2021 MLB Playoffs

[Philsmania]

2007 Phillies were under .500 July 7th. Not a World Series of course, but clearly there are lots of teams that hang around .500 through mid-July and then win their division. The trading deadline also lets you turn an underperforming team into a better team. The Braves probably were playing under their talent level in the first half. Then they became a .650 team after the deadline with trades that worked spectacularly well and certain players (like Freeman) overcoming sluggish starts.

See also 2010 when the Phillies were sputtering along in mid-July and talking about selling off free-agent-to-be Werth. Then, they got hot, traded for Oswalt, saw the Lidge of 2008 return after a hideous 1.5 season hiatus, won 97 games and ran away with the division (but, alas, ran into a Giants team with a hot bullpen in the NLCS).