Since the second wild card was added to major-league baseball's playoff format in 2012, teams have been reluctant to declare themselves as sellers on the trade market at the all-star break.
"Everybody (on the fringe) hopes they can have an eight-game winning streak or eight out of 10," said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin.
Only three of the 30 major-league clubs were more than nine games out of the wild-card race at the break this season — the incredibly woeful Philadelphia Phillies (20 games out), the Miami Marlins (10) and Melvin's Brewers (10½). Not surprisingly, all three teams already are employing their second manager of the year.