First Place!

It's the halfway point of the 2010 baseball season, and amazingly the Detroit Tigers are in first place in American League's Central Division. But it's tight--the Minnesota Twins are a half game back and the Chicago White Sox are a game back. Because of the superior win totals of the teams in the A.L. East, it is very likely that no wild card will come from the Central, meaning the race for the finish should be a good and meaningful one.

Of course it isn't a total shock that the Tigers have a good team this year--last year they made it to a play-in game for the division title (although they blew a seven-game lead in the last month of the season). Most of the team came back, minus key players Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco, but they did pick up veteran Johnny Damon and closer Jose Valverde. The starting pitching was very suspect, though, and centerfield and second base was turned over to rookies.

As the season has worn on, manager Jim Leyland seems to have strung together victories with chewing gum and rubber bands. The starting pitching has been pretty bad. Aside from Justin Verlander, who has ten wins, the rest of the staff is below .500 (well, Armando Galarraga is 3-2). Last year's terrific rookie, Rick Porcello, had to be sent down to the minors following several ineffective games. Max Scherzer, picked up from Arizona in the off-season, also spent some time in triple-A, but seems to have righted the ship. Dontrelle Willis, one of the centerpieces of a trade a few years ago with Florida, was finally shipped off to Arizona (who promptly released him).

But somehow the Tigers are overcoming a shaky starting staff. Mostly it's due to timely hitting and a good bullpen. The other part of the Willis trade was Miguel Cabrera, who continues to be worth everything they gave up for him, and is worth the Willis nightmare. Right now he is leading or tied for the lead in the A.L. triple-crown categories, and last night hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie it against the Orioles (Damon would win the game with a round-tripper in the 11th). He seems to have put any personal problems behind him (there was an ugly domestic incident at the conclusion of last season that involved heavy use of alcohol). If the season ended today, he would surely be one of the top contenders for MVP, along with Robinson Cano of the Yankees.

As for the bullpen, Valverde has also proved his worth, converting all but one of his save opportunities. The team received a blow when the fireballing Joel Zumaya, who has been plagued by injuries in his career, seemingly went down for the season with an elbow fracture. During this period before the trading deadline, it would behoove the Tigers to pick up another arm.

The team has also been blessed by rookies. Scott Sizemore, handed the second-base position to replace Polanco, did not pan out, and is back in the minors, replaced by the roving Carlos Guillen, who hadn't played the keystone in a decade. But two others have struck gold. Austin Jackson, who came back from the Yankees as part of the Granderson deal, was plunked into center and in the lead-off position, and though he has tailed off after a hot start is still batting .300 and exhibiting great range in the vast Detroit outfield. But the big surprise has been Brennan Boesch, called up as an injury replacement. He has hit his way into a permanent place in the lineup, and has been A.L. Rookie of the Month for two consecutive months. Hitting .341 with 12 homers, he is right now a front-runner for the Rookie of the Year.

Baseball has been fun this season. The Steven Strasburg phenomenon, the excellent play of surprising teams like the Cincinnati Reds and the San Diego Padres, and the notion that the Atlanta Braves may get back in the playoffs for Bobby Cox's last season as manager have made the N.L. exciting, with several teams in the mix in all divisions. The A.L. has a more familiar set of teams in the hunt, but their are races in all divisions there, too. Right now the Yankees have the best record in baseball, which is no surprise, but it could be any of about a dozen teams that could win it all. Compared to a sport like the NBA, which has had only eight teams win the championship in the last 30 years, I really like baseball's unpredictable nature.