The American League is bad.
With the MLB season nearing its halfway point and the All-Star break just around the corner, there’s no real sign of that changing anytime soon. With July less than a week away, only three teams in the AL — the Yankees, Rays and Mariners — have a positive run differential.
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All this mediocrity means that aside from the Yankees, who have proven to be a step above the rest of the league, things are pretty wide-open. Every single AL team is currently within 5.5 games of the third wild card. With so many teams technically still in the mix, we’re headed for a peculiar trade deadline.
Unlike in the National League, which has the Rockies, Mets and Giants, there are no obvious sellers in the AL. Even the Angels, who should be sellers, and the Tigers, who should trade Tarik Skubal, can squint at the wild-card standings and convince themselves to keep trying.
What does this mean for the trade deadline? Well, by this point in most MLB seasons, teams have a general idea of which direction they’re going, but this time around, teams in the AL will likely not make a decision until the week of the deadline or even the day before. With five weeks to play until the deadline, any team on the fence could still have a hot or cold stretch that pushes it one way or the other.
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Having so many teams clustered together also makes things challenging when it comes to player acquisition. There will likely be teams that know they aren’t really postseason contenders this year but think they could be next year. As a result, they could talk themselves out of going all-in on selling, opting instead to add or stand pat. Teams such as the Red Sox or Orioles could fall into this line of thinking.
Which teams can take advantage of the lack of separation in the AL? The White Sox and Rays have already done so, playing well through the first half and positioning themselves to add for a playoff push. The condensed standings also benefit teams such as the Astros and Blue Jays. Neither has played its best baseball in the first half, yet both are right near the top of the wild-card standings, with a chance to make additions, get healthy and go on a run in the second half.
With so many teams in the mix and many likely going after the same trade targets, teams will have to get creative with their offers and additions. All of this should create quite the sellers’ market for the teams that do decide to punt on 2026 and look toward 2027, and it sets up for a deadline full of surprises and an entertaining second half.
In a crowded American League, which GMs will choose to take advantage of a sellers’ market?
(Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports)
With Mendoza fired, what’s next for the Mets?
The Mets announced the firing of manager Carlos Mendoza on Friday, ending a two-plus-year tenure in New York that might also signal the direction for the rest of their season. The ending for Mendoza looked a lot different than the beginning, because after a magical run to the NLCS during his first season in 2024, it seemed like Mendoza was a perfect fit in Queens.
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Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way. The Mets collapsed in 2025 before missing the postseason in their first year with superstar Juan Soto. This season, they’ve been one of the worst teams in MLB, sitting at 34-47 and last in the NL East, which made Mendoza’s firing a likely outcome.
The Mets, who named Andy Green their interim manager, will now turn their focus to being sellers at the deadline. Because while Mendoza has taken the fall for their miserable season, he didn’t put this disjointed and injured roster together. That was president of baseball operations David Sterns. From Luis Robert Jr. and Marcus Semien to Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco to Devin Williams and Freddy Peralta, almost every major move Sterns made this past offseason has not worked out so far, making it little surprise that the Mets are where they are in the standings.
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Once a team overhauls its coaching staff and fires its manager, there aren’t any scapegoats left to blame. So while it’s highly unlikely that Sterns’ job is currently in jeopardy, there is now a considerable amount of pressure on him to turn things around in 2027. Otherwise, another change will probably be coming to Queens.
Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez has quietly turned himself into a prime trade target for teams looking for veteran starting pitching. With a 6-2 record and 2.27 ERA across 95 innings, the southpaw is delivering his best season since he arrived in Arizona in 2024, and over the past month, he has found another level. Rodriguez has a 1.97 ERA over his past seven outings and has been Arizona’s most consistent starter.
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The D-backs, at 41-39, are currently just two games out of the third NL wild-card spot. But if they fall further back over the next few weeks and resign themselves to being deadline sellers, they have one of the better arms on the market to offer to a contender.
