MLB All-Star Break Halftime Adjustments

The All-Star Break is one of the only actual resets that baseball offers.

It’s so omnipresent and no longer even the literal “halfway” point in terms of games for a sport that doesn’t have a halftime in-between games and few days off to self-evaluate that there’s not really a time to self-reflect; there’s not really a time for a Herb Brooks Miracle speech exactly.

This is our halftime. The week of the All-Star Break festivities is fun and glamorous, but it’s also the bounce back in the weeks leading up to the August 3rd trade deadline that will make or break the season.

Let’s go team-by-team as if we’re the Herb Brooks- what worked, what didn’t, and adjustments, if any, to ramp up the team or the roster.

Arizona Diamondbacks

• What worked: Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll are playing like superstars!
• What didn’t: They still have no strikeout throwing pitchers
• Adjustment: Invest in a bullpen for once

The Diamondbacks are getting production from the top of their lineup in typical Snakes fashion, but the lack of strikeouts and a bullpen that leads to chaotic, losing games is as old as time.

Paul Sewald has been a high and low roller coaster, so for the team to finally invest in a bullpen to take aim at one of the Wild Card spots with so much fluctuation at the bottom, they could easily still field a winning team.

Atlanta Braves

• What worked: The players who were meant to be on the margins are producing
• What didn’t: HEALTH (AGAIN)
• Adjustment: Shop for depth rather than a superstar

Drake Baldwin was an MVP candidate before injury! Ozzie Albies was a bonus piece! Michael Harris II is now the superstar they paid him to be! The Braves have had to field far more players than they need on the roster due to injuries that have plagued them repeatedly, leading to burnout right before the break. They need depth rather than to go for an all-in move at the deadline, because when all things are clicking, they’re the best team in baseball, not named the Dodgers.

Baltimore Orioles

• What worked: Pete Alonso looks like the perfect Oriole
• What didn’t: Key members of the young core don’t look right
• Adjustment: Strikeout less and put the ball in play

To tie this back to the World Cup, this is starting to feel like the Golden Age of Belgium that hasn’t come through unless the plethora of top prospects the Orioles tanked for year after year to build this can’t eventually come through.

Adley Rutschmann has bounced back, but Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday are expected to be superstars, and week after week of losing against teams above .500 has made you lose hope in the Orioles this year; what is a shame is the bright spots in their young talent, and Pete Alonso being the veteran leader that’s necessary seem like they have the blueprint in the lineup. Still, the pitching staff blowing late leads, as well as the young-and-dumb mistakes, have plagued this team.

Boston Red Sox

• What worked: The starting rotation is only trending upwards
• What didn’t: The vibes around the team and organization could not be more dysfunctional
• Adjustment: SELL HIGH

All of the vibes surrounding the Red Sox were awful after they cleaned house on a liked coaching staff, with Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet both MIA, and Craig Breslow sounded like he had never watched baseball before. Suddenly, the Sox and the rotation of Gray, Tolle, Bennett, and Early put it together, and they won 9 of 13! Despite the resurgence in a weak AL, they should still ultimately sell high, get what they can for next year with a competent manager, and, more importantly, feel better about themselves as an organization.

Chicago Cubs

• What worked: Pete-Crow Armstrong is the player we thought he would be
• What didn’t: There is no starting rotation reliability
• Adjustment: Make a move for a starter at the deadline, hope Alex Bregman gets it together

The Cubs are the ultimate agent of chaos this year, with double-digit win streaks, the most walkoffs at home, and double-digit losing streaks. They are, however, a serious team in weathering the storm.

They’ve had 12 pitchers on the injured list this year, and in spite of that and a Bregman signing being milquetoast, the Dansby bounceback and PCA’s ascent to stardom have kept them in poll position to, at the minimum, be a wild card team if they can’t catch Milwaukee.

Chicago White Sox

• What worked: The youth are all coming together at the right time
• What didn’t: Playing against the elite teams
• Adjustment: Add some veteran presence for a playoff push

The team that has stolen our hearts. They’ve gone from getting clowned for 100+ losing seasons and Tim Anderson knockouts to having the Pope bless the team, maybe having the best young core in the division going forward, and playing with their hair on fire. The Sox are still trying to get their sea legs and contend against the teams at the top with an entire lineup under 26, but adding a veteran with winning experience at the deadline, a veteran reliever for depth, and a playoff push could be enough to keep the vibes high in the southside.

Cincinnati Reds

• What worked: Sal Stewart is your next Joey Votto
• What didn’t: Hitting to get on base
• Adjustment: Get production from the starting rotation again

It’s certainly hard to field a winning team when you have the worst WAR on offense and the 4th-worst WAR in pitching at the same time. The bummer of the Reds’ season is that while the rest of the season has been a disaster, they started off without Hunter Greene and had a rotation of Lowder, Singer, and Burns that was one of the best in baseball, and Sal Stewart was an NL Rookie of the Year candidate.

He and Elly will be the foundation going forward, but when you have a disastrous record against your division opponents, there is no chance to make the postseason.

Cleveland Guardians

• What worked: The pitching (as always!)
• What didn’t: The hitting (as always!)
• Adjustment: Get Jose Ramirez healthy and play the young bucks more

The Guardians have played their standard brand of ball- on-base, little mistakes, not very much power, but a pitching factory due to the financial constraints they bound themselves in. Jose Ramirez has been hurt and will likely return after the break, but what makes this Guardians team particularly exciting going forward is that they’ve fully embraced the youth movement in DeLauter, Bazzanna, Watson, and Messick. That can also be particularly scary because you’re relying on high-ceiling, low-floor production from young guys as well as a lineup that gets incredibly thin without Jose.

Colorado Rockies

• What worked: Hunter Goodman and Mickey Moniak are FRANCHISE GUYS!
• What didn’t: It’s still impossible to pitch on the moon!
• Adjustment: Sell high while you can

The Rockies might be the best-worst team of all time. Every time you check the box score, there’s incredible offensive production from Josh Donaldson reincarnate, Hunter Goodman, and Mickey Moniak turning into the first overall draft selection he was made to be, but then you remember it’s all a lost cause because they play at Coors Field and employ 13 different pitchers with ERAs over 5.

Goodman, as a hitting catcher away from Coors Field, could command a Juan Soto-level haul if they decide to flip him, but the fact remains that they’ve never collectively been able to field a viable pitching staff. At least we’re entertained.

Detroit Tigers

• What worked: Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler are making the leap!
• What didn’t: The Skubal situation
• Adjustment: Only accept offers on Skubal if it is HISTORIC

The Tigers have had almost everything go wrong aside from the win streak in June, yet, given the state of the AL, a Wild Card pursuit is still not out of the picture. Dillon Dingler and Riley Greene have provided the offense that they’ve been waiting on to become an elite offense that the pitching staff has been waiting on. Still, the decision looming on Skubal following the injury is bleak- they’ll have to make a decision on keeping him to pursue the playoffs after looking up and down in his return starts. The worst-case scenario is that with someone as great as he is, they sell at a discount since he’s only got half a year left.

Houston Astros

• What worked: Batting for power in the Crawford Boxes
• What didn’t: Allowing power in the Crawford Boxes!
• Adjustment: Attack more on the basepaths

The Astros have seemingly turned their season around after an utterly disastrous pitching staff crippled all of the energy and brought back the “the dynasty is over” conversation after the organization had been the AL’s model of consistency.

It turns out, when you have a human mountain in Yordan that carries the offense, Christian Walker hitting over 20 home runs, and a milquetoast AL West, they’ve held the line. Hunter Brown is back, Josh Hader looks healthy, and if they can steal more bases instead of relying on the long ball, the offense will be ready to aim for the division in the second half.

Kansas City Royals

• What worked: Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen have woken up!
• What didn’t: They went from pitching factory to the second-worst staff in baseball
• Adjustment: Shift to only players that will be there long-term

The Royals have at least found some foundational offensive pieces not named Bobby Witt Jr., including Jac Caglianone, who is hitting homers with incredible bat speed, and Carter Jensen, the heir apparent to Salvador Perez. However, that postseason run, in which they swept the Orioles in 2024, feels like eons ago. They need to build a long-term roster fast so that Witt isn’t Mike Trout on the Angels 2.0 since he’s already signed through 2034, and this season is practically over.

Los Angeles Angels

• What worked: Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers look like aces!
• What didn’t: It’s the same Angels story for the last decade: Mike Trout doesn’t get enough support and isn’t healthy enough for them to be competent
• Adjustment: Sell high on Soriano and Detmers and cater to Mike Trout’s wishes

It’s a rinse, wash, repeat season for the Angels.

They at least have Soriano and Detmers looking like two of the best pitchers in the American League, with control that could get them a haul if they decide not to commit, but we all just want Mike Trout in a winning situation. It’s getting sad.

Los Angeles Dodgers

• What worked: Almost everything, but Ohtani turning into an ace was unprecedented
• What didn’t: The Kyle Tucker contract
• Adjustment: Stay healthy for October and don’t press

The Dodgers are still the Dodgers. No one will be concerned about them at all until October, considering that’s what they’ve been assembled for as the most luxury-filled team in history. The reality is that they can sleepwalk this regular season until October, like last season, and hope to be peaking at the right time.

They’re capable of having an underwhelming Kyle Tucker with a terrible contract because they have that kind of money. Roki Sasaki can take his lumps in the regular season because they now have Ohtani pitching like an ace, and Glasnow and Snell are set to come back when the games really matter. Mookie and Fredd

Miami Marlins

• What worked: Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards are the best infield in the league??
• What didn’t: Hitting for power
• Adjustment: Buy low and take aim at a postseason and commit to the core

The Fightin’ Fish have figured it out! Miami, year after year, has traded off all of its pieces to get as young as possible. This young core of the dynamic hitting duo of Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards, Eury Perez and Max Meyer, being the proteges to Sandy Alcantara, and Liam Hicks slugging homers has kept the Marlins alive all year long and proven that they’re real.

The fear is that it’s another Marlins season where they won’t commit to winning and will sell off pieces since they’re still behind the Braves and Phillies in getting younger; this team is built to win now and deserves postseason reps. A veteran slugging outfielder would make the Marlins less of a plucky surprise and put them in serious conversations with the rest of the loaded NL.

Milwaukee Brewers

• What worked: BREWERS BALL + Miz being an ace!
• What didn’t: Leaving runners in scoring position
• Adjustment: Do what the Brewers have never done: buy high and go all-in

The Brewers are exactly who we thought they were and better because now they have a full season of Jacob Misiorowski. Each time we see him throw 103 mph consistently, we keep waiting for them to either loosen the reins or for him to take a step back, and he just never does.

They’re relentless, they don’t need to spend because of their aggression on the basepaths and bullpen depth, and they are brutal to play against. What would take them over the top is if they actually did what they’ve always feared and made a win-now move to follow up their loss to the Dodgers.

Minnesota Twins

• What worked: Luke Keaschall is the second baseman of the future in this rebuild
• What didn’t: The worst bullpen in baseball
• Adjustment: Sell high on Joe Ryan to bolster the youth movement

Incredibly, the Twins have stayed relevant since the American League is so poor after trading away 11 players at the last trade deadline. It’s not saying much since they’re hovering just around .500, but they held steady, Byron Buxton doesn’t want to be traded, and they’ve got the most runs scored of any AL team! Unfortunately, they also have the worst bullpen in baseball, and the team just isn’t set up to win in the long run as constructed.

The smart move WOULD be to trade Joe Ryan and be ready to win next year, but Ryan is a star and puts people in the seats. The choice is yours, Minny.

New York Mets

• What worked: The youth movement and maybe the best outfield in baseball?
• What didn’t: Spending on too many new things at once
• Adjustment: Spend on lower-leverage items next year

The Mets tried to buy every single ingredient at once, like a child in a grocery store attempting to assemble a meal, but just got everything they liked. It was too much new all at once, and they’ve once again gone from potential World Series contender to laughing stock. To be fair, they’ve had a plethora of injuries, but there hasn’t been a single time when every player was either available or firing on all cylinders at once.

However, the struggles have allowed AJ Ewing and Carson Benge to get extended playing time, and THOSE are the players the Mets need to center the future around, as well as Nolan McLean. Lower-leverage, responsible spending on long-term investment items will pair well with Soto for the rest of his extended contract. 

New York Yankees

• What worked: The starting rotation
• What didn’t: Bullpen meltdowns
• Adjustment: Get Judge healthy for October, don’t press since the AL is in this shape

In the absence of Aaron Judge, it’s been the Ben Rice show on offense for the Yanks, but that’s about it. Despite Camilo Doval looking like your Cy Young Favorite and getting Gerrit Cole back, it’s all for naught if Camilo Doval blows saves for you. There’s no need to panic aside from the Rays taking over the AL East- Judge will come back healthy, and there are moves to be made at the deadline to get the bullpen in better shape since the AL is a disaster, and there is certainly pressure to win now with this team. However, they didn’t exactly feel the urgency to make moves last offseason to Judge’s chagrin!

Oakland Athletics

• What worked: Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, and Zack Gelof hitting homers out of a sandbox!
• What didn’t: Pitchers being forced to pitch in a sandbox!
• Adjustment: Get young, controllable pitching

The story of the A’s is essentially the same as last year: we love Nick Kurtz turning into a superstar and the offense, but this minor league park that they play in, and then the subsequent series in Vegas, where they’ll (probably?) be moving, turned pitchers like Kyle Harrison into a batting practice pitcher.

Gage Jump has looked serviceable as an arm that they called up, but is 1-3 at home. This offense is going to be all for naught if they have to pitch on the moon and are a Coors 2.0, and the likelihood of anyone having any inkling of a desire to pitch there is going to be nonexistent.

Philadelphia Phillies

• What worked: Don Mattingly turning the season around!
• What didn’t: Starting pitchers not named Wheeler, Sanchez, or Luzardo
• Adjustment: Make the call to Mike Trout

It’s a rarity to have an in-season firing of a manager and then turn into a team as dominant as the Phillies have become. Christopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler coming back healthy, and Jesus Luzardo are rounding out a big 3 rotation that could be the best in baseball, and then the emergence of Brandon Marsh as an All-Star level hitter allowed for the heat not to solely be on Harper and Schwarber.

That being said, the lineup is still incredibly thin after that. The noise around them, hosting All-Star Weekend and all eyes on the team, including Philly guy Mike Trout, is going to be loud. Make the call! Just try! But if not, the Phillies will need to add an offensive bat and hope that Trea Turner doesn’t remain one of the worst contracts in baseball.

Pittsburgh Pirates

• What worked: The offense is no longer the problem!
• What didn’t: Paul Skenes looks hittable and has the worst defense imaginable behind him
• Adjustment: Be aggressive buyers for a bullpen to get the vibes right

Paul Skenes is starting to look like a Jacob deGrom on the Mets situation, where the team just couldn’t get wins in the starts in which their ace was playing, but for Pittsburgh, it’s been more of Skenes’s velocity has decreased in each start this year. The bright side is that the main concern going into the year, the bats to back him up, are alive and well, as the Buccos have a top-5 offense in baseball.

It’s been Ashcraft and Keller that have carried the slack in Skenes’s regression, but the Pirates are still top 5 in blown leads. That has to change, and in what is supposed to be a make-or-break year, they still have moves to prove at the deadline to keep their head above water for an NL Wild Card spot at this point.

San Diego Padres

• What worked: Mason Miller is unhittable (still)
• What didn’t: Every bat not named Ty France has not shown up, and they have the worst offense in the sport!
• Adjustment: Either get the swagger back or sell

The Padres have gone from maybe the most fun watch in baseball to arguably the least fun. There’s no spark in Tatis, who took eons to hit one homer this year, we’re lacking electric Don Orsillo calls, and the team that was once throwing haymakers at the Dodgers has lost its charm.

Mason Miller could command a massive haul if they decide to pivot and sell for once, considering he’s been the only bright spot aside from Ty France being a bargain signing that worked out. AJ Preller needs to either go all in once again or go all out for once and completely reset.

San Francisco Giants

• What worked: Hitting for average! The hits are aplenty!
• What didn’t: Actually turning those hits into runs
• Adjustment: Sell high and admit defeat for once

The Giants came into the season with a gluttony of pride. They made the win-now move last season by trading for Rafael Devers, next to Willy Adames, and tried their luck by making the historically unprecedented hire of Tony Vitello. Buster Posey has done everything he can as POBO to go against the grain, knowing that right now they’re in a position where they’re punching up at the Dodgers, and once again, it’s been a disaster! Both on and off the field, the Giants have had a plethora of embarrassments.

They somehow have some of the smartest hitting in baseball, being top 5 in average, but it’s somehow so hard to turn those baserunners into runs, with the only slugging coming from Devers or Casey Schmitt. Even in a place as pitcher-friendly as Oracle, it’s truly just been the one month of Logan Webb that kept them in the fight. There will be plenty of teams calling on Luis Arraez and Matt Chapman, and for a team in 4th in the NL West, it’s time to regroup.

Seattle Mariners

• What worked: The rotation is as good as we thought it was
• What didn’t: It turns out the offense is not as good when your catcher doesn’t hit 60 home runs, and no one picks up the slack 
• Adjustment: Swap a starting arm for a right-handed slugger

The Mariners remain a pitching factory, so much so that they have to rely on a controversial piggyback system and have the best pitcher in the minor leagues waiting in the wings. Simultaneously, the offense has taken a massive step back, with Arozarena and the slugging from Dominic Canzone being the only two bright spots.

The rest of the roster is built to win in an AL West that is up for grabs, and trading away some of the embarrassment of riches in their pitching staff that is controllable and agitated at the current system for some sort of offensive help could help them turn into the second-half team that they usually are.

St. Louis Cardinals

• What worked: Good vibes from the tarps off movement, and small ball is all you need to field a winning team!
• What didn’t: The pitching staff does not throw strikes
• Adjustment: Keep the youth movement; don’t do anything drastic for one playoff push

Put the Cardinals down as one of the biggest pleasant surprises of the season. The youth movement, headlined by JJ Wetherholt being what we thought he was (and cashing in on an extension!), Jordan Walker is the All-Star slugger all along, and the fans having the time of their life with the tarps off section has made them stay in the fight all season. The NL Wild Card is still loaded, and the stretch where they had to play the Brewers with pitching meltdowns while the Marlins surged made them lose ground.

This team is ahead of expectations– offensively, the lineup is here to stay, but from a pitching perspective, it may be time to overhaul everyone not named McGreevy, Pallante, and O’Brien. Chaim Bloom was not intending on this roster to compete now, and the long game, where the roster will… bloom, with age, is far better than making drastic moves that may hamper the long-term health of the roster going forward. Keep the tarps off, movement, and playing with house money going.

Tampa Bay Rays

• What worked: Junior Caminero is the star we thought he was going to be
• What didn’t: Lack of power in the lineup sets up double plays
• Adjustment: Make a move for a frontline starter

The Rays are the best team in the American League. Junior Caminero may be THE story of the American League with the hard-hit homers he crushes at just 23. They continue to be smarter than everyone of us by hitting for average, getting the most out of their starters in limited quantities before handing it over for a save situation from the bullpen.

They win on the margins, as always. However, the slugging is truly coming from Junior and only Junior. Another power-hitting bat or a bona fide ace next to McClanahan would remove all sense of doubt as to them being the prohibitive favorites in October.

Texas Rangers

• What worked: The aces are showing up
• What didn’t: The youth that was promised and the offense are not
• Adjustment: Add a veteran contact bat

Aside from the Mackenzie Gore deal looking like a dud, the Rangers are routinely throwing out aces wild in a pitcher’s ballpark where Eovaldi and deGrom have turned back the clock, and Jacob Latz is an exceptional reliever. It’s still the same song and dance as last year from an offensive perspective, where the take off from Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter has halted, but Joc Pederson, Ezekiel Duran, and Josh Jung have picked up the slack.

It’s such an odd situation where the only players that are operating the way they should are the marginal players on offense. They’re leading the AL West despite being the most .500 team you’ve ever seen, but a contact bat like Arraez appears to be the big rumor to try and get some sort of spark for run creation in the second half.

Toronto Blue Jays

• What worked: The pitching staff is striking out opponents at an elite rate
• What didn’t: Bad luck and health have decimated momentum
• Adjustment: Stay in the fight and fix the hangover mindset

The Blue Jays are a bit too pot-committed to fold now after an offseason where they were one of the few active American League spenders falling up short in Game 7 of the World Series, but it feels like they’re truly starting to feel blow after blow of this season getting injured before it even started. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. even removed himself from the All-Star Game voluntarily after his slugging had continued to dip, but that didn’t stop all of Canada from voting in Ernie Clement as the #1 vote-getter!

They have several expiring contracts that would easily allow them to sell and soft-rebuild for next year if they’re truly out of it. Being below .500 at the break isn’t promising, and the answers should ideally come from health and inside the clubhouse rather than spending again.

Washington Nationals

• What worked: The offense and approach at the plate are elite in year one of Blake Butera
• What didn’t: The pitching staff is equally as bad!
• Adjustment: Commit to CJ Abrams and James Wood and add a reliever to ramp up for next year

The Nationals have maybe been the most watchable team in baseball, given the expectations! James Wood is essentially the physical freak that everyone needs to watch on television at the moment with his mammoth homers. After cleaning house last year, Blake Butera has changed their hitting approach entirely at the plate, where the offense is formidable for nearly the entirety of the lineup. They went from trying to sell off CJ Abrams this offseason to needing to commit to both him and Wood as franchise cornerstones going forward.

That said, the relief pitching has historically been bad. The major league record for blown saves in a year is 37. The Nats blew 27 before the break. Fix the pitching for next year, DC.