Most Major League Baseball teams hit the midpoint of their schedules this weekend, which makes for as good a time as any to reflect on what has happened and what might the rest of the way. In the senior circuit, not only did interleague play result in another beating from the American League, but two of the teams expected to be powerhouses are are still stretching and yawning their ways out of the starter’s gate.

Projected powerhouses struggling to stay above .500
The Chicago Cubs and New York Mets are choking like Michael Vick’s dogs thus far. After watching crappy bullpens cost New York’s second favorite baseball team playoff runs the last two years, management opened the checkbook in bringing in Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz. K-Rod has saved 21 of 24. But Putz is on the DL, as are offensive fireplugs Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado, and the first season in the new Citi Field is approaching the midway point with the Mets hovering around .500 in the standings.

Horrible starts by Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto, and Carlos Marmol, injuries to Aramis Ramirez and several hothead personalities (Ryan Dempster, Milton Bradley, Carlos Zambrano, et al) more intent on beating Gatorade dispensers than opponents have contributed to the Cubs’ slow start. After adding Bradley and Kelly Gregg, among others, many expected the Cubs to challenge for the National League pennant. Instead, the Cubs are scraping to stay in the upper half of the NL Central.

The team sent Alberto Alburquerque (who?) to Colorado for utility player Jeff Baker (who?) earlier this week, but it’s going to take more than Baker – or butcher or candlestick maker for that matter – for this team to salvage its season.


Nobody running away in the Central and the East
While their seasons have gotten off to rocky starts, Mets and Cubs fans can take heart in the knowledge that nobody else in their respective divisions are running away either. The only team dominating its division at this point is Los Angeles. The Dodgers rode a strong performance by Juan Pierre who replaced Manny Ramirez while the slugger was on a performance-enhancing drug induced maternity-leave to a 7.5 game lead in the West.

The Mets are just a game behind Philadelphia and Florida, while Chicago is 2.5 behind Milwaukee and St. Louis.
Chasing the Dodgers, and perhaps the Wild Card, are San Francisco and Colorado, neither of whom was really expected to challenge for much this season. The Giants have gotten star-caliber pitching from Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson while riding the bat of Pablo Sandoval (Who?) to stay in the race, while the Rockies turned their season around when management axed Clint Hurdle.

Dodgers likely World Series rep
With Manny Ramirez coming back it’d be hard to see the Dodgers do anything but continue running away with the West. Aramis Ramirez will be coming back soon, as well, to give the Cubs a boost. And I’m not sold on St. Louis, Milwaukee and especially Cincinnati. So I’d say Lou Piniella’s crew still has a shot at making the playoffs.

I’m not sure about the Mets. They’re chasing the Phillies again and after the last two years it’s hard saying how mentally tough New York will be looking up at their rivals in the standings yet again. Ryan Howard is starting to catch fire for the Phillies, as well. He’s a second-half hitter to begin with, so the guess here is the Fightin’ Phills expand their lead and pull away.

If it seems like I’m discounting Florida, I apologize. They’re a talented bunch, but with that ownership group’s history, they’ll probably sell at the trade deadline anyway. If that guy was willing to put any money into his team they’d be contenders every year.

I like the Rockies and, if they do keep their current roster in tact, the Marlins to fight for the Wild Card. Both teams kind of have that feeling of being too young to realize they shouldn’t be fighting for a playoff berth. At the end of the day, however, it’s hard for me to believe anyone is going to best the Dodgers for the National League pennant.

Despite his douche-osity, Man-Ram has shown the ability in the past to carry a team on his back (see last year’s Dodgers) and he certainly has an incentive to do so again this year.