First place fixing on Fourth of July

It’s the Fourth of July Friday, and one of the oldest baseball adages is that the teams in first place now will be the teams in first place come the end of the season. But, of course, of the six division leaders last year, only three held on to finish first. The Mets, Brewers and Padres all crumbled down the stretch. If I’ve got to pick three this year to not be leading at the end, the first would be the Rays - for all their talent, I still believe that the bullpen won’t hold up. (But for all those Rays fans out there who see me as the No. 1 naysayer and idiot with his head stuck in 2005, let me say this: If the Rays make the playoffs, they’re going to make some noise.) The other team I really believe won’t win its division is the Angels, who are about seven games better than their record should be based on their runs scored and runs allowed. The Angels did just take two of three from the A’s in Anaheim, but I think Oakland will continue to improve in the ... [link]