The Fourth of July is the unofficial halfway point of the Major League Baseball season.

It’s the time of the year when pundits look back at the first “half” of the year and try to decipher what has happened and apply it to the second half of the season.

It’s always a fun game and I thought I’d play it.

So, here is what we think we know after the first half of a crazy MLB season.

Maybe this PED thing is, gasp, overblown.

Some of the recent major PED offenders — Melky Cabrera, Nelson Cruz and Ryan Braun — are having pretty good season, supposedly PED-free.

Cabrera has 104 hits. Cruz has blasted 26 home runs and Braun is putting up solid numbers on a surprising first-place Milwaukee team.

Look out for the Astros.

Yes, those Astros, that forgotten once-National League team in Houston that is now in the AL.

They have some pretty exciting young players, beginning with Jose Altuve.

The diminutive second baseman leads all MLB in hits (118) and has swiped 37 bases while hitting a robust .347.

Throw in phenom George Springer, who has 16 home runs in just .248 at-bats, and a young and talented pitching staff and the Astros may be a team to watch in the second half.

The Red Sox just can’t hit.

It’s strange to see a Boston team have so much trouble scoring runs, but the Sox offense has been very anemic this season.

That’s the main reason The Nation is in full panic mode a year after improbably winning it all.

It may be time to deal Jon Lester for a haul of prospects. That will be interesting to watch.

Can the Red Sox ever be sellers at the end of the month?

The Pirates are looking a lot like a playoff team again.

The Buccos have had a slew of problems they didn’t have last season on the way to a wild card berth.

The bullpen has been sketchy at best.

The starting pitching has been hit or miss and they’ve gotten next to no production from shortstop.

Yet the club sits just a whisper out of a wild card spot again and are playing well heading into the Fourth of July holiday.

It’s looking more and more like another fun October in Pittsburgh.

Pitching still rules.

Remember the days when chicks dug the long ball?

Now it seems chicks dig the strikeouts more.

Baseball has always been cyclical with ebbs and flows. There are times when hitters rule. There are times when pitchers rule.

The pitchers are definitely ruling now.

There are 27 starting pitchers in Major League Baseball with an ERA less that 3.00.

In comparison, in 2000 there were three. In 2004, there were seven.

Be prepared for more pitching duels in the second half of 2014.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.