With two-thirds of the 2012 MLB season and the non-waiver trade deadline behind us, the focus now turns to the playoff races and how teams will fare down the stretch.
If the playoffs began as of today, the AL would feature a handful of the usual suspects, as the Yankees, Rangers, Tigers, and Angels would all be in with the White Sox…but in the NL, it would be the Reds (who have all of two playoff appearances since winning the 1990 World Series), Pirates (who haven’t had a winning season since 1992), and Nationals (one playoff appearance ever) joining the Giants and Braves in the postseason.
Of course, there are still eight weeks to go, and with the second wild card added this year, anything can happen. Even a Yankees-Giants World Series rematch 50 years in the making. On with the rankings…
| 1 |  | They started July 1-4 and finished it 19-7, the second half of that charge coming without Joey Votto. Folks, the National League playoffs are going to be must watch TV all October. | EVEN |
| 2 |  | Even if he’s skipped as much as possible and limited to five innings per start average, Stephen Strasburg won’t make it through mid-September before reaching 160 innings. Anyone want odds on if the Nats still shut him down? | EVEN |
| 3 |  | After Ichiro, the Yankees made just one small move at deadline eve by acquiring Casey McGehee, but they also got Joba back to boost the pen and should have Pettitte back in September for the stretch run. Can they hold on? | EVEN |
| 4 |  | So Roy Oswalt waits long enough to get what he wants (a gig in the Midwest), then after going 3-2 with a 6.49 ERA and getting moved to the bullpen, he pulls himself out of a game because he doesn’t like relieving? Yikes. | EVEN |
| 5 |  | They surged back into the Wild Card lead over the weekend, and with the next 10 days bringing games with the Phillies, Mets, and Padres, now is the time to make hay. | UP |
| 6 |  | Raise the Jolly Roger! 20 more wins to history, and they’re doing it with a potential MVP in Andrew McCutchen and the Comeback Player of the Year candidate in AJ Burnett. | DOWN |
| 7 |  | If any race down the stretch could be better than Dodgers/Giants, it’ll be White Sox/Tigers…and it will be interesting to see if the six-man rotation is a boost or a bust. | UP |
| 8 |  | Losing Lance Berkman (again) should hurt, but with the way Allen Craig has played and the fact that Berkman has missed a lot of time already, it’s almost as if it sort of works out for the best. Bizarre, no? | DOWN |
| 9 |  | This week’s slate against the Yankees and Rangers could make or break the Tigers more than anything else in the next eight weeks. | UP |
| 10 |  | They can trot out a lineup on any given day that has four multiple-time All-Stars, the league leader in steals, a catcher who would be eighth in OBP if he had enough AB to qualify, and an SP who has won 16 games at least once. Just saying. | DOWN |
| 11 |  | Brian Sabean deserves an Executive of the Year mention simply for acquiring Melky Cabrera (.352-11-56 thru Sunday), Angel Pagan (.281, 19 SB), and now Hunter Pence (.267-17-64) in the same year for spare parts, low-level prospects, and a guy who has already been DFA’ed. | UP |
| 12 |  | If they can get through the next week (Angels/White Sox), then 13 of their next 16 are against KC, Minnesota, and Cleveland. Scheduling (and more importantly, timing) is important, kids. | DOWN |
| 13 |  | Taking four of six from the Yankees and Rays has kept the O’s in it, but they can really use a back-end veteran starter or a corner infield bat that will push Chris Davis to LF (or Mark Reynolds to DH) and Wilson Betemit to 2B to make a run. | UP |
| 14 |  | Interesting thought for next year: Do they bite the bullet on eating Vernon Wells’ contract and/or give up on Kendrys Morales to bring back Torii Hunter for one or two more years? Sure, he’s 36, but he’s given them exactly the same performance every year. | DOWN |
| 15 |  | No one has heard much about the Rays in a while, but they’re just two games out of a Wild Card, and two of the three teams they trail (OAK/BAL) may have playoff jitters. Just where they want to be? | EVEN |
| 16 |  | Don’t look now, but the D-Backs quietly swept the Dodgers last weekend and are a handful out in the NL West. If Upton comes alive, he could show them the way to the playoffs. | DOWN |
| 17 |  | It looks like the bottom is finally falling out on the Jays after a rough West Coast trip, but Edwin Encarnacion is certainly doing his best Jose Bautista impression in the interim. | EVEN |
| 18 |  | Is the outfield at Fenway cursed this year? Daniel Nava (sprained wrist) is the latest to go down, making Adrian Gonzalez seemingly the only one to play the outfield and live to tell about it. | EVEN |
| 19 |  | Hilarious cherry picked stat of the week: the Mariners were 9-4 through the first two weeks post-Ichiro trade, with all four losses coming to the Yankees. | UP |
| 20 |  | Matt Harvey is going to have a lot more days like Sunday than like his debut. It’s better he has them this year than, say, next April. Same goes for Jordany Valdespin learning how to play center field. | EVEN |
| 21 |  | Thanks to trades, injuries, and Jimmy Rollins getting a day off Sunday, the only Opening Day starter who was also in the lineup on August 5 was John Mayberry Jr. Just an interesting fact. | UP |
| 22 |  | Good news? It appears they’ve found a slugger at first base to replace Prince Fielder. Bad news? They need to find someone to replace that player, Corey Hart, in right field. | DOWN |
| 23 |  | That three-year, $21 million contract they gave Josh Willingham looks like a bargain at this point. | UP |
| 24 |  | Fun stat of the day for those who champion SABRmetrics: Through Sunday, Jose Reyes’ WAR (1.7) was lower than the guy who actually replaced him (Ruben Tejada, 1.8) in New York. | EVEN |
| 25 |  | The free fall has begun, and the older parts (Derek Lowe, Johnny Damon) have begun to be replaced. Now if only they could replace Ubaldo Jimenez with the guy who won 19 games and posted a 2.88 ERA for Colorado in 2010… | DOWN |
| 26 |  | Last week was a great one for Dayton Moore, who sold off the one useful somewhat-expendable part he had and got rid of another that was poisonous to the team. | UP |
| 27 |  | The Padres are this year’s living incarnation of the phrase “do the best you can with what you have.” | DOWN |
| 28 |  | Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have played this year perfectly, and now with the deadline past, it’s time to see what Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters can do. Hopefully they can also figure out what’s wrong with Matt Garza’s arm. | DOWN |
| 29 |  | The flip side of the earlier Twins blurb on Josh Willingham? Former Twin Michael Cuddyer, who has seen his numbers go down this year (.260-15-56) after leaving Minnesota for Colorado. Think about that one. | EVEN |
| 30 |  | It wouldn’t be a surprise if more than one Astros fan looked at Sunday’s box score and unleashed a “Major League” style “who are these guys?” And just wait, because they get to move to the American League next year! | EVEN |
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