Opinion

With the second half of the Major league baseball season under way, here are some predictions as to what could end up happening when the regular season is all said and done. There will also be two bold predictions at the end, those of which would shock the sports world, and could happen if events fall a certain way.

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The Yankees paid tribute to Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner prior to Friday night's divisional showdown between the Rays and the Yankees. Sheppard and Steinbrenner passed away this week.

The Yankees celebrated Steinbrenner's accomplishments by doing a video montage of him. After the montage, the fans gave a heartfelt standing ovation. Mariano Rivera put roses on home plate to honor Steinbrenner, and Derek Jeter spoke about the bombastic Yankees owner and the soft-spoken public address announcer.

Yes, woeful.

The Chicago Cubs spent $146,859,000 on their 2010 payroll, which works out to an average of $5,439,222 per player and is good for third in all of Major League Baseball. Only the Evil Empires—the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox—shelled out more scratch for their squads.

Only the Bronx Bombers are paying more per victory.

Seriously, Arizona?

I knew the team was bad, but this is a new low. 

Attempting to draw a crowd by constructing 10-foot tall monstrosities that would make Frankenstein look cuddly. 

I get the trying-to-relate-to-kids theme, but how is giving children nightmares going to bring them back to the ballpark?

The mascots look like Sloth from The Goonies , and personally, I don't want to have to bring a Baby Ruth candy bar every time I go see a D-Backs game. 

The season-ending injury to Jake Peavy left the White Sox with a solid-but-not-spectacular starting rotation from top to bottom. Questions linger.

Freddy Garcia has been solid thus far this year, but can he be relied on as the team’s fourth starter? I’m not ready to write off Daniel Hudson this year just yet, but he failed to make it through five innings against the Royals in his only start of the year.

Following these 18 scoreless innings to open the second half of the 2010 season, the New York Mets might be concerned about the balance of the starting lineup. Things on offense should return back to form soon, but at catcher, the Mets could benefit from a more permanent makeover.

With three catchers on the active roster, Rod Barajas, Henry Blanco, and Josh Thole have all been splitting time. Barajas as played most of the time, and may actually be a liability at this point.

A .250 batting average, 291 home runs, and 964 runs batted in. Not exactly numbers you would associate with a Hall of Fame outfielder.

The reality is, analysis that only covers the superficial level, such as this, is lazy and has cost many players their rightful spot in baseball history.

Of the Yankees’ remaining 74 games of the 2010 regular-season schedule, 13 are against the Tampa Bay Rays. That’s nearly 18% of all remaining games for the Yankees against the rival best team in baseball. The first of those showdowns between the two powerhouses begins today.

For a snapshot of where we are today, July 16, the AL East Standings look like this:

Much will be made of the Yankees’ terrific victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the first game after the All-Star Break. There was the somber aspect of the first game since Steinbrenner’s death. There were the dramatic back-to-back shots from Robbie Cano and Jorge Posada to tie the game in the 6th. There were the heroic hits from Nick Swisher–first, the game-tying dinger to lead off the 8th and then the game-winning single in the 9th.

Sports are all about adjustments. In football, the quarterback must adjust the play based on what the opposing team is doing. It is the same in other sports as well. In-game adjustments at halftime and between periods are a necessity for success. Baseball is no different.