As every team finished the first half of its schedule last week, and as we head toward the All-Star Game next week, it’s time to take a step back and examine the biggest stories of the first half:
1. 3 x 30 home runs
Cal Raleigh (35), Aaron Judge (33) and Shohei Ohtani (30) have hit 30 home runs before the All-Star break with historic starts. It’s only the fifth time that has happened, the first time since 2019. Judge and Ohtani are the standard-bearers of the sport and the MVP front-runners once again. If they win again, they will have won seven of the last 10 MVPs, reminiscent of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird winning six of seven NBA MVPs in the 1980s.
2. The Cubs are out of hibernation
The Cubs haven’t won a playoff game in eight years. They started 51–35 for the first time since their 2016 championship team and they are an exciting team to watch with their combination of speed and power. They reached 100 homers and 100 steals in 84 games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only two teams reached 100–100 faster: the 1995 Reds (84 games) and 2009 Rays (77 games).
3. The Tigers are the best team in the AL
Nine previous Tigers teams started 57–34. Six of them won the pennant. All of them won at least 89 games. Over its past 162 games, Detroit is 100–62. It ranks fifth in MLB in runs per game and third in ERA.
4. A whole lot of nuthin’
We are on a pace for 366 shutouts, which would break the record of 359 set in the Dead Ball Era days of Walter Johnson and Grover Alexander in 1912. O.K., I get it. There are more games now. Only eight of the 204 shutouts this year are complete games by the starter. But pitchers rule.
5. Major markets
Of the top 10 teams in playoff position, seven teams come from the top seven North American markets by population figures, according to the Census Bureau and Canada population sources. They are, 1) the New York Yankees and New York Mets, 2) Los Angeles Dodgers, 3) Chicago Cubs, 5) Houston Astros, 6) Toronto Blue Jays and 7) Philadelphia Phillies.
6. Blown out elbows (cont’d)
Since spring training, 18 major league pitchers have torn the UCL ligament in their throwing elbow. The list includes Cy Young Award winners Corbin Burnes and Gerrit Cole. Those undergoing Tommy John surgery mostly are getting younger.
Ten of the 18 pitchers this year in need of Tommy John surgery are between 22 and 29 years old. The attrition of pitchers once was due to poor mechanics and overuse. Both factors have been mitigated over time. Now velocity is the main culprit. Pitchers aren’t wearing out. They are blowing out as they chase velocity at a young age, as happened to Jackson Jobe, 22, (just 286 pro innings, average fastball velocity 96.5 mph) and AJ Smith-Shawver (311.1 IP, 95.6).
This season, MLB already has paid $350 million to pitchers who can’t pitch.
7. The Orioles (40–49) and Braves (39–50) are the biggest disappointments in MLB
They’re cooked. Only three teams have ever made the playoffs with 49 losses in their first 89 games: the 1973 Mets, ’74 Pirates and ’84 Royals.
8. The Rays are a legit contender
They play in a minor league ballpark. They have only eight home games in July and eight home games in August. They rank 26th in payroll. They have no one who makes more than $13 million per year. And yet, there they are in playoff position with the hardest throwing staff in the 18 years of pitch tracking (95.3-mph average fastball, tied with the 2024 Mariners and ’22 Yankees) and causing MLB to sweat about where to play their postseason games if the Rays qualify.
9. The Cy Young Award races are bonkers
You’ve got Paul Skenes, Zack Wheeler and Logan Webb in the NL; and Hunter Brown, Garrett Crochet, Jacob deGrom, Max Fried, Joe Ryan and Tarik Skubal in the AL. Did I mention that pitchers rule?
10. Gambling investigations
Umpire Pat Hoberg was fired for sharing a legal betting account with a friend who bet on baseball, a violation of MLB’s gambling policy. Infielder Tucupita Marcano was banned for life for betting on baseball, including games involving the Pirates, his team last year. Four minor league players were suspended for one year for violating baseball’s gambling policy. Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter to Ohtani who had full clearance around MLB facilities, began serving a 57-month sentence in federal prison for stealing nearly $17 million to support his gambling habit. And Guardians pitcher Luis L. Ortiz was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave while MLB investigates whether he violated its gambling policy. It’s happening in other sports and it’s happening with more frequency. No one should be surprised.
11. Managers fired
The Rockies dismissed Bud Black, the Orioles canned Brandon Hyde, the Pirates got rid of Derek Shelton and the Nationals fired Dave Martinez. A fifth manager, Ron Washington of the Angels, will sit out the rest of this season due to health reasons. That’s nine managers gone inside the past 10 months.
12. The biggest breakout stars
1. Cal Raleigh, Mariners. 2. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs. 3. James Wood, Nationals. 4. Junior Caminero, Rays. 5. Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers.
13. The declining fastball (cont’d)
The use of four-seamers and sinkers is hitting a new low—again.
14. The game has reached a pleasant equilibrium
Runs and home runs per game are nearly identical to what they were last year. Strikeouts are down for a second straight season. We are oh so close to seeing more hits (22,321) than strikeouts (22,341) for the first time since 2017, when it was always the way the game was played. The pitch timer, the (very) slightly smaller strike zone and the running game rules have succeeded not in re-inventing baseball but in bringing it back to its better days of aesthetics and ratings. Baseball in 2025 looks a lot like baseball in 1985, and that’s a good thing:
Per Game Comparison
15. The Rockies’ Horror Show
Colorado is on pace to lose 124 games, breaking the modern record (since 1900) set only last year by the White Sox (121), who broke the record of the 1962 Mets (120).
The Rockies are hitting .208 on the road, which would be the worst by any team in a full season in 117 years. Their starters are 10–51, the worst winning percentage ever from a rotation (.164).
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The 15 Biggest MLB Stories From the First Half of the Season.
