We’ve seen a couple of fallers this week, along with a Chicago team heating up.

Rank	Team		Record	Pythagorean	System	Total	Last Week
1		Texas Rangers	29	30	29	58.7	1
			32 – 22	35 – 19	Jurickson Profar
			The Rangers are a juggernaut right now.
2		Los Angeles Dodgers	30	27	9	51.0	2
			33 – 21	31 – 23	Zach Lee
			They’ve been able to hold onto their lead, even after going 3-7 in their last 10.
3		Washington Nationals	28	26	14	50.0	6
			30 – 22	30 – 22	Anthony Rendon
			Looking legit now, but what happens if/when they limit Strasburg in August?
4		Chicago White Sox	27	28	1	46.0	15
			31 – 23	31 – 23	Nestor Molina
			The White Sox are the hottest team right now, going 9-1 in their last 10.
5		Miami Marlins	25	16	23	43.3	9
			31 – 23	28 – 26	Christian Yelich
			Need to raise the run differential (+5) if they hope to play this well for the rest of the season.
6		Tampa Bay Rays	26	22	5	42.3	7
			31 – 23	29 – 25	Hak-Ju Lee
			Barely leading the toughest division in baseball.
7		Cincinnati Reds	23	25	8	42.3	13
			30 – 23	29 – 24	Billy Hamilton
			Making a run at the right time.
8		New York Yankees	20	24	17	41.7	11
			29 – 24	29 – 24	Manny Banuelos
			The Yankees need to keep pushing through; they have the experience that will help them at the end of summer.
9		New York Mets	24	13	26	41.3	14
			31 – 23	26 – 28	Matt Harvey
			A nice series with the Cardinals make them look better than they are; they need to get a positive run differential before they have a real shot.
10		Boston Red Sox	17	21	27	40.0	10
			28 – 26	29 – 25	Xander Bogaerts
			Starting to get on track, but their slow start last year cost them at the end.
11		Toronto Blue Jays	16	23	22	38.7	8
			28 – 26	29 – 25	Travis d’Arnaud
			Do you think Toronto wishes for that proposed rotating division pipe dream that popped up a few years ago?
12		St. Louis Cardinals	12	29	16	36.7	4
			27 – 27	32 – 22	Shelby Miller
			Coming off their worst stretch of the season has them in 3rd; the run differential is still top in the NL though.
13		Atlanta Braves	19	20	11	36.0	3
			29 – 25	29 – 25	Julio Teheran
			The only contender that is having a worse time than the Cardinals.
14		San Francisco Giants	22	17	7	35.7	16
			30 – 24	28 – 26	Gary Brown
			Questions about their offense are still present; they need another bat.
15		Baltimore Orioles	21	15	13	35.3	5
			30 – 24	27 – 27	Manny Machado
			The Orioles are falling back to earth; they were scoring runs to support their record, but the hitters and pitchers have regressed.
16		Los Angeles Angels	14	19	24	34.7	23
			28 – 27	28 – 27	Jean Segura
			Pujols is getting back to form, so the offense is starting to take off; worried about his move to 3B for interleague though.
17		Philadelphia Phillies	13	18	10	28.3	17
			28 – 27	28 – 27	Trevor May
			Amaro should be looking at Kevin Youkilis right now; they need a bat.
18		Pittsburgh Pirates	15	5	21	25.3	25
			27 – 26	23 – 30	Jameson Taillon
			Their run differential does not support their record; at least James McDonald is progressing as they have hoped.
19		Arizona Diamondbacks	10	8	30	25.3	20
			25 – 29	25 – 29	Trevor Bauer
			Are people is Phoenix counting down for Trevor Bauer yet?
20		Kansas City Royals	8	10	28	24.0	24
			23 – 29	24 – 28	Wil Myers
			If the Royals could get pitching to match their young bats, they’d be in good shape.
21		Cleveland Indians	18	6	2	22.7	12
			28 – 25	24 – 29	Francisco Lindor
			It appears that Ubaldo was not the answer to the pitching woes.
22		Detroit Tigers	11	11	12	22.3	19
			25 – 29	25 – 29	Jacob Turner
			The Dream Lineup with Prince and Miguel looks good, but needs to pick it up.
23		Seattle Mariners	6	14	20	22.0	21
			24 – 32	28 – 28	Danny Hultzen
			Getting back to even on the run differential is big for the team, but they have a long way to go to be competitive.
24		Colorado Rockies	7	12	18	21.0	28
			23 – 30	26 – 27	Nolan Arenado
			This team can hit, but the pitching is pretty ugly. It’s like many of the early Rockie teams.
25		Milwaukee Brewers	9	7	15	18.7	26
			24 – 30	25 – 29	Wily Peralta
			I guess they miss Prince more than they thought they would.
26		Oakland Athletics	4	4	25	15.0	18
			23 – 31	22 – 32	Michael Choice
			The offense is the same as it’s been in recent years; it looks like Beane needs to find the new OBP.
27		Houston Astros	5	9	4	12.3	22
			23 – 31	25 – 29	George Springer
			Jed Lowrie has been quite the find for the Astros; that could have been the trade of the post-season.
28		San Diego Padres	1	1	19	8.0	27
			18 – 37	19 – 36	Robbie Erlin
			The worse record in baseball, but they have guys that are coming through the system that could help (next year).
29		Chicago Cubs	2	3	6	6.0	29
			18 – 35	20 – 33	Brett Jackson
			I’m curious to see where this front office can take a team like this.
30		Minnesota Twins	3	2	3	5.3	30
			20 – 33	19 – 34	Miguel Sano
			The best thing that the Twins can hope for is a taker for Justin Morneau; he could bring a nice return if he’s healthy and hitting.

If the playoffs started today…

Division	Team – Record	Team – Run Differential
AL East	Tampa Bay Rays	New York Yankees
AL Central	Chicago White Sox	Chicago White Sox
AL West	Texas Rangers	Texas Rangers
AL Wild Card	Baltimore Orioles	Toronto Blue Jays
NL East	Washington Nationals	Washington Nationals
NL Central	Cincinnati Reds	St. Louis Cardinals
NL West	Los Angels Dodgers	Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Wild Card	Miamia Marlins	Cincinnati Reds