MLB Power Rankings

Through 7/29

1. Tampa Bay Rays (63-43)
2. St. Louis Cardinals (62-41)
3. Pittsburgh Pirates (62-42)
4. Oakland Athletics (63-43)
5. Boston Red Sox (63-44)
6. Atlanta Braves (61-45)
7. Detroit Tigers (59-45)
8. Los Angeles Dodgers (56-48)
9. Baltimore Orioles (58-48)
10. Cincinnati Reds (59-48)
11. Texas Rangers (57-49)
12. Cleveland Indians (57-48)
13. Arizona Diamondbacks (54-51)
14. New York Yankees (55-50)
15. Kansas City Royals (51-51)
16. Washington Nationals (52-54)
17. Seattle Mariners (50-55)
18. Colorado Rockies (51-56)
19. Philadelphia Phillies (49-56)
20. Chicago Cubs (48-56)
21. Los Angeles Angels (48-56)
22. Toronto Blue Jays (48-57)
23. New York Mets (47-56)
24. San Diego Padres (49-58)
25. San Francisco Giants (46-58)
26. Minnesota Twins (45-57)
27. Milwaukee Brewers (44-61)
28. Chicago White Sox (40-63)
29. Miami Marlins (40-64)
30. Houston Astros (35-69)

MLB Midseason Awards

My opinions on who's been the best in the Big Leagues.

American League MVP:

1. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
2. Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles
3. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox

National League MVP:

1. Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks
2. Yadier Molina, Saint Louis Cardinals
3. Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies

 American League Cy Young:

1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
2. Hiroki Kuroda, New York Yankees
3. Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers

National League Cy Young:

1. Jeff Locke, Pittsburgh Pirates
2. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Patrick Corbin, Arizona Diamondbacks

 American League Reliever of the Year:

1. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
2. Grant Balfour, Oakland Athletics
3. Joe Nathan, Texas Rangers

 National League Reliever of the Year:

1. Jason Grilli, Pittsburgh Pirates
2. Edward Mujica, Saint Louis Cardinals
3. Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves

American League Manager of the Year:

1. John Farrell, Boston Red Sox
2. Terry Francona, Cleveland Indians
3. Joe Girardi, New York Yankees

 National League Manager of the Year:

1. Clint Hurdle, Pittsburgh Pirates
2. Mike Matheny, Saint Louis Cardinals
3. Walt Weiss, Colorado Rockies

American League Gold Gloves:
C - Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
1B -  Brandon Moss, Oakland Athletics
2B - Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
3B - Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles
SS - Yunel Escobar, Tampa Bay Rays
OF - Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals
OF - Michael Brantley, Cleveland Indians
OF - Dayan Viciedo, Chicago White Sox

National League Gold Gloves:
C - Russell Martin, Pittsburgh Pirates
1B - Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs
2B - Darwin Barney, Chicago Cubs
3B - Chase Headley, San Diego Padres
SS - Pete Kozma, Saint Louis Cardinals
OF - Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers
OF - Domonic Brown, Philadelphia Phillies
OF - Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates

American League Silver Sluggers:
C - Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
1B - Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles
2B - Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
3B - Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
SS - Jhonny Peralta, Detroit Tigers
OF - Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
OF - Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles
OF - Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers
DH - David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

National League Silver Sluggers:
C - Yadier Molina, Saint Louis Cardinals
1B - Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks
2B - Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds
3B - David Wright, New York Mets
SS - Jean Segura, Milwaukee Brewers
OF - Michael Cuddyer, Colorado Rockies
OF - Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies
OF - Domonic Brown, Philadelphia Phillies

Justin Verlander...All-Star?

Justin Verlander was recently named to the 2013 American League All-Star Game roster. Why? There are two reasons.

Reason 1: His reputation.
Justin Verlander (probably correctly) is considered by many to be the best pitcher in baseball. It's been a near-unanimous opinion since his MVP season two years ago.

Reason 2: Jim Leyland picked the players.
This is one of the many reasons why I hate the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

There are more reasons to NOT pick him, however.

Reason 1: What Dan Uggla is to All-Star hitters/fielders, Verlander is to pitchers.
The 2012 All-Star Game was a lame one, with virtually no suspense. Justin Verlander's first inning is a huge reason why. He gave up 5 runs (only one fewer than AL had hits for the game) and put his team out of contention, eventually screwing his own Detroit Tigers out of homefield advantage (though that didn't have any impact on the World Series).

Reason 2: He has a 1.36 WHIP
For those of you who don't know what a WHIP is, just know that not only is 1.36 not very good, it's actually kind of bad.

Reason 3: Other people deserved it.
I hate bringing up snubs because it's hard enough to pick players for this game, but when there's Hiroki Kuroda out there, with a .77 lower ERA and .33 lower WHIP, it's hard not to do this.

Verlander has a decent ERA, a mediocre WHIP, and a good amount of strikeouts. He's not All-Star material this year, especially with guys like Hirok out there.