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by Digger

2008 American League baseball has been full of surprises all season long. Tampa Bay earned their way onto highlight reels daily as baseball's stunner team of '08. Josh Hamilton has been the first half feel good story as Texas MVP candidate has torn up AL pitchers. His 28 homers display during All Star Home Run Derby will not be forgotten any time soon. Yankees baseball has been luke warm as they try to hang tough in third place. NL pennant contending teams created a buzz when CC Sabathia and Rich Harden were traded to Milwaukee and Chicago. Many New Yorkers are waiting for the Yankees to step up and fill holes.

AL EAST
Rays (58-40). When this season began most expected a two team race between Boston and New York. Tampa has been the divisions best team. If it wasn't for a recent slide right before the All Star break, Tampa would be more than 1.5 game leaders (heading into tonight's action). These kids are playing baseball the way it's meant to be played. 2nd half will prove to be challenging as most 1st half games were played at home. Champs must prove they can win on the road... Tampa gets their chance now. Offensively, a big power threat acquired via trade is probably needed. Barry Bonds could have been an interesting fit here as full time DH. Other thoughts could be to grab Atlanta's 1B Mark Teixeira, Pittsburgh's Xavier Nady, Reds' Griffey Jr. Another starter or big time reliever will fill depth voids. Tampa seems to be for real. Tampa's fate lies squarely on a young pitching staff.

Red Sox (58-43). No fan in Boston or New York would have guessed the Champs to be trailing Tampa Bay this late in '08. Francona has done a great job with a team battling injuries most of the year. They're sitting pretty with David Ortiz tearing it up on rehab assignment. I'm a bit surprised they haven't been a front runner in trade derby talk. All they need is a first class starting pitcher or Fuentes type reliever for an instant upgrade. This team is very deep and will win AL EAST.

Yankees (54-45). Yankees GM Brian Cashman gambled with an ill-advised plan of starting two unproven future talents in the rotation. They never won a game between them and both are disabled. Johann Santana should have been off season priority #1. In-season priority #1 should have been trading for CC Sabathia. They didn't and now he's a Brewer. Cashman has been reluctant to make any trades and if the Yanks are to contend they need help. Posada and Matsui are finished for '08. Relievers are pitching better but another arm should be had... Fuentes is the perfect candidate to replace Joba as Mariano's setup guy. Starting pitching needed... quickly. LF/CF or DH help too. Sexson was a gamble but worth every penny of the major league minimum. Yanks have begun to wake up a bit lately after spending most of the season trying to stay above .500... if they solidify pitching look for this team to take off and challenge for division / wild card.

Orioles (48-50), Blue Jays (48-51). Baltimore has played inspired baseball while hanging tough. They just don't have what it takes to challenge at this late stage and might sell off a couple of high priced contracts. Toronto is disappointed once again as injuries hurt this team coming out of the gate on consecutive seasons. Not sure which road these teams will take for remaining days... sell off, call up rookies? Probably both.

AL CENTRAL

White Sox (55-43). Interesting season for Guillen's White Sox. Big hitters Konerko and Thome haven't heated up yet. Pitchers a bit banged up. Batting averages tumbled. And here they are in first place playing tough baseball. Quentin has been the teams biggest surprise (24 HR, 72 RBI). Starting pitchers have been gritty but not dominating. Bullpen has been lights out all year and is Chicago's greatest strength. Once the hitters wake up, Chicago may never look back... all the way to the World Series.

Twins (55-44). Faces change season after season and this team keeps winning. Ron Gardenhire is a superb manager. No more Hunter, no more Santana... no problem. Young, energetic team will play their gutsy style to the end. '08 features one of the most competitive AL seasons in years. Minnesota probably will be one of the teams left out of post season play but no one should be surprised if they make it. They will stick to their guns and make no deals unless a serious injury pops up before the deadline.

Tigers (50-49). After many big off season acquisitions, Detroit was expected to roar from day one. 0-7 start was a Motor City lemon. It took them until game 80 to reach .500 for the first time. Which team will show up for the 2nd half? No deals will be coming down the pike unless Detroit goes after a bonified reliever/closer type. The lineup is finally showing signs of snapping out from inconsistency. Starting pitchers have been one game on, one game off. Not what champions are made of. They'll finish 2nd, ahead of Minnesota, but way off Chicago's pace.

Royals (45-55) and Indians (44-54) are done. I keep waiting for Kansas City to put together a Tampa or Florida type season... it never happens. KC has plenty of young talent from hitters to pitchers. They seem to have one really bad inning a few times a week which costs them ballgames. How about George Brett or one of the other winners from their 70's/80's teams come in to manage? As for Cleveland, they threw in the towel a long time ago and it shows. Trading away Cy Young winner CC sealed their fate for this season... and perhaps next too. Injuries to key hitters took them out of contention early.

AL WEST
Angels (60-39). Best record in baseball. Scioscia brought his NL style to AL West and it works. Many injuries have popped up but LA keeps rolling. They could use one more bat (DH/1B) and maybe a shut down reliever. Dunn, Bonds, Nady, Bay seem like good fits here. There isn't much work for the GM to do. Streaky team who can beat anyone but might not have enough juice to take on Boston or Chicago in a best of seven.

Rangers (52-48). Rangers have been playing solid baseball when most believed they would not. Josh Hamilton (.308, 28, 98), Milton Bradley (.306, 19 HR) and Ian Kinsler (.324, 134 hits) have led the way on offense. Hamilton's story has been well documented and he's still on fire as the 2nd half begins. Starting pitching is the biggest question mark. Very inconsistent year after year. There's hope in '08. If the rotation keeps games close... look out. Texas could be the 2008 version of the 2007 Rockies. Outside of Hamilton's heroics, no one seems to take this club seriously right now. It makes them all the more dangerous.

A's (51-48) and Mariners (38-61) have given up hope. Oakland reminded me of Chicago from a few years back... playing their hearts out to compete... then GM stuns players by selling off key players. Oakland traded Harden and Blanton, effectively removing themselves from playoff contention. Yes, they did receive great future talent so I won't rake Beane over the coals for this move. Seattle was baseball's biggest disappointment when so many anticipated a very competitive season. All moves went bust, vets playing sub-par, manager fired. Will they be sellers? Ichiro would fetch a slew of young future talent and could be worth trading.

Forecast: AL's biggest battle for post season play ever. Nine teams within ten games of each other. Boston, Chicago and LA seem like division winners to me. Wild Card is purely a guessing game with so many teams battling. Yankees? Tampa? Texas? Detroit? We'll find out soon enough.