Mid Season - North Division

Halifax, Bedford, Philly and Cleveland. In that order. Yeah, sounds about right.
The Sailors are playing well despite the loss of Kiko Brezovan - still out for over two more months with a ruptured disc in his back - and a host of other players. The offense, led by a rejuvenated D2J, is hitting well enough and the pitching, top to bottom, has been fantastic. Horacio Ramirez leads the staff with 11 wins despite the worst ERA in the rotation (3.97). Justin Verlander is just 8-5 but has a terrific 2.51 ERA and has struck out 133 batters.

Bedford's hitting has been probably a little better than expected - Todric Johnson has been ridiculous. 17 home runs, 17 triples, a 1.001 OPS and 28 steals? Damn. - and Milton Bradley, Paddy Farr and Josh Barfield have contributed. The pitching staff has been a relative disappointment, in comparison. Ted Striker (3.29 ERA) has been great, but Scott Kazmir (4.39 ERA, but team-best 126 strikeouts) has struggled at times.

Andy Hunter, wherefore art thou? The Philly outfielder hit .318 with 41 HRs a year ago, and while the power is still there (18 homers), the average is not (.214). Miguel Cabrera isn't hitting as well as he did a year ago, though a lot of that probably has to do with the struggles around him. Jay Bruce is still a stud, his .337 average is good for third in the league. Outside of Rich Harden (2.93 ERA), the pitching staff has hit the skids. Three starters have given up over 20 HRs, led (???) by Neal Cotts with 24.

In Cleveland, Tex Austin and Drew Stubbs were supposed to team up with Alex Hildebrand to lead the Dawgs back to the post-season. Not so fast, my friend. Both have struggled with the bat - Tex is hitting .274 and has picked it up as of late, but Stubbs .776 OPS is not what was expected - and the pair has struggled with injuries, neither appearing in 50 games, yet. But hey, Hildebrand is hitting! The pitching, as expected, has been forgettable, though the Dawgs are getting another nice season out of Daniel Pursel (9-8, 3.81 ERA).

Biggest Surprise: Todric Johnson was a second round pick by the Crunch way back in 2013, and boy is that one paying off. The speedy outfielder struggled against lefties his first two years in the league, hitting .196 and .169 against them his first two years. He hit .358 (!) against them a year ago and while no one expected him to keep it up in 2017, he's doing it again. He's going to top his 2016 numbers in basically every category and that deep 2013 draft keeps paying off.

Biggest Disappointment: Andy Hunter's struggles have already been talked about a bit, but seriously, what the hell is going on? He mashed last year and the year before that, but it's like he slipped out of the gate at the beginning of the season and just can't right the ship. Frustrating for a Philly team that is fighting for a first place division finish.

Division MVP: Todric Johnson, without a doubt.

Division Cy Young: Justin Verlander.