As the MLB nears its all star break I wanted to make some second half predictions of who is going to remain red hot, who is going to remain the same, and who is going to cool down. I also will be pointing out who I believe is going to win their divisions. I also will be rewarding NL and AL MVP and NL and AL CY Young awards. 

Starting with the National League we have the Los Angeles Dodgers leading with a 54-29 record 2 games in front of the 2nd place New York Mets. I definitely see the Dodgers winning the NL West, as they are 6 games in front of the 2nd place San Diego Padres and 12 and a half games in front of the third game San Francisco Giants.  I do not know what happened with San Francisco after being neck and neck with the Dodgers last year with a record of 107-55 then they lost Kris Bryant and they fell off the face. Lets see if they can have a bounce back in the second half of the year. 

The NL Central I believe is going to the St. Louis Cardinals, I know they are 3 and a halfback of the Milwaukee Brewers right now. I do not see the Brewers maintaining this lead. Although the Cardinals have gone 2-8 in their last 10 they have Paul Goldschmidt who has been tearing it up during the first half with a .340 Batting Average. I do not trust the Brewers to maintain this lead because of their lack of hitting. I like the Cardinals roster a lot better than the Brewers. The Cardinals have Nolan Arenado, Goldschmidt, Tommy Edman, Yadier Molina, Dylan Carlson, Albert Puljos and Brendan Donovan. It should be an interesting race between the Cardinals and the Brewers during the second half. And I am very excited to watch the young Pirates play in the 2nd half of the year and maybe they will surprise some people and reach a .500 record. 

In the NL East, I believe the defending World Series Champions Atlanta Braves will surpass the Mets and win the division. The Braves are only 2 and a half games back on the Mets. The Mets have many injuries and the Braves are fully healthy.   The Braves have a good lineup too, especially with Ronald Acuna JR returning. I am a Mets fan and I am used to them blowing leads. The Mets are having a great first half of the year but I definitely see a cool down coming in the second half. Not sure if you watch the Mets game but on Tuesday night Max Scherez made his return after being out for six weeks. Scherez pitched incredibly with six innings, 2 hits, and 11 strikeouts. The Mets put up zero on the scoreboard and they lost the game 1-0 to the Reds. The Mets are a fun team to watch but this game was very disappointing watching your ace go out and throw a gem and you can’t give him any run support. I am just preparing Mets fans to disappoint again. I also think the Phillies might give Atlanta and New York a run for their money. They are only 7 and a half out first place. I know this may seem tricky with defending NL MVP Bryce Harper out for the rest of the season but it might be possible. They are 7-3 in the last 10 games. They have 10 more series against divisional teams with 11 games against the Braves and 7 games against the Mets. This is doable. I would love to see the Phillies make a push. 

Lastly I would like to name my NL MVP and my NL CY Young. I think the NL MVP is pretty obvious going to Paul Goldschmidt. Hitting .340 Batting Average, 19 Home Runs, 1.032 OPS 61 runs, 65 RBIs. He is on track to have 130 RBIs and 122 runs.  My runner up for NL MVP is Manny Machado and Pete Alonso. Manny Machado is batting .315 average, 50 RBIs, .932 OPS, 51 runs, and 14 Home Runs. He is on track to have 100 RBis and if he keeps that OPS up we might just see him in the MVP talk later on in the season. My man Pete Alonso is my other runner up, he is batting .273 average, .886 OPS, 23 Home Runs, 70 RBIs, and 47 runs. He is on track to do 140 RBIs, and I love this batting average and his OPS. I hope these players will continue to produce in the second half of the season. And finally I have my pick for NL CY Young. I think the NL CY young is pretty obvious too. I am rewarding it to Tony Gonsolin, who has an 11-0 record and a 1.61 Earned Run Average and a whip under 1. Two runner ups that I would like to mention are Joe Musgrove, who has an 8-2 record with 2.09 Earned Run Average and also has a whip under 1. My 2nd runner up is Sandy Alcantara who has a 9-3 record with a 1.82 Earned Run Average, and another whip under 1. 

The American League is pretty much dominated by two teams, the New York Yankees who are on track to win 120 games. The Yankees are 5 and a half games up on the 2nd place Houston Astros. The Yankees have a record of 61-24 and they have a +182 run differential. I do not see the Yankees slowing down in the second half. They have an incredible pitching staff, with Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Jameson Taillon, Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery. They have a red hot lineup with Josh Donaldson, Aaron Judge, and DJ LeMahieu. The Yankees are definitely winning the AL East being 15 games up on the 2nd place Boston Red Sox and 15 and a half up on the 3rd place Tampa Bay Rays. An incredible statistic that I found was: The Red Sox went 22-6 in June and only gained half a game of the Yankees in the division. It is literally impossible to stop this red hot lineup. 

Moving on to the AL Central the Minnesota Twins lead the division with 3 and half game lead of the Cleveland Guardians and a 5 game lead of the 3rd place Chicago White Sox. Despite the White Sox troubles in the first half of the season I think they should lock up the division by the end of the year. They have the pitching staff who needs to wake up, they have the hitting who also needs to wake up. They have Jose Aberu, Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, and Yoan Monchado. However the Twins have had a dominant first half to the year. Luis Arraez has been on a tear, with a .355 batting average and an .884 OPS, and .426 OBP. They have Bryon Buxton, Carlos Correa, Gio Urshela, Max Kepler. I certainly did not expect them to be in first place halfway through the season but they are the underdogs who managed to have a +49 run differential. The Guardians blew me away. After getting rid of many key players in the pitching staff, and the lineup and trying to rebuild around Shane Bieber and Jose Rameriz they have a .500 record. It should be interesting to see who pulls away toward the end of the season in september. My money is on the White Sox. 

Moving onto the AL West who is led by a dominant Houston Astros team. They have a 12 game lead on the 2nd place Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have been playing some great baseball this season with a record of 44-42 and going 9-1 in their last 10 games. I do not see the Mariners catching the red hot Astros. The Astros have a dominant pitching staff lead by CY Young candidate Justin Verlander. They also have a dominant batting lineup led by Yordan Alverez, another MVP candidate. Yordan Alverez is batting .306, has 26 home runs, 60 RBIs and 1.058 OPS and a .360 OBP. I would love to see the Mariners close that gap within 5 games but if we are being realistic the Astros will win their division again. 

My CY Young candidate for the American League is obviously Justin Verlander. With a close runner up being Shane McClanahan. Verlander has a 11-3 record with 2 ERA, and a whip under 1 and 98 strikeouts. Shane McClanahan has a 9-3 record with 1.73 ERA, 141 strikeouts, and also a whip under 1. Another honorable mention in the AL CY Young race is Alex Manoah, who has a 9-4 record with a 2.34 ERA, and a whip under 1. My AL MVP candidates are Rafael Devers, Aaron Judge, and Yordan Alverez. These three players each have a batting average over .280 and over 18 home runs plus an on base percentage above .350 and over 50 RBIs. These stats are incredible and all arrows point to the MVP talk. I think the MVP should be awarded to Yordan Alverez. Yordan Alverez is batting .306, has 26 home runs, 60 RBIs and 1.058 OPS and a .360 OBP. He is on track to hit 52 home runs, 120 RBIs and he has the highest OPS in the league.