them wonderfully entertaining for a dozen or so at bats every game, but isn't quite enough to make them contenders.

Over in the National League East, the Phillies aren't nearly as good as expected, but the Braves don't look strong enough to run away from them, so expect that race to go down to the last week of the season. The Nationals starting pitching is still very strong, but they seem stuck right around .500, which won't win them anything.

In the Central, the Cubs haven't been able to separate themselves from Milwaukee. In fact the entire division is bunched together, as they all take turns beating each other. This should give some measure of hope to fans of the Reds and Pirates and especially the Cardinals, who've spent the first half of the season muddling along. On paper, Chicago is still the class of this division, but until they start playing like it...

Out West it's all Dodgers. Colorado, San Diego and, quelle surprise, Arizona, have taken turns being second. But it is a very distant second...I guess the question to ask is whether L.A. is that good, or is everybody else that mediocre? I'm leaning toward the latter.

By the way, while I was writing this 10 guys you've never heard of hit 450 foot homers.