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Covering
the Bases
We
are just more than halfway through the Major League Baseball season.
The All-Star Game marks the midpoint, and they played it Tuesday.
So now
the fun begins. We can start guessing what players might do
for the whole season. It's easy. Just take what the player has done
so
far this season and multiply by two.
Mark McGwire already has hit 30 home runs. Looks like he might
reach 60 again.
The Seattle Mariners' Edgar Martinez has nearly 90 runs batted in.
If he gets hot, he has a shot at Lou Gehrig's 69-year-old American
League record of 184 RBI.
Pitcher David Wells already has won 15 games for the Toronto Blue
Jays. Wells might rack up more than 25 wins by the end of the season.
Incredible.
Midseason is also a great time to think about which teams might
make it to the World Series.
Forget the Orioles. They are old and their defense is ugly.
The defending world champs, the New York Yankees, are struggling.
At the beginning of the season the question was: "Who can beat
the
Yankees?" Now the answer seems to be: almost everybody. They
have won
barely half their games. Wednesday the Yanks traded some hot prospects
for more pitching to try get back in the playoffs.
The team to watch is the Chicago White Sox. The last few years,
the
White Sox stunk like old sweat socks. Now they have the best team
in the
American League.
The Cincinnati Reds are the year's biggest disappointment. Last
season, the Reds won 96 games. They added the best player in
baseball--Ken Griffey Jr.--and what happened? They got worse.
Why? Well, Griffey is batting only about .240. But the real reason
is pitching. The Reds don't have much.
The Seattle Mariners are the year's biggest surprise. The Mariners
won only 79 games last season. They lost their best player--Griffey.
And
(surprise!) the Mariners got better. The reason? That's right. Pitching.
This year they have plenty, including Aaron Sele, who almost wound
up
with the Orioles.
This October, don't be surprised if Griffey is home watching his
old team in the playoffs.
Anything is possible.
So keep watching.
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