THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Raise your hand if you had this in your preseason picks.
Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays are sandwiched between the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees and leading the wild-card race in - gasp! - mid-July. The Chicago White Sox are on top in the AL Central, with the big-budget Detroit Tigers in third and Cleveland languishing in last.
Not one team is above .500 in the NL West, and the St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins have muddled the picture in the Central and East.
Coming off the longest All-Star game in major league history, baseball is set up for a second half that also could provide last-weekend drama.
"We would have taken the spot we're in (when the season started)," said Longoria, whose team was leading the East before closing the first half with a season-worst seven-game skid. "We're in a great position. We just have to get back to what we were doing."
Longoria and teammates Scott Kazmir and Dioner Navarro were roundly booed by the Yankee Stadium crowd before the American League's 4-3, 15-inning win Tuesday night, signaling the previously irrelevant Rays must be doing something right.
Purged of the Devil, Tampa Bay is just a half-game behind Boston and 5½ ahead of the Yankees. The Rays also have the prospects to acquire another bat before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
But the AL East race could come down to the arms, with New York hoping to get injured right-handers Phil Hughes and Chien-Ming Wang back in time for another run in the final season at Yankee Stadium.
"As well as we're going to pitch is how well our team is going to do," Red Sox captain Jason Varitek said.
Pitching, as always, is a hot commodity.
The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs acted quickly to secure two of the best arms on the trade market, setting up a compelling finish in the suddenly strong NL Central. The Brewers sent four prospects to the Indians for left-hander CC Sabathia, sending a jolt through a franchise seeking its first postseason berth since 1982.
"I like our chances," slugger Ryan Braun said. "Whenever you can get a Cy Young Award winner and add him to your pitching staff, you're in great shape."
Braun and the Brewers will have to leap over wild card-leading St. Louis to reach the postseason, and the surprising Cardinals were 4½ games back of Central-leading Chicago.
Back again after decades of heartache, Cubs fans are hoping this is the year their beloved team wins its first World Series title since 1908. Chicago rolled to a 37-12 record at a rollicking Wrigley Field in the first half and acquired right-hander Rich Harden from Oakland before the break.
"Names don't win baseball games for you, production does," manager Lou Piniella said. "I'll tell you this, we're going to have our hands full the rest of the summer. You look at the teams in our division, and all of them have winning records at home."
Piniella helped skipper the Cubs through first-half injuries to ace Carlos Zambrano and All-Star outfielder Alfonso Soriano, who could be back in Chicago's potent lineup soon.
