Ty Croft’s Bold Predictions For MLB’s Second Half

With baseball back in full swing and the All-Star break in the rearview mirror, it’s time for the second half of the season to get underway. So, here are my bold storylines that will shape the rest of the season.

The Major League Baseball season is unpredictable.

Before the first pitch of the second half was thrown, the Chicago Cubs acquired ace Jose Quintana from the Chicago White Sox in a blockbuster deal.

Aaron Judge is on pace to hit 57 home runs this year.

The Boston Red Sox cut ties with third baseman Pablo Sandoval.

So, with the second half of the regular season ready to commerce, here are my bold predictions that will take place the rest of the way, this should be interesting.

The trade deadline won’t be as crazy as you want it to be.

Jose Quintana has been the rare player dealt from one side of Chicago to the other. Athletics’ Sonny Gray will get dealt (I’ll guess the Astros) and J.D Martinez will take his over-1.000 OPS elsewhere (I’ll guess the Dodgers). These aren’t small swaps. There will be plenty of player movement, just as there always is this time of year.

But by and large, this trade deadline period will be light on what we can seriously be advertised as “blockbuster” deals that involve legit, superstar players.

The bottom line is that Justin Verlander makes too much money and the Tigers will have to eat a ton of it to get something in return. The Royals will keep their guys and go for it, understandably. The Rangers are probably more likely to resign Yu Darvish than they are to deal him. And unless the Orioles shock the world with the trading of Zach Britton, the closing market doesn’t a have an Andrew Miller or Aroldis Chapman this season as it did a year ago.

Yeah I’m saying it, the Rays will win the AL East.

I told you I’m feeling bold!

Obviously, the safer bet here would be to take the Red Sox, not because they currently have 3.5 and 3 game leads over the Yankees and Rays, but because they were the AL East favorites to begin with back in March.

Plus, the Rays aren’t a bad team at all!

Tampa Bay either tied or won 14 or their last 17 series before the break. The Rays have also remained within four games of .500 for the entire length of the season, so they’ve just been kind of hovering — not good enough to attract notice but not bad enough to sell away pieces.

Aaron Judge won’t win the AL MVP.

I’m a big lover of Aaron Judge, I really am, and it kills me to say this, but just listen to what I have to say.

First of all, Judge has never played more than 131 games in a professional season, so some second half fatigue would not be a surprise, especially underneath the national glare that he earned for himself not only for his first half performance, but for his impressive Home Run Derby win.

Also, the Yankees are not a clear cut postseason team. In fact, the chances of the Yankees making the playoffs as of late has hit a steep decline.

With all of that in mind, I sincerely hope I’m wrong here.

The Indians win the AL Central by double digits.

This most likely wouldn’t of qualified for a “bold prediction” before the season started, but here we are, July 17th, and it is most definitely is.

The Twins were a nice first half story and the Royals have gone on a run that has give them hope to give their 2015 World Series winning club a chance to commit to one more shot before free agency comes.

But this is going to end exactly the way that we thought it would, with the Indians comfortably out in front.

Danny Salazar and Trevor Bauer will make adjustments to compliment both Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco in the rotation, and whether or not a deal actually gets done, the Indians are going to leave no stone unturned in their quest to add one more quality arm to take advantage of this win-now year.

The Brewers clinch a division title, which probably means that…..

Because the Rockies still possess a 7.5-game edge in the NL Wild Card race even after taking on some water late in the first half, that might mean the Cubs getting left off the October dance card — a thought that would have been unthinkable on Opening Day and, well, still seems pretty unthinkable, doesn’t it?

So the big question: Can the Brewers really do this, especially since the Cubs blockbuster deal for Jose Quintana? YES!

It’s amazing what confidence does for a club, and this team has been building off of it since the season started. They’ve got a power-packed offense even with Ryan Braun mostly on the shelf, their pitching staff — shockingly — has the best adjusted ERA (as measured by FanGraphs) in the division and internal upside if Josh Hader gets a starting shot, and they absolutely have the pieces in their system to get a controllable starter (Quintana’s off the market, but Sonny Gray is still out there).

This could happen, people!