hardball Joel Sherman Handing out MLB midseason awards as AL MVP becomes complex puzzle By Joel Sherman Published June 27, 2026, 10:55 a.m. ET Yordan Alvarez is Joel Sherman's midseason AL MVP pick. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect The American League stinks.
It is no longer a small-sample tidbit. The schedule reached its midpoint Friday and just five AL teams were over .500 and just five had positive run differentials – the Yankees at plus-110 and then the Rays, Mariners, White Sox and Tigers at plus-43 combined.
The implications are wide-ranging. Before beating the Royals 22-1 on Friday, the White Sox would not only have won a tiebreaker to be the AL Central champs at just 41-38 with a minus-three run differential, but would have had a first-round bye along with the Yankees.
The teams that played for the AL pennant last year, Seattle and Toronto, bulked up further in the offseason and were a combined 81-84 – yet the Mariners were the AL West leader and the Blue Jays were one game out of a playoff berth. It was part of a confusing snarl of meh (or worse) teams that in the coming weeks must determine how to handle the Aug. 3 trade deadline when they are not playing particularly well and yet are still postseason viable.
