MLB Is Speeding To Half-Way Point of 2024 Season - What Have We Learned?

June 7, 2024 by Staff

It's hard to believe but here we stand on June 7 with more than 60 games in the books for every MLB team. It feels like the first pitch was just thrown a couple of weeks ago.

What have we learned, so far?

The New York Yankees own the best record in the American League and, like the Cleveland Guardians who lead the AL Central, are 21-8 at home. Over-all, the Yankees are 45-19 while the Guardians are 40-21. Seattle, meanwhile, leads the AL West.

In an article posted this past February, FanDuel.com had the Yankees primed to win back the division with defending champ Baltimore 2nd. The Orioles currently sit 4.5 games behind the Bronx Bombers.

The L.A. Dodgers were preseason favorites to win the World Series, followed by the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros, ahead of the Yankees and Orioles. The current World Series Odds at FanDuel.com have the Dodgers still leading the pack, but the Yankees have moved into second and the Philadelphia Phillies have risen to the 3rd-best odds after being 7th in the preseason.

The Phillies (44-19) have the best over-all record in the NL, while the St. Louis Cardinals (29-32) are struggling after receiving high preseason expectations, despite having closer Ryan Helsley save 20 games (95.2%).

The Braves are 7.5 games behind the Philly in the East while the Milwaukee Brewers lead the NL Central at 36-26, and the Dodgers top the NL West at 39-25.

For the Yanks, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto have been a formidable 1-2 punch with both players leading the MLB OPS stats in that order with Judge at 1.081 and Soto at 1.027. Pitcher Luis Gil is 2nd in all of Major League Baseball with an 8-1 record and an ERA of 1.82.

Other top pitching performances have been turned in by Ranger Suarez (9-1) of Philadelphia and Seth Lugo of Kansas City who are both 9-1.

Trials and Tribulations

So far, the season has seen its fair share of trials and tribulations, most remarkably the lifetime ban issued to Tucupita Marcano for gambling on games, including those of his own team. Marcano, who was lousy at betting, hasn't played since tearing his right ACL last July 24. He appeared in 75 games for the Pirates last season. Reportedly, 25 of his hundreds of bets were on Pirates' games while he was the roster, but he did not play in those games and the outcome of the games did not appear to be influenced.

Marcano won just 4.3% of his MLB bets over-all.

CBS Sports reported that four other players -- Oakland A's pitcher Michael Kelly, San Diego Padres's pitcher Jay Groome, Philadelphia Phillies' infielder Jose Rodriguez and Arizona Diamondbacks' player Andrew Saalfrank -- were handed year-long suspensions.

Before the season even began, Shohei Ohtani, the LA Dodgers' phenom, saw his interpreter come under investigation in March for gambling.

According to MLB.com, Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges Tuesday. He admittedly stole a whopping $17 million from Ohtani and faces a maximum sentence of 33 years.He said ib court that he had fallen into major gambling debt and wired money … with his bank account.

MLB released the following statement after Mizuhara’s guilty plea:

“Based on the thoroughness of the federal investigation that was made public, the information MLB collected, and the criminal proceeding being resolved without being contested, MLB considers Shohei Ohtani a victim of fraud and this matter has been closed.”

The Dodgers, who signed Ohtani to a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million free-agent contract over the winter, also released a statement:

“With today’s plea in the criminal proceedings against Ippei Mizuhara and the conclusion of both federal and MLB investigations, the Dodgers are pleased that Shohei and the team can put this entire matter behind them and move forward in pursuit of a World Series title.”

Kelly was suspended for one year for betting on baseball while in the minor leagues. Minor leaguers Groome, Saalfrank, and Rodríguez of Philadelphia of Arizona, and infielder José Rodríguez of Philadelphia were banned for one year for betting on big league games.