1. St. Louis Cardinals (89-54, Last Week-1): Another bad week and now their lead is only 2.5 games over the Pirates. Luckily for them, the Brewers are up next.
2. Toronto Blue Jays (82-61, Last Week-4): Won three of four from the Yankees on the road and now have a somewhat comfortable 3.5 game lead. That lead won’t dwindle soon as they play the Braves next, and keep your eye on Troy Tulowitzki’s health.
3. Pittsburgh Pirates (86-56, Last Week-3): Four game series against the Cubs at home is big and they need to at least split to lead the first wild card spot comfortably.
4. Kansas City Royals (84-58, Last Week-2): Have lost their last three series and may not win the next one as a four game series against the hot Indians will not be easy.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers (82-60, Last Week-5): After sweeping the Giants, they have taken care of business winning 7 of 10. Fun series this weekend against the Pirates at home.
6. New York Mets (82-61, Last Week-8): Completed sweep of the Nationals and lead by 9.5 games. I don’t think the Mets will blow their division lead this time around.
7. Chicago Cubs (82-60, Last Week-6): Failed to take advantage of a bad Phillies team, splitting a four game series, but they have a chance to make up for it with their next seven games against the Pirates and Cardinals.
8. New York Yankees (78-64, Last Week-7): Can pretty much kiss the division goodbye because the Blue Jays have been playing too well to catch. Shouldn’t have a problem getting the wild card game at home.
9. Houston Astros (77-66, Last Week-9): Great comeback on Sunday, but the work doesn’t stop now as they have a four game road series at Texas.
10. Texas Rangers (75-67, Last Week-10): Can the Rangers continue their dominance over the Astros? If they win three of four, they will be in first place.
11. Minnesota Twins (74-68, Last Week-11): If they sweep the Tigers, it will help a ton as two of the teams they are chasing will be playing each other and they could gain a game on whichever team loses that day.
12. San Francisco Giants (75-68, Last Week-13): Won’t make the playoffs, but it’s an odd year.
13. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (72-70, Last Week-14): Demoralizing loss to Houston on Sunday, giving up five runs after being an out away from winning 3-0 and completing a sweep. Instead of being 2.5 games out of first, they are 4.5 games out.
14. Washington Nationals (72-70, Last Week-12): Drew Storen broke his thumb by slamming the lock box on his locker, which pretty much epitomizes the season.
15. Cleveland Indians (70-71, Last Week-16): Could finish the season above .500 and they will go into next year looking to fix some holes. They have the pitching to become a legit contender.
16. Tampa Bay Rays (69-73, Last Week-15): They have something in Drew Smyly who struck out 11 in just six innings against the Red Sox.
17. Boston Red Sox (68-74, Last Week-20): Could end up finishing in third place if they continue their good play over the last three weeks of the season.
18. Baltimore Orioles (69-73, Last Week-22): Great season by Chris Davis with 42 home runs and an OPS of .920. He even has two stolen bases!
19. Seattle Mariners (69-75, Last Week-17): They have a great chance to play spoiler with their next 15 games coming against the Angels, Rangers, Astros, and Royals.
20. Arizona Diamondbacks (68-75, Last Week-19): It’s encouraging to see Patrick Corbin pitching well after being out for awhile with nearly a strikeout an inning and an ERA of 3.29,.
21. Chicago White Sox (67-74, Last Week-18): Chris Sale has not been that sharp as usual this season with an ERA of 3.55. What’s surprising about his run prevention struggles is that he has 250 Ks in 187.2 innings, which is an insane amount of strikeouts.
22. San Diego Padres (67-77, Last Week-21): Other than average, Justin Upton has had a season very similar to his career numbers.
23. Detroit Tigers (65-77, Last Week-23): Rumors that Brad Ausmus is going to be fired have surfaced, which has got to make it uncomfortable for him. Disappointing managerial tenure so far.
24. Milwaukee Brewers (62-81, Last Week-24): Domingo Santana has been better than expected with an OPS of .964 in 20 games. Maybe not worrying about playing time has helped.
25. Oakland A’s (61-82, Last Week-25): Did a good job playing spoiler going 3-3 against the Astros and Rangers this past week.
26. Miami Marlins (61-82, Last Week-28): Jose Fernandez returned from injury again and looked strong in five shutout innings against Washington.
27. Cincinnati Reds (60-82, Last Week-26): Caused some problems for the Cardinals winning three of four from them over the weekend.
28. Colorado Rockies (60-83, Last Week-27): Arenado and Car-Go are first and second in the NL in home runs with 38 and 37 respectively. Both could end up with 40-plus at the end of the season.
29. Philadelphia Phillies (56-88, Last Week-29): Finally fired Ruben Amaro Jr., but he did not leave the organization in a horrible state like people have said.
30. Atlanta Braves (56-88, Last Week-30): Complete meltdown in the ninth and tenth innings against the Mets, but that probably was a good thing as it will help their draft position.
Sources:
MLB.com
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