2020 MLB Season: Simulating AL games, the second half
By Bill Felber
In this 2020 MLB season simulation, 3 teams dominated their divisions after the All-Star break.
A half dozen teams dominated the post-All Star break portion of the 2020 MLB season AL simulation. The result was runaway champions in all three divisions and only one contest with staying power, that being for the second wild-card spot.
No team proved more dominant after the break than the mighty Minnesota Twins, who pulled away from the pesky Cleveland Indians to take the AL Central by an imposing seven and one-half games. The Twins were 45-18 after the All-Star break, a .714 percentage that killed off even the stubborn Indians.
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There was no secret to the Twins’ success: it was raw power. Minnesota sluggers pounded out 331 home runs, a major league-high. A half dozen Twins topped 35 home runs, led by Josh Donaldson (44), Miguel Sano (43), Nelson Cruz (42), and Mitch Garver (41). Eddie Rosario added 36 and Max Kepler 35.
Jake Odorizzi was 17-7 to lead the team in wins, while Jose Berrios, 3.00, had the best ERA.
The Houston Astros (104) and Cleveland Indians (101) also topped 100 victories. Houston was never seriously threatened in the AL West, breezing to an 18-game margin over the runner-up Los Angeles Angels. Although second in the central, Cleveland finished 15 games in front of the third-place Chicago White Sox.
In fact lack of parity was a hallmark of the entire AL season. Only six teams finished above .500, four of them with percentages of .595 or better.
The Boston Red Sox were probably the season’s most surprising club. The Sox used a 15-game pre-break winning streak to jump into first place in the AL East. Once there, Boston buried its divisional competition. The Red Sox were 25-17 within the AL East after the break.
Related Story. 2020 AL simulation: The surprising Cleveland Indians. light
By season’s end, they had built up an unthinkable 16-game advantage over the runner-up Tampa Bay Rays as the other AL East teams essentially committed fratricide. None finished above .500 for the season, including the surprising troubled New York Yankees.
Pre-season favorites, the injury-plagued Yankees managed only a 29-36 post-break finish, winding up a disappointing 79-83, third in the division.
Here’s a month-by-month look at how the simulated AL races developed: