Though the All-Star break is officially next week, for some teams, the mid-point of the season in terms of games played has already been reached. With 81 (or thereabouts) games down, talk often turns to the trade deadline at the end of July, as teams look to bolster their line-ups if they’re still in contention, while those that are struggling begin to wonder if they need to rebuild and ‘sell-off’ some of their assets. Followers of MLB can most likely expect some interesting moves in the upcoming weeks, but there’s still a lot of baseball to be played, so let’s take a look at the news from the divisional races over the past week.

The Boston Red Sox are still out in front in the AL East, but the team hasn’t had a particularly successful weekend, losing twice to Seattle already with a final game to play today. Boston found themselves involved in a highly exciting game against the Orioles on Tuesday night though. 10-1 up going into the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox gave up ten runs over two innings as Baltimore rallied for its biggest comeback win in the club’s history. The Yankees are just a game back now, having had a splendid week. After sweeping the Mets in the Subway Series last weekend, and witnessing closer Mariano Rivera record his 500th save, the Yankees went on to win a series over the Mariners and are currently having the best of the Blue Jays this weekend. Behind New York, the Tampa Bay Rays recorded seven straight wins and have improved to 44-38, while the Toronto Blue Jays continue to slip. The early division leaders are now seven games back, but are probably still in contention.

In the NL East, things have started to look a little different. Philadelphia, after a couple of poor weeks in interleague play, have rallied a bit. Though they were swept by the Atlanta Braves during midweek, they’ve already taken two out of three from the New York Mets this weekend. The Mets, who already have some of their best players on the DL, have really begun to struggle. They only squeaked out one win in six games against the Yankees in interleague play, then lost a series to Milwaukee, and are now suffering at the hands of the Phillies as mentioned above. The Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves have both taken advantage of the slumping Mets. The Marlins saw Hanley Ramirez achieve a franchise-best ten consecutive RBI games, which is also the longest streak in the Majors this season. The Marlins have improved to 42-40, recording a sweep of the Nationals even after being swept themselves by the Rays in interleague play last weekend. Meanwhile, the Braves find themselves just three games back after a sweep of the Pirates midweek, and have seen excellent production from rookie pitcher Tommy Hanson who went 4-0 in June with a minimal 2.48 ERA.

The AL Central has also seen things tighten up. Though Detroit still find themselves at the top, the week really belonged to the Chicago White Sox who only saw their seven-game winning streak snapped on Saturday. The White Sox are now at 42-39, 2.5 games back from Detroit, with the Minnesota Twins nipping at their tails just three games back from the Tigers. It would seem that these three teams are likely to be the ones in contention as we enter the second half of the season because the Kansas City Royals find themselves ten games back, and Cleveland continues to struggle, losing a series to the Reds last weekend, and being swept by the aforementioned White Sox during the week. The Indians traded away Mark DeRosa to the Cardinals last weekend, and as they continue to struggle, many are wondering if others will follow.

Speaking of the Cardinals, they’ve been the talk of the NL Central this past week. As well as the DeRosa trade, St. Louis saw Albert Pujols enter the record books as only the seventh player in MLB history to reach 30 home-runs by July 1. Though the Cardinals have hardly been dominant in the division race, Pujols’ bat most certainly has, and the big-hitter reached yet another milestone Friday night, with his 10th grand-slam in a St. Louis uniform, which even beats out the legendary Stan Musial. Despite all these fireworks, the division still remains super close with just 2.5 games separating Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and the ever-improving Chicago Cubs. This division is truly anybody’s for the taking, and with Houston just four games back, and Pittsburgh just six, no-one should be discounted.

Out in the AL West, it’s still the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Texas Rangers battling it out for first place, while the Seattle Mariners quietly remain in contention just 2.5 games off the pace. The Halos swept the struggling Diamondbacks last weekend, but only won one of three in the top-of-the-table clash with the Rangers. The Rangers, who’ve been having their fair share of struggles lately after a fast start, lost a series to San Diego last weekend, but this weekend have been getting the better of the Rays. Meanwhile, the Mariners managed two out of three over the LA Dodgers, but only won one out of three against the Yankees. This weekend, they’ve been getting the better of the Red Sox, and continue to sneak up on the Rangers and the Angels while Oakland continues to drift, 11 games out of first place, but certainly not down and out just yet.

The Los Angeles Dodgers welcomed back Manny Ramirez on Friday night and continued to top the NL West with a 51-30 record. After his 50-game suspension, Manny went hitless on Friday, but belted one out the park his first at-bat Saturday, though the Dodgers went down to the Padres. San Francisco saw pitcher Tim Lincecum win the NL pitcher of the month for June. Lincecum had a stunning month going 4-1 with a 1.48 ERA which included a complete-game shut-out of the mighty Cardinals midweek. The Giants are looking good at this midpoint of the season, topping the wild-card stakes despite being 6.5 games back from the Dodgers. Colorado had continued playing well throughout June, their pitching especially notable with Jason Marquis holding the Dodgers to just two hits for his tenth win of the year, and Jorge De La Rosa, who only allowed four singles over eight shutout innings on Friday against the Diamondbacks.

Well, that wraps up another eventful week in the MLB. Back next week with more news from the Majors.