Monday's Saber-Links

This weekend's slate of baseball was fun. How crazy is it that not only did the Oakland Athletics take five out of seven from the Orioles and Angels, but they also have the second best record in the American League?

That's just baseball for ya, or I guess I should say "BillyBall."

Here's Monday's edition of Saber-Links:

Dustin Parkes gives us the usual Getting Blanked Blog Link Dump, but with an added twist that looks at the Tigers' disappointing (so far) season: URL Weaver: Why Aren’t The Tigers Better? | Getting Blanked | Blogs | theScore.com

Other than the Toronto Blue Jays, no team in the American League has a poorer winning percentage in one run games than the Tigers. This, despite having a positive run differential on the season of 35. According to Baseball Prospectus, the Tigers, based on runs that the teams should have scored according to underlying statistics, should be anywhere from three to four games ahead of the White Sox.

Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley looks at Ryan Howard's disappointing 2012 season: Crashburn Alley " Blog Archive " Despite RBIs, Ryan Howard’s 2012 One to Forget

2012 was the first year of Howard’s monstrous five-year, $125 million contract, and it has been a disaster, though not entirely Howard’s fault — his Achilles injury can certainly be classified in the "freak injury" bin. Still, the Phillies still owe him $105 million and he turns 33 years old in November, both numbers that are now too high for their liking.

Grant Brisbee of Baseball Nation looks at the upcoming stretch of tough games for the Milwaukee Brewers: The Gauntlet Of The Milwaukee Brewers - Baseball Nation

If they can climb back in a race just a month after being 11 games under .500, they can beat the Nationals and Reds. The likeliest scenario, though, is that the rough road trip will hurt their chances, and they'll get close enough to spend a lot of time wondering "What if?" in the offseason, especially with regards to their bullpen.

Maury Brown of Baseball Prospectus asks which team is getting the most "bang for their buck", this season: Baseball Prospectus | Bizball: Who is Getting the Most Bang for their Buck?

And yet, here they sit second in the AL West with 84 wins and at the top of the AL wild card standings. Their chances of making the playoffs? 96.3 percent, according to BP’s Playoff Odds Report. How much are they spending per win? An incredible $636,607. To put this in perspective, there are just five clubs that spend less than $1 million per win (A’s, Pirates, Padres, Rays, and Royals). None of those teams (minus the A’s) have better than a 30 percent shot at making the playoffs, and the Rays (26.7 percent) and Pirates (10.6 percent) are the only ones in double-digits.

Saber-Links will return tomorrow.