AL Mid-Season Report
The A's and Tigers have been battling for first place throughout the first half of the season. Currently, Oakland has the upper hand with a 5-game lead over Detroit. The Athletics' offense is ranked 1st in the AL. Leadoff man
Eddie Collins (.367, 6 HR, 70 R, 43 SB) is having a superb season at age 35 and is on pace to score a career high 140 runs. Veterans
Joe Jackson (.311, 14 HR, 64 RBI) and
Frank Baker (.297, 23 HR, 74 RBI) are also having fine seasons. The Oakland bullpen is ranked #1 in the league and 23-year-old
Roy Moore (1-3, 19 Sv, 1.59 ERA) has performed well in his second season as closer. However, the team's starting rotation is ranked 6th in the league with a 4.03 ERA, which is cause for concern.
Tom Zachary (10-2, 2.97 ERA) is having his best season and 21-year-old
Fred Heimach (8-5, 3.34 ERA) is doing well as the 5th starter, but their veterans in the 1, 2 and 3 slots in the rotation have struggled. Fortunately, these guys have a lot of experience behind them and the team believes they can turn their seasons around. If they do, the A's might get even better!
The Tigers still have a great chance at winning the pennant. Their offense in ranked 3rd even though some of their key players are having down seasons. Of course,
Ty Cobb (.316, 6 HR, 51 R, 30 SB) and
Harry Heilmann (.352, 15 HR, 49 RBI) are doing well as always, even though Cobb's power has slipped at age 35. The big news in Detroit though is the fact that they have the #1 pitching staff in the league. I don't think that has ever happened. This franchise has always struggled for pitching. Now if their offense gets on a roll, watch out! One interesting fact in the bullpen is that rookie setup man
Ole Olsen (11-1, 2.60 ERA) actually leads all of MLHR with 11 wins!
The Indians have been in the race all season, but they have slid to just 2 games above .500 recently. Their offense has struggled, which seems odd. Their pitching staff and defense has performed well but they have still managed to allow the 4th most runs in the AL. I expect this team to improve. As for the defending champion Twins, things looked dim when they were 14-25 and in 7th place half way through May. But since then, they have gone 27-16 and are back to .500. However, a .500 record has them 13 1/2 games out of first. They do have three months to climb back into the race, but they will need to stay very hot. Their offense has done well and is ranked 2nd in the league after a slow start. Unfortunately, the pitching staff and team defense have been pain points. Those units combined have given up the 2nd most runs in the AL so far.
Standings
Batting Leaders
Pitching Leaders
