The postseason will be here before we know it. We’ve seen what the teams and players are capable of in the first half but the second half has more to offer.
The final months of the regular season is filled with interesting storylines including: Miguel Cabrera’s chase for another Triple Crown; Chris Davis’ home run record assault; the fate of the Pittsburgh Pirates and more.
Here are five bold predictions to look out for:
(*All stats are accurate as of July 25, 2013)
Miguel Cabrera Wins Back-to-Back Triple Crown
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Last season, Cabrera accomplished something that hasn’t been done since 1967 – win the Triple Crown. And it looks like Cabrera has no plans of waiting another Halley’s Comet flyby before baseball fans get to see another player to do it. In fact, the reigning American League MVP is aiming to be the first player since the invention of baseball to win the Triple Crown in consecutive fashion.
He currently leads the AL in Batting Average (.358) and is in second place in Home Runs (30) and RBIs (96). He maybe seven homers short of Chris Davis’ 37 but hey seven isn’t a stretch by Cabrera’s standards.
We’re saying this despite full awareness that Cabrera was forced to miss games after the All-Star break due to injury. He’ll be back for sure. If anything, it only made this prediction bolder.
Chris Davis Will Come Up Short in His Chase of Roger Maris’ Record
Davis is an imposing brute on the plate. After setting a break-neck pace of hitting 37 homers during the first half of the season, the number of people who thinks he will break Maris’ record of 61 homers grows by the number each day. There’s a reason to believe so. But there is also another reason not to be all too hyped up. See, he’s human too. Plus, the competitiveness of the second half will be a bar higher. And since the Baltimore Orioles are among the top contenders playing in arguably the toughest division in the majors, expect opposing pitchers to pitch around him more frequently.
No Cy Young Award for Max Scherzer
Scherzer is 14-1 as of this writing and is second in the league with 157 strikeouts. However, that doesn’t guarantee him a Cy Young Award. Not with the likes of Felix Hernandez and Bartolo Colon hot on his tail. Plus Yu Darvish is back from injury. Speaking of injury, who knows if Scherzer’s arm suddenly falls off?
Manny Ramirez Returns to the Majors as a Ranger
The story of Ramirez’s return to the majors could be something from of a stand-up comic’s material. But it is not. And the possibility of a return to the big league is real. The Rangers maybe acting like a team under desperate circumstances even if they’re not but they’re doing measures to avoid arriving in that kind of situation. After acquiring Matt Garza, which addresses their problem in the pitching rotation, the Rangers would like to have an extra bat. Lance Berkman is most likely out for the rest of the season and having Ramirez in their minor league system could be a convenient solution.
Pittsburgh Pirates Will Get Its First Winning Record in 21 Years but Fails to Make Postseason
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For more than 20 years, the Pirates have been a rich source of despair by Pittsburgh citizens. You think they’ll just suddenly give their fans a reason to rejoice just because they’ve been hanging around at the top of the National League Central for most of the season? We’ve seen this before, more recently last year. And the Pirates have no way of making us believe that they’ll make the postseason for the first time since 1992. However, they’ll have a winning record for the first time since 1992 also!
