Major League Baseball: Top Ten Teams Thus Far
Through the first 50+ games, Major League Baseball is panning out to be what many thought at the beginning of Spring Training. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox are front running and the other teams try to keep pace before these two teams run away with their division.
There have been a few surprises this season, The Cleveland Indians and the Arizona Diamondbacks both are in first are seemingly here for the long haul. Especially with key injuries plaguing the reigning World Champion San Fransisco Giants.
As we enter the second year of the pitcher let's see how the top ten teams rank so far.
10. Atlanta Braves
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With a 30-25 start, first year manager Fredi Gonzalez if off to a descent start. The Atlanta Braves' pitching staff is what is keeping them over the .500 mark. The Braves are 1st in the Major Leagues in WHIP with a team average of 1.14 and opposing hitters BAA at .225. They are also second in team ERA at 2.97.
The only concern with their pitching staff is age. With Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe on the opposite side of 30, how long will they be able to keep pace during the summer months, especially with the heat in Atlanta? Luckily the young Jair Jurrjens is posting Cy Young type numbers, with a 7-1 record and 1.51 ERA. He is amazing to watch, a true talent.
The Braves lineup has a mix of quality veterans like Chipper Jones and Alex Gonzalez and young prospects in Jason Heyard, and rookie 1B Freddie Freeman. All who have had their ups and downs so far this season.
The team's best player so far is without a doubt Martin Prado, who leads the team in home runs with seven, 32 RBI and hits with 65. Prado also has 14 doubles. Prado also continues to get big hit after big hit, helping Atlanta win many games they shouldn't have.
Dan Uggla seems to be the biggest piece to the Braves winning puzzle, if he is able to get out of his two month slump, we could see the Braves rise into one of baseball's top team. If not, the Phillies will gladly take their 5th consecutive NL East title.
Player to watch: Closer Craig Kimbrel the flame throwing right-hander has 15 saves in 19 attempts so far with a 3.00 ERA.
9. Texas Rangers
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Manager Ron Washington is hoping his team can compete for another American League title and with the return of Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz to the lineup, everything seems to be on the upswing in Texas.
Look for the Texas Rangers to continue to tear the cover off the ball, as they rank in the top 10 in all the major hitting categories including runs, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Michael Young is putting together another solid year. He is third in the AL with a .340 batting average to go with 18 doubles, 25 runs and 35 RBI.
Adrian Beltre is coming into his own and leads the Rangers in home runs with 11 and RBI with 42.
Young pitching talent like C.J. Wilson and Neftali Feliz must continue to progress in order for Texas to continue its success.
The Texas Rangers sit in 1st place in the AL West with a 29-25 record. The race is tight in the AL West, but look for the Rangers to start to pull away from their mediocre division as the team continues to improve its health.
Player to watch: Number five starting pitcher Alexis Ogondo, who is 5-0 with a 2.33 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP in 10 starts.
8. San Francisco Giants
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With the season-ending injury to Buster Posey, the San Francisco Giants have lost the lead in the National League West and are searching for answers.
Their pitching is still great ranking in the top five in Major League Baseball in ERA, quality starts, WHIP and batting average against. Tim Lincecum is on pace for another run and a Cy Young Award, going 5-4 with 2.22 ERA and 79 K's to start the year. Madison Bumgarner is off to a terrible 2-6 start with a 3.66 ERA in 11 starts.
On the flip side the Giants offence ranks near last in every single offensive category. Pat Burrell, Cody Ross and company will try to keep it together, but I see the Posey injury to be too much for the Giants and they will continue to fall in the standings the remainder of this season.
Player to watch: Team RBI leader 1B Aubrey Huff, the Giants are in need of offensive stability. Without a huge season from Huff the Giants could be watching from home come October.
Also watch for the Giants to make a big splash as the July trade deadline approaches.
7. Arizona Diamondbacks
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One of the biggest surprises of the 2011 season in the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are alone in first place with a record of 30-24 with the leadership of former Los Angeles Dodger great Kirk Gibson. The Diamondbacks have young, strong and quick team. They will continues their success and take control of the NL West.
Over the last two weeks, Arizona has played the best baseball in the Major Leagues, Arizona is 13-1 since May 17 where they found themselves 5 games out of 1st place in the NL WEST. Over this 14 games stretch Arizona have outscored their opponents 87-54.
Over the last 16 games, Arizona starting pitchers have logged 10 quality starts with a 2.66 ERA.
SP Ian Kennedy has came out strong mounting a 6-1 record and a 3.01 ERA. Also, closer J.J Putz is seconds in Major League baseball with 16 saves. J.J. has a 1.57 ERA and 0.83 WHIP.
With a season ending injury to star player Buster Posey of the San Fransisco Giants, the time is now for Arizona to distance themselves from the defending champions and put them away for good.
Player to watch: CF Chris Young. Young leads the team in runs (35), RBI (30) and is seconds in home runs with (9). Young has the potential to be a 20/20 player combining speed and power.
6. Florida Marlins
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Even with their star player Hanley Ramirez (.211/.307/.311) putting up career low numbers, the Florida Marlins still have found a way to win.
Pitching. Mainly Josh Johnson Anibal Sanchez, have lead the Marlins to a 30-22 record and continue to nip at the heels of the Philadelphia Phillies for the NL East lead.
Recently Josh Johnson have hit the DL with problems with his shoulder. He was expected to return to the team on June 7th but that seems unlikely at this point. Johnson is second in the NL with a 1.64 ERA.
Leo Nunez leads the Major leagues in saves with 18, if the Marlins want to continues to win tight games their season will depend on whether or not Leo Nunez can continues his brilliant start.
Will the Marlins be able to keep pace with the Phillies and improving Braves without their best pitcher and their star shortstop coming up empty?
Player to Watch: 1B Gaby Sanchez. One of baseball's rising stars, Gaby has .312 BA with 8 home runs 34 RBI, and a .399 OBP. He is a star in the making.
5. New York Yankees
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One of the most controversial Yankee team in the history of the organization, this team has dealt with monster egos, aging star, and media exploitation all season. The New York Yankees are still tied for first place with the Boston Redsox.
They Yankees also lead Major League baseball in Slugging percentage .447 and are 3rd in runs 269 and OBP .335.
Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira continues to tear the cover off the bal,l both hitting 16 home runs so far this young season. If Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter can start to produce this lineup is without a doubt, the scariest to face in all of baseball.
Starting pitching will again be the deciding factor on whether or the Yankees make it to the post-season. CC. Sabathia has again came out to a quality start, he's 6-3 with 2.98 ERA and 67 K's. Bartolo Colon has been a pleasant surprise so far this season for New York 3-3, 3.26 ERA with 62 K's.
Mariana Rivera is up to his old tricks ranking second in the AL in saves with 13. He has blown three saves so far this season, proving he is human.
Player to Watch: STARTING PITCHING. If the Yankees hope to make to the post season and compete, their starting pitching must continue to improve.
Watch for the Yankees to be the most active team at this years trade deadline, look for big changes to shake things up in the Bronx.
4. Clevland Indians
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With out a doubt the biggest surprise in the Major Leagues so far this season, the Cleveland Indians find themselves with a 31-20 record and 5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the Al Central.
The biggest questions is can they continue to win at this pace and the answer so far is, yes.
Quality pitching and an even better offence has the Indians in the top ten in Major league baseball in runs, BA, OBP, and SLG %. I bet you not one person would have predicted that when opening day came around this season.
Josh Tomlin has been the teams best starter. He is 6-2 with a 2.74 ERA and has only walked 10 batter all season. Chris Perez leads the AL in saves with 14, he has a quality 2.66 ERA in 20.1 IP.
1B Travis Hafner continues to battle injuries and the Indians are praying he can finally get healthy. In limited time he it batting .345 with 5 home runs.
Even though the Indians arguably play in the worst division in baseball, this gives them even more of a reason to run away with the AL Central in 2011. And everyone knows that anything can happen once October rolls around.
Player to Watch: SS Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera lead the Cleveland Indians in BA .298, Home runs 10, RBI 35, OBP .355 and hits with 62. These number are incredible for a shortstop an even he keeps pace could be in the running for an MVP award.
3. St. Louis Cardinals
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The St. Louis Cardinals are one of the scariest teams in all of Major League Baseball. They are first in BA .282 and OBP .357 and are second in runs .282. WOW. This team hits and gets on base more than any other team in the game.
With Albert Pujols starting to heat up, look for the Cardinals to start to distance themselves from the rest of the NL Central.
The resurgence of switch hitting Lance Berkman, the middle of the Cardinal lineup is a pitchers worst nightmare. Berkman is batting a NL leading .344, with 11 home runs and 36 RBI and a .463 OBP. The comeback player of the year award already belongs to Lance Berkman.
Matt Holliday shares the NL leading BA lead with Berkman at .344, he also has 31 RBI and .981 OPS.
Simply put, their offence is nasty.
Can they pitch?
Long time ace Chris Carpenter continues to struggle, 1-5 with a 4.58 ERA has him off to one of the worst starts of his career. Look for him to improve as the season continues.
With star pitcher Adam Wainwright likely done for the season, other have had to step up and starting pitcher Kyle Lohse has done just that and is off to a great start. He is 7-2 with a 2.13 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP.
Jaime Garcia has also stepped up, he is 5-1 with 63 K's and 3.28 ERA. If the Cardinals can continue to get this type of pitching, they could be very tough to beat come October.
Player to Watch: 24 year old CF Colby Rasmus. Colby leads the team in runs with 36, second in BB 33 and is batting.284 with 4 home runs and 20 RBI.
2. Boston Redsox
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The resurgence of the Boston Redsox has been the talk of the town over the past few weeks. We all knew this was bound to happen, the question was just when? Well that time is now for the city of Boston. By the end of June the Redsox will have sole leadership in the AL East.
After what was one of the worst starts to a season in Boston Redsox history. Terry Francona's job was in question and the city of Boston was in panic, but now everything is back to normal and the fans are back to loving one of the greatest personalities in baseball in Terry Francona.
The teams offensive number continue to climb, they are currently 6th in runs 256, 3rd in BA .266 and 2nd in OBP .340. If Carl Crawford can start to right his ship .232 BA 4 HR 21 RBI, these numbers for team total offence could be number 1 across the board for the Redsox.
Jon Lester leads the AL in wins with 7, but has an ERA of 3.94. Josh Becket has been the teams most consistent starter with a record of 4-2 and 1.80 ERA in 70 innings of work.
The achilles heel to this ball club will be their pitching, especially their starting pitching which continues to have its up and downs. Currently the Redsox are ranked 21st with a 4.04 ERA. If the Redsox want to make it to the World Series and possibly win, they must improve their pitching staff, especially with the amazing starting staff looming in the city of brotherly love.
Player to Watch: 1B Adrian Gonzalez, as Gon-zo gets acclimated to the conditions in Boston, his already impressive offensive number should continues to improve. This man may be the next American League MVP. He also has triple crown potential 332. BA, 10 HR, and 46 RBI.
1. Philadelphia Phillies
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As June approaches the Philadelphia Phillies have been living up to all the preseason hype, just as the Miami Heat have as the make their way into the NBA Championship series. The Phillies have a major League best record of 34-20.
The amazing part about their record is they have yet to play a single game with their pre-season starting line up in tact. Unfortunately for the rest of the National league, that day is rapidly approaching as starting CF Shane Victorino should be back off the DL at the end of this week.
With the return of All-star 2B Chase Utley, the Phillies are averaging nearly 6 runs a game. Chase has already hit more home runs than his replacement Wilson Valdez. Look for the Phillies offence to get another shot of adrenalin when speedy Shane Victorino returns to the lineup.
All of baseball knows the heart and soul of this time is its pitching. They are 3rd in ERA 3.10, 1st in quality starts 37, and 2nd in WHIP 1.21. Also, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay both have 7 wins already this season. Both could win 20 games this season and compete for a Cy Young Award.
Three out of the top leaders in strikeouts in the NL belong to the Phillies rotation Roy Halladay is first with 91 K's, Cliff Lee is third with 86 K's and Cole Hamels is 5th with 76 K's. Ladies and gentleman it doesn't get much better than that.
The Phillies bullpen has also been miraculous. Closer Ryan Madson is 2-1 with 1.88 ERA and is 12 for 12 in save opportunities. Jose Contreras has yet to give up a run all season in 10.2 innings. He is also 5 for 5 in save opportunities. Antonio Bastardo is 3-0 with 26 K's in 19.1 IP and a 1.40 ERA.
Ryan Howard and Placido Polanco have lead the charge for the Phillies Offence and Raul Ibanez is heating up after a horrific April. Howard is 2nd in the National League with 42 RBI and 12 HR. Polanco is tied for 6th in the NL with 66 hits and 14th in BA .317.
Player to Watch: RF Domonic Brown. With the injury to Shane Victorino and Ben Fransisco continuing to struggle, Brown will be given a long look in RF for the Phillies. So far, he is batting .310 with 4 RBI in 29 AB.
