School might be out for summer, but the 2016 MLB regular season isn’t done teaching.
As we arrive at the season’s halfway point, we’ve learned quite a bit about all 30 teams. Some of those lessons have been positive, some not so much. But every game presents an opportunity to learn something new and walk away with more information than we had before the first pitch of the day.
While we could break down what we’ve learned about each team, we’re only going to focus on contending clubs right now. To qualify as a contender, a team must meet the following criteria:
- Be within five games of a playoff spot, whether it be the division lead or a wild-card berth.
- Have a winning record. Teams playing .500 baseball and below need not apply.
Those are certainly reasonable criteria to have when it comes to the teams that are supposed to be the best in the game. If your favorite team didn’t make the cut (mine didn’t), well, chances are they’re more pretender than contender anyway and didn’t really belong in the conversation to begin with.
What have we learned? Let’s take a look.