[Raji]

It’s the All-Star break – a perfect time to regroup and underline some teams with the potential to run through the second half of the season.

1) Oakland Athletics

To put it bluntly, the season doesn’t begin for the Athletics until after the Midsummer Classic. Since winning an American League-record 20 straight games in the second half of the 2002 season, Oakland has shown a habit of finishing strong.

The Athletics have a .629 winning percentage after the break over the last five years. The club has finished no worse than 12 games above .500 over that stretch. The trend should continue this year as Oakland gets over all the freak injuries from the first half.

2) New York Mets

It’s been an up-and-down season so far for the Metropolitans. They jumped out to a 28-14 mark but have dropped 25 of their last 40 games. The problem has been their hitting but you have to figure the National League’s best batting order will be able to turn things around.

New York gets ace pitcher Pedro Martinez back soon and there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the NL East able to take the division away from the Mets. You also can’t dismiss general manager Omar Minaya's ability to pull off trades at the deadline that spark his club.

3) Boston Red Sox

It’s hard to argue the team with the best record in the majors is going to have an even better finish to its season, but there’s evidence that supports the theory.

First of all, Boston has a cupcake schedule the rest of the way. They play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 15 times and the Baltimore Orioles 10 times. Fifty-six of Boston’s remaining 75 games are against teams with a sub .500 records.

Many of Boston’s most consistent bashers still haven’t gotten into a groove (Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz have only 25 homers between them so far) and left-handed starter Jon Lester still hasn’t been recalled from Triple A.

4) San Diego Padres

The Padres appear on the verge of running away with the National League West. They have the best one-two combo for starting pitchers (Jake Peavy and Chris Young) along with the majors’ best bullpen (2.38 ERA).

GM Kevin Towers has already shown his willingness to improve his team after picking up catcher Michael Barrett and outfielder Milton Bradley. If Barrett and Bradley can boost the team’s success at the dish, the Padres will steamroll their way to a division crown.

5) Chicago Cubs

It was a turbulent start to the Lou Piniella era in the Windy City. There were memorable dugout scuffles, dirt kicking incidents and finger-pointing press conferences. And after all that the Cubs are still only 4 ½ games back in the NL Central.

Closer Ryan Dempster will be returning from the disabled list shortly, Derrek Lee is bound to hit more dingers and soon-to-be free agent Carlos Zambrano will be highly motivated to finish with a strong effort.

Chicago also has the benefit of playing in baseball’s worst division, so there will be plenty of opportunities to stockpile wins.

Raji