With 24 teams in playoff hunt, players excited for second half

 

[July 18, 2024]  ARLINGTON, Texas -- The All-Star festivities always provide a nice respite for players and fans alike amid the regular season grind.

The Home Run Derby delivered an entertaining battle in the finals between champion Teoscar Hernandez and runner-up Bobby Witt Jr.

The All-Star Game itself had memorable moments, including Shohei Ohtani going deep for the first time in the Midsummer Classic and Jarren Duran winning MVP honors by belting the go-ahead two-run blast for the American League.

Now it's back to reality and what has the makings of a wild second half for baseball. There are 24 teams within 7 1/2 games of a playoff spot.

"Every single team you face is going to put up a really good challenge," Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman said.

The Orioles ended the first half with a one-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East. The Boston Red Sox sit just 4 1/2 games back of the division lead and have a two-game cushion as the final wild card team.

"Pretty good first half. Job's not done though," Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck said. "I want to see this all the way through, play 162 (games) as a group. We're exciting. We're young. I feel privileged to show up in that locker room every day with those guys and go about our business."

The AL West is just as stacked with the Seattle Mariners holding a one-game lead over the Houston Astros and the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers five games back.

In the AL Central, the Cleveland Guardians have a 4 1/2-game lead over the Minnesota Twins. The resurgent Kansas City Royals still are in the playoff mix at seven games back in the division and two back in the wild card.

"Our team has to trust everything day by day and not worry about standings," said Witt, the Royals' standout shortstop. "Just take everything one pitch at a time, one day at a time, and look up in September and see where we're at."

There is more separation in the NL divisions with the Philadelphia Phillies enjoying baseball's best record at 62-34 and leading the NL East by 8 1/2 games. The Los Angeles Dodgers have a seven-game cushion in the NL West, while the Milwaukee Brewers are leading the St. Louis Cardinals by 4 1/2 games in the NL Central.

Jul 11, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Tanner Houck (89) throws a pitch against the Oakland Athletics in the third inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The real drama will likely come in the wild card hunt. The NL has nine teams within 3 1/2 games of a wild card spot.

"There's a lot of good teams," Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. "We pay attention to the standings, but we're really focused on one game at a time. It'll be a competitive second half. We'll have to go out there and play good baseball to win our division."

In the AL wild card race, there are eight teams within 7 1/2 games of the final spot. The Detroit Tigers are seven games out, but there's no reason to think they can't make a legitimate run after closing the first half by winning eight of their last 10.

Asked his goals for the second half, Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal said: "One, obviously to stay healthy and stick with the routine, and then see how many games we can win in the second half and play for something down the stretch."

Playing for something down the stretch is the goal for any team and it'll be a dogfight to the end. It's hard to rule out any team at this point.

That includes the Rangers, who are looking to become the first team to repeat as World Series champions since the Yankees won three straight titles from 1998-2000.

"We've had a slow start, but we're trending in the right direction," Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien said. "We've got pitching coming. (Max) Scherzer is coming back. We've got a couple pretty good position players coming back, too. So once we get healthy and we're all swinging the bat well, I think we're a scary team."

--Drew Davison, Field Level Media

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