1st Half Awards & 2nd Half Predictions

By Razor Sharp Sports

We have reached the unofficial halftime of the MLB season, the All-Star Break.  So lets take a look at what we have seen and what we expect to see in the future.  The Current division leaders are the Yankees, White Sox and Rangers in the American League and the Braves, Reds and Padres in the National League. We really don’t have a run away leader in any of the divisions with the Rangers holding the biggest lead at 4.5 games over the Angels.  The Yanks hold a 2 game lead on the Rays and the Red Sox are still in striking range at 5 games back.  The AL Central is as expected, a dogfight.  After the Twins held down the top spot for most of the first half, they were passed late by the White Sox and Tigers.  The White Sox lead by a half game over Detroit and Minnesota by 3.  Exactly what you would expect from a division that has had to be decided with a play-in game the past two years.  In the Senior Curcuit there have been plenty of surprises.  The Braves in the East hold a 4 game lead over the Mets and 4.5 game lead over the 2-time defending NL Champion Phillies.  In the Central, probably the biggest surpirse leader is the Cincinnati Reds.  They lead the Cardinals by just 2 games.  The NL West is the division that is open to anyone.  The shocking Padres lead the Rockies and Dodgers by 2 and the Giants by 4.  So with that being said, lets give away our first half awards.

Lets give out the major awards and they wont be easy. First we will start with the Rookies of the First Half. In the NL, it has to go to Gaby Sanchez of the Florida Marlins. Sanchez is batting .302 with 9 HRs and 38 RBIs. He leads over Pre-season favorite Jason Heyward of Atlanta. Heyward has been very good, but injuries have slowed him. Still he has hit 11 HRs and 45 RBIs. In the American League, a pair of Tigers are the top Rookies. Brennan Boesch leads the way batting a incredible .342 with 12 HRs and 49 RBIs. Right behind him is Austin Jackson. The Speedy Jackson is batting .300 and has scored 52 runs while swiping 14 bases. Next up is the 1st Half Cy Young. In the National League, is it very easy but very hard. Yep, I just said that. Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez has to be the top pitcher in a incredible field of candidates. Jimenez has already put up 15 wins and holds an ERA of 2.20. Still some would argue that Marlin Josh Johnson should take the top spot with his league leading ERA of 1.70 and WHIP of 0.96 along with a 9-3 record. Also lets give cudos to Roy Halladay in Philly, and Adam Wainwright in St Louis. In the American League, David Price gets my vote. The young Rays’ ace is 12-4 with a 2.42 ERA. A couple of Red Sox have put up nice numbers in Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. Cliff Lee also lived up to expectations in Seattle, but now we have to see how he does in Texas. So that leaves us with 1st Half MVPs. In the NL, I am going to give my hardware, again to Ubaldo Jimenez. His 15 wins have kept the injury-depleted Rockies in the hunt in the NL West and now that they are getting healthy could be the favorite to get to the playoffs. Right behind Jimenez is the LA Dodgers Andre Either. Either may have been the easy choice if a injury during batting practice didn’t take hime out for a while. Still Either is hitting .324 with 14 HRs and 54 RBIs. The American League is a real battle. I am going to give the award to Texas Rangers Big Hitter Josh Hamilton, barely over Detroits Miguel Cabrera. The reason, is the Rangers are leading their division. Numbers wise they are very similar. They are tied for the league lead in batting average at .346 and 2nd in homeruns with 22. Cabrera leads the majors in RBIs with 77 and Hamilton has 64. Both truly have a shot at the AL Triple Crown this year. I also have to give a shout out to Justin Morneau of the Twins who is hitting .345 with 18 HRs and 56 RBIs. So there are your first half awards, so what do I expect for the second half?

First lets take a look at the divisions and the playoffs. In the American League, things are wide open. In the AL East, you have to think the Yankees are the favorites, but the Rays and Red Sox may be the 2nd and 3rd best teams in all of the AL and no matter what happens only 2 of the 3 can make the playoffs. I do expect the wild card to come out of this division. Lets go with the Yankees to hang on for the division and the Red Sox to overtake the Rays to get the wildcard. In the Central, lets go with another play-in game to decide things on Monday after the regular season is done. I think the Twins recover and get back in the hunt and will take on the Tigers. Lets give the win to the Twins with their new stadium. Finally the easiest division, if you call this easy. I will go with the Rangers in the West. The acquisition of Cliff Lee will help the Rangers hold off the Angels. In the National League, I don’t see our current leaders hanging on. If any of them would, it would be the Braves in the East, but look for the Phillies to get healthy and make a run and my darkhorse from the beginning of the season, the NY Mets to stay tough. In the Central, I think the Cardinals have to many weapons, both hitting and throwing and will catch the upstart Reds. As I mentioned earlier, I think the Rockies will get it done in the West over the Padres, but I am not ready to throw out the Dodgers with Either, Manny and company. The Wild Card in the NL may be the wildest race of all. If the Dodgers don’t win the West, I think they will be your Wildcard.

So with that said, it is time to throw out the first pitch of the second half and see how things play out. With the races & the players we truly have a great 2nd half ahead of us. Speaking of second half, lets also hope the selections stay as hot here in the second half. We had a great start to the season here at Razor Sharp Sports and we look to continue that. Plus the Pre-Season Football is less than 1 month away. Make sure you check out our free pick each and every day at FreePlays.com and click on Razor Sharp Sports. Good Luck!