The first half of the Major League Baseball season is just about over. Players are getting ready to take a few days’ rest for the All-Star break, but before we get to that, let’s take a look at some surprises and updated odds in baseball in the first half.
Biggest surprises
1)Tampa Bay Rays (43-33, ML: $927). Even though they’ve lost three of their last 10 games, just to be second in the AL East is a major accomplishment with a limited payroll. WS Odds: +2200
2)Chicago White Sox (41-37, ML: $1082). This is a team that nobody expected to be in the playoff hunt, as their pitching staff has vastly outperformed expectations. WS Odds: +5500.
3)Milwaukee Brewers (48-29, ML: $805). Milwaukee is more than rookie ace Jacob Misirowski, but he’s as dominant a rookie pitcher as we’ve seen in a long time. Or at least since Paul Skenes. WS Odds: +1200.
4)Washington Nationals (41-39, ML: $1148). They don’t have the bullpen to go far, but the rebuild might finally be over. Having a young star like 6-6 James Wood, who has 20 homers already, doesn’t hurt. WS Odds: +35000.
5)St. Louis Cardinals (42-35, ML: $923). Jordan Walker (.290, .523 Slg, 18 HR, 58 RBI) leads a team that was 78-84 last season, but they never seem to rebuild. WS Odds: +15000.
Biggest disappointments
1)New York Mets (34-44, ML: $-1683). The Mets are usually in this category. Injuries are part of the problem, but they also let star 1B Pete Alonso go to Baltimore and replaced him with Jorge Polanco, who is hitting .179 and has missed most of the season due to injuries. WS Odds: +9000.
2)Baltimore Orioles (38-42, ML: $-484). The O’s are starting to come as of late, but few expected them to struggle this much, mainly due to the addition of Alonso. They could use another arm or two in the bullpen and rotation to make a playoff run.
3)Boston Red Sox (31-45, $-1654). Offense was expected to be offensive, and it lived down to expectations, ranking 29th in runs per game and in home runs. WS Odds: +15000.
4)Detroit Tigers (34-45, ML: $-1517). This has been a disastrous first half, and now the biggest question for Detroit is whether they trade superstar ace Tarik Skubal before the trade deadline. They aslo expected more from Framber Valdez, who signed a 3-year, $115 million deal. WS Odds: +7000.
5)San Francisco Giants (31-46, $-1105). The Giants are a mess and should be sellers at the trade deadline. They are stuck with a bad Rafael Devers contract, but they do have other tradeable commodities
(odds from DraftKings)
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