Slowly Approaching the halfway point of the MLB season

            It is now May 30^th; the Yankees have played 52 games so far this year and are currently in 2^nd place, one game behind the Boston Red Sox.  Here are some surprises so far this year.  The Toronto Blue Jays, after purchasing essentially the Marlins entire starting lineup of all stars are in last place in the AL east.  Many people, including myself thought Toronto was going to be the team to beat this year with their

offseason moves. 

Another surprise is the Los Angeles Dodgers are in last place in the NL west.  Matt Kemp has been struggling immensely at the plate along with some of the other players the Dodgers have.  Their manager, Don Mattingly has been under tough scrutiny lately as people try to look for a reason why the team is performing poorly.  It is not Mattingly’s fault, he is trying to put together a winning ball club on the field and his all stars are not performing like they have in the past.

One of the biggest questions many people have is how in the world are the New York Yankees not in last place in the AL east.  Their entire lineup has been decimated with injuries, and manager Joe Giradi has been calling up people from the AAA club to fill in for the newly open spots on the team.  The list of people on the DL would make for a nice starting lineup.  This is a list of people that include, Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Andy Pettitte, Mark Texiera, Alex Rodriguez, Kevin Youkilis, Francisco Cervelli, Eduardo Nunez, Michael Pineda, and Cesar Cabral. Manager Joe Girardi should be a frontrunner for manager of the year while dealing with all of his stars going down for one reason or another.  Sadly they just came off a sweep to the New York Mets, but could rebound this weekend playing against the Red Sox.

The Baltimore Orioles have proven this year that making the playoffs last year was no fluke. Currently they are 2.5 games behind the first place Boston Red Sox and .5 games back of the Yankees.  First baseman, Chris Davis has been unstoppable at the plate for the O’s and going stride for stride with 2012 triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera. Davis’ teammates, Manny Machado, Nate Mclouth, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones have all been batting above .300 making the Baltimore lineup a tough one for pitchers.

Will Matt Kemp and the Dodgers bounce back later this season for a playoff berth?  Will the Yankees continue to win games and be in contention for an AL east win, or will the Red Sox or Orioles take that away from them.  What do you think will be the end result to the 2013 MLB season?

Matthew Colan

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