MLB at Mid-Season

Right now in the American League your playoff teams are the Rangers, Indians, Orioles with the Red Sox and Blue Jays playing in. The only teams that can be comfortably written off for the year are the Twins, Rays, Angels and A's. That leaves the Astros, Tigers, Royals, White Sox, Mariners and Yankees fighting for the scraps. 

I think the Rangers are for real and have less competition in the West, I'll take them to finish 1st overall. I like the Indians but the Royals and Tigers are both still solid teams; I'll take the Royals to win the Central and the Indians to take one of the wild card spots. In the East, I feel like the Blue Jays still have their best baseball ahead of them whereas the Orioles have probably already peaked this year. The Red Sox will make moves and hang around but I don't think they're really any better than the Indians. 

Right now playoff projections: Indians over Red Sox in the play-in; Rangers over Indians, Blue Jays over Royals. Blue Jays over Rangers. 

I've watched less National League but my sense is that the Cubs are not the greatest teams of all time, just one of the greatest teams of this year. And the Nats have finally put something together (player manager is making all the difference, I'm thinking) after years of frustrating close-ness. Right now your playoff teams are Giants, Cubs, Nats with Dodgers-Mets in the play-in. There are a number of teams we can rule out: Braves, Reds, D-Backs, Padres, Brewers (fire sale on its way), Rockies, Phillies. The Pirates have disappointed so far but I think they've already played the toughest part of their schedule, I like them to make a 2nd half push. Also I think the Cardinals and Dodgers flounder.

I'll take Pirates over Mets in the play-in; Cubs over Pirates, Nats over Giants. Cubs over Nats.

I forgot to do a pre-season MLB projection but I'm pretty sure I would've taken the Cubs over Blue Jays in the World Series, so I'll go ahead and stick with that. The Cubs are young but they've got as much talent as any team I can think of for the least few years, the pitching is solid, the coach is a badass, the depth is amazing at every position, the Cubs are the best team. In baseball that doesn't always translate to winning but I think once the Cubs really get rolling, there will be an unstoppable groundswell to propel them forward. And the Blue Jays are ripe to play the villain, should make for a great Series!