Major League Baseball has reached its All-Star Game break with the conclusion of Sunday’s games. Teams will rest for four days prior to beginning their stretch run to the postseason and the season-ending World Series.
At this time, the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers are the first two teams to reach the 60-win plateau.
From a players standpoint several hitters and pitchers have made their mark while sportsbooks have been making adjustments to their odds for the Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and most home runs for the National and American League.
Judge is the current betting favorite to hit the most home runs, while Springer is close behind. Joey Votto with the National League’s Cincinnati Reds leads that league with 26 home runs is not expected to hit the most in the majors this season.
The favorite to win the American League MVP is Judge as well. The rookie phenom is in the top three for batting average, homers and RBIs in the AL.
Trailing him for the AL MVP are Springer, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa all with the AL West leading Houston Astros.
Leading the National League race for MVP is Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt No player with Arizona has ever won the NL MVP. Close behind Goldschmidt is Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper.
Chris Sale the ace for the Boston Red Sox is leading the AL race for the Cy Young award. Sale has won 11 games during the first half and leads the AL in strikeouts with 178. Sale is the overwhelming favorite, with Dallas Keuchel from the Astros second, but he has been injured since early June.
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is the odds on favorite to win the NL Cy Young award. Kershaw has won three Cy Young awards since 2011 and leads the major in wins this season with 14 and is second in the NL in ERA and strikeouts.
Max Scherzer the ace with the Nationals is second in the race to win the NL Cy Young.
Alex Wood a teammate of Kershaw is expected to compete for the coveted Cy Young if he is as successful during the second half of the season as he was the first. Wood is 10-0 with an ERA of just 1.67 for the NL West leading Dodgers.
