For much of the season, the Boston Red Sox looked like one of the worst teams we've seen in Boston in quite a while. They were a pitiful 14 games under as recently as June 24, when they were 32-46. At the time, they were on pace for 96 losses. They haven't lost 96 or more games since 1965.
Alex Cora was long gone. Contenders were already eyeing players like Sonny Gray and Aroldis Chapman with the trade deadline looming in just over a month.
Then the Red Sox swept the Yankees. In four games! Could it be proof of life? They dropped the series to the Nationals immediately thereafter, and the Yankees series looked more like a fluke. Now? The Red Sox followed two losses to the Nats with a nine-game winning streak to close the first half.
They've won 14 of 16 with a +34 run differential since June 24. They have climbed to within a half-game of a playoff spot despite still being two games under .500. That's just how wide open the American League is at present.
Take the Tigers, who went 6-22 in May. They've gone 22-14 since and are still within legitimate striking range of a playoff spot. They are 6 ½ games out in the AL Central, but just 3 ½ out of the final wild-card spot in the American League.
The Twins and Mariners are tied for the third wild-card spot right now at 48-49, neither looking like a playoff-caliber ballclub, at least not on a consistent basis.
Have the Astros looked the part? They're one and a half games out. How about the Orioles (2 back) or Blue Jays (2 ½)? To harness our inner Montgomery Brewster, the answer is "none of the above."
And yet, the American League gets six playoff teams into the postseason, no matter how mediocre they are. It's a sorry state of affairs right now, but that's where this size of a playoff field gets us sometimes.
The league as a whole is totally wide open, and one of those teams might well find itself in the World Series.
The bright side here for any of these contending teams, as evidenced by the Red Sox, is that just getting hot for two weeks could well be enough to get them to October.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Should there be concern over Shohei Ohtani's knee injury? He had to have it drained during the All-Star break. | -- | 61-36 |
| 2 |  | They're on pace to win 100 games. The franchise record for wins in a season is 97, set last season. The Golden Era of Brewers Baseball continues. | -- | 59-37 |
| 3 |  | He's been good all season, but 23-year-old Junior Caminero closed the first half with 13 home runs and an .861 slugging percentage in his last 19 games. | -- | 56-38 |
| 4 |  | The Cubs only have a worse record than four teams, but had just one All-Star in Pete Crow-Armstrong -- and he was the only one deserving. How many teams this high in the standings in mid-July only have one legitimately deserving All-Star? | 1 | 54-42 |
| 5 |  | Four straight wins to close the first half and it looks like the offense might've reawakened. | 5 | 54-42 |
| 6 |  | They still aren't all the way back, but 6-6 in July after falling apart in June is adequate and maybe the break will help. | 2 | 55-40 |
| 7 |  | I salute Philadelphia for one heck of an All-Star week. I especially applaud the crowd in the Home Run Derby semifinals and finals. | 1 | 54-43 |
| 8 |  | You know how some people peddle this "never trade with the Rays!" narrative because they win every deal? Ask the White Sox how Tristan Peters is working out. | 1 | 50-45 |
| 9 |  | Of the 30 MLB teams, the Guardians are tied for 28th in runs scored, 29th in average and 29th in OPS. And yet, they are in a virtual tie for first place. That's just what they do. | 3 | 51-46 |
| 10 |  | Getting swept heading into the All-Star break really put a damper on a great first half. What's worse is the Marlins have to open the second half in Milwaukee. | 3 | 52-45 |
| 11 |  | They've won six of eight and have even hit double digits in runs three times in that stretch. The playoff hopes are very real. | 2 | 50-47 |
| 12 |  | Jordan Walker's star continues to rise. That was quite a Home Run Derby run. He was the first Cardinals player ever to win the event. | 4 | 50-45 |
| 13 |  | They closed the first half by sweeping the Dodgers in Dodger Stadium. That's quite a close. | 5 | 49-47 |
| 14 |  | Jacob Latz played in parts of eight seasons in the minors -- and, remember, there was no minor-league season in 2020 -- before finally sticking full-time in the Rangers bullpen at age 28. Here at age 30, he's an All-Star. That's the good stuff. | 1 | 49-47 |
| 15 |  | You can't say enough about what Willson Contreras has meant to this offense. Also, I loved him embracing his villain status during the Home Run Derby. It was like a wrestler realizing on the fly he needed to play heel and adjusting without even the blink of an eye. | 10 | 46-48 |
| 16 |  | I was asked for my AL West prediction over the break on CBS Sports HQ and I'm sticking with the Mariners. Fortunately the division is bad enough that they remain right on the cusp. Regardless, if the ship is going down, I'm going down with it. | 5 | 48-49 |
| 17 |  | They grabbed Yoendrys Gómez from the Rays in early May and he's pitched to a 1.71 ERA in 30 appearances since, helping to settle the back end of the bullpen. | 1 | 48-49 |
| 18 |  | James Wood entered the break leading the National League in games, plate appearances, runs, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+ and total bases. That's all? C'mon, big man. Quit slacking. | 4 | 48-49 |
| 19 |  | Remember what we said about the Guardians' shoddy offense? The one team behind them in everything is the Padres. It's just an absolutely wretched offense. | 1 | 48-48 |
| 20 |  | Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish are tied for the MLB lead in losses with nine, yet the Orioles are right within range of a playoff spot. Again, it's quite a year for the AL, and not in a good way. | 2 | 46-51 |
| 21 |  | Yordan Alvarez entered the break leading the AL in hits, home runs, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+ and total bases. That's all? C'mon, big man. Quit slacking. | 4 | 47-51 |
| 22 |  | You can count on one hand the number of position players with a higher WAR than Kevin McGonigle, who was a high school Phillies fan in the stands for the World Series less than four years ago. Now he's played in an All-Star Game in the same ballpark. | 3 | 44-52 |
| 23 |  | Blue Jays pitchers to start the All-Star Game: Dave Steib (1983-84), David Wells (2000), Roy Halladay (2009) and Dylan Cease (2026). | 2 | 45-51 |
| 24 |  | In this day and age of starters not going overly deep into games and bullpens taking on a much heavier workload, win-loss record for individual pitchers has taken on less significance. Still, it looks damn impressive when Chase Burns is sitting here 11-1 on a sub-par team. That's good for a .917 winning percentage, which would make Reds history if he can keep it up. The only Reds pitchers to finish with at least 16 wins at even an 80% clip are Bob Purkey (23-5 in 1962) and Elmer Riddle (19-4 in 1941). | 1 | 43-52 |
| 25 |  | Rookies are going to be inconsistent most of the time, but things are really going well with Bryce Eldridge. If we lop off his first 15 games this season, he's hitting .305/.396/.532 in his last 39. | 3 | 41-55 |
| 26 |  | Carson Benge has 11 homers and 15 stolen bases. Mets rookie with 20-20 seasons: None. Can Benge pick up the pace on homers and get there? | -- | 40-57 |
| 27 |  | The A's have lost 17 of 20. Yet they are still technically close enough to the playoff race to be considered contenders at 6 ½ back. Things need to turn around very quickly, though. | 3 | 41-55 |
| 28 |  | We've been tracking this for a bit, but Hunter Goodman is now on pace to hit 45 home runs. The Rockies have never had a 50-homer guy. Can he pick up the pace and get there? | 1 | 39-59 |
| 29 |  | Mike Trout leading off the All-Star Game in Philly? YES! | -- | 38-59 |
| 30 |  | Five straight losses to close the break and the Royals are on pace to lose 98 games. They haven't lost that many since, well, it hasn't been that long. They lost 106 in 2023. | -- | 38-59 |
