Is This All There Is?

Take a look at the standings 70 games into the season. Could it really be that there is almost nothing left to learn?

By a combination of poor prospects entering the season and predictably poor performance, the following teams are essentially eliminated from the playoffs:
San Diego
Cincinnati
Philadelphia
Atlanta
Anaheim
Oakland
White Sox
Royals
Tigers

Thank you for playing. You get the home version of our game as a parting gift.

The Giants appear to be felled by a 26-44 start. They border on mathematical elimination in the NL West and sit 17.5 games out of the Wild Card.

So there is one-third of MLB that can cash it in for the season -- in mid-June.

On the other hand, the Nationals and Astros are on the verge of clinching. The Dodgers too, though theirs is conceivably a Wild Card.

The NL Central is a dumpster fire, but it seems inevitable that the Cubs will cobble together enough pitching to win that flaccid division.

That doesn't leave us much drama in the Senior Circuit. 

Colorado and Arizona have performed surprisingly well, and it's hard to believe they can maintain a .634 and .623 level of play (respectively), but who is going to run them down? The Marlins, Mets, Cardinals or Pirates, 11 or 12 games behind? Even if the Mets got the gang back together for an extended period and played .600 ball the rest of the way, that would get them to 87 wins, a number the Rockies and Dbacks will surpass even if they lose more games than they win going forward.

It appears we have our National League playoff teams mapped out already. By Father's Day.

In the AL, anyone can win the East or snag a Wild Card and maybe Texas or Seattle can challenge them. The Twins will eventually wake up and discover they are the Twins, probably around the time Cleveland blows by them for the AL Central lead.

And that will be that. The Yankees and Red Sox look strong; add the Indians and Astros and you have a five-way battle for the play-in game.

We're 70 games in and so much has been decided. Can that be all there is?