Three quarters of the way through this season of Major League Baseball has brought plenty of surprises and disappointments as well. Among them the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals, who many thought would be neck and neck fighting each other for the NL East crown and boy was I and many of the experts wrong. Despite a close 3-2 Braves victory last night over the Nationals at home, the race has been nowhere close since the All-Star break when Atlanta had a six game lead that they have nearly doubled to 15 1/2 and been running away with since.
Meanwhile the Nationals have been one of the biggest disappointments by barely scratching the .500 mark and barely holding on to fight for an NL wild-card spot right now. This for a team many predicted to win the World Series. While the Nationals continue to struggle, the Pittsburgh Pirates continue to be the biggest surprise in baseball and with their 72-49 record have even overtaken the St. Louis Cardinals by three games in the NL Central. Proving that barring any major collapse they will not only make their first playoff appearance since 1992, but capture their first ever NL Central division crown. The Boston Red Sox despite losing three in a row and getting crushed by their longtime hated rival New York Yankees 10-3 last night have continued to be the other surprise team of the year by going 72-52 for a one game lead in the AL East over the Tampa Bay Rays.
The rest of the division races are pretty much the same as what they where at the All-Star break except for the Detroit Tigers taking a bigger lead over the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central and the Los Angeles Dodgers taking the NL West lead from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The AL wild-card race is looking like it will go down to the wire as well with only three and a half games separating the Rays, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and the Indians.
All the playoff races and Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera with his .358 batting average, 38 homers and 115 RBIs trying to capture his second straight triple crown that Orioles slugger Chris Davis with his 44 homers is preventing from happening makes for plenty of excitement and good baseball in the final month and a half of the regular season.