Some things never change. Griffey’s hurt. The Cubs are without Prior and Wood. Barry Bonds is still a jerk. The Yankees are atop the East, with the Royals, Rays, and Pirates dwelling in the basement.
But, there is hope. The Reds and Tigers are challenging for their division leads, and the Rockies have some young talent on the rise. Jimmy Rollins may have lost his hitting streak, but Edgar Renteria has started his own. And, the best thing of all… the increasing likelihood of a postseason free from the Tomahawk Chop.
Rank (Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1 (1) |  |
23-10 | Joe Crede has quickly become an unsung superstar, second on the team in HR (7) and RBI (25), while hitting .319. |
| 2 (3) |  |
22-11 | Two major injuries to the Mets starting staff have lead to the return of crazy Jose Lima. Sometimes he’s okay and sometimes he’s terrible, but he’s always entertaining. |
| 3 (4) |  |
22-13 | The Cardinals have a ton of offensive weapons and the second lowest ERA in baseball (3.52). |
| 4 (6) |  |
22-12 | The Reds have a rare combination of power (48 HR, 2nd in NL) and speed (34 SB, 2nd in NL). Griffey’s return can only make them better. |
| 5 (7) |  |
19-12 | The Bombers offense is putting up huge numbers, but the 3-month loss of Godzilla could be huge. In his 3 full major league seasons he’d knocked in 330 runs. |
| 6 (8) |  |
21-13 | In 2003 Jeremy Bonderman and Mike Maroth combined for 40 losses. This year they are a combined 7-4 with ERAs of 4.40 and 2.55 respectively. |
| 7 (5) |  |
20-13 | The Sox are getting no offense from the catcher spot. Captain Varitek is only hitting .224 with 2 HR, and Wakefield’s personal backstop Mirabelli has a career average of only .239. |
| 8 (2) |  |
20-15 | Who is the Astros best pitcher? Is it Roy Oswalt? Andy Pettite? Actually, statistically speaking, it’s Wandy Rodriguez, with a 4-1 record and starting staff best ERA 3.27. |
| 9 (13) |  |
19-15 | If the Jays could go back in time and leave Josh Towers on the bench, they’d be competing for the division lead. He’s started the season 0-7 with an ERA of 10.09. Don’t expect him to see any time on the mound for a while. |
| 10 (19) |  |
20-15 | The Rockies are getting some of the best bang for their bottom dollar in all of baseball. Brad Hawpe ($335k) is hitting .331 with 8 HR and 23 RBI; Garrett Atkins ($335k) leads the team in Runs (26), while batting .320; Matt Holliday ($500k) is hitting .307 and leads the team in HR (10) and RBI (33). |
| 11 (21) |  |
19-15 | Arizona continues to play well, lead by ace Brandon Webb, who seems to have conquered his control problems from years past. He is 6-0, with a 2.30 ERA, and he’s only handed out 6 free passes. |
| 12 (9) |  |
18-17 | Texas is at the beginning of a grueling stretch of 20 games in 20 days. It might be early in the season, but this stretch could define the Rangers’ year. |
| 13 (22) |  |
19-16 | The Padres have been on fire as of late, despite having the lowest team batting average in baseball and the least amount of homeruns (22). |
| 14 (11) |  |
17-18 | The Indians have yet to live up to their early-season expectations, but at least Sabathia has looked good in his return from the disabled list (2-0, 2.35 ERA). |
| 15 (20) |  |
19-15 | Philly’s been hot lately, but they’re still 4 games back of the Mets. Expect this team to be right in the thick of things all the way into September, they have a great mix of veteran talent and youth. |
| 16 (14) |  |
16-13 | Derrick Turnbow has been a huge part of the Crew’s early success. He’s converted all 11 save opportunities with a 1.38 ERA and a really great permanently dopey looking expression on his face. |
| 17 (12) |  |
17-18 | There is precedence for the defensive superstars in the Hall of Fame, besides the Wizard of Oz. Luis Aparicio (won 9 gold gloves, 2677 career hits); Brooks Robinson (won 13 gold gloves, .267 career average, 2848 hits); Bill Maseroski (10 gold gloves, 2016 hits). If Omar doesn’t get Hall of Fame consideration it will be because he played in an era that heavily favored offense. |
| 18 (16) |  |
17-17 | Oakland has almost enough players on the DL to field an entire other team, 8 (Chavez, Thomas, Harden, Bradley, Kennedy, Duchserer, Loaiza, and Witasick). |
| 19 (23) |  |
17-18 | Lowe (1-1, 3.05, 6 quality starts), Tomko (4-1, 2.93), and Penny (2-1, 2.98, 30 k’s) look like an effective 1-2-3 punch in the starting rotation. |
| 20 (10) |  |
15-19 | The Cubs are desperate for the return of Derek Lee and their ailing aces. They finally ended their losing streak at nine in a row. |
| 21 (24) |  |
17-18 | Luis Castillo has had no problem adapting to AL pitching (.333-1-15, 3 SB), but he’s already made 3 errors. Last season he only had 7 all season. |
| 22 (15) |  |
15-20 | The Angels continue to skid, losing 11 out of the last 15 games. At this pace the city of Los Angeles should disown them before spring training of next year. |
| 23 (17) |  |
15-20 | Similar to the Cards with Pujols, Tejada leads the O’s in most offensive categories (hits, homeruns, RBI, total bases, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage). Except that the Redbirds are winning. The orange ones are not. |
| 24 (18) |  |
14-19 | Renteria is about the only positive for the Braves right now. He’s relished his return to the NL, hitting .349, with 2 homeruns and 14 RBI. |
| 25 (26) |  |
15-21 | The M’s have a lot of reasons to be optimistic, but their offense has left the pitching staff high and dry. Last year, their offense was one of the worst in baseball and they were shut out 5 times. This year they’ve already equaled that number, and have lost 5 games in which the pitching staff has allowed 2 runs or less. |
| 26 (25) |  |
14-21 | The Rays have a terrible pitching staff, but I love Scott Kazmir’s stuff. He’s 5-2 with a 2.94 ERA and 48 k’s. |
| 27 (27) |  |
12-22 | The Nationals lead the NL with 6 players on the DL (Patterson, Majewski, Guzman, Drese, Anderson, Fick). |
| 28 (28) |  |
9-22 | Dontrelle Willis hasn’t looked like himself all year, beginning with the shelling he took in the World Baseball Classic. He’s lost his last 4 starts, allowing 7, 6, 8, and 3 earned runs. |
| 29 (29) |  |
10-25 | Until Sean Casey returns from his injury, Jack Wilson is the only Bucco hitting over .300. |
| 30 (30) |  |
10-22 | With Sweeney struggling (.167-2-6) the Royals don’t look like they have much hope of putting together a winning season for another four or five years. |