Kuzul

Major League Baseball is rife with parity right now, and that’s both a good and bad thing. On one hand, a lot more teams and fanbases have legitimate hopes and dreams of reaching October. On the other, this relatively new league-wide equality has neutered the trade deadline—formerly one of the most exciting times of the season—to an extent.

Think back to this time last year when the biggest names to change teams by July 31 were—no drum roll needed—Matt Garza, Jake Peavy, Ian Kennedy and Alfonso Soriano. Ho hum.

Sure, there was plenty of speculation and rumors galore about other, bigger-name players getting swapped (think: Giancarlo Stanton, Cliff Lee, Chase Utley, etc.). Not a whole heck of a lot actually happened, though, because so many teams were either buying or holding, and so few actually were willing to blow it up and sell when the playoffs remained a possibility, no matter how remote.

Parity giveth and taketh away.

Sandy Alderson—general manager of the New York Mets, who enter Tuesday games at 51-55 and six games out of a playoff spot—essentially summed up the state of mind for the majority of front offices with this quote via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com: “When I say it’s unlikely that we’ll do anything, we’re not anxious to be sellers. We’re cautious about being buyers. But we’ll see.” 

Why is that? Well, in the American League, 11 of 15 teams are either in a playoff position or within six games of one; and in the National League, 10 of 15 clubs can make the same claim, including Alderson‘s Mets.

Put another way: With August on the the doorstep, only nine of 30 teams are more than six games out of a position that would put them in the postseason. The difference these days between being a club on the fringe of irrelevance and one who potentially could punch a ticket to October is more or less a good week.

By comparison, here are the number of teams six or fewer games out of a playoff spot entering August each of the past five years:

Now, the biggest reason for this, obviously, is the addition of the second wild-card spot in each league, which came about in 2012. But even still, it’s hard to ignore the fact that there just doesn’t seem to be as many dominant teams in the majors right now—or even any.

There is no 1998 or 2009 New York Yankees or 2001 Seattle Mariners, no 2005 St. Louis Cardinals or 2008 Los Angeles Angels, or even a 2011 Philadelphia Phillies. All of those teams won at least 100 games and ran away with their division.

In fact, five of the six divisions are separated by just 2.5 games or fewer at the top, and no division leader is ahead by more than fives games, which is the disparity between the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers (57-45) and the second-place Kansas City Royals (53-51) entering games on Tuesday, July 29.

Such tight competition makes it difficult for decision-makers to, well, make decisions. Being aggressive as the trade deadline nears—Thursday at 4 p.m. ET is mere hours away at this point—is a legitimate risk when there are oh-so-many teams clustered together.

But maybe GMs should be seeing this not as a risk, but as an opportunity. An opportunity to make one or two big, bold moves to separate their club from what clearly has become a crowd.

Sure, a trade might seem like an all-in gamble that could backfire, but it also very well could push a team away from the pack and make it an immediate favorite to reach the postseason or even the World Series.

That’s just what the Oakland Athletics did at the beginning of July by trading for right-handers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Chicago Cubs in one fell swoop. In so many ways, that was a shocking maneuver.

Because it happened so early (July 4). Because the A’s are the type of small-market team that often must rely on young, cost-controlled talent for sustained success, and yet they jettisoned Addison Russell, a consensus top-10 prospect. And because GM Billy Beane is well-known for calling MLB‘s postseason a crapshoot at the end of a 162-game marathon.

The A’s, after all, are always at the forefront of forward thinking in baseball, so seeing them push their chips to the center of the table in a win-now, worry-about-the-future-later deal was a bit jarring—but also telling.

Here’s what Beane, whose 65-40 A’s have had the best record in baseball for most of the season, told Bob Nightengale of USA Today after landing Samardzija and Hammel: “We have a team that can win right now. The end game isn’t to have the best prospects, it’s to have a good team. We have to take the opportunity and grasp it. We have a team that can win right now.”

So if the A’s, of all teams, can do it, why not any number of others? It’s not a stretch to say that half the clubs in MLB would become an October favorite tomorrow by pulling off a massive, all-in, go-for-broke blockbuster today.

Instead of being swallowed up by the negative outcomes of the what-ifs, maybe GMs need to recognize just how paralyzed their counterparts appear to be. The executive who goes big puts his team in position not to go home come October.

Why might this not happen? Well, that again goes back to the extra wild-card spot: It’s certainly possible that a club could wind up falling short of a division title, get stuck in a one-game playoff and have its “postseason” be over in just one game.

Heck, the A’s themselves provide an example of just this possibility. After winning the AL West the past two years but bowing out in the ALDS, they needed to make their trade to try to get past the first round for the first time since 2006.

On the other hand, as it stands now, they might have needed to make the deal simply to win the AL West again. The A’s have baseball’s best record, but they have the misfortune of playing in the same division as the Angels, who sport the second-best mark at 63-41. That puts Oakland but 1.5 games ahead of L.A. entering Tuesday games.

If the A’s do wind up coming up short in their quest for a third-straight division crown, well, then they run the risk of having traded away a major piece of their future—and a cost-controlled one at that—for nine innings of October. That can be devastating, especially for a budget-conscious team like Oakland.

Does that mean Beane should not have made the move? Heck no, because flags fly forever. But it does put the decision—and all the pressures and permutations that come with it—into perspective.

Statistics are accurate through July 28 and come from MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com, except where otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The final weekend before the trade deadline is upon us, so all the rumors and speculation are dominating the discussion points across Major League Baseball at the moment.

That doesn’t mean everything over the past week has been centered on what may or may not happen by July 31, though. Numerous players may be swapping shirts in the coming days, but there is still plenty of action on the field.

After watching the games, analyzing the numbers and dissecting the rumors, the most important narratives of the week have emerged. And here are the biggest takeaways.

Begin Slideshow

Imagine what would happen if the Colorado Rockies were to put Troy Tulowitzki up for sale. The chance to trade for the best shortstop and one of the very best players in all of Major League Baseball would turn 29 teams into a frenzied pack of teenage girls at a One Direction concert. Or something to that effect.

Other general managers might briefly consider offering their first-born as part of a deal for a chance to obtain a player who is still very much in his prime, plays a premium up-the-middle position and is among the most dangerous hitters in the game.

But which clubs actually could make a play for Tulowitzki based on their assets in the minor leagues?

Around Independence Day, the 29-year-old All-Star told Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post that he’s open to the possibility of moving on from Colorado:

In Todd Helton, there’s someone who’s easy to look at his career here and how it played out. I have the utmost respect for Todd, but at the same time, I don’t want to be the next in line as somebody who was here for a long time and didn’t have a chance to win every single year. He played in a couple postseason games and went to one World Series. But that’s not me. I want to be somewhere where there’s a chance to be in the playoffs every single year.

What people need to understand about me is: Winning’s my main priority. I’ve been around the game a little bit now, and I understand those years where we did win, how much more fun I had. And then there are years such as this.

By “this,” Tulowitzki means yet another lost year in Denver. Just like in 2013, the Rockies got off to a hot start in April (16-12) only to fizzle out in May (12-14) and flatline in June (8-20) to the point where the season was over by the start of the second half.

With July off to a 4-12 start, Colorado sports the worst record in the National League at 40-59 entering play Tuesday.

As Dayn Perry of CBS Sports wrote earlier in July: “While it’s hard to imagine his playing in another uniform, Tulowitzki easily becomes the star of the deadline—even a deadline that includes David Price—if the Rockies decide it’s time to tear it down.”

That “if” is the operative word. Because it seems like the Rockies ownership would prefer not to part with Tulowitzki, according to Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post.

Just because there have been rumors and speculation—not to mention more or less a blessing from the player himself—Tulowitzki isn’t necessarily being traded between now and the deadline at month’s end. But he could be at some point in the near future like the offseason, which is something he mentioned to Thomas Harding of MLB.com:

It’s about wherever I get the best chance to win. Hopefully that is in Colorado, but if they feel like they have to go in a different direction and get young and that’s where the organization is headed, then they will have to sit me down to talk about that. I would talk with them in the offseason.

Fact is, while trading Tulo might seem sacrilegious in Colorado, he is driving up his value in the middle of his best season yet, but he’s also going on 30 years old (in October), remains an injury risk and has a ton of money left on his contract. In other words, his stock could plummet soon enough based on age and/or ailment.

So again: Which teams might be able to pick up the phone and entice the Rockies decision-makers with a legitimate offer built around prospects and/or young big leaguers?

Well, for starters, any such team would have to be a contender (or at least, capable of contending in short order) who not only possesses the prospects but also has a need at shortstop and possibly even the funds to absorb the $118 million owed to Tulo through at least the 2020 season (after which his deal calls for a $15 million option or $4 million buyout for 2021).

For example, the New York Yankees, who will have a gaping hole at the position after Derek Jeter retires at season’s end, wouldn’t easily fit this endeavor because they lack the farm system to put a worthwhile package together.

Meanwhile, the small-market Pittsburgh Pirates are out of the picture considering they couldn’t take on such a massive contract even if they undoubtedly could use an upgrade at shortstop, a position that has been a black hole for years.

And the Chicago Cubs, of course, have as much talent in the minors as any organization, but much of it already is in the infield (think: Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Addison Russell)—not to mention the organization remains in full-on rebuild mode.

While those teams might not be logical suitors for Tulowitzki, these six could be—and they just might have the goods to get him, too.

Begin Slideshow

The second half of Major League Baseball’s season is just getting underway. For a batch of teams who either went to the playoffs last year or had such aspirations this October, that’s good news.

With a little more than two-fifths of the year, not to mention the July 31 trade deadline, still to go, both time and opportunity remain for such teams to try to turn it around by getting better performances, better health or even better players via trade.

Here’s how a quartet of clubs who have disappointed so far can improve and/or get back into the postseason race from here on out.

Begin Slideshow

What good is talent to a fantasy owner who lacks timing?

Fantasy baseball—just like the real thing—is a game of skill, luck and timing. That last trait, in particular, comes in handy with regard to getting value in the trading game.

Knowing which player(s) to trade away and which to deal for—and knowing just the right time to do so—can make all the difference.

After all, it doesn’t get much better than making a move to unload a hot flavor-of-the-week type who’s about to cool off in exchange for a slumping stud who’s ready to take off. And now that we’re more than halfway through the season, repeat names are fair game going forward.

Speaking of timing, let’s get to some players to sell high and buy low.

Begin Slideshow

The All-Star break is supposed to be just that—a break. From all of the pressures and problems that come with the marathon Major League Baseball season. For the Detroit Tigers, though, that respite has been interrupted by somewhat troubling news concerning two of their biggest stars: two-time reigning AL MVP Miguel Cabrera and former MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander.

The two 31-year-olds underwent offseason surgeries to address injured core muscles, and as Cabrera told Jorge L. Ortiz of USA Today on Monday, both are still dealing with lingering effects of the procedures and recoveries.

“There are times when I feel good, but there are always muscles that are tightening, muscles that are not functioning properly,” Cabrera said via Ortiz. “It’s part of the [recovery] process.”

After having surgery last October, Cabrera got off to a slow start by his usual elite standards, hitting .277/.320/.415 in April. He has since turned his 2014 around and is currently hitting .306/.364/.534. His 34 doubles lead the AL and his 75 RBI top both leagues, although it’s worth pointing out here that Cabrera’s .534 slugging percentage is his worst since 2004—his first full season.

As for Verlander, who has been struggling through the worst season of his 10-year career after undergoing his procedure more recently in January, Cabrera revealed this: “The same thing is happening to Verlander, but the difference is he pitches every five days, so you don’t see it as frequently.”

On one hand, the fact that Verlander isn’t quite right helps explain the poor season: His 4.88 ERA and 1.46 WHIP both represent career worsts. But even if it’s somehow merely a matter of time and rest before Verlander finds his form, the non-stop grind of a season isn’t exactly ideal for trying to recover from any injury, let alone a lingering one like this.

So the Tigers, contenders once again, now have to be wary of the health and performance of their two highest-paid players—both Cabrera and Verlander signed monster extensions worth $248 million and $180 million, respectively, the past two Marches—as the second half begins, as well as down the stretch and into October.

Detroit is seeking a playoff berth for the fourth consecutive year. Because of all that success, this clearly is a team not only built to win it all now but one that expects to—and needs to, after reaching the World Series in 2012, sandwiched around two trips to the ALCS.

With Cabrera and Verlander still battling through, fatigue is only bound to set in more as the season—and postseason—wears on. The Tigers went through just the same thing with Cabrera at the end of 2013.

“I think it has affected me quite a bit,” Cabrera said via Ortiz. “Like last year, when in the last month I wasn’t using my bottom half, my feet and the waist area.”

Remember: The Tigers experienced an injured, worn-down Cabrera last September when he batted .278 with an impossibly low .333 slugging percentage due to a mere two extra-base hits (one home run, one double). He managed the same number in October (both home runs) and clearly wasn’t healthy enough to produce like his usual self.

There are, however, a couple of silver linings in the wake of this news that Cabrera and Verlander are still ailing. The first is that there’s enough time before the trade deadline for general manager Dave Dombrowski, who’s always active this time of year as it is, to make a trade for some insurance and/or depth.

And second, at 53-38, the Tigers at the moment don’t appear to have any legitimate opponents for the AL Central division crown. Their 6.5 game lead on the Kansas City Royals is the largest among any first-place team.

Cabrera acknowledged as much to Ortiz:

But as [Verlander] and I talked about, we’re never going to offer any excuses for our performance. We always want to be out on the field and compete, and I think that’s the most important thing we can do, compete and try to get past this tough time. And the main thing is we’re in first place.

Plus, unless there are some dramatic standings shakeups, Detroit looks likely to match up with the winner of the AL East in the first round of the playoffs. That’s actually not a bad thing this year, considering how that division hasn’t been as strong as it usually is.

Still, the Tigers potentially could have one of the Oakland Athletics or Los Angeles Angels—the two AL West rivals who currently possess the top two records in the majors—awaiting them in the AL Championship Series.

While Detroit has taken out Oakland each of the past two postseasons, a third straight time might prove too much, especially with how good the A’s have been—and how much better they could be after acquiring starters Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel.

Not to mention, the Tigers now have to consider the possibility that one or both of Cabrera and Verlander might not be at their best or even healthy when they’re needed most.

Statistics are accurate through July 14 and come from MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com, except where otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Tim Lincecum did it again. The San Francisco Giants right-hander won his fourth straight start by holding the National League West rival Arizona Diamondbacks scoreless over seven innings at AT&T Park on Friday night.

The Giants won 5-0 to take the first of a three-game set. More importantly, the win kept San Francisco tied atop the division with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost to the San Diego Padres, 6-3.

With Friday’s outing in the books, Lincecum now has hurled a quality start in six of his past seven turns. Over that time, he’s compiled a 1.86 ERA and 0.81 WHIP with 37 strikeouts in 48.1 innings.

Aside from the strikeouts (a mere 6.9 K/9), those digits look an awful lot like the Lincecum of old, back when he was winning consecutive Cy Youngs in 2008 and 2009 and was widely considered one of the very best arms in baseball for a handful of years.

And of course, this recent string has been built around that no-hitter Lincecum spun on June 25—his second in less than a year.

Despite all of the above, however, there are two reasons why this hot stretch is more mirage than late-career revival. Let’s point ’em out here.

Lying and Underlying Numbers

It’s no secret that Lincecum has lost more than a few ticks off his once high-90s heater and hasn’t been all that good the past two seasons. So accepting that he’s suddenly just regained his former glory simply isn’t realistic.

In 65 starts across 2012-13, Lincecum posted a 4.76 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. His 3.95 FIP (fielding independent pitching) in that time looks a little better, but his ERA- (ERA adjusted for ballpark and league average) was 132—32 percent worse than average.

So how do those same underlying numbers, and a few others, look in 2014? Here’s a rundown of Lincecum’s stats this year compared to the previous two:

The point? By some measures, like K/9, BB/9 and FIP, Lincecum actually is pitching similar to, if not slightly worse than, he did in 2013 and not that much better than he did in his disastrous 2012—but this is masked by his strong surface stats.

Offensive Opposition

One key factor in all of this, and which helps explain why Lincecum’s traditional statistics look better this year: the competition. Or lack thereof.

Over this six-quality-starts-in-seven-outings period, here are his opponents, as well as a look at where they rank in a few offensive categories:

Clearly, Lincecum has been taking advantage of a very pitcher-friendly slate of late.

In fact, the Colorado Rockies offense is the only one that can be considered better than even below average, and that outing was in cozy AT&T Park and came with both Carlos Gonzalez and Nolan Arenado—two of the better Rockies hitters—on the disabled list.

Otherwise, Lincecum has faced the sorry one-through-nines of the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals, as well as the the so-so lineup of the Arizona Diamondbacks twice, which to be fair is tougher for him than most other pitchers because of this: 

And to round things out, he’s drawn the San Diego Padres, possessors of the worst offense in baseball—and perhaps baseball history—two times, the first of which was the no-hitter.

Skeptical much?

Bottom Line

Despite all the ragging on him above, Lincecum still can be an effective starter, as he’s shown of late. He has the ability—if no longer the same raw stuff as when he was one of the best pitchers in baseball—to get through a lineup two, sometimes three times, and even dominate the opposition on occasion when everything is just so.

And he’s certainly proved to be durable, having made at least 32 starts each of his six full major league seasons. That’s not to be overlooked or underestimated, because pitching innings—even if they’re only slightly better than league-average innings these days—is something that provides plenty of value.

Fact is, though, Lincecum is now 30 years old and has lost a lot on his fastball—more than two miles per hour since 2011—which requires him to be that much better when it comes to control and especially command.

And Lincecum showed that Friday, as Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson told Steve Gilbert of MLB.com:

He’s got great command and he threw multiple pitches where he wanted to throw them. He had good sequences, kept the ball down in the zone. There was a low strike zone tonight and he made good use of it and used our aggressiveness against us and shut us down.

As more of a finesse pitcher, trying to be so fine can work, but there’s less room for error. When Lincecum’s location is off just a little or he can’t get a feel for one of his off-speed offerings in a given start, then he could be in for a long night. Or a short one, as it were. And let’s face it: With a career walk rate of 3.5 per nine, control has never been one of Lincecum’s fortes.

Lincecum himself realizes as much, recently telling Chris Haft of MLB.com:

The difference between being good and bad is very minute, especially at this level. That’s why I always try to stay even-keeled. You can’t get too excited about the good things because they’re not that far away from being bad, and vice-versa. It just helps you keep things in perspective. 

The takeaway from Lincecum’s recent performance, including Friday’s scoreless victory, is that he’s showing he can have success while pitching differently than he used to when he still could overpower hitters. He’s making adjustments, and that’s paying off. At least for now.

But this isn’t the Tim Lincecum of old. If anything, it’s simply an older Tim Lincecum.

Statistics come from MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com, except where otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

With the 2014 Home Run Derby coming Monday, July 14—that’s less than a week away!—and most of the players participating having just been picked, it’s time to evaluate and grade the jobs done by Troy Tulowitzki and Jose Bautista, the captains who did said picking for the National and American Leagues, respectively, on Tuesday evening.

Before that, though, here’s a quick reminder that there are a few noteworthy changes this year: the field is expanding to 10 sluggers, the number of outs per hitter has been reduced from 10 to seven, and the competition will play out in a bracket format.

Oh, and the final two participants will be announced Thursday to round out each side with five hitters.

While it would have made all our dreams come true to get to see the likes of Jose Abreu, Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnacion, among others, swing (and swing and swing) for the fences, invitations were declined and injuries were suffered.

That can’t be held against the captains too much, however—in particular Bautista, as that lot hails from the AL.

There are two quirky aspects of this derby field as it’s currently constituted. First, all eight contestants, including Tulowitzki and Bautista, hit from the right side. And second, only one has any previous derby experience, but at least it’s the winner of the event last year at Citi Field in New York.

Rather than evaluating Tulowitzki and Bautista as hitters themselves—it’s safe to say they pass with flying colors anyway—this is all about grading their abilities to coax intriguing and exciting names into the act of hitting as many balls out of Target Field as humanly possible next week.

The grades are based on factors both objective (number of career home runs, average distance of home runs hit this year) and subjective (Q rating).

Here are the grades of the six selections so far, listed in the order Bautista and Tulowitzki announced them on SportsCenter on Tuesday evening.

Begin Slideshow

The upcoming Home Run Derby has been a popular story around Major League Baseball this week with the announcement of Jose Bautista and Troy Tulowitzki as league captains, as well as the news that the All-Star event will be switching to a new bracket format. But there’s no need to wait until July 14 at Target Field to watch a bona fide home run competition, because one has been going on for much of the past month between Jose Abreu, Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnacion.

And boy, did that trio put on a show Friday night.

All three sluggers hit homers, and because Abreu knocked a pair out of the park after entering the evening one back of Cruz and Encarnacion, they now share the major league lead with 25 apiece. All this happened, by the way, in less than an hour and a half.

Really, who needs the Home Run Derby when we’ve got a season-long race featuring Abreu, Cruz and Encarnacion?

In fact, Abreu—an MLB rookie who competed in five home run competitions in his native Cuba in the past—recently told David Wilson of MLB.com that, no offense, but he’d rather not be invited by Bautista to participate on behalf of the American League:

I change my whole mental approach when I go there. It messes with my mind. I never go to the plate trying to hit home runs. It’s something that I’m blessed with and it happens, but I never go trying to hit home runs, so I feel like when I have gone to these things, it has been not beneficial to me afterward.

Apparently, though, Abreu is fine with continuing to hit as many home runs as he can in games that actually count.

What made this Friday’s action even more entertaining was that, because the Chicago White Sox and Toronto Blue Jays were playing the second of a four-game series on Friday, Abreu and Encarnacion were involved in the same game. The Sox wound up winning 5-4, so Abreu not only out-homered Encarnacion, 2-1, his team also benefitted.

Meanwhile, Cruz and the Baltimore Orioles were busy splitting a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays, winning the second game 4-1 after dropping the opener, 5-2.

Just because it’s more fun to experience all four four-baggers blow by blow, here’s how it all went down Friday night.

First came Abreu’s 24th long ball, at approximately 8:22 p.m. ET, which put the White Sox ahead of the Blue Jays 1-0 in the fifth inning—and more importantly, tied both Encarnacion and Cruz for the major league lead:

That was followed just one inning later by Encarnacion’s 25th at roughly 8:48 p.m. ET, a solo homer to pull the Jays to 2-1—and put Encarnacion in the home run driver’s seat (albeit briefly):

Abreu then went ahead and smashed a drive to dead center in the seventh inning, his second solo shot bringing the score to 3-2 in favor of the White Sox. With this over-the-fencer at about 8:54 p.m. ET, Abreu re-tied Encarnacion and passed Cruz:

As if threatened by having been kept in the park through the first 15 innings of the Orioles’ doubleheader to this point and thus having fallen behind not one but two other sluggers on the same night—within a matter of mere minutes—Cruz joined Friday’s fun with his 25th of the season. A two-run opposite-field launch job at approximately 9:41 p.m. ET, Cruz’s long ball extended the O’s lead to 4-1 and kept him even with Abreu and Encarnacion.

Folks, buckle up: As fantastic as Friday was for each of Abreu, Cruz and Encarnacion, their display may be but a teaser for a home run chase that could carry on through the summer and on into the fall.

With the halfway point in the 162-game schedule here and the All-Star break approaching, it’s safe to say baseball doesn’t get to enjoy a race quite like this—three premier power hitters, all in the AL and all tied for the major league lead, to boot—all that often. At least not in the past handful of seasons.

Going back to the turn of the century with the 2000 season, three players reached the 25-home run mark while also being within three dingers of each other at the end of the first half on nine occasions out of 14 seasons. But sticking to only the past five years, Abreu, Cruz and Encarnacion will be just the second trio to do so in that time frame if they stay that close.

Outside of Josh Hamilton (27), Jose Bautista (27) and Adam Dunn (25) in 2012, it hasn’t happened from 2009 on. Whereas from 2000 through 2008, it occurred every year except for 2007.

And while it may be unlikely that each of Abreu, Cruz and Encarnacion reach the 30-homer plateau before the second half starts, they do have a little more than two weeks to try to get there. If they do, they would be in even rarer territory within MLB history:

Whether you’re watching along with each home run by Abreu, Cruz and Encarnacion because of how tight their race is or simply for the sheer number of homers they’re hitting—proximity to each other be damned—there’s something to enjoy either way.

Friday night brought a little of both.

Statistics are accurate through June 27 and come from MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com, except where otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Begin Slideshow