1. St. Louis Cardinals (78-45, Last Week-1): Another Cardinal rookie is playing like an All-Star and this time it is Stephen Piscotty who has helped them overcome the loss of Matt Holliday.
2. Kansas City Royals (75-48, Last Week-2): Kendrys Morales has been a good signing this offseason as he has OPS of nearly .800 and leads the team in RBIs.
3. Pittsburgh Pirates (74-48, Last Week-3): Jung Ho Kang is continuously proving why he was a good signing and possibly NL ROY with the ability to play both 3B and SS and an OPS of .827.
4. Chicago Cubs (71-51, Last Week-5): Dexter Fowler now has a career high 14 home runs, which includes five years of playing for Colorado. Should help him in free agency this winter.
5. Toronto Blue Jays (69-55, Last Week-6): They only scored less than eight runs once this week as their high octane offense continues to produce.
6. Houston Astros (69-56, Last Week-7): May have had one of the most magical home stands in their history with four walk-offs and a no-hitter by Mike Fiers.
7. New York Yankees (68-55, Last Week-8): They have moved back into second place after losing two of three to Cleveland. Potential playoff matchup starts today against the Astros at Yankee Stadium.
8. Los Angeles Dodgers (67-56, Last Week-4): They are in a little bit of slump having lost five in a row, but a series against the Reds should right their ship.
9. New York Mets (67-56, Last Week-9): Going into the last week of August no one thought the Mets would have the second largest division lead in baseball, but they do and have an easy schedule the rest of the season.
10. San Francisco Giants (66-58, Last Week-10): Big series against the Cubs at home that could essentially end any hopes of possibly being a wild card if they do not win it.
11. Texas Rangers (64-59, Last Week-13): Through all the injuries they are somehow the AL second Wild Card and have a great matchup with the Blue Jays this week that will be important for both teams.
12. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (63-61, Last Week-12): They have fallen out of second and continue to struggle to score runs, only averaging 2.86 runs over their last seven games.
13. Minnesota Twins (63-61, Last Week-17): After being swept by the Yankees, they went to Baltimore and won four in a row and are one of the four AL teams within three games of the second wild card.
14. Baltimore Orioles (62-61, Last Week-11): Really had a good chance to move away from the pack with a four game series against the Twins but got swept at home and are two games behind the Rangers for the second wild card.
15. Tampa Bay Rays (62-62, Last Week-15): It is good for them that they got Drew Smyly back as he will definitely help out in the rotation.
16. Arizona Diamondbacks (62-61, Last Week-16): No one would have predicted at the beginning of the year that the Diamondbacks would have scored the most runs in the NL this late into the season.
17. Washington Nationals (62-61, Last Week-14): Went 4-2 this week and they will need to continue to do so every week if they want to pick up ground on the Mets.
18. San Diego Padres (61-63, Last Week-20): Justin Upton is having one of his worst years with an OPS of .792 (which is still good), but it is understandable because he is playing in San Diego.
19. Detroit Tigers (59-64, Last Week-18): J.D. Martinez has been a great find and he has been even better this year than last with 32 home runs and an OPS of .896.
20. Chicago White Sox (58-64, Last Week-19): They should have traded Samardzija when they had the chance because he has been horrible in August after a strong July, going 0-4 with an ERA of 9.27.
21. Cleveland Indians (58-65, Last Week-22): Francisco Lindor has been great over his last 15 games with a slash line of .407/.441/.559.
22. Seattle Mariners (57-67, Last Week-21): Here are some gaudy numbers from Nelson Cruz: Over his last 30 games he has 16 home runs and an OPS 1.252. If the Mariners were good Cruz would be in the MVP discussion.
23. Oakland A’s (54-71, Last Week-23): Stephen Vogt has really struggled over his last 30 games with a slash line of .186/.252/.330, but it shouldn’t overshadow what he has accomplished this season.
24. Boston Red Sox (56-68, Last Week-26): Jackie Bradley Jr. is finally playing well with a slash line of .404/.475/.885 over his last 15 games. He has not played well thus far in his career, but this is encouraging for Boston.
25. Milwaukee Brewers (53-72, Last Week-27): Domingo Santana, one of the players acquired in the Carlos Gomez trade, hit a home run in his first game as a Brewer.
26. Atlanta Braves (53-71, Last Week-24): They have fallen on hard times since the All Star game, going 11-24, and are in contention for the number one pick.
27. Cincinnati Reds (51-71, Last Week-25): They are in a free fall now as they are in the midst of a 9 game losing streak and only two games ahead of the worst team in baseball.
28. Miami Marlins (50-74, Last Week-29): A recent hot streak has Christian Yelich getting closer to his career numbers as he is now hitting just 32 points below his career OPS.
29. Colorado Rockies (49-73, Last Week-28): They have given up the most runs in baseball and 50 more runs than the next worst pitching team.
30. Philadelphia Phillies (50-74, Last Week-30): They are still number 30 because they continue to allow Jerome Williams to pitch.
Sources:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/index.jsp
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp
http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp