With the All-Star break now in the rear view mirror, things will begin to heat up for our country’s national pastime.
The trade deadline is on Friday, so expect there to be plenty to talk about heading into this weekend. Already, certain teams are beginning to make moves while others have thrown in the towel now that the game’s best players have come and gone for its AS festivities.
Let’s take a look at the first set of rankings for the second half of the season. As always, the number in parentheses is where the club was ranked two weeks ago.
1. St. Louis Cardinals (1)
2. Kansas City Royals (2) – With Johnny Cueto now in the rotation, the Royals may have just fixed their only weakness. Watch out, St. Louis.
3. Pittsburgh Pirates (6)
4. New York Yankees (5) – It seems like every time the rest of the AL East slumps, the Yankees pick it back up. If only New York could play well when the rest of the division regains its footing…
5. Los Angeles Angels (4)
6. Los Angeles Dodgers (3) – Is giving up what was once “the future” worth one good arm for half a season? We’ll find out this week.
7. Houston Astros (11)
8. San Francisco Giants (13)
9. Minnesota Twins (8) – It’s getting kind of late in the year for people to still be sleeping on a current Wild Card spot holder.
10. Washington Nationals (7)
11. Chicago Cubs (9)
12. Toronto Blue Jays (18) – The Blue Jays could end up being the trade deadline equivalent of that kid in high school who is too shy to ask any of his crushes out and ends up watching everyone around him pair off with someone else.
13. New York Mets (10)
14. Texas Rangers (20)
15. Baltimore Orioles (16)
16. San Diego Padres (24)
17. Detroit Tigers (14)
18. Tampa Bay Rays (12) – Tampa Bay may have been in position to make a trade deadline move two weeks ago. But now, the Rays are nothing but an afterthought in the carousel.
19. Atlanta Braves (17)
20. Arizona Diamondbacks (15) – Arizona is looking to make a move for Cole Hamels, which goes to show just how optimistic the NL West teams still are at this point.
21. Chicago White Sox (21)
22. Seattle Mariners (23) – Despite their disappointing season thus far, don’t count out these big spenders at the trade deadline. The thought of overpaying for a big name is kind of Seattle’s thing.
23. Cleveland Indians (19) – Recently, the Indians were swept in a four game series by the White Sox, relegating Cleveland to last place in the AL Central. It’s almost football season, right?
24. Oakland Athletics (25)
25. Cincinnati Reds (26)
26. Colorado Rockies (27)
27. Boston Red Sox (22)
28. Miami Marlins (28)
29. Milwaukee Brewers (29) – Aramis Ramirez is already gone and rumor has it that CarGo may end up in San Francisco. I’m pretty sure I saw a Milwaukee scout checking kids’ swings at a little league game last week.
30. Philadelphia Phillies (30)
