Philadelphia claims the spot as the NL's top team, while Minnesota finally moves out of the cellar.
Just as a reminder: some of the things that go into these rankings include runs scored and allowed, run distributions, wOBA, wRC, FIP, xFIP, DRS, UZR, etc., Base Runs, BABIP and HR/FB% adjustments, and our guts.
Rank | Team | Wins | Losses | Comments |
1 | Red Sox | 42 | 28 |
Adrian Gonzalez in April: a perfectly decent .314/.379/.457 with one home run. Adrian Gonzalez since then: .367/.419/.689 with 14 home runs. |
2 |
Yankees | 40 | 29 | Alex Rodriguez is quietly having a fine season, with 3.4 fWAR. He might be able to move into 16th place on the all-time position player list this year. |
3 | Phillies | 45 | 27 | The starters have the major's best xFIP at 2.91. They were #1 in 2010 too... at 3.66. St. Louis was first in 2009, at 3.83. Can the Phillies keep it below 3 all year? |
4 | Cardinals | 39 | 33 | Albert Pujols has the 7th lowest strike-out rate in the majors at 9%. He has more home runs (17) than the six players ahead of him combined. |
5 | Rangers | 38 | 34 | Josh Hamilton's hitting well (.286/.346/.483) but a drop off in his HR/FB% and BABIP have that paling in comparison to 2010's .359/.411/.633. |
6 | Brewers | 40 | 32 | Ryan Braun is second on the team in home runs (15, behind Fielder and just ahead of Weeks), but at least he's leading them in stolen bases (16). |
7 | Diamondbacks | 39 | 33 | Trading Mark Reynolds (0.3 fWAR) for David Hernandez (0.6 fWAR, 9.8 K.9 out of the pen) seems to be working out pretty well for Arizona. |
8 | Rockies | 35 | 35 | In just his second season, Jhoulys Chacin is leading the Colorado rotation in wins (8), IP (93), ERA (2.81), xFIP (3.19), fWAR (1.5) and brWAR (2.8). |
9 | Reds | 37 | 35 | Not only is Miguel Cairo still in the majors, but he's actually producing (1.0 fWAR). His .318 wOBA is higher than, among others, Derek Jeter, Adam Dunn, and Ichiro. |
10 | Tigers | 38 | 33 | Over the last three years, only Roy Halladay has accumulated more fWAR than Justin Verlander's 17.6, Dude throws a ton of high quality innings. |
11 | Blue Jays | 36 | 35 | Adam Lind has gone deep 4 times in the last week, giving him 15 on the year. He's looking more like the guy from 2009 than the one who disappointed in 2010. |
12 | Braves | 39 | 33 | Dan Uggla has 9 home runs, but a .251 wOBA thanks to his .194 BABIP. No batter with even 4 homers has hit so poorly overall. |
13 | Indians | 38 | 31 | Travis Hafner is back, after missing the last month. When he went on the DL, he was batting .345/.409/.549 (with the help of a .415 BABIP) - his best line since '06. |
14 | Rays | 38 | 33 | What happened to Wade Davis' strike-out rate? It's fallen from 6.1 K/9 to 4.3 K/9 this year, and batters are making better contact - especially on the breaking stuff. |
15 | Mets | 35 | 36 | Now that he's stopped running, Carlos Beltran seems like he'll hold onto the top spot amongst base-stealers (min. 200 SB) with an 88.2% success rate for a while. |
16 | Giants | 39 | 32 | The drop-off from Buster Posey (.341 wOBA) to the Eli Whiteside / Chris Stewart duo is fairly large (combined .243 wOBA). At least Pablo Sandoval is back. |
17 |
White Sox |
34 | 38 | The starting rotation has pitched the most innings in the majors, which is part of what's allowed them to lead the AL in fWAR with 9.4. Their 2.6 K/BB doesn't hurt either. |
18 | Angels | 34 | 38 | Rookie starter Tyler Chatwood is having an interesting season, not getting as many groundballs as expected (43%) and posting a K/BB ratio of 1 - but with a 3.84 ERA. |
19 | Athletics | 32 | 40 | The A's have used the most pitchers in the majors this year (21), but that hasn't stopped them from having the AL's lowest team ERA (3.27). |
20 | Nationals | 35 | 36 | An eight-game winning streak helped move Washington into 3rd place in the NL East, with Zimermann pitching well (1.33 ERA in his last 3 starts) & Zimmerman back. |
21 | Marlins | 32 | 39 |
Florida has just one win in their last 15 games. They've been outscored 39-83 as Ricky Nolasco and Javier Vazquez have given up 31 runs in 28 IP. |
22 | Mariners | 36 | 35 | Is Jack Cust's power just completely gone? Only 2 home runs this year, but his good walk rate has left him as an average hitter at .214/.359/.319 (100 wRC+). |
23 | Royals | 31 | 40 |
Jeff Francoeur in April: .314/.357/.569. Jeff Francoeur in May: .233/.287/.388. Jeff Francoeur in June: .232/.257/.319. New career high in steals though (10). |
24 | Pirates | 35 | 35 | The lowest ERA amongst all closers (min. 5 saves) is Joel Hanrahan's 1.39. His strike-out rate has fallen, but better control and a 55% groundball rate work pretty well. |
25 | Dodgers | 31 | 41 | Rob Barajas is second on the team in homers with 8, but he's hitting just .220/.262/.385. The .279 wOBA places him neck-and-neck with Clayton Kershaw. |
26 | Orioles | 31 | 37 | The JJ Hardy from Milwaukee might be back (and then some); .293/.358/.516 with 8 home runs (in only 42 games) and what would be a career high .377 wOBA. |
27 | Cubs | 29 | 41 | Every one one of the team's hurlers with more than one start has an ERA above his FIP and xFIP as starting pitchers. The poor defense (-16 UZR, -42 DRS) doesn't help/ |
28 | Astros | 27 | 45 | Jordan Lyles is only 0-2 since making his major league debut, but he's pitched pretty well in his 4 starts; 7.8 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 3.12 FIP, 3.48 xFIP. |
29 | Twins | 30 |
39 | Minnesota has won 14 of their last 16 games, and finally moved out of last place in the Central as well as in these rankings. Their team ERA in June is 2.01, which helps. |
30 | Padres | 30 | 42 | Will Venable isn't quite building off of his solid 2010 season, as his power (and playing time) has dried up. No home runs and a drop in ISO from .163 to .061. |