What has been learned from watching major league baseball on television for the past six months? For one thing,we are reminded again that predictions made in April are almost always proven wrong by now. With a week and a half left in the regular season one merely has to look at the standings to affirm that. For another, I have learned that I should stay as far as possible away from Jim Beam bourbon whiskey or else I might find myself crooning “Sweet Caroline” with a room full of ugly people and thinking it was fun. So good, so good, so good.

Congratulations to fans of the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays who have watched their favorites climb to the top of the American League East. Here’s hoping that the Toronto Blue Jays can get in on the fun as well. Don’t worry, Yankees and Red Sox, ESPN and Fox still love you. It’s probably a safe assumption that Aaron Boone and Alex Cora will continue in their jobs as managers, but will they really want to?

Also, I have finally discovered an excellent way to keep my weight down. Just keep watching all of those fast food restaurant ads featuring unhealthy looking items of questionable nutrition. Also,I have learned that no matter what we are eating, there needs to be a dip of some sort to go with it.

Minnesota will be in the playoffs by not being as awful as the rest of the A.L. Central. They do have a reasonable facsimile of Carlos Correa.

It has really been fun following the A.L. West. Texas, Houston, and Seattle all have great rosters somewhat hampered by injuries and the competition has been exciting. A real race to the finish. I want all three teams to win it. The injuries to Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani have helped make the Bellflower Angels a sad story but Arte Moreno should have kept his word about selling the team. The Oakland story is the biggest bummer in baseball and it may get even worse before it gets better

Don’t you want to drive in a car commercial so that you can really be allowed to drive as fast as possible with no other cars on the road?

The National League East certainly did not go the way New York Mets fans and a number of experts planned, did it? We need to recognize the fact that the Atlanta Braves organization has been really good at assembling talent and brains. Philadelphia is plucky and strong but it’s hard to picture another strong finish like last year’s. Miami is up and coming but I really wish they would move to Havana. While we’re at it,let’s send the Rays to Puerto Rico. That would be really fun, and then we could change the the division name to the Roberto Clemente Division. Wait a minute, they are in different divisions. Bit of a geography lapse there.

The N.L. Central had a good race for most of the year. Milwaukee’s pitching helped them pull away as did the return of Willy Adames. Cincinnati, Chicago, and Pittsburgh all gave glimpses of how good things can happen if you develop young ballplayers as opposed to gambling on free agents.

In the N.L. West, the Dodgers proved again that money walks while BS talks, or is it the other way around? Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy almost do it all by themselves. The Arizona Diamondbacks are looming in the very near future however. They have put together a real team with speed,defense, and pitching. The Giants are confused and stumbling toward ineptitude. The Padres lost the contest to the Mets and Cardinals to see who would be the most disappointing team in 2023. The Rockies don’t seem to care.

Here’s an October prediction:the playoffs are going to be very interesting and will include no games in New York. Also, a lot of bad pizza and beer will be consumed.