The MLB All-Star break is this week. For all intents and purposes, the MLB season has reached the halfway point. It’s hard to deny that this has been a tough year for the game and the fans are not getting the best product and even a tainted form of the beautiful game. Baseball is going through more than enough problems both on and off the field and it’s unclear how the second half of the season will play out. The MLB however, has given us some intriguing notes in the first half. There are plenty of takeaways that fans have from the first half of the MLB season and follow moving forward.
We Will Have an Interesting Trade Deadline?
The MLB trade deadline is always the time where to find out which teams are buying and which are selling. In a few weeks, we will know which teams are rebooting their roster or rebuilding and the teams that are hoping to win the World Series, making the moves necessary to do so.
The first and foremost issue is that there are some terrible teams, historically bad like the 26 win Arizona Diamondbacks. Struggling teams allow the trade deadline to be interesting but some teams, like the Baltimore Orioles, already hit the reset button and don’t have players to trade to help their rebuild. Likewise, the Diamondbacks, don’t have the assets to move as an awful team. Who can the Diamondbacks even trade for value? Who can the Pirates trade for value? The Rockies probably will trade veterans like Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon but are one of the few teams that have stars. The supply is of stars that can be moved are thin, leading to the next problem in demand.
The divisions appear to be set as in, the teams that are currently atop their divisions appear to have little competition to overthrow them in the remainder of the MLB season. A team like the Brewers, who have a five-game lead in the NL Central Division, might make a move to secure the division. These types of teams, however, might be looking to make the moves necessary to win a World Series. Whether these teams make those types of moves is unclear but the field is narrow in terms of true “buyers” hoping to win the World Series. A large number of teams in the middle in theory can make a few moves but probably won’t as it would only be for a Wild Card spot.
Power Up, Average Down
This season might be the pinnacle of hitting analytics. In a league where On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage are valued but Batting Average isn’t, the fallout is clear. Teams can’t hit for contact, batting orders can’t keep the line moving, hitters are losing their plate discipline. The pitchers are throwing out of the zone and batters are chasing bad pitches. When the ball is put into play, baserunning is awful and runners aren’t building rallies. Moreover, fielding has taken a serious drop in recent years. These consequences were built by the front offices trying to build powerful lineups, which they have, rather than complete teams.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has to be a strong testament to this new age of baseball. Guerrero Jr. has a .337/.435/.667 triple-slash line, one of the best in the MLB. However, the young Blue Jay is solely a great hitter who struggles in the field and on the basepaths. Teams value slugging, after all, it helps teams win games but it makes a starting lineup more difficult to maneuver. Power hitters that can’t field can play the corner outfield positions and first base but this forces front offices to surround them with better fielders to compensate.
It’s hard to argue against power, especially power like Guerrero’s, which single-handedly wins games. The problem is the rarity of the complete player, one that can help a team in every regard of the game without being a liability elsewhere. While writing this, I realize Shohei Ohtani is in the league and doing stuff we’ve never seen before. Similarly, versatile players play a major role in team building. We have, however, seen the consequences of a team being built with too much power like the Yankees and Twins.
Ultimately, This Has Been a Rough Year For Baseball
This season has been marked by a theme of whatever can go wrong has. The elephant in the room for this season has been the sticky stuff, Spidertack to be exact. The substance that boosted spin rate is now mentioned with almost every conversation about the MLB. The sticky substances that pitchers were using make us as fans question every start. Likewise, a good start these days and the poor hitting numbers leave doubt about the game. The integrity of the game isn’t gone rather questioned, an issue for the MLB to say the least.
Then there are the other sports that draw away the casual fans that could be following the MLB. In most seasons, the MLB has July, August, and even the fall to itself (with fall being shared with the NFL). This season, the MLB competed with the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NBA Playoffs and will compete with the Olympics. The baseball purist will watch, the problem is a sport trying to expand its fanbase is in the rear-view mirror. It’s unclear how the game will appeal in the upcoming months but many fans have a lot to catch up on. The casual fan might lightly follow the sport anyway in the back half of the season if at all.
