We’re officially halfway home in baseball…well kind of haha. Everyone has played 90+ games but we have hit the All-Star Break, the halfway point of the baseball calendar. There is so much to discuss so let’s dive right in here to cover the headlines, performances, and hand out some grades!

First Base

Boston’s Back In It: All of a sudden, back from the dead, here come the Red Sox. This turnaround is absolutely improbable after the negativity that swirled around this group in the first half of the year. From the Devers saga to finding enough spots in the lineup for their young guys and their vets, to Alex Cora’s days off for his daughters’ graduation. But after being way back of the field, the BoSox have played their way into things, and are riding a 10-game win streak into the break, punctuated by sweeping the Rays last week. They are planning to be buyers at the deadline after being sellers in June, which would make for quite the story as they look to run down the Yankees and Jays.

Second Base

Dodger Downer: No, the sky is not falling, but the Dodgers have gone into the break with a 3-7 record in their last ten games, which included a seven-game losing streak. This team has overcome a lot of adversity in the first half with a ton of injuries plaguing their title defense and while they’re still in good shape, their once large NL West lead has shrunk. San Diego is 5.5 back and the Giants are six, don’t sleep on those two as they will look to add and tighten the screws on LA.

Third Base

Mis Causes All Star Game Meltdown: Let’s file this one under the silly and unnecessary story category. The All-Star game will be played tonight and as usual there are several players who are sitting out due to various factors. In their place the league has selected alternates for them and one of them made waves, Brewer’s righty Jacob Misiowrski. “The Mis” as he is known, has been terrific for the Brewers for being called up to the rotation, and his work in 25 scoreless innings was enough to get him to Atlanta with the NL All Stars. This caused everyone to get up in arms, and in particular the Phillies, who wanted lefty Christopher Sanchez added to the roster instead. While I understand the Sanchez warranted a look, the All-Star game in some ways is designed to capture a moment in time in the game, and frankly complaining about spots in an exhibition is absurd. And don’t worry, the Phillies gave Sanchez his performance bonus for “making the All-Star Game,” now can we stop knocking down a 23-year-old for living his dream?

Home Plate

The Crew is Cooking: Death, taxes, and the Brewers overachieving. Those are the constants in the NL for the better part of the last decade. Pat Murphy’s group is once again squeezing everything he can out of this club, going 8-2 in their last ten games of the first half, to improve to 56-40. They are an awesome 33-17 at home, and just one game back of the Cubs who have been very good from the get-go this year. It should be quite the race down the stretch in the NL Central.

Walkoff

A Family Affair: I’ll let the video do most of the talking here but I had to include the home run derby from Monday night! Plenty of guys put on fun performances, especially O’Neil Cruz and Junior Caminero, who announced themselves to the Baseball world at large with towering homers. But Cal Raleigh, accompanied by his dad pitching and brother catching, made sure the night was theirs by winning it all. Quite the night for the league leader in dingers and his family!

Grades

Positives

Blue Jays: Who saw this team coming as the AL East leader in July? I certainly didn’t. They’ve played their best baseball in years the past several weeks and will need to continue it as they look to fend off a tough division behind them.

Rays: This organization just never gives up does it? The Rays lost their stadium and plenty of talent in the winter, but still find themselves in the hunt for the playoffs. Credit Kevin Cash and this front office, they always maximize what they have and will need to keep on doing just that if they’re going to survive a tough second half slate.

Angels: This is one where success can be defined by more than just leading a division, or even having a playoff spot in hand. The Halos have been a mess for so long, we can’t even remember a time where they were good. But this year’s group has battled through the first half to be within a few games of .500 and have played hard! They likely will be sellers in a few weeks but it’s nice to see this group show some life. Shout out Jo Adell for saving his career, the dude has been awesome at the dish this year!

Marlins: This one is a lot like the Angels, as the Marlins are not going to the postseason either. But the fish have rebounded from a bad season a year ago to be within a few games of .500 at the break. They’ve been a thorn in their NL East foes sides thanks to All Star outfielder Kyle Stowers, who they stole from the O’s last deadline. They’ll be selling at the deadline but at least some pieces are in place to work with next year.

Brewers: We already talked about Milwaukee in this piece but they have to be included here. To be 16 over .500 and on the Cubs heels at the break is something else! They get good pitching, play good defense, and manufacture offense with the best of em. Pat Murphy continues to do a great job along with the front office to find guys who play Brewers baseball and that brand is a winner. They’ll likely buy on the margins at the deadline, which shook help them make the dance at the minimum.

Cardinals: We’ll keep it in the Central with the Cards, who have surprisingly hit the break over .500. The Red Birds don’t have a ton of household names like we’re used to but pieces are starting to emerge as the building blocks of their next big team. Mason Wynn is a fun watch and they have a lot of up and coming arms to power the rotation. With ownership waiting for pay roll to reset they needed a season like this to sort things out. Keep an eye on them down the stretch and into next year.

Negatives

Orioles: There is disappointment and then there is the O’s. Not even from last year to this year, but from 3 years ago to now. They seemed poised to have an Astros level era, where their years of tanking was going to pay off with a dominant home grown team. But the wheels have come off since last deadline as they blew the east to the Yanks, choked in the playoffs, and failed to do anything in the winter. That has led to Brandon Hyde being fired as skipper and the team really struggling this year, making them likely sellers on deadline day.

Guardians: Cleveland is in one of their “down years” which seems to come just about every other year. They don’t reload on payroll, which means they typically have to reset. Not even Jose Ramirez brilliance is enough to save this group as they have struggled mightily on offense in 2025. They’ll sell on the margins and likely be back next year.

Rangers: Talk about a waste of talent. The Rangers roster is loaded on paper, but the bad news is, the game isn’t played on paper folks. Their rotation has returned to form and the lineup should be very productive based on then names you see before you but it’s far from it. They’re two under .500 and need to put on a charge down the stretch. The good news is the final wild card spot is within reach but and we’ve seen Bruce Bochy do this before, can he work his magic one more time?

Braves: 2025 just hasn’t been the Bravos year. For all their talent, it feels like they’re out of gas from years of deep playoff pushes. Injuries are starting to take their toll as well now and they just can’t get momentum to play their way into it. It’s hard to say what their deadline plans will be but I’d expect them to be back with a vengeance next summer.

Nationals: Seemingly overnight this promising situation has become a bit of a mess. The Nats have been rebuilding for a while and it felt like this year would be the first year that their young core would breakout. While most of them have performed individually, namely James Wood and McKenzie Gore, they haven’t taken the jump in record we expected preseason. Couple that with manager Dave Martinez calling the roster out several times, which seems to have led to his dismissal and GM Mike Rizzo being fired two weeks before the draft and a month before the deadline you have a combustible mess on your hands. This winter should be very interesting in DC.

Pirates: The Pirates are once again, the Pirates. They spend no money, disrespect their own history, give their fans no joy, and waste premier players. They will sell big at the deadline and parlay that into nothing. Pity Paul Skenes a little, he’s got all the talent in the world and a pretty good personal life, but he can’t even buy a win, let alone a shot at the playoffs. Ownership should be embarrassed.

Rockies: And you thought last year’s White Sox were bad. The Rockies are an affront to the sport at 52 games under .500.

Diamondbacks: This team has a bit of the Rangers and a bit of the Braves in them. After narrowly missing out on October baseball last season, Arizona got some big time players in the winter to try and take a jump but it hasn’t panned out for them. Corbin Burnes got hurt, Zac Gallen has struggled, and Merrill Kelly has been hurt all year. They’re looking to move their expiring contracts in hopes they can reset for next season.

Standings Update

The AL has a lot of parody this year, and maybe that’s being king as it’s just not very good. The East has become quite crowded with the Jays, Yankees, Sox and even Tampa battling for the division crown. Meanwhile the Tigers have run away from the mediocre Central with their solid roster and top notch staff. Out West, the Astros are once again atop the division and seemingly primed for a big second half.

In the NL there is a much clearer class structure. The Phillies and Mets have left the East in the dust and will likely have one of their classic pennant races to the death in September. Meanwhile the Cubs have more company than expected in the Central but they should get the job done given how much talent they have and what they will add at the deadline. Out West, LA has scuffled into the break while the Padres and Giants have picked up steam, which should make for an intriguing race if both teams keep that up.

The Wild Card in both leagues is pretty crowded to say the least. The AL field has more room for the mediocre clubs in it as Yankees, Red Sox and Mariners have six teams within 4.5 games of the three spots here in late July. Some of those clubs will likely be sellers but for now they’ll stick with it and we’ll see who can make more in roads pre-deadline. In the NL it’s a lot thinner, as the Brewers, Mets and Padres are holding off a couple of teams that are within striking distance, but most of whom feel like they’re not quite good enough to get there.

That does it for this edition of Around the Horn! Stay tuned for more coverage this week both on the site and on or Pod feed and enjoy the All Star game everyone! On twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon.