The National League won the 83rd Annual All-Star game Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City 8-0 over the American League, winning their 3rd straight "summer classic." It makes a big statement that they came to play and they were once again bound and determined to have home field advantage in the World Series.

During the first half of the 2012 season, the New York Yankees (52-33) and Texas Rangers (52-24) hold the best records in the Major Leagues thus far. The Washington Nationals (49-34) are surprising all in the National League, but the Pittsburgh Pirates (48-37) and right on their heels to lead the NL. These surprises bring up a lot of loaded questions of the could, will, won't, might variety. From the looks of it, if they can sustain their leads, there may be a "changing of the guard" in a couple of divisions.

NL EAST
Are the Nationals going to be able to hold onto their current 4 game lead over the Atlanta Braves (46-39)? Is a rotation with Stephen Strausburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmerman, Edwin Jackson and Ross Detwiler tops in the East? The Braves have what it takes with their experience. This is Chipper Jones' last go-around before he retires and he's been hitting the ball pretty well leading up to the All-Star break, not to mention guys like Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and Michael Bourn helping Chipper provide leadership and production. The N.Y. Mets (46-40) are just half a game behind Atlanta and 4.5 games back of Washington. Dillon Gee possibly being shelved for the remainder of the year won't help the Mets' rotation. It might be tough for Johan Santana, R.A. Dickey, Jonathon Niese and Chris Young to take the boys from Flushing to the playoffs. 
  
NL CENTRAL
Can this be the year the Pirates keep the ship on track and fend off the feisty Cincinnati Reds (47-38) and defending World Champions in the St. Louis Cardinals (46-40)? The Reds are just one game behind Pittsburgh and St. Louis is trailing by only 2.5 games. Cincinnati has just a .248 team batting average. Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips and company might be able to hit the long ball, but that's not going to get them back to the postseason. The Cardinals, might be in some trouble, but they're within striking distance of Pittsburgh and we all saw them overcome trailing by 8 games last season to win the Wild Card and eventually won the franchise's 11th World Series. Lance Berkman should return from his DL stint when play resumes from the All-Star break this Friday. Clint Hurdle's Pirates hold the best home record in the major leagues at 29-14 so far at PNC Park this season. Playing this well at home is one thing, but tightening up on the road, where they're 19-23, might get the Pirates over the hump and back to being a playoff team.

NL WEST
The West will be won by either Los Angeles or San Francisco, unless Arizona decides it wants to be a dog in this Divisional or perhaps the Wild Card hunt. Matt Kemp comes off the DL on Friday to help aid a fading Dodger offense that's missing another outfielder currently on the DL in Andre Ethier. Pitching depth in the Giants' rotation with Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Barry Zito and Ryan Vogelsong providing Bruce Boche with a solid 1-5 lineup that can match up with any lineup. It's tough to say how the Arizona Diamondbacks will respond in the 2nd half of the season. Jason Kubel led the desert dwellers with 60 RBIs. Outfielder Justin Upton could possibly be dealt to Atlanta any day now.

AL EAST
The Yankees will more than likely take the East crown with ease, despite having LF Brett Gardner and Closer Mariano Rivera on the DL. Raul Ibanez is a nice fit in left and Rafael Soriano has settled into the closer role pretty comfortably. The Bronx Bombers were 20-7 in June and are 5-3 to start July and have a 7 game cushion on the Baltimore Orioles for the East division lead. This is the tightest division in baseball. Each team is .500 and above and with Boston and Toronto tied for last (43-43), the two are just 9.5 games back  from the 1st place Yankees. Tampa Bay usually makes a surge in the 2nd half and I honestly wouldn't put it past Joe Maddon's crew. Evan Longoria should be back at 3B sometime soon, but he's no savior, even though he could help the Rays out on the left side of their infield. Buck Showalter has his Orioles believing that they can catch the Yankees or at least vie for one of the now two Wild Card spots, which isn't totally out of the relm of possibility.

AL CENTRAL
Robin Ventura has the Chicago White Sox (47-38) are coming into their own, now that they gained an extra power bat in the lineup with Kevin Youkilis starting at third base, recently acquired from the Boston Red Sox. I honestly see GM Kenny Williams making a move for a starting pitcher before the July 31 trade deadline. It would be smart on his part, anyway, if he wants his White Sox to be more than just a division winner this year. The Cleveland Indians are the squad that's really surprised most in the AL, but the Tribe just doesn't have enough power across the board to keep up with the White Sox or even keep the Detroit Tigers from overtaking them for second place in the Central. Detroit has a lot of youth, but Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera are ready to take things upon themselves to possibly lead Detroit on a second half push.

AL WEST
The Texas Rangers couldn't be hungrier than they were after losing the 2011 World Series to St. Louis. Losing their second consecutive World Series makes them want to break out of that spell and win the ultimate prize of that World Title. They've made due with the great talent that they have, even with pitchers Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Neftali Feliz and Alexi Ogando all injured at some point this season. Texas signed veteran right-hander Roy Oswalt to help with the absence of those arms. The only competition in the West for Texas are the LA Angels. It took Albert Pujols quite a while to get adjusted to American League pitching and overall style of play. The Angels more than likely won't catch the Rangers if they keep up with a 4-man rotation. It's too long of a season to try to win a lot of baseball games with just four starters. Mike Scioscia is a great manager, but they surely need a fifth starting arm to get back to the playoffs.

Teams have played between 83 and 87 games in the first half. That puts them just a little over the halfway point in their seasons. There's obviously room for a lot of teams to improve on what they've already done and also plenty of time for seasons to implode. I'm a superstitious person, so I won't drop any names to possibly jinx their season(s) and send them down the tubes.