It's All-Star Break Around Major League Baseball

The All-Star Break is here as Major League Baseball takes off for the next few days as the best in the game gather in Washington, D.C. for the annual mid-summer classic.
Here at Heftyinfo the game of baseball isn't necessarily covered on a regular basis, but the game is well respected as evidenced each year with the MLB predictions prior to the start of the season and once again when the post-season rolls around in October.
The picks this year have been hit and miss as far as accuracy, but that happens pretty regularly when it comes to making prognostications about sports.
For a brief breakdown around the major leagues, the following offers some insight to how things have gone so far in this baseball season and what to possibly expect at the end of the season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE 

In the East Division, it's been all about the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees in 2018, as they are dominating. The Tampa Bay Rays have been a real pleasant surprise to this point and are a dark horse for the second wild card spot. Toronto is playing as expected to this point and the Baltimore Orioles have been a complete disaster in 2018 after contending for the last five or six years.
The Central Division has been pretty bad this year. The Cleveland Indians are running away with the division with a so-so record at the break.
The West has three solid teams with the defending World Series champion Houston Astros leading the way. The Seattle Mariners have been playing out of their minds so far and the Oakland A's have been one of the hottest teams in the game for the past month to get them into contention for the post-season.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves are leading the way in the East Division so far with the Washington Nationals (huge favorites to win the NL East again) lagging behind to this point. The New York Mets and Miami Marlins are just playing it out for the rest of the regular season.
In the Central Division, the Chicago Cubs are getting it rolling with the best record in the senior circuit at the All Star break. The Milwaukee Brewers might be getting a sense of deja vu as they have slumped badly going into the break and have fallen into second place after enjoying a strong start. The St. Louis Cardinals hope to shake things up after firing their manager this weekend and still have an outside shot for a wild card spot. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds will be playing the spoiler roles.
Out in the National League West, it's a free for all as four teams are battling it out for the crown the Los Angeles Dodgers have won for the past five years. The Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks are neck and neck so far while the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies are within shouting distance with plenty of baseball left to be played. San Diego is just playing out the string for the remainder of this season.

The original pick for the World Series was the Houston Astros beating the Los Angeles Dodgers once again and that might still happen. However, the Chicago Cubs have served noticed they are the team to beat in the National League with the best record to this point.
Over in the American League, the Astros will face stiff challenges from the Yankees and Red Sox and possibly the Indians when the playoffs begin. 
Anything can happen and that will likely prove to be the case once again in the next two and a half months of the remaining 2018 season.

For now, let's enjoy the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Washington, D.C. and then move on to see what unfolds in the next three months.


See you in October . . .