MLB: After 50 Games Have the Playoffs Been Decided?

Now that the month of June has started and every team has played more then 50 games it’s time for a first third of the season review of my preseason MLB predictions.  An article was brought to my attention by my father in-law from the Wall Street Journal.  He had handed it to me in the middle of my wife and I moving over the weekend and now that article is among the missing.  I did get a chance to read through it before misplacing it though.  The gist of the article was that the first 50 games are more important then the games played in August and September.  The article claimed that most playoff races were won and basically the rest of the season is a wash.  If that is the case then there may be little hope for a couple of my predictions.

I hate when people use the old “If the playoffs started today…”  But in this case with the 50 games behind us it might be fun to see who would be in and who would be out.

The NL:                                               The AL:

East: Phillies                                          East: Yankees

Central: St. Louis                                  Central: Indians

West: Arizona                                       West: Texas

Wild Card: Florida                                Wild Card: Boston

Let’s review my preseason predictions and see how they stack up.

The NL:

My predictions were:  East, Phillies / Central, Brewers / West Giants and the Wild Card, Reds. 

Currently the Phillies are 34-22 with a 2 game lead in the East over semi-surprising Florida.  They have lived up to expectations and should stay on top of the division. 

The Brewers are second in the Central, sitting at 30-26, 2.5 games behind division leading St. Louis.  The Brewers are in the hunt. 

The Giants are currently second in the West behind the very surprising Diamondbacks.  The Giants are only a half game back and should win the division. 

My wild card was the Reds who are currently third in the Central behind St. Louis and Milwaukee, but they are only 4 games back.  If the playoffs were to start today the Reds would be 4^th in the wild card race.

The AL:

My predictions were: East, Red Sox / Central, Twins / West, Athletics and the Wild Card, White Sox.

The Red Sox stumble out to a very slow start but have rebounded and are currently second in the East 2 games back of the Yankees.  The AL East is a very tough division with only 6 games separating the Yankees at the top and the Orioles at the bottom.  It’s going to be tight race the entire season.

The Twins have had a very down season.  Not sure if anyone saw this coming or if I just completely missed the boat.  Currently the Twins are 17-37 at the bottom of the AL central, 16.5 games behind the Indians.  Chances are the Twins will stay at the bottom of the division, so this pick has been squashed. 

Oakland is also at the bottom of their division to date, but not nearly as bad as Minnesota.  The Athletics are 27-30 but only 3.5 games out of first place.  Still a chance here. 

The White Sox are currently third in the AL Central at 27-31.  If the playoffs were to start today the Sox (White ones not red) would be in 8^th place.  Seems as though there is still a chance for this one, but the White Sox are on the fence. 

Not bad for the first third of the season.  Only one prediction is considered dead with the Twins in the basement.  Still a lot of baseball yet to be played, even if the Wall Street Journal thinks the playoffs are already decided.