The maxim goes "you can't predict baseball" for a reason -- namely, no matter what you do, you simply can't predict baseball. We've all tried. We always get things wrong. That being said, baseball tends not to be completely random. There's usually something in there that makes sense. But from time to time, you'll run into a case like this year's San Francisco Giants.
The Giants' season is at least easy to split. Going into the All-Star break, the Giants owned the best record in baseball. They'd won eight of their previous 10 games. Since the All-Star break, the Giants have managed the worst record in baseball. They came right out with six straight losses. They've lost their division lead to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the concern now is whether they can get the ship righted in time for the playoffs.
There's good news, and there's bad news. On the plus side, the Giants have played far better than their second-half record would indicate. Yet, they were also worse than their first-half record would indicate. And no matter what, they do appear to be worse than the Dodgers. That right there is the familiar smell of bittersweet statistics.