National League All Star Break Review
The National League threw up a serious shock when beating the American League in the All Star Game and, as such, the National League will have home field advantage in the World Series. This is a significant advantage as 21 of the last 26 teams with home field advantage have won the World Series.
The National League East: This really is a crazy division. I am still trying to figure out how the Phillies who have pitching talent like Halladay and Lee have only won 38 out of 89 games; it just doesn’t make any sense that they are only 11th in the league in pitching ERA. That aside you can’t take anything away from the Nationals who are leading the division by three games and with a team ERA of 3.2 which is first in the MLB. I can say that they have a really good chance to be there at the end of the year, they are still 8/11 to win the division and even though this price seems short it might still be a valuable bet. Atlanta is the real danger just three games back and on a really good run having won 6 games straight.
The National League Central: The Reds and the Pirates are tied for the lead at the top of this division and the Cardinals are just 3 and a half games back. It’s close between the top three and it is a very difficult division to call but preference might be for the Pirates who have great pitching and are still 7/2 for the division. The Brewers are 8 games back and are 25/1 for the div but they can’t be ruled out because they are first in the League in home runs and fifth in total runs. While an eight game lead is a mammoth challenge to overcome if they could improve their pitching in the second half of the season they would have a chance.
The National League West: The Dodgers jumped out to a really big lead in this division and had the best record in the League for a long time but the Giants have been playing well lately and now lead the division by half a game. The Dodgers have lost a lot of games lately but with pitching that is second in the League they will always have a chance to win games and it is no surprise that their offense has been really bad lately as they have lost their two main offensive producers in Ethier and Kemp. However, Ethier and Kemp are both back now and I expect them to retake the lead in the division over the next twenty games. The Giants are favourites for the division at 5/6 and knowing this I can say that the Dodgers are probably value at any price greater than even money.
