Baseball Surprises

As we get ready to start the final month of the regular baseball season there are a few things that stand out as surprises to me. Here they are.

1. The Chicago White Sox are still in first place in the AL Central – I actually predicted a while back that they would win the division (Baseball Predictions, May 31), actually that entire division stands right now the way I predicted it. I’m surprised that to this point I’m right because everyone, including myself, had doubts about the White Sox.










2. Chris Carpenter leads the majors in wins. If you would have asked my opinion, I would have said that Dontrelle Willis would be leading the majors (he is one game behind Carpenter). Carpenter, who picked up his 19th win Monday night, has come out of nowhere to go 11-0 in his last 14 starts.

3. The New York Yankees are in the Wild Card Hunt. How about the up and down season the Yankees have had? They got swept by the Royals at one point in the season then they came storming back to get above .500 and as of Tuesday have a one game lead in the Wild Card. They are 1.5 games away from winning the division or 1.5 games away from not playing in the post season. With all the talent they have, who would have thought that?

4. The Washington Expos…errr… Nationals are still in the Wild Card hunt. As of Tuesday they were only 2.5 games back and with a month left that makes them far from eliminated.

5. The National League West has fallen apart. Not a single team is above .500 and the San Diego Padres have a 4.5 game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

That’s it. Those are all of my surprises. What are yours?