With the midseason summer classic officially over, it is time to take a look at the storylines of the second half.

American League East

Headline: Will the Yankees ever wake up?

It is the second week of July and the New York Yankees are a sub-.500 team and 10 games back of their most hated rival, the Boston Red Sox. If that wasn’t enough pressure, the Cleveland Indians boast an 8 ½ game lead over the Yankees for the wildcard. So what now? While Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera have been models of consistency; their starting pitchers, relief pitchers, and designated hitters have not been. Even with the addition of Roger Clemens, the Yankees starters are average at best. If a team is going to have average starting pitching, the bullpen must be relentless. However, the Yankees’ bullpen has been unusually sub-par early in the season. Even the Sandman, Mariano Rivera, has been sleeping on the job.

Outlook: The Yankees will contend for the wild card and should be back in the AL East race by August 10. The Yankees have 28 straight games against the likes of Toronto, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Chicago (AL), and Kansas City.  These cellar dwellers should provide a nice pick-me-up for the down-and-out Yankees.

Side Note: Boston still wins the division because they will get healthy. That’s really a scary thought: Boston is in 1st place and Curt Shelling is on the DL, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz haven’t caught fire, Julio Lugo is batting below the Mendoza Line and Daisuke Matsuzaka is just now getting his routine down. Come October not a lot of teams are going to want to face this team. Especially if the team syncs like they did in 2004.

National League East

Headline: Can the Mets pull away?

Like that annoying little brother that always wants to go with you wherever you’re headed, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies have been tagging along behind the New York Mets since the beginning of the year. After destroying the division last year, the Mets have found a newfound respect for the Braves impressive 14-year stranglehold on the division. The Mets have had a few injuries, but so have the Braves and Phillies. Pedro Martinez is likely out until at least the playoffs, but Mike Hampton and Mike Gonzalez are gone for the year. Plus, the Phillies are without Freddy Garcia and Tom Gordon. The Mets have had veterans slumping, but so have the Braves and Phillies. Carlos Delgado has been in a slump for the last month, but Andruw Jones slump began on opening day. Not to mention, Ryan Howard was slumping all year until last month when he heated up. Why point out how poorly the Mets are playing, instead of how well the Braves and Phillies are playing, because the teams are still intact. The Braves and Phillies had virtually the same teams when the Mets stormed away from not only the division, but the whole conference.

Outlook: The Mets aren’t going to pull away and the Braves and Phillies aren’t going to go away either. Look for this race to become heated since the Wild Card winner will likely come from the other two divisions.

Side Note: The Phillies will win this division, because they always go on a second-half tear. The only reason they miss the playoffs is the fact that they are too far behind to catch the division or Wild Card winner. That’s not the case this time.