Preview/Prediction

The White Sox defeat the Blue Jays after a seventh-inning bomb from Dayan Viciedo.

Chicago improves to 38-44 on the season, while the Blue Jays fall to 45-38 and remain just one game ahead of the Orioles for the lead in the AL East.

The 2014 All-Star Game is still a few weeks away, but don't let that distort your vision of the 2014 season. By the start of play on June 30, almost every team in baseball will have reached its midway point. With 81 games in the books, ample time has been provided to determine buyers and sellers in the upcoming trade market.

In theory, at least.

The second half of the season officially begins for the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. In the slides ahead I’ll look back at the numbers put up by each player in the Braves lineup during the first half, then I’ll offer up a prediction for what each player might do in the second half.

Predictions are a tricky business, but that’s what makes them so fun. Begin the slideshow to see my predictions for the second-half Braves, and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

The best part of Major League Baseball's All-Star weekend has nothing to do with the top stars playing an exhibition that "counts," but the showcase game for the next wave of young superstars known as the Futures Game.     

On Tuesday, Reds fans look to the standings and finally see a winning baseball team. It took 70-plus games, but there is no denying the difference Reds fans have witnessed since the team got healthy. 

The San Francisco Giants have experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows so far in 2014.

On June 8, they were a season-high 21 games over .500 with the best record in baseball but have since dropped 10 of 13. 

With so much baseball left to play, it is difficult to predict where the Giants will be in the NL West standings come September.

Will Angel Pagan stay healthy for the rest of the season? Can the Giants starting rotation turn it around? Who is the solution at second base?

At the trade deadline, the most important thing a team can have is assets. However, the second most important thing to have at the deadline is a trade partner. The Chicago Cubs have plenty of trade assets they seem willing to move and plenty of teams interested in those assets. 

With just over a month left until the trade deadline, plenty of moves could be made, and the Cubs seem like prime candidates to distribute talent to a bunch of contending teams.

Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is a .542 career hitter vs. San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum, which is important to consider when making your MLB picks Friday, as the two teams face off at Chase Field.

The Cleveland Indians have won four of their five meetings against the Detroit Tigers this season, which is important to consider when making your MLB picks Friday, as the two teams prepare to meet at Progressive Field.

Sports bettors will find that the Indians are minus-125 home favorites in the pro baseball odds, with the betting total sitting at 8.5 in the market.

The MLB international signing period begins on July 2, and the Braves could make a splash by signing some high-dollar talent. This, despite being constrained by MLB regarding how much they can spend.