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 by PARAM
5 years 9 months ago
 Total posts:   12186  
 Joined:  Jul 15 2015
Barbados   Just far enough North of Philadelphia
Hall of Fame

A starting point might be "there 16 teams playing .500 or better baseball and 14 playing sub-.500 ball". But that doesn't tell the story so far. And if I asked you to name (without checking) the 10 teams who have yet to experience a losing month, I'd bet you couldn't name all 10. That number may be down to 6 by next weekend.

Some teams started extremely hot with Boston going 21-7, Arizona 20-8 and Houston 20-10 in April. In fact just 4 teams have had a 20 win month (Washington is the 4th) and that number could increase to 5 by next weekend with a strong June finish by the Yankees. It could also include two teams to have two 20 win months (Houston and Arizona). The Dodgers have an outside chance to join that party with a strong finish to the month.

The hottest teams in MLB right now are Houston (15-5 this month), the Dodgers (14-5), Arizona and the Yankees (both 15-6). Seattle despite being just 1-5 the last 7 days has the 5th best June record at 13-8. SF at 5-2 is 13-9 for the month and an even .500 on the season.

Now the bad and ugly.


Colorado, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Toronto are hovering around .500. The Pirates started the season 17-12 and the Blue Jays began 16-12. Those teams rank #17-21 in the standings. Kansas City (23-53), Baltimore (23-52) and the White Sox (25-51) have been terrible all season. Kansas City has just 3 wins this month (3-17) while Baltimore has 6 (6-13). But the ugliest of all has to be the Mets. They have 4 wins this month but worst, they started the season 17-9. They are 20 games under .500 the last 2 months. Honorable mention has to go to Baltimore. With guys like Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Jonathan Schoop, Mark Trumbo and Zach Britton, you'd expect them to be better than 23-52.

FWIW, the 10 teams yet to have a sub .500 month are NYY, Houston, Boston, Seattle, Milwaukee (the top 5 in order), Atlanta (#6), the Cubs (#7), Cleveland, Philadelphia (#9 and 10) as well as Oakland (15th best in MLB). There is just 1 NL team in the top 5 but just 1 AL team from #6-10, Cleveland.

The surprise teams on the "plus side" must be Seattle, particularly with the way they picked up after losing Cano, Milwaukee (did anyone see that coming?), Atlanta and Philly, two teams ahead of schedule.

At this time last year, Houston was the #1 team with a 50-25 record with the Dodgers #2 at 49-26. Though they are 5 games over .500, based on last year's performance, I'd have to say L.A. has been disappointing. And like I pointed out earlier, they have the 4th best record in June, so they are making headway. Kansas City and the Mets, in the World Series in 2015 have 7 wins combined in June. Who could have predicted that?

It should be an exciting year. Houston has Seattle breathing down their necks (3.5 GB) and the Astros, like true Champions have responded. Boston and New York could both win 100+ games.....really tough on the team who finishes 2nd if that happens.....a 1 game playoff in the wild card game after a 100 win season? It would rival the 93 Giants and the 1954 Yankees missing the postseason with 103 wins. The AL wild card game might have two teams with more wins than the 2015 Cubs/Pirates (195). Maybe even more wins than the Yankees/Red Sox 1 game playoff for the AL East in 1978 (198). It may be great for baseball but it's going to be extremely hard on fans of the team who ends up losing.

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1 post Mar 29 2024