All 8 teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today are in the top 13.
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 |
Yankees |
72 |
46 |
AJ Burnett has seen his ERA go up each month this year, topping out at 9.58 in August thus far. |
2 |
Red Sox |
73 |
45 |
Boston position player have been great, leading the league in hitting (.354 wOBA) & fielding (+37 UZR). |
3 |
Phillies |
78 |
41 |
Ryan Madson... still doing a nice job as the closer (22 for 23 in saves, and a 2.16 ERA and 2.15 FIP). |
4 |
Rangers |
68 |
52 |
Alex Ogando hasn't exactly hit a wall as some may have expected; ~3.55 FIP through June, and ~3.27 FIP since. |
5 |
Brewers |
69 |
51 |
Yuniesky Betancourt has followed up a .322 wOBA July with a .408 wOBA (and .405 BABIP) August. |
6 |
Cardinals |
64 |
56 |
Jake Westbrook has the highest groundball rate in the majors (60.9%) - his best since '05. |
7 |
Braves |
70 |
50 |
In the AL Central, Atlanta's record would be good for a 5.5 game lead. In the NL East, they're 9 games out. |
8 |
Diamondbacks |
67 |
53 |
Your NL wins leaders, with 15, are Roy Halladay (expected) and Ian Kennedy (not quite expected). |
9 |
Rays |
64 |
55
|
Lowest ERA amongst AL closers? Kyle Farnsworth's 1.96. Not too shabby for $2.6 M, plus there's a club option for '12. |
10 |
Mets |
58 |
61 |
Jason Isringhausen is still sitting on 299 career saves. He has 6 this year, to go along with his -0.3 fWAR. |
11 |
Reds |
59 |
61 |
Joey Votto has the highest career BABIP (.355) amongst active players with at least 2,000 PA. |
12 |
Blue Jays |
60 |
59 |
Brandon Morrow's still leading AL starters in strike-out rate, by a lot. His 10.1 K/9 is well ahead of Michael Pineda's 9.1 K/9. |
13 |
Tigers |
64 |
55 |
Victor Martinez is hitting above his career level (123 wRC+ vs. 121), but is only at 1.8 fWAR. DH'ing a lot < catching a lot. |
14 |
Angels |
65 |
55 |
Ervin Santana's last four starts; 35.1 IP (3 CG), 3 ER, 30 K, 6 BB, with a no-hitter mixed in. |
15 |
White Sox |
59 |
60 |
For the second year in a row, Alexei Ramirez is leading AL shortstops in UZR, at +8.2 runs. |
16 |
Giants |
65 |
55 |
Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain are #5, #7, and #8 in the NL in pitcher fWAR, respectively. |
17 |
Rockies |
56 |
65 |
Jason Hammel has kind of reverted to his Rays days this year, walking batters and not K'ing many guys. |
18 |
Indians |
60 |
57 |
Justin Masterson is 5th in the AL in fWAR (4.6), and even has a chance to pass the two Angels (5.1, 5.0) and end up in 3rd. |
19 |
Athletics |
53 |
66 |
So, maybe Trevor Cahill doesn't have magic powers? 3.97 ERA, 3.92 FIP, 3.79 xFIP, with a .290 BABIP. |
20 |
Dodgers |
54 |
64 |
For the fourth year in a row, Chad Billingsley's ERA - FIP gap has gotten larger (from -0.71 in '07 to +0.62 this season). |
21 |
Marlins |
56 |
63 |
Wes Helms finally got released. In his recent four year stretch as a Marlin, he accumulated a grand total of -0.3 fWAR. |
22 |
Royals |
50 |
70 |
Kyle Davies finally got released. Positive fWAR, but an ugly 5.59 career ERA, and he was 1-9 with a 6.75 ERA this season. |
23 |
Padres |
53 |
68 |
Jesus Guzman has gotten a chance to play recently, and has rewarded San Diego with a .338/.381/.562 batting line. |
24 |
Nationals |
57 |
62 |
Chien-Ming Wang is 1-2 with a 3.60 ERA in three starts since returning from the DL. He also has just 3 K's in his 15 IP. |
25 |
Cubs |
52 |
68 |
Not that it's hugely significant, but they're the worst baserunning team in the majors by quite a bit (-14 runs at FanGraphs).
|
26 |
Mariners |
51 |
67 |
We're getting pretty late into the season, and Ichiro is still below replacement level (-0.5 fWAR, -0.6 brWAR). |
27 |
Pirates |
56 |
62 |
Ronny Cedeno isn't hitting at all (.272 wOBA), but plus glovework at shortstop has him at 1.3 fWAR - 3rd on the team for position players. |
28 |
Twins |
52 |
67 |
Delmon Young isn't doing much to build on his 2010 break-out with the bat, but his unintentional walk rate is a career high (5%). |
29 |
Orioles |
45 |
72 |
The O's are the only team in the majors to only have one pitcher throw at least 120 IP for them (Jeremy Guthrie with 164). |
30 |
Astros |
38 |
82 |
Double their pitcher fWAR, and they'd still be in last place - only 2.6 (and more than all of it from Bud Norris and Wandy Rodriguez). |