The Major League Baseball all-star break has come at a merciful time for more than a few teams, but it remains to be seen if will have a desired effect. Boston lost two games of its AL East lead over Tampa Bay in the last two days, and the Angels have dropped three in a row to fall even farther back of Oakland and Texas in the AL West. Nobody, though, needs the rest more than the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves.   

(All odds provided by Sportsbook.ag unless otherwise indicated).

Kansas City Royals. On July 1, the Royals were well within striking distance in the AL Central just 4.5 games back of Cleveland. Fast forward two weeks to the beginning of the break and Kansas City is in the midst of a five-game losing streak that has the forlorn franchise eight games behind Detroit and 7.5 shy of the second-place Indians. After coming out on the short end of its last two in a four-game road set at the Yankees, the Royals got swept in three straight at Cleveland. In the five-game stretch, Kansas City gave up at least five runs in four of the five contests — including eight in both setbacks against New York. The Royals are +5000 to come back and win their division. The Tigers are -400 favorites to hold on in the AL Central, +350 favorites to take the AL Pennant, and +800 to win it all.

Atlanta Braves. It’s amazing — and thanks almost entirely to the mediocrity of the Washington Nationals — Atlanta has a six-game cushion in the NL East heading into the all-star break. After all, manager Fredi Gonzalez struggled just to field a team over the past few days. His entire starting outfield is out, and Freddie Freeman jammed his thumb on Friday night and will miss the All-Star Game after beating out Yasiel Puig in a well-documented race for the final spot on the NL roster. Among the Braves’ starters in their Sunday game (an 8-4 home loss to Cincinnati) were Jose Costanza, Reed Johnson, Gerald Laird, and Joey Terdoslavich, while rookie sensation Evan Gattis — normally a backup catcher — played at first base in place of Freeman. The Braves, who are 23-26 on the road, begin the second half with seven straight away from home. They are -400 to capture the division title and +400 to reach the World Series.

Danica Patrick. What’s worse: causing a wreck that involves an assortment of relatively random drivers, or causing one than takes out your boyfriend? At least in the latter the victim probably won’t emerge spitting fire and calling you an idiot like Kyle Busch did to Ryan Newman after last weekend’s Sprint Cup race in New Hampshire. Still, either scenario sure isn’t good. But Patrick did it, as she instigated a wreck after a restart midway through the race that included Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Patrick finished in 37th place, and Stenhouse sputtered home in 34th position. Patrick is +5000000 (six zeros for those counting) to win the Sprint Cup title while Jimmie Johnson is a +150 favorite to snag his sixth championship.

Pouncey brothers. Wearing hats that show apparent support for someone arrested on a murder charge (the same someone who is also being investigated for a double-murder separate incident) probably is not a good idea…especially not when you’re an NFL player out in public. Leave it to both Maurkice and Mike Pouncey to achieve such a level of stupidity. Maurkice, a center for the Steelers, apologized on Monday. Mike, of the Dolphins, was expected to meet with his team to discuss the matter. A photo of Hernandez, meanwhile, was removed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame over the weekend. Normally, that would really suck. Given his current situation, of course, that has to be the least of Hernandez’s concerns. His former team, New England, is +800 to win the Super Bowl. Pittsburgh is +3500 and Miami is +5000.

Alberto Contador. The two-time Tour de France champion needed a win on the famed Mont Ventoux during Sunday’s 15th stage to have a realistic chance of ever overcoming current yellow jersey holder Chris Froome. Contador contended for awhile before watching Froome sprint away from him near the top of the mountain. The Spaniard finished the stage in sixth and lost another one minute and 40 seconds to Froome’s overall race lead. Contador stands in third place, a virtually insurmountable 4:25 back of first place. Froome is -2000 at Bovada Sportsbook to win his first Tour de France title; Contador is the second choice at +1600. Froome is also a +160 favorite to capture King of the Mountains honors.

David Hearn. Hearn had a major opportunity win his first PGA Tour title, book a last-minute trip to the British Open, and play in next year’s Masters. A triumph at the John Deere Classic on Sunday would have assured all three. Instead, the same three accolades went to 19-year-old Jordan Spieth. After five playoff holes, Spieth finally outlasted Hearn and Zach Johnson. Hearn had a chance to wrap it up on the fourth extra hole, but he pulled what would have been a winning putt from just outside four feet. He also drove right into the heavy rough on the final hole after Spieth and Johnson had already driven way right. Furthermore, Hearn really should have been playing against Johnson and Johnson only. Spieth holed out from a greenside bunker on the last hole of regulation — a shot that would have been going well long, perhaps into the water, had it not hit the flagstick. Tiger Woods is +700 favorite this week at Muirfield ahead of Phil Mickelson (+1800) and U.S. Open champion Justin Rose (+2200).

Read more articles by Ricky Dimon