Nearly halfway through the MLB regular season, there is a decent sense for teams and players who are either rising or falling.

The trickier part at this point in the season is predicting how it all plays out, given we have still yet to reach the trade deadline or All-Star break.

That's what we will try to accomplish here.

Let's go through seven predictions for the rest of the season, focusing on some key players and teams in pursuit of MLB history.

Luis Arráez Hits .400, Wins Second Straight Batting Title

It's been nearly 30 years since anyone came close to hitting .400 in a season. Ask those who were around at the time, and it's widely believed Tony Gwynn would have done so had the 1994 season not ended early because of a strike. He finished with a .394 batting average.

Yet here is Luis Arráez, the reigning AL batting champion chasing the opportunity to win another—this time in the NL—and become the first .400 hitter since Ted Williams in 1941.

Arráez enters Thursday's game against the Boston Red Sox hitting .396.

What's just as impressive is how rarely Arráez strikes out: the fewest of any qualified hitter in the major leagues with 16. His slash line over the past 29 games is .440/.488/.543.

History may not be on his side, but what Arráez is doing at the plate is believable and convincing.