1. St. Louis Cardinals (100-62, Last Week-1): A remarkable season for the Cardinals especially after going through plenty of adversity with injuries and the death of Oscar Taveras.

2. Toronto Blue Jays (93-69, Last Week-3): They blew their chance to have home field throughout the playoffs by losing to Tampa two out of three times. They should feast on the Rangers starting pitching in the ALDS.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (98-64, Last Week-2): Almost let the home game for the wild card slip away but won their last game of the season, which will make a big difference. Cole will pitch against the Cubs on Wednesday.

4. Chicago Cubs (97-65, Last Week-5): They will have Arrieta on the mound in the biggest game of the season. If he continues to pitch like he has and can get some runs, the Cubs will head to St. Louis for the NLDS.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70, Last Week-6): Kershaw hit 300 strikeouts on the season, which is the first time that has happened since 2002. It’s funny that people were worried about him earlier in the season.

6. Kansas City Royals (95-67, Last Week-4): The Royals will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and will be a big advantage because three of the four other teams in the AL hit plenty of home runs and Kauffman is a big ballpark.

7. New York Mets (90-72, Last Week-7): A bit of a slide to finish the season, but it does not discount how great they were this season. This should be the first of many playoff runs for the Mets.

8. Texas Rangers (88-74, Last Week-9): Needed to go to game 162 to clinch the division after an epic collapse on Saturday against the Angels. Still, it’s truly remarkable that the Rangers were able to overcome so many injuries to win the division.

9. New York Yankees (87-75, Last Week-8): Tanaka will get the ball for the wild card game in his first taste of playoff baseball. A-Rod, McCann, Beltran, and Teixeira all showed that some veterans can still get the job done.

10. Houston Astros (86-76, Last Week-10): The Astros will make the playoffs for the first time in ten years. To celebrate, I will run around on State Street chanting “SÍ, SÍ, SÍ!”

11. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (85-77, Last Week-11): Disappointing for the Angels to not make the playoffs after winning 98 games last season. They will be back next season, but need to build around Trout and Pujols.

12. San Francisco Giants (84-78, Last Week-13): They had a nice retirement ceremony for Tim Hudson, who has been a class act his entire career.

13. Washington Nationals (83-79, Last Week-14): It was a very disappointing season for them and Matt Williams has been fired.

14. Minnesota Twins (83-79, Last Week-12): Great season for the Twins that ended in disappointment. Miguel Sano looks like the real deal, and Twins fans should be excited about this team’s future.

15. Cleveland Indians (81-80, Last Week-15): They were able to finish strong and they have a shortstop who may win the Rookie of the Year award in Francisco Lindor.

16. Baltimore Orioles (81-81, Last Week-17): After sweeping the Yankees, they were able to clinch a .500 season which is a moral victory.

17. Boston Red Sox (78-84, Last Week-16): They had a very strong finish this season and with Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley, Jr., and Xander Bogaerts, they will have a solid group of players to lead them into the future.

18. Tampa Bay Rays (80-82, Last Week-18): A quality first season for rookie manager Kevin Cash and the Rays. They went through a lot of injuries and could be dangerous next year.

19. Arizona Diamondbacks (79-83, Last Week-20): Many predicted them to be one of the worst teams, so it has been a good season. With a core of Pollock, Peralta, Inciarte, and Goldschmidt, they will score plenty of runs over the next few years.

20. Seattle Mariners (76-86, Last Week-19): A disappointing season in Seattle to say the least, but they have a strong core in the lineup. They have got to have a better supporting cast if they want to compete next year though.

21. Chicago White Sox (76-86, Last Week-22): After acquiring Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche, David Robertson, and Jeff Samardzija, expectations were very high on the South Side, but they finished well below .500.

22. San Diego Padres (74-88, Last Week-21): They put themselves in a worse position compared to last year at this time as a result of A.J. Preller’s questionable moves.

23. Detroit Tigers (74-87, Last Week-23): One of the few highlights this season for the Tigers was Miguel Cabrera winning the batting title once again.

24. Miami Marlins (71-91, Last Week-24): The Marlins disappointed this season largely due to the injury to Giancarlo Stanton and incompetence in the front office.

25. Milwaukee Brewers (68-94, Last Week-25): An awful start ruined their season early, but some good trades has greatly improved their farm system.

26. Oakland A’s (68-94, Last Week-26): One of the worst seasons for the A’s in recent history, but that was due to an atrocious record in one-run games.

27. Atlanta Braves (67-95, Last Week-29): They were finally able to give Shelby Miller, who was excellent all season, enough run support to get him his first win since May.

28. Colorado Rockies (68-94, Last Week-28): Once again, the pitching struggled and they had some solid performances from the offense.

29. Cincinnati Reds (64-98, Last Week-27): Joey Votto is back, which is encouraging for the Reds as they try to figure out what’s next in Cincinnati.

30. Philadelphia Phillies (63-99, Last Week-30): They clinched the number one pick Saturday, and it would have been somewhat of a disappointment if they did not get it.

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Sources:

mlb.com

1. St. Louis Cardinals (98-58, Last Week-1): Losing Carlos Martinez for the rest of the season could be killer. They need to win just one game of a three game series against the Pirates to win the division. If they don’t win the division, it will be a huge disappointment.

2. Pittsburgh Pirates (95-61, Last Week-2): They desperately want to avoid the wild card game versus the Cubs and Jake Arrieta.

3. Toronto Blue Jays (90-65, Last Week-3): The Blue Jays have caught the Royals, and it would not surprise me if they end up taking the top spot for the playoffs.

4. Kansas City Royals (90-65, Last Week-6): Greg Holland has been shut down because of an elbow injury that may lead to Tommy John surgery. Next man up: Wade Davis and his 0.99 ERA.

5. Chicago Cubs (90-65, Last Week-4): Clinched their first playoff spot since 2008. If they can get passed the wild card game, they have as good of a chance as anyone to make it to the World Series for the first time since 1945.

6. Los Angeles Dodgers (87-68, Last Week-5): Greinke is pitching tomorrow in San Francisco for the chance to clinch the division.

7. New York Mets (89-67, Last Week-7): Home-field advantage in the division series would be very beneficial with how much better Syndergaard has been at home.

8. New York Yankees (86-69, Last Week-8): They are pretty much locked into the first wild card spot being 4.5 up on Houston and 4 back of Toronto.

9. Texas Rangers (84-71, Last Week-9): They are in good shape to win the division leading by 2.5 games with the Tigers and Angels at home to finish the season.

10. Houston Astros (82-74, Last Week-10): Blowing the rubber match of a three game series against the Angels hurts, but the Astros got a much needed series win at home against Texas. They will make the playoffs if they learn to win on the road.

11. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (81-74, Last Week-11): They played about as well as they could have this week going 5-1 and with seven games left. They are in decent shape to make the playoffs even though they are a half of a game back and closer Huston Street may be done for the season.

12. Minnesota Twins (80-75, Last Week-12): Still have a chance to make the playoffs (1.5 games back), but it won’t be easy with Cleveland and Kansas City to finish the season.

13. San Francisco Giants (81-74, Last Week-13): Pretty cool that Tim Hudson was able to pitch against Barry Zito in Oakland on Saturday. If it was 2002, the score would not have been 14-10.

14. Washington Nationals (79-76, Last Week-14): Papelbon and Harper got into a brawl during the game, then Matt Williams proceeded to pitch Papelbon in the ninth. Papelbon blew the game against his former team. #Natitude.

15. Cleveland Indians (77-77, Last Week-15): They have an outside chance of making the playoffs, but they should be in good shape next year to be contenders.

16. Boston Red Sox (75-80, Last Week-17): With a strong last week they could finish in third place which is impressive because they were pretty far back in early August.

17. Baltimore Orioles (76-79, Last Week-16): Disappointing season for Baltimore and they could be losing some big pieces in the offseason. Their window may have closed.

18. Tampa Bay Rays (75-81, Last Week-19): Archer has not had a strong second half, especially compared to his first half, with an ERA of 4.01; that is largely due to an awful September (ERA of 6.58).

19. Seattle Mariners (74-82, Last Week-18): The Mariners have clinched a losing season, which is a major disappointment as they were a popular pick to win the AL West and the pennant.

20. Arizona Diamondbacks (75-81, Last Week-20): Robbie Ray has quietly pitched well this season with an ERA of 3.53 in 21 starts.

21. San Diego Padres (73-83, Last Week-22): James Shields is going to be a liability for the Padres for several years if they do not trade him with that contract.

22. Chicago White Sox (73-83, Last Week-21): Jeff Samardzija pitched a complete game one-hitter on just 88 pitches after going three innings and giving up ten runs in his last start.

23. Detroit Tigers (72-83, Last Week-23): It was announced that Brad Ausmus will be back next year, and I don’t think the Tigers struggles this season were his fault.

24. Miami Marlins (69-87, Last Week-26): It’s a real shame Giancarlo Stanton has been out for half of this season because he could have approached 60 home runs this season. He had 27 home runs in 74 games.

25. Milwaukee Brewers (66-90, Last Week-25): Ryan Braun has been shut down for the season because of back issues, but he should be fine going into the next season.

26. Oakland A’s (65-91, Last Week-24): Sonny Gray’s Cy Young chances have taken a hit with a rough stretch in his last seven starts going 2-2 with an ERA of 5.53.

27. Cincinnati Reds (63-92, Last Week-27): Joey Votto has 13 more walks (140) than strikeouts (127). He has been incredible this season.

28. Colorado Rockies (66-90, Last Week-28): Nolan Arenado needs to get some MVP consideration with the season he is having. He’s hitting .285/.319/.569 with 41 home runs and 126 RBIs.

29. Atlanta Braves (62-94, Last Week-29): Shelby Miller has 17 losses and an ERA of 3.10. If he was on the Blue Jays, he would probably have 170 wins.

30. Philadelphia Phillies (59-97, Last Week-30): Good first season for rookie Aaron Nola, going 6-2 with an ERA of 3.59.

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Sources:

MLB.com

1. St. Louis Cardinals (93-56, Last Week-1): Their lead dwindled down to two games, but a good week has gotten them back to a comfortable four-game lead.

2. Pittsburgh Pirates (89-60, Last Week-3): The downfall for the Pirates could be their play in their division (29-38) as the wild card game and, if they win the wild card game, the division series will be against NL Central teams.

3. Toronto Blue Jays (85-64, Last Week-2): They can put away the division by Wednesday if they take advantage and beat the Yankees in their last series head-to-head. They could also be in second place if they get swept.

4. Chicago Cubs (87-62, Last Week-7): The Cubs won 3 of 4 from Pittsburgh and 2 of 3 from St. Louis this week. So, unlike the Pirates, they could advance to the NLCS due to their strong play (37-27) within their division.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers (85-63, Last Week-5): With the division pretty much won, the only race they have is for home-field advantage in the division series against the Mets. In order for this to happen, they must win all Greinke and Kershaw starts, which they did not against the Pirates when Kershaw lost on Saturday against Liriano.

6. Kansas City Royals (87-62, Last Week-4): Johnny Cueto finally turned in a good start for the Royals on Friday. In fact, it was his first quality start since August 15th.

7. New York Mets (84-65, Last Week-6): All of a sudden, Cespedes has gone cold going 2 for his 23 at the plate. Hopefully for the Mets this is just a blip in what has been a great second half for him.

8. New York Yankees (82-66, Last Week-8): Unfortunately for the Yankees, they lose Tanaka for at least one start (at Toronto) due to a hamstring strain suffered against the Mets. Bad timing for the Yankees.

9. Texas Rangers (80-69, Last Week-10): The Rangers took over first place by sweeping the Astros in four games at home and it looks like they have the pitching to hold the Astros off.

10. Houston Astros (79-71, Last Week-9): Their road woes finally caught up to them after they fell out of first place because of a 2-8 road trip. They’ll have an opportunity to climb back into first this weekend when they play Texas at home.

11. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (76-63, Last Week-13): Big series win for them in Minnesota, but it is do or die for them with the biggest series of the season starting tonight at Houston. It won’t be easy as Keuchel is set to face them in the first game.

12. Minnesota Twins (76-73, Last Week-11): Had the opportunity to climb ahead of the Astros for the final wild card spot, but they went on a losing streak of their own and are now on the fringes of falling out of the race. A tough series against Cleveland is next.

13. San Francisco Giants (78-71, Last Week-12): This season won’t bring playoff baseball to San Francisco, but the team is in good shape for the future with Matt Duffy, Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik, and Brandon Belt anchoring down the infield for years to come.

14. Washington Nationals (78-71, Last Week-14): September has been great for Strasburg who has a 1.61 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 22.1 innings.

15. Cleveland Indians (74-74, Last Week-15): It will be nearly impossible for the Indians to make it to the playoffs, but their shortstop Lindor is legit. He has a slash line of .316/.353/.478 as a 21-year old.

16. Baltimore Orioles (73-76, Last Week-18): Wei-Yin Chen has been one of the few positives for the Orioles, pitching the best he’s ever done in his career.

17. Boston Red Sox (71-77, Last Week-17): Boston has been a much better team over the last month and a half and that is partly due to the emergence of Jackie Bradley Jr. and improved pitching.

18. Seattle Mariners (73-77, Last Week-19): They have a legitimate chance to reach .500 for the season, which would be an accomplishment because they hovered around 8 to 10 games below most of the season.

19. Tampa Bay Rays (72-77, Last Week-16): Logan Forsythe has had a career year with a slash line of .283/.361/.449 compared to a career slash line of .252/.323/.379.

20. Arizona Diamondbacks (71-78, Last Week-20): Paul Goldschmidt is struggling to hit for average over his last 30 games hitting just .241, but his OBP has been fine at .379 over the same time period.

21. Chicago White Sox (70-78, Last Week-21): Chris Sale has not been the same during the month of September with an ERA of 5.40.

22. San Diego Padres (70-80, Last Week-22): Derek Norris has been a disappointment this season with an OBP below .300 and an OPS below .700.

23. Detroit Tigers (69-79, Last Week-23): Even though it’s been a bad season, shortstop Jose Iglesias has improved greatly, hitting .300 on the season.

24. Oakland A’s (64-86, Last Week-25): Barry Zito is back! It would be pretty cool if Oakland allowed him to pitch against Tim Hudson this weekend against the Giants.

25. Milwaukee Brewers (63-86, Last Week-24): They hired Astros assistant GM David Stearns, which is a good hire as he uses and understands saber metrics and has an extensive MLB background at only 30.

26. Miami Marlins (64-86, Last Week-26): Christian Yelich has turned his season around after a horrible start and is now hitting .291/.354/.400.

27. Cincinnati Reds (63-85, Last Week-27): A big plus for them is that they have been able to give Anthony DeSclafani almost 180 innings this season. This has allowed him to develop as a pitcher and potentially become a solid starter next season.

28. Colorado Rockies (63-86, Last Week-28): Not one of their starters this season with at least 10 starts has an ERA under 4.00.

29. Atlanta Braves (60-90, Last Week-30): The Braves have been on fire as of late going 4-6 in their last 10 games. Hey, a .400 winning percentage is hot for them.

30. Philadelphia Phillies (56-94, Last Week-29): They have started to get separation in the race for the #1 pick. With a four game lead, it will be hard for them to lose (win?) it.

---

Sources:

MLB.com

http://www.scrippsmedia.com/wtmj/shows/wisconsins-morning-news/Prince-Fiedler-bobble-head-doll-day-259778331.html

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.

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Sources:

MLB.com

Image

1. St. Louis Cardinals (87-50, Last Week-1): Not a good week for the Cardinals going 3-4, but their 5.5 game lead is still safe because they only have three games left against the Pirates.

2. Kansas City Royals (82-55, Last Week-2): Swept by the White Sox at home and now have a four game losing streak. They already have the division on lock, but they have to avoid losing streaks because Toronto is only four back for the top AL spot.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (81-55, Last Week-3): Also a lock for the playoffs but not for a home game as they only lead the Cubs by two games. They have seven games remaining against the Cubs and if they continue to struggle against NL Central teams (23-34) they will be playing that Wild Card game at Wrigley.

4. Toronto Blue Jays (78-59, Last Week-4): They have cooled down a bit, but have only lost one series since the Trade Deadline. That series loss was against the Yankees, so they have to play them better this time around to take hold of the division.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers (79-58, Last Week-6): Essentially have won the division after sweeping the Giants early last week and now lead by 8.5 games. The only question is: Can they finally win in the playoffs?

6. Chicago Cubs (79-57, Last Week-5): Dexter Fowler has been fantastic over his last 30 games with a slash line of .306/.418/.640 and has a career high 17 home runs this season.

7. New York Yankees (77-59, Last Week-8): Losing Nathan Eovaldi for at least two weeks is a big blow because he has been one of their better pitchers of late and will not be able to play in one of the most important series of the season that starts Thursday against the Blue Jays.

8. New York Mets (76-61, Last Week-9): It can never be easy for the Mets can it? The whole Matt Harvey controversy is not needed for a team that has choked its last two chances of making the playoffs. Lucky for them they have Cespedes who has been a great addition.

9. Houston Astros (75-63, Last Week-7): Started a 10 game road trip yesterday with a loss to the A’s and now lead by only two games with a four game series at Texas in six days. Winning on the road is necessary if they want to win the division.

10. Texas Rangers (72-64, Last Week-11): All of a sudden their rotation looks pretty nice with Hamels, Gallardo, and Holland. Couple that with their impressive offense, they are a team that can make some noise in October if things go their way.

11. Minnesota Twins (71-66, Last Week-12): Seems like every time they win the Rangers win and every time they lose the Rangers lose. Going to be hard to make the playoffs if they can’t take advantage of Rangers’ losses.

12. Washington Nationals (71-66, Last Week-13): Must win the next two games against the Mets because if not they will be at least five games back with only three head-to-head match ups remaining.

13. San Francisco Giants (71-67, Last Week-10): A streaky team all year long finally had a bad streak when the Dodgers had a good one and that has pretty much eliminated them as they are 8.5 games away from a playoff spot.

14. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (69-68, Last Week-14): Winning two of three from the Rangers was huge because they would be on the fringe of becoming irrelevant if they did not.

15. Tampa Bay Rays (67-70, Last Week-15): Their impressive pitching depth has kept them afloat all year, but the injuries were too many as they missed out on a lot of starts from Cobb, Moore, Smyly, and Odorizzi.

16. Cleveland Indians (67-69, Last Week-16): Their recent hot stretch seems to be too late and trailing by five games will not be easy to comeback from this late especially with seven games remaining with both the Royals and Twins.

17. Seattle Mariners (66-72, Last Week-21): They have a chance to be a spoiler for AL West teams as the Mariners still have some stars that can change a game very quickly.

18. Chicago White Sox (65-71, Last Week-20): If Samardzija wasn’t so bad this year (4.87 ERA), maybe we would be talking about the White Sox as a wild card team, but instead they have to wait until next year to contend again.

19. Arizona Diamondbacks (66-72, Last Week-17): This year has allowed the D-Backs to further develop a solid core in Goldschmidt, Pollock, Peralta, and Inciarte.

20. Boston Red Sox (65-72, Last Week-22): Jackie Bradley Jr. has been a flat out stud over his last 30 games with a slash line of .406/.463/.844 and seven home runs. He has been even hotter over his last seven games hitting .560/.593/1.080.

21. San Diego Padres (65-73, Last Week-19): Since not trading anyone away at the deadline they have gone 15-20 further proving what a damaging season this has been for the future of the Padres.

22. Baltimore Orioles (65-72, Last Week-18): Since leading the second wild card on August 17th, they have collapsed going 4-16. This bad stretch now has them tied for last in the AL East.

23. Detroit Tigers (63-74, Last Week-23): No matter how good Miggy is, having four pitchers in the rotation who have ERAs of 4.86 or higher will not allow them to win many games.

24. Milwaukee Brewers (61-76, Last Week-25): Since the horrible start in the beginning of the season (5-18), they have practically been a .500 team the rest of the season, which is where everyone expected them to be.

25. Oakland A’s (59-79, Last Week-24): They are the only team other than the Astros to have a positive run differential (+1) in the AL West, which further proves how unlucky they have been.

26. Cincinnati Reds (57-79, Last Week-26): Joey Votto has been on fire since the All-Star Break with a slash line of .397/.575/.718. If the Reds were good, he would have a great chance of being MVP.

27. Colorado Rockies (57-80, Last Week-27): Carlos Gonzalez has quietly set a new career high in home runs with 36. A big reason for this is because he has been healthy for a majority of the season.

28. Miami Marlins (57-81, Last Week-29): It’s kind of funny that they are third in their division but third to last in the Treinta, but they deserve that spot because they have been disappointing all season long.

29. Philadelphia Phillies (53-85, Last Week-30): Since the All-Star Break they have gone 24-23 in what has been impressive turnaround for a team that looked so bad just two months ago.

30. Atlanta Braves (55-83, Last Week-28): Before yesterday’s game they had a -101 in their last 20 games. That is incredibly bad, almost unfathomable. (Twitter-Peter Gammons)

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Sources:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/index.jsp

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/140451408/yoenis-cespedes-plays-in-first-game-for-mets

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp

Twitter-Peter Gammons

1.St. Louis Cardinals (84-46, Last Week-1): The Cardinals continue to win and seemingly never go in a slump. Pretty much a lock for them to win 100 games.

2. Kansas City Royals (80-50, Last Week-2): Cueto hasn’t been anything special with the Royals in six starts, going 2-3 with an ERA just below 4.00; but, if he gets hot, the Royals will reach 100 wins.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (79-50, Last Week-3): Mark Melancon has been great as closer saving 43 of 45 games with a WHIP below 1.00 and an ERA of 1.71.

4. Toronto Blue Jays (74-56, Last Week-5): A record of 21-5 in August is unreal and it will be interesting to see how they play in September.

5. Chicago Cubs (74-55, Last Week-4): Jake Arrieta pitched a no-hitter last night at Dodger Stadium where his pitches were as sharp as they have been all year.

6. Los Angeles Dodgers (72-57, Last Week-8): They’ve been no-hit twice in the span of nine days, which is one of the shortest spans in history.

7. Houston Astros (72-59, Last Week-6): Important for them that they went .500 on a tough road trip to Yankee Stadium and Target Field especially because the Rangers are inching closer, only three games back.

8. New York Yankees (72-57, Last Week-7): Didi Gregorious has played very well over his last seven games hitting .400 with two home runs and 10 RBIs. If he continues to hit well, it will be very important to the Yankees as some of the big bats may wear down during September.

9. New York Mets (72-58, Last Week-9): Crazy home and away splits for Noah Syndergaard. At home, he is 7-1 with a 2.15 ERA, a batting average against (BAA) of .198, and a WHIP of 0.83. On the road, he is 1-5 with a 4.91 ERA, a BAA of .286, and a WHIP of 1.56.

10. San Francisco Giants (69-61, Last Week-10): Big series starting tonight in LA where they must win as time is running out on the Giants, who are 3.5 games back.

11. Texas Rangers (68-61, Last Week-11): They can bury the Angels if they can sweep them this weekend in Anaheim. The Rangers have been hot and are now closer to the Astros than the Angels.

12. Minnesota Twins (67-63, Last Week-13): I went to two games at Target Field this weekend, and it is definitely one of the nicest stadiums in baseball. They’re only a game and a half out of the wild card.

13. Washington Nationals (66-63, Last Week-17): Losing Denard Span for the rest of the season means they are going to miss the playoffs.

14. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (65-65, Last Week-12): They have fallen all the way back to .500 after a stretch of 12 wins in 36 games.

15. Tampa Bay Rays (64-66, Last Week-15): What a turnaround for Erasmo Ramirez, who had a career ERA near 5.00, and has a 3.68 ERA this year with a WHIP of 1.15.

16. Cleveland Indians (63-66, Last Week-21): Wouldn’t it be funny if somehow the Indians snuck into the playoffs? They have the pitching to do it, but they are five games out and play Toronto next.

17. Arizona Diamondbacks (63-67, Last Week-16): Paul Goldschmidt has an OPS of 1.007 and is definitely in the conversation for NL MVP.

18. Baltimore Orioles (63-67, Last Week-14): Being swept by Minnesota and Texas pretty much seals their fate as they have fallen out of the wild card race after leading the second wild card not too long ago.

19. San Diego Padres (63-67, Last Week-18): Andrew Cashner has been very disappointing this season with an ERA over 4.00 and a WHIP of 1.38.

20. Chicago White Sox (61-68, Last Week-20): Jose Abreu has had a very solid season with an OPS of .848 and 24 home runs.

21. Seattle Mariners (61-70, Last Week-22): Finally fired GM Jack Zduriencik after seven years of mediocre play. Things would have turned out much differently if nearly every prospect did not fail.

22. Boston Red Sox (60-70, Last Week-24): Xander Bogaerts is hitting .315, but it seems like no one is talking about it because Boston has been pretty bad all year long.

23. Detroit Tigers (60-70, Last Week-19): The pitching in Detroit is atrocious, other than Verlander, and it will be interesting to see how they address that in the offseason.

24. Oakland A’s (57-74, Last Week-23): Marcus Semien has slowed down on his error pace, which was at nearly 50 for the season.

25. Milwaukee Brewers (55-75, Last Week-25): Francisco Rodriguez blew his first save of the season in what has a been a great one for him.

26. Cincinnati Reds (53-76, Last Week-27): Brandon Phillips has really lost his power as his ISO (SLG-AVG) is just .101.

27. Colorado Rockies (52-76, Last Week-29): Jose Reyes is not playing well in Colorado, which will make it harder for them to trade him away at the end of the season.

28. Atlanta Braves (54-76, Last Week-26): After being 42-42 in Mid-July, they have gone 12-34 since; huge collapse.

29. Miami Marlins (52-79, Last Week-28): Giancarlo Stanton should be returning from injury this week, which is great for the game of baseball.

30. Philadelphia Phillies (52-79, Last Week-30): Rookie Aaron Nola has looked strong in his early outings going 5-1 with an ERA of 3.26 and a WHIP of 1.07.

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Sources:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/index.jsp

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp

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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.

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Sources:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/index.jsp

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp

1. St. Louis Cardinals (75-42, Last Week-1): Pitching continues to be incredible and it is very impressive that they have done this without Wainwright, Adams, and Holliday for most of the season.

2. Kansas City Royals (71-46, Last Week-2): They are 6.5 games ahead of the second best AL team and are running away with the top spot in the AL.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (69-46, Last Week-3): Swept the Mets this weekend which shows that they are truly one of baseball’s best teams.

4. Los Angeles Dodgers (67-51, Last Week-4): Greinke pitched another gem and homered yesterday against the Reds. They head to Oakland looking to extend their winning streak.

5. Chicago Cubs (67-49, Last Week-6): Just got their nine-game winning streak snapped by Chris Sale. They would be in first place in every other division, but they are third in the NL Central.

6. Toronto Blue Jays (65-54, Last Week-5): According to Bob Nightengale, this is the first time in 20 years they have had 40,000 plus in attendance for four straight games. Rogers Centre should be a fun place come October.

7. Houston Astros (64-54, Last Week-8): They finished their road trip 2-7, but lucky for them they are fantastic at home as they have been 12-3 since the All-Star Break.

8. New York Yankees (64-52, Last Week-7): They won the series in Toronto and are now in first thanks to some Carlos Beltran heroics.

9. New York Mets (63-55, Last Week-9): Lost a great opportunity to gain ground on the Nationals as they got swept at home by the Pirates. The sweep shows that they are not on the same level as the Pirates.

10. San Francisco Giants (64-53, Last Week-11): Something that I’ve noticed that was interesting is that every time the Giants got hot or cold it seemed that the Dodgers got hot or cold. I guess that explains why they have been so close all year.

11. Baltimore Orioles (60-56, Last Week-13): Chris Davis is on fire and they have surpassed the Angels for the second wild card after winning three in a row against Oakland.

12. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (60-57, Last Week-10): They have been very cold since their 17-3 hot streak, going 6-17 in their last 23. A big reason for their struggles is that Mike Trout is only hitting .175/.299/.281 in his last 15 games.

13. Texas Rangers (59-57, Last Week-15): They are only a game out of a playoff spot and with Derek Holland coming back soon I like their chances to make the playoffs.

14. Washington Nationals (58-59, Last Week-12): Oh, how the mighty have fallen. This team was projected to win 100 games, but they’re going to struggle to get 90 as that would require a 32-13 finish to the season.

15. Tampa Bay Rays (58-59, Last Week-14): Being swept by Texas hurts their wild card chances and now they will have to look to turn it around in Houston where the Astros have won more than 2/3 of their games.

16. Arizona Diamondbacks (57-59, Last Week-16): It’s good to see Patrick Corbin pitching well (ERA of 3.43) after being out all of 2014.

17. Minnesota Twins (59-58, Last Week-18): Their upcoming three city road trip to New York, Baltimore, and Tampa will be important as they’ll need to play well if they want to be a wild card.

18. Detroit Tigers (56-61, Last Week-17): Miguel Cabrera is back and after missing over a month, but even he won’t be able to right the ship for the Tigers.

19. Chicago White Sox (55-60, Last Week-19): Chris Sale was masterful against the Cubs striking out 15 and only allowing a hit over seven innings.

20. San Diego Padres (56-62, Last Week-23): Matt Kemp hit for the first cycle in Padres history and completed it with a triple in the ninth.

21. Seattle Mariners (55-63, Last Week-20): After Mike Montgomery’s strong start he is 0-3 with an ERA of 7.99 in his last seven starts.

22. Cleveland Indians (54-62, Last Week-21): They have three starters with WHIPs under 1.10, which shows that the offense and bullpen have really let the team down.

23. Oakland A’s (51-68, Last Week-22): Ike Davis (first baseman) pitched in an 18-2 loss yesterday, which probably hurt less than the 27 one-run losses

24. Atalanta Braves (53-64, Last Week-24): Mike Foltynewicz has disappointed with an ERA of 5.61 and a WHIP of 1.62. Not what they expected in return for Evan Gattis.

25. Cincinnati Reds (51-65, Last Week-25): Todd Frazier has disappeared over the last 30 days with only four home runs over that span and hitting a paltry .198.

26. Boston Red Sox (52-65, Last Week-26): Scored 22 runs in a game Felix Hernandez pitched and if only they got that run support all year long they would have lived up to expectations.

27. Milwaukee Brewers (51-68, Last Week-27): Taylor Jungmann looks like the real deal as he has an ERA of 2.23, more strikeouts than innings pitched, and a good K/BB ratio.

28. Colorado Rockies (48-68, Last Week-28): Carlos Gonzalez is building his trade value for the offseason as he is slugging .770 with 16 home runs in his last 30 games.

29. Miami Marlins (47-70, Last Week-30): The only complaint about Dee Gordon is his OBP as it is only 21 points higher than his AVG, but it is not much to complain about because he is hitting .330.

30. Philadelphia Phillies (46-72, Last Week-29): They were in 29th for one week, so that’s good for them…

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Sources:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/index.jsp
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp
http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp
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1. St. Louis Cardinals (71-40, Last Week-1): The pitching continues to be fantastic as they have only allowed 2.87 runs per game.

2. Kansas City Royals (66-44, Last Week-2): The only team other than the Cardinals to have a winning percentage of .600 or more. They have been the only A.L. team to not go into an extended slump.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (65-44, Last Week-5): Showed that they are one of baseball’s top teams after sweeping the Dodgers even though they are five games out of first.

4. Los Angeles Dodgers (62-49, Last Week-3): Even though they were swept, they have a shot to have a strong week with Washington and Cincinnati at home for seven games.

5. Toronto Blue Jays (61-52, Last Week-7): They are yet to lose when Tulowitzki is in the lineup, and after sweeping the Yankees, they are only 1.5 games back.Read More »