So much happens in baseball in July -- some of it obvious, some more under the hood.
You know the obvious stuff. The All-Star Weekend, the break in the regular season that goes with it and the Midsummer Classic itself. There's the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. And then there is the trade deadline and the flurry of moves teams make leading up to it.
From a projection standpoint, though, simply passing the midpoint of the schedule is significant. What you know about a team now is based much less on preseason forecasts and more on what that team has shown us to date.
The view of the season by the end of July is clarified. The focus shifts fully to the playoff races even as the competitive landscape has evolved so much since the last time we convened to take stock of things.
The focus on this post-trade deadline Stock Watch is homed in on the stretch run that every team has positioned itself for. This looks different for contenders than for those looking to the future. For the contenders who added at the deadline, we look at the biggest area of concern remaining after their moves. For those on the fringes, it's about what hope they have for a postseason appearance. For the noncontenders, it's all about what is left to accomplish on the field in 2024 -- and how those aims might be achieved.
Let's take a look at all 30 teams.
Jump to a tier:
Top-tier contenders | Second-tier contenders | Teams just hanging on
Teams looking ahead | The Chicago White Sox