Earlier this week the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game took place, marking the unofficial half-way point to the season.  The all star game is hyped as counting since it determines who gets home field advantage during the World Series in October.  There are numerous flaws with this since the voting for the game is a popularity contest instead of being filled with the best players through this point in the season.  Additionally the all star game is only two days after games were held on Sunday.  While this isn’t an issue for position players, it does become a factor for pitchers who pitched on Sunday as it limits how many pitches they may throw.  The all star game should be a place to put on an exhibition of good pitching, fielding and hitting for the fans who follow baseball.  Leave the home field advantage in the World Series to the team who has the best record in baseball during the 162 game regular season instead of one game which is a popularity contest. The team which plays their heart out during the season deserves the reward.

Now I have said my piece about the all star game, lets look back at the predictions I made prior to the start of the season .  There have been quite a few surprises including in the AL Central where the team I follow is situated in first place at the break.  In the AL Central I stated the Tigers would win it, and the Indians would be the wild card.  As of today the Tigers are in 3rd place, and the Indians in last.  The surprise team in all of baseball so far are the Tampa Bay Rays who have been tetter-tottering in and out of first place in the AL East with the Boston Red Sox.

Some people at this point like to change their predictions based on how the season has played out to this point, and why should I be any different.  Here are my revised picks for the season.

American League
East: Boston Red Sox
Central: Chicago White Sox
West: Anaheim Angels
Wildcard: Tampa Bay Rays

National League
East: New York Mets
Central: Chicago Cubs
West: LA Dodgers
Wildcard: Milwaukee Brewers

A few weeks ago my dad found an interesting site at Baseball Prospectus which calculates the odds of a team winning their division or becoming a wild card team on a daily basis.  Check out the postseason odds and see your favorite team is calculated to finish the season.