After games conclude this Sunday we will be at the mid point in the season. I think I have done a fairly good job in predicting how teams would be this year, of course there has been some surprises like Josh's team. I'm going to go through and do a team by team breakdown, and of course spend more time on mine. : ) Lets start from the top.
Kung Fu Pandas A
It is not a shock to see the Pandas a top the leaderboard. I thought going into the season he had the best team on paper, and I still think he arguably does, although I wouldn't trade my whole team for his. The most surprising thing to me about the Pandas is you can make an argument that 3 of his 4 top hitters have been disappointments this year. Prince Fielder .259, 26 RBI much lower then expected. Pablo Sandoval is only batting .282, and only has 6 HR, 27 RBI. Matt Kemp is hitting a measily .263, has whiffed 74 times and has been caught stealing almost half of the time. (10 SB, 9 CS) Just imagine what his team will be like in the 2nd half when these guys get going.
The success this year for Jamie has been in his next bunch of players. Robinson Cano in my opinion is the AL MVP and its not even close. Will he hit .372 for the season? Probably not, but even if he ends up at .330 30/100/100, that is damn good enough to crush all other 2b in the league. Adrian Beltre was another great grab who has been on fire so far. I doubt he continues at a .330 pace all year, but it is a contract year for him, so you never know. A couple of Rangers round out this list Michael Young & Elvis Andrus. Young isn't that flashy kind of guy, doesn't have a ton of power, but he is a hitter for sure and should be close to 100 runs & 100 rbi this year. Andrus has had a great 1st half as well with 19 SB & a respectable .286 AVG, but like Kemp he has been caught stealing a few times and they may put the brakes on him a little bit this summer.
Trades have always been one of the Panda's biggest strength, especially with the Baby Pandas CT Crush. Had to throw in at least one quick jab haha. I think the Greinke for McCutchen trade was genius especially in a league where losses come into play. I would have made the deal too if I were Josh considering the lack of pitching he had, but even better for Jamie. I always want to be on the end where I get a hitter as I value them more in this league.
Pitching wise, Jamie's team leads the league in ERA. Wainwright has been great and so has Gallardo. It will be interesting to see if he has enough down the stretch to win it. Gallardo had a pretty bad 2nd half last year after an all-star caliber 1st half.
The Pandas have no weakness pretty much, and the only way I see them falling out of first is if he gets hit with the injury bug, something he has yet to experience in this leagues short history.
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