Your attention, please. Look, I know you’re kind of busy right now, adjusting the recline on your beach chair. But while you were busy sipping your third pina colada of the day, a crazy thing happened:
This wild little baseball season found itself pulling into the All-Star break. Which could only mean that …
Yes, it’s that time again. Time for me to hand out my annual midseason awards. Unlike some major celebrities, I forgot to rent out Madison Square Garden for my glitzy ceremony — which, as usual, will not be hosted by Nate Bargatze, Nate Burleson, Rick Burleson, Mark Buehrle, the cast of “The Bear,” Floyd (Honey Bear) Rayford or Floyd Mayweather Jr.
So once again, I’ll just have to do this myself. Remember to hold your applause until we empty the theater (so I can make the swiftest getaway possible). And now … the envelopes, please.
AL MVP of the half-year: Yordan Alvarez, Astros
Yordan Alvarez, who is leading the league in almost everything, was an easy choice for MVP. (Tim Warner / Getty Images)
Is there a more terrifying sight, for any pitcher, than seeing Air Yordan stomping toward home plate in a pivotal moment?
Yikes. What a hulkster. Every time I see this, I get flashbacks to curse-smashing Big Papi … or prime-time, bicep-bulging Barry Bonds … or (if you’d like to jump in a time machine) maybe Wilver D. Stargell … or Willie (Stretch) McCovey.
If I were managing against this guy, I’d definitely intentionally walk him about 300 times a year. But because that isn’t what’s happening, let’s look at the staggering MVP campaign of Yordan Alvarez.
He’s Bondsian and Ruthian — If Alvarez’s second half goes anything like his first half, he’s heading for a more rarified season than you probably imagined: .310, 49 homers and a 185 OPS+. Ready for the complete list of left-handed hitters who have had that season?
Babe Ruth five times, Lou Gehrig once, Barry Bonds once … and some mystery man named Shohei Ohtani. Heard of them?
He’s leading the league in (almost) everything — We’ll somehow look past the part where Alvarez has an outside shot at the Triple Crown. (He’s second in the AL batting average derby, trailing Yandy Díaz by 17 points.) But we’re only doing that because he has a realistic chance to lead the league in, well, pretty much every other category you care about.
At last look, he was either leading the American League, or had led at some point this week, in runs, hits, homers, OBP, OPS, Slugging, RBIs and most times reaching base. Now here’s everyone who has ever led any league in all those departments since RBIs became an official stat in 1913: Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 … and Rogers Hornsby in 1922 … and we’ve officially reached the end of that list.
He’s power-lifting a lineup that isn’t quite the 2017 Astros — It isn’t easy to explain how an Astros team this ordinary still has a shot to play baseball in October. But here’s an explanation that will definitely work:
Air Yordan plays for their team.
What does he mean to Houston’s lineup? See if you can deduce the answer from this:
OPS SLGOBP
Yordan Alvarez
1.030
.614
.416
Rest of Astros
.688
.386
.302
So … he’s obliterating the dudes around him by over 350 points worth of OPS, by about 230 points of slug and more than 110 points in on-base presence? Got it! For the last decade, the Astros have rolled out a bunch of the most prodigious lineups we’ve seen in the 21st century. But let’s just say this isn’t one of them …
Except when Yordan Alvarez is waving that bat and staring holes in pitchers’ foreheads across this continent. So why is he the easiest choice I had to make in this column? That’s why.
MY AL MVP TOP FIVE (IN ORDER): Alvarez, Junior Caminero, Bobby Witt Jr., Nick Kurtz, Ben Rice
NL MVP of the half-year: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
Shohei the Hitter plus Shohei the Pitcher adds up to an unbeatable National League MVP candidate. (Ryan Sirius Sun / Getty Images)
Can baseball please create a new award for this guy already? Let’s call it the prestigious M-V-Ohtani trophy. Every November, we can hand it out to that Shohei Ohtani dude, snap some photos of him and his dog, and then reveal the voting on the Most Valuable Human Not From The Mysterious Planet Ohtanus award.
Maybe I’ve just written these Yeah, him again sections of these awards columns too many times now. But I’m starting to feel sorry for all the normal creatures in our sport. The MVP award used to be a really cool honor. But as long as the incredible Ohtani roams the Earth, how is anyone else in his league supposed to win it?
Me to a friend of mine this week: Do I have to pick Ohtani as my MVP again?
Friendly reply: You’re legally obligated.
Good point. So here we go again. Don’t arrest me. I’ve done what I had to do: Yeah, him again.
This year, I tried to convince myself that it was Pete Crow-Armstrong’s time. Maybe even Kyle Schwarber’s time. They’ve been special. Their teams have needed every ounce of special they have in them. Couldn’t I argue that’s been more “valuable” than the latest edition of Shoh Time in L.A.?
I could. I think. But that’s not where I wound up. As usual.
It really hit me this year how unfair this debate is. Unlike last year, just Shohei the Hitter alone probably hasn’t been quite transcendent enough to run away with this half-trophy. Same with Shohei the Pitcher, in either the MVP or Cy Young Award races. But when we vote for Ohtani in a year like this, we can’t escape reality.
He might wear only one uniform, but there are two amazing players inside it. And there’s no MVP power like two-for-the-price-of-one power. So here’s why there was no way to ignore …
Shohei the Hitter — on pace to whomp 34 home runs, pile up a 158 OPS+ and flirt with the .300/.400/.500 Slash Line Club, which had only two members (Yordan Alvarez and Yandy Díaz), among full-time players, last time I looked. That seems good. But then there’s that other guy we know as …
Shohei the Pitcher — so freaking good at pitching that, if post-All Star Game Shohei matches First-Half Shohei, he’d wind up with a 1.79 ERA, a 232 ERA+, a sub-1.00 WHIP and 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Just so you know, here are all the Dodgers starters in history who have had a season with a 232 ERA+ over at least 150 innings: Nobody! (Clayton Kershaw’s best: 197. Sandy Koufax’s best: 190.)
What that means, part one — Shohei the Pitcher could give up a hit to the next 45 consecutive hitters he pitched to (which seems unlikely), and the batters who have faced him still wouldn’t have as good a slash line this year as Shohei the Hitter.
What that means, part two — Shohei the Pitcher also could give up a homer to the next 20 hitters he faced (which seems less likely), and they still wouldn’t have as high a slugging percentage as Shohei the Hitter.
What that means, part three — Neither PCA nor the Schwarbino can top Shohei the Hitter in OPS+. … And Shohei the Pitcher has a better ERA+ than every starter in baseball not named Jacob Misiorowski. In other words, what the heck! Ohtani is just unavoidable.
So I tried. I tried to cure my chronic case of Ohtani MVP Fatigue every way I knew how. I couldn’t do it. Not even the Mayo Clinic could do it. In other words … yeah, him again.
MY NL MVP TOP FIVE: Ohtani, PCA, Schwarber, James Wood, Otto Lopez
AL LVP of the half-year: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s demise, in Year One of his 14-year, $500 million contract, has been shocking. (Olivia Vanni / Getty Images)
I can’t even believe I just typed that. Vladdy? As the Least Valuable Player in the American League? What alternative universe could that be happening in?
Not to mention he just eked out Cal Raleigh in this upside-down LVP sweepstakes. And I can’t believe I just typed that, either.
Raleigh was the AL MVP runner-up last year. Vlad was the ALCS MVP. So that feels like proof that they’re both pretty good. But baseball is hard. And this year, it’s been shockingly hard for both of them.
On one hand, Raleigh’s statistical swan dive (.170, with a 68 OPS+) has been even worse than Guerrero’s (.262, with a 90 OPS+ and just five homers in 373 trips to home plate). On the other hand, at least Raleigh had a long injury absence to use as an excuse. Plus his team, the Mariners, has spent most of the last month and a half in first place. So how Not Valuable has he really been?
All right, then why Guerrero? I have many mind-blowing reasons. Let’s work through them.
Who is under-performing his paycheck more than him? The Man from Vlad is more than just a star. He’s supposed to be the brightest star in the first-base cosmos. He’s the highest-paid first baseman ever. In fact, this is only Year One of his 14-year, $500-million contract. And he just got more All-Star votes than any first baseman. So how can we not notice this:
According to Baseball Reference, the Blue Jays are 28th out of 30 teams in baseball in OPS by their first basemen … 30th in home runs … 24th in WAR … and 28 in Batting Runs Above Average. Let’s just say that’s not Charles McAdoo’s fault.
He’s taken the “home” out of homer — More than 60 first basemen have hit a home run in their home park this season. Guess who isn’t one of them.
Guerrero has dug into the batter’s box in Toronto 190 times this year. But somehow, his last home run in the Rogers Centre was this one — more than 260 days ago.
That’s not just shocking. It’s crushing a Blue Jays team with World Series dreams and an offense that desperately needs more Vlad magic. They were 17-4 when he went deep at home last year, counting the postseason. They were 7-1 when he homered anywhere in October.
None of this makes sense — Vlad has always gone through stretches where he hit too many groundballs. But this feels like more than just an exaggerated case of groundball-itis.
Since 2024, his hard-hit rate has plummeted from 54.8 percent to 50.7 to 44.2. His expected slugging percentage: from .578 to .504 to .410. His rate of home runs per fly ball: from 17.1 percent to 14.3 to 5.7. And somehow, his batting average on fly balls is only .104. That’s more than 100 points worse than league average (.208).
So what we have here is a guy who almost never hits the ball hard in the air anymore. And how could that be the same sweet-swinging monster who unleashed this mighty rocket last October?
This wouldn’t be the first time an LVP pick made no sense to me. But I don’t know that I’ve ever made one that felt more bizarre than Vlad Guerrero Jr.
MY AL LVP “BOTTOM THREE”: Guerrero, Raleigh, Corey Seager
NL LVP of the half-year: Mr. Met, Mets
Sorry, Mr. Met, but someone had to take the fall for the Mets’ myriad mistakes. (Caleb Bowlin / Getty Images)
Just to be clear, I’m not literally delivering this much-uncoveted honor to that beloved mascot thing pictured above. He’s merely the fall guy for a bunch of Mets acquisitions who haven’t stirred any fond memories of David Wright or Darryl Strawberry.
Let’s identify the actual culprits. All of them would be more lovable at this point if they dressed up in mascot suits. But it’s a little late for that now.
Marcus Semien — In retrospect, did the Rangers seem a little too happy to unload him last winter (for Brandon Nimmo)? As a Met, Semien has been worth a grand total of 0.6 negative bWAR. That’s dead last in the National League among hitters who would qualify for the batting title.
Luis Robert Jr. — The Mets were proud of the trade for their new center fielder when Robert was going 5-for-11, with a homer and five runs scored, in his first three games of the year. Unfortunately, the season continued. Whereupon they got to witness the return of Luis Robert Jr., longtime White Sox heartbreaker.
He hit .189, with a .556 OPS, over his next 21 games. He hasn’t been seen on a big-league field since. Has anyone ever mentioned he can be slightly injury-prone? Oh, and since the end of March, he has been worth minus-0.1 WAR.
Jorge Polanco — The Mets used to have a first baseman who played every darned day. Now Pete Alonso plays in Ripken-ville, where they appreciate that sort of thing. Meanwhile, the guy who was supposed to replace him, Polanco, only made it into 14 games before reminding his new team why his nickname has never been “Iron Man.”
Polanco just resurfaced after being missing in action for nearly three months. In his brief period of actually playing, he has hit .188 and also joined the Mets’ negative-WAR Club (minus-0.3).
Should I stop there, or not? Should I include the Mets’ big pitching acquisition, Freddy Peralta (5-7, 4.68 ERA), even though he’s not really LVP-eligible?
Should I commute the sentence of Bo Bichette, just because he’s been so much better since rolling up a .531 OPS in his first 46 games as a Met?
Should I drag Mark Vientos into it all, even though he isn’t new around Flushing? His minus-1.4 WAR ranks last among all National Leaguers regardless of playing time.
Whatever. It’s been such a strange year in Queens that if I added up the WAR total of all of these players, the most “valuable” guy I’ve mentioned in this whole section would somehow be …
Still so wild Mr. Met was celebrating behind the breaking news of Carlos Mendoza 💀 pic.twitter.com/ghkVqAGUIX
— Big League Digest (@BigLeagueDigest) July 9, 2026
MY NL LVP “BOTTOM THREE”: Mr. Met, Manny Machado, Marcell Ozuna
AL Cy Young of the half-year: Cam Schlittler, Yankees
Cam Schlittler edged Dylan Cease for our prestigious AL Cy Young midseason honors. (Evan Bernstein / Getty Images)
There’s always one of these — that award that swirls around in my brain for way too long. Results in 4 a.m. tossing and turning. Inspires that little voice in my head to keep laughing at me, while screaming: You’ve got this all wrong, you knucklehead.
So even as I type this, I’m still not 100 percent sure that I shouldn’t be giving this totally imaginary half-trophy to Blue Jays whiff machine Dylan Cease. But my apologies to the entire nation of Canada, because I decided, in the end, that the correct answer was Cam Schlittler.
You want to know why? I’ll get lots of column material out of telling you why.
The case for Cease — Well, for one thing, he has a (slightly) higher strikeout rate than Jacob Misiorowski! (It’s 13.546 per nine innings for Cease, 13.541 for Miz.) That got my attention. But in other news …
Cease is also allowing a ridiculous .261 slugging percentage — and if that seems good, it’s because, if he keeps this up, it would be the fourth-lowest SLUG ever allowed, in a full season, by a starting pitcher in a league with a DH. …
Not to mention the “expected” stats are trying to convince us Cease has actually been better than Schlittler. Cease leads the AL in both Expected ERA (2.85) and Fielding Independent Pitching (2.20). Schlittler is at 2.94 and 2.58, respectively.
But when I vote, I decided long ago to give much more weight to what has really happened than what stats like FIP tell us theoretically should have been happening. So that’s where it’s so much easier to make …
The case for Schlittler — It’s just hard not to vote for big-time starting pitchers with a league-leading 2.01 ERA, who are rocking a dazzling 209 ERA+ and have compiled those numbers while rolling up a big advantage over Cease in innings pitched (112 to 98 1/3) and batters faced (442 to 401). And in case you’re wondering …
You know how many Yankees have ever had an ERA+ of 209 or better over a full season? Zero would be a stupendous guess. Ron Guidry made it to 208 in 1978. Spud Chandler was at 198 in 1943. But it’s wild to see that Whitey Ford, Roger Clemens, CC Sabathia, Catfish Hunter, etc., never even got close.
Finally, when you look inside the numbers, they tell you Schlittler finds another gear virtually any time he needs to.
Opposing leadoff hitters have an OPS+ of 37 against him. … Opposing cleanup hitters are batting .140, with a 29 OPS+. … And when runners are in scoring position, good luck to the poor dudes who have hit .138/.192/.277 against him in those spots. If he keeps up this pace over a full season, that .192 OBP with RISP would be the lowest by any pitcher who made 30 starts in almost a half-century — since John Candelaria (also .192) in 1977.
So obviously, Schlittler is a great choice. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized he wasn’t the only choice. That’s why I had to go …
Head to head — When any race is this close, I like to use history as my guide. I decided there were two fun little research projects I needed to do. The first was …
How many starters have won a Cy Young Award with an ERA a half-run worse than the runner-up? In the last 25 elections, I found only two times that happened: Max Scherzer (2.96) over Jon Lester (2.44) in 2016 and Barry Zito (2.75) over Pedro Martinez (2.26) in 2002.
But Scherzer had a 20-strikeout game that year and piled up a massive lead in K’s over Lester. And in 2002, Zito made five more starts than Martinez, faced 152 more hitters and won largely on volume.
So that was interesting. But I also asked this:
How rare is it for a starter with an ERA under 2.00 to lose the Cy Young Award to a pitcher with a much worse ERA? I had to go back further. But I found three instances where that scenario reared its confusing head.
• Last time it happened: 2005, when Clemens had a 1.87 ERA and 226 ERA+ but finished third in the NL, behind Chris Carpenter (2.83 ERA) and Dontrelle Willis (2.63). Because … WINS! Those two both won 20, while Clemens went 13-8.
• And before that: Kevin Brown had a 1.89 ERA in 1996, but finished second behind John Smoltz (2.94). This one wasn’t as weird as you’d think. Smoltz went 24-8 and piled up 117 more strikeouts than Brown. Also, it was pretty much the rules that some Braves starter had to win the Cy Young Award every year back then.
• Last time in the AL: Now we’re all the way back to 1990 — and it’s a Clemens thing again. He went 21-6 with a 1.93 ERA, but lost the Cy to Bob Welch (27-6, 2.95) — because … 1990! Welch trailed Clemens in bWAR, 10.4-2.9. But the world had forgotten to invent WAR back then, in a year when Welch chased 30 wins. So I get it.
All of that was fascinating. But now that we live in more enlightened times, I had so much better info to weigh. In the end, it came down to this: The edge for Schlittler, in ERA and volume, was just too big. Can I stop wrestling with this at 4 a.m. now?
MY AL CY YOUNG TOP FIVE: Schlittler, Cease, Drew Rasmussen, Joe Ryan, Louis Varland — with apologies to Sonny Gray, Davis Martin, Parker Messick, Logan Gilbert, Nick Martinez and so many AL aces.
NL Cy Young of the half-year: Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers
Jacob Misiorowski has turned the “greatest Cy Young race ever” into a one-man race — for now. (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
How unhittable is Jacob Misiorowski’s fastball? I asked the Pirates’ Brandon Lowe about that last week. He laughed as he grappled with how to answer.
“I’d say: Think of the hardest fastball you’ve ever seen — and just double it,” he said.
“So he’s basically throwing 200 (mph)?” I asked.
“Yeah, basically,” Lowe said.
So should anybody who “throws 200” just automatically win the Cy Young Award? I guess we have to go with no on that. On the other hand, if hitters think that’s what it feels like to face the Miz, it probably explains all the stuff you’re about to read about his unforgettable half-season. Such as …
He’s going to throw 1,000 pitches over 100 mph! This is wild to try to fathom, but if Misiorowski just keeps pumping triple digits at the rate he’s lit up that mph board so far, he would throw — ready for this? — 1,167 pitches at 100 mph or harder this year. Does that seem like a lot?
Let’s say yes. Here’s why: Pitch-speed tracking goes back to 2008. And at this pace, the Miz is going to throw 1,000 more triple-digit fastballs just this season than the Astros — all of them — have thrown over the last 19 seasons combined. That is nuts.
He’s heading for a season we’ve never seen before! Bob Gibson was the man with the 1.12 ERA, in 1968. Nolan Ryan was the human K-Mart with 383 strikeouts, in 1973. Denny McLain was the last 30-game winner of the 20th (or any other) century, in 1968.
They’re a reminder that, once in a while, a pitcher has a season that reverberates through the ages. And I think we’re witnessing one of those right now, in beautiful downtown Milwaukee.
At his current pace, Miz is going to wind up with a 1.62 ERA … and 290 strikeouts in only 185 innings … while those poor mortals who have to hit against him compile a .148 average and a .450 OPS — which computes to a league full of guys simulating the blistering offense of 2017 Jon Lester (.148 average, .463 OPS).
So let’s tell you where a season like that would fit into the annals of pitching history.
A 1.62 ERA? Since baseball lowered the mound 57 years ago, only two qualifying starters have had a 1.62 ERA or lower: Dwight Gooden (1.53 in 1985) and Greg Maddux (1.56 in the 1994 strike year). The Miz feels very Gooden-like FWIW.
13.54 K’s per 9 innings? Only two qualifying starters in history have reached those heights over a full season: Gerrit Cole (13.82 in 2019) and Spencer Strider (13.55 in 2023).
A .148 opponent batting average? The live-ball era arrived in 1920. And if we toss out the 60-game 2020 pandemic season, the list of live-ball pitchers with an opponent average that low would have just one name: Misiorowski! The current record is .167, by Pedro Martinez in 2000.
A .450 opponent OPS? Not even Gibson in 1968 (.469) beats the Miz. How is that even possible?
Three times as many strikeouts as hits (almost)? Technically, Miz’s strikeout number (167) is only 2.9 times greater than his hits-allowed number (57). But close enough. Not only has no starting pitcher ever had a K column that tripled his hits column in a season, but no one has even approached that. The closest any qualifying starter has ever come is 2.3 K’s/hits, by Cole in 2019.
So that’s the tale of this Miz season for the history books. Remember back in May, when the NL seemed posed to deliver the greatest Cy Young race ever? It’s now a one-man race, because nobody beats the Miz.
MY NL CY YOUNG TOP FIVE: Misiorowski, Cristopher Sánchez, Chase Burns, Zack Wheeler, Mason Miller — with apologies to Chris Sale, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Braxton Ashcraft, Max Meyer, Ohtani and a great group.
AL Cy Yuk of the half-year: Brayan Bello, Red Sox
Brayan Bello ranks last in bWAR, ERA, expected ERA, WHIP and opponent batting average, among other categories. (Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
Is it possible that two quotes can tell the story of our 2026 AL first-half Cy Yuk-er?
“Brayan embodies everything that we value at the Boston Red Sox.”
That was Boston’s chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, on the day Bello signed a $55 million extension in 2024.
“I’m just having a bad season. That’s it.”
That was Brayan Bello himself, on June 4, after a game in which he coughed up six runs in another disastrous first inning at Fenway … and the day before the Red Sox told him to go figure this out in the minor leagues.
So, um … this is trending well. Not that a high-speed pile-up between two onrushing, out-of-context quotes could clinch a Cy Yuk for anybody. But they give you a taste of just how wrong 2026 has gone for a guy who was once Fenway’s brightest pitching ray of hope. Now let’s serve the main course:
He’s allergic to the first inning — Here’s an ERA you won’t see much: 16.88. That’s Bello’s ERA in the first inning this year. Does that seem a little rough? If he doesn’t return and spiff it up, it will be the worst first-inning ERA by a starting pitcher in Red Sox history (with a minimum of the eight starts he’s made).
“I’m a big-league starting pitcher” — That’s another cringe-worthy Bello quote, delivered the night before the Red Sox decided that’s not what he was at all. His overall ERA, as a big-league starting pitcher this season, is 10.35. That, too, would be a Red Sox record — two runs worse than anyone else who ever made this many starts in any season.
He’s turned the whole league into vintage Fred Lynn — Fifty years ago, Lynn was a Red Sox rock star. If anyone in New England ever wondered what a whole team’s worth of Fred Lynns would look like, now they know what a whole league of them looks like.
Opponents vs. Bello this year: .310/.367/.484
Fred Lynn, 1976 edition: .314/.367/.467
He made this too easy — How could he not win this thing? Among pitchers who have been out there as much as him this season (61 innings), Bello ranks last in bWAR, ERA, expected ERA, WHIP, opponent batting average, lowest rate of soft contact and a dozen more categories you don’t need to hear at this point.
You do need to know that I never look forward to hanging a Cy Yuk medal around anybody’s neck. But sometimes these guys make me do it. So I’m sorry, Brayan. You were That Guy.
MY AL CY YUK “BOTTOM THREE”: Bello, Jeffrey Springs, Bryan Abreu
NL Cy Yuk of the half-year: Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks
What the heck happened to Zac Gallen? Cy Yuk stuff happened. (Joe Rondone / The Arizona Republic / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Don’t you hate it when bad pitching stuff happens to great dudes? It was such a cool story when Zac Gallen used to be stunningly ace-like, for a team that always needed that to keep up its we’ll be better than you think vibe.
Three years ago, Gallen was such an accomplished 17-win craftsman, he even got a first-place Cy Young Award vote for the D-Backs’ World Series Express. But now, here in 2026, he’s 3-9 with a 6.34 ERA and the worst bWAR of any pitcher in the sport (minus-1.6).
So what the heck happened? Here’s what.
He’s turning the entire sport into Buster (World Series hero) Posey — That’s not an opinion. That’s just a fact.
Posey in his 2010 Rookie of the Year season: .305/.357/.505
All opposing hitters vs. Gallen this season: .304/.358/.506
His four-seam fastball is a meatball sandwich — It’s hard not to notice that Gallen has lost all faith in his once-trusty four-seamer. That faith comes in handy in his line of work.
Average against that pitch in 2022: .165
Average against that pitch in 2026: .331
Give this guy an ABS workout — It’s hard to be a nibbler in the post-ABS universe. Gallen could tell you all about it, in his not-actually-forthcoming book, I Miss the Shadow Zone.
Last year, according to Statcast, opponents hit .204, with a .264 on-base percentage, on pitches Gallen dotted in that shadow zone, just off the actual strike zone. This year, that shadow-zone is never a strike — and Gallen’s average in that zone is up 70 points. The OBP is up to .305. And his shadow-zone whiff rate is a career-low 18.3 percent. Which explains why …
It’s BP for everybody — I took a trip through Gallen’s Baseball Reference splits page, thinking I might find a silver lining. Um, nope. Take a deep breath as we run through how opposing hitters of all shapes and sizes have mashed against him.
Leadoff men are hitting .314, with a .1.033 OPS, against him. … No. 2 hitters? They’re at .380, with an 1.147 OPS. … With runners in scoring position? The league is hitting .365. … With men on base, they’re hitting .323. … With the bases loaded? .385. … Runners on third, less than two outs? .438. … In high-leverage moments: .455, with a 1.415 OPS.
I could keep going. But I’m thinking you know Cy Yuk-ery when you see it. I want good stuff to happen to Gallen. Instead, Cy Yuk stuff has happened. And it’s crushing a team that re-signed him because his 2023 highlight reel was still in their heads.
MY NL CY YUK “BOTTOM THREE”: Gallen, David Peterson, Kodai Senga
AL rookie of the half-year: Kevin McGonigle, Tigers 
Kevin McGonigle, the Tigers’ 21-year-old All-Star, is having a rookie season for the ages. (Junfu Han / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Kevin McGonigle fun fact — In case it wasn’t clear McGonigle is destined for stardom, how about this: More than three months into his rookie year, he’s still on pace to finish the season with more walks (103) than strikeouts (94) — in his age-21 season.
See if you recognize the names of every hitter in the live-ball era who had a season like that (at least 90 walks, and more walks than strikeouts), at age 21 or younger: Ted Williams (twice), Mel Ott (twice), Rickey Henderson, Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Mathews and Joe Morgan. What do they have in common? You can learn all about them on their Hall of Fame plaques.
MY AL ROOKIE TOP FIVE: McGonigle, Parker Messick, Kazuma Okamoto, Sam Antonacci, Munetaka Murakami
NL rookie of the half-year: Foster Griffin, Nationals
Foster Griffin would be a Rookie of the Year unlike any other. (Jess Rapfogel / Getty Images)
Foster Griffin fun fact — I didn’t expect to be picking this guy as my rookie of the half-year — not in a league with JJ Wetherholt, Sal Stewart and Konnor Griffin (no relation) in it. But in case you missed it, Griffin has been awesome. He has now spun off seven straight starts in which he allowed one earned run or none. And at this rate, he’d finish 17-4, with a 154 ERA+.
Did you know … that over the last 70 years, only five rookie pitchers have had an ERA+ that far above league average, won at least 60 percent of their decisions and worked enough innings to qualify for the ERA title: Gary Peters, Mark Fidrych, Dave Righetti, José Fernández and Michael Soroka. All of them were rookies of the year except Soroka, who finished second to Pete (53 Homer) Alonso in 2019.
Bonus fact — We’ve never had a Rookie of the Year like this guy! Why? Because he made his big-league debut six years ago and also three teams ago. He was a Royal in 2020. He finished the 2022 season pitching for the Blue Jays. Now he’s a National (and still a rookie) after three seasons in Japan. Oh, and he turns 31 this month! So …
He’d become the first Rookie of the Year to debut six years before he won. Lou Piniella holds the current record, at five years. … Griffin also would become only the second player to win this award while playing for his third team. Only Piniella (Orioles, Indians, Royals) has ever done that. … And Griffin would be the second-oldest American-born Rookie of the Year, trailing only Sam Jethroe (age 32), whose debut was delayed by segregation. What a story.
MY NL ROOKIE TOP FIVE: Foster Griffin, Wetherholt, Stewart, TJ Rumfield, Konnor Griffin
AL reliever of the half-year: Louis Varland, Blue Jays 
Louis Varland has been lights out. (Olivia Vanni / Getty Images)
Louis Varland fun fact — Did you forget that the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will start giving out relief pitcher awards this year? Full disclosure: I chaired the committee that proposed this award, so I didn’t forget. And Toronto’s new closer looks as if he’d like to display the first AL trophy in his man cave.
If he keeps up this pace, Varland would finish the season with 31 saves, no blown saves, 115 strikeouts and a sub-1.00 ERA (0.94). Does that sound like a good year? Yup! Since the dawn of the modern save rule in 1969, only one other reliever has had a 30-save season with a sub-1.00 ERA and more than 100 strikeouts: Blake Treinen, for the 2018 A’s.
MY AL RELIEVER TOP THREE: Varland, Cade Smith, Bryan Baker
NL reliever of the half-year: Mason Miller, Padres
Good luck hitting Mason Miller. (Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
Mason Miller fun fact — I wrote two months ago that the Padres closer was the most unhittable pitcher ever. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Incredibly, Miller has now faced 142 hitters this year. None of them got an extra-base hit.
If we take this streak back to last August, he is up to 217 consecutive hitters in the regular season without an extra-base hit. That’s the third-most in history — and just 17 behind the record of 234, set by the Royals’ Luis Aquino in 1988-89.
No full-time reliever has ever gone a complete calendar year (barring injury) without an extra-base hit. So mark Aug. 5 on your calendar —because that’s the one-year anniversary of the last one off Miller (a home run by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.).
MY NL RELIEVER TOP THREE: Miller, Jhoan Duran, Dylan Lee
AL manager of the half-year: Will Venable, White Sox
Will Venable fun fact — In Venable’s first season managing the White Sox (last year), they lost 102 games. If the season ended today, they’d be in the playoffs. If we don’t count the 2020 pandemic season, with its expanded playoff field, only two men in history have managed a 100-loss team one year and a playoff team the next: Paul Molitor (2016-17 Twins) and Matt Quatraro (2023-24 Royals). But …
What if the White Sox go on to win their division? If that happens, Venable would become the first manager to go from a 100-loss season one year to first place the next. The current record-holder: Buck Showalter (from 97 losses to 100 wins with the 1998-99 Diamondbacks).
MY AL MANAGER TOP THREE: Venable, Kevin Cash, Derek Shelton
NL manager of the half-year: Don Mattingly, Phillies
Don Mattingly fun fact — When Mattingly took over the Phillies on April 28, they were 10 games under .500 and 10 1/2 games out of first place. A little over two months later, they’ve somehow made it to 10 games over .500 and only three games out of first place.
But if Mattingly had that déjà vu feeling when he was handed this (interim) job, there’s a good reason. Back when he managed the Dodgers, his 2013 team was 9 1/2 out of first in June, and his 2014 team was 10 out the next June … and amazingly, both finished first.
According to Baseball Reference’s Kenny Jackelen, only one manager has brought his team back from at least 9 1/2 games behind to finish first two seasons in a row. Yep, Don Mattingly. And only two other managers had two seasons like that in their whole careers: Bobby Cox (1991 and ’93 Braves) and Sparky Anderson (1973 Reds, 1987 Tigers).
Could Mattingly make it three? If he does, I like his chances of having to nudge his Gold Glove, MVP and Manager of the Year trophies over a tad — to make room for one more Manager of the Year trophy on that shelf.
MY NL MANAGER TOP THREE: Mattingly, Walt Weiss, Clayton McCullough