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1 Stat That Defines Every MLB Team's Season
If you had to pick just one statistic to sum up your favorite Major League Baseball team's season thus far, what would it be?
There are countless stats out there, so it's a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Nevertheless, for each MLB team, we've identified one data point that captures the past 125-ish games in a nutshell.
From Minnesota's atrocious interleague record to San Diego's offensive explosion since the All-Star break, Cal Raleigh's OPS+, Atlanta's bullpen ERA and everything in between, these stats epitomize the highs and lows of the past five months.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current through the start of play on Monday, August 17.
AL Central | AL East | AL West | NL Central | NL East | NL West
AL East
1 of 6
Baltimore Orioles (61-63): Gunnar Henderson's .702 OPS
Henderson got out to a great start with six home runs and a .963 OPS through Baltimore's first 14 games. He has also shown signs of life as of late, including a four-hit game against the Rays on Friday. But from April 12 through August 10, Henderson had a .636 OPS in 104 games played. Poor pitching is the main reason this team has struggled, but surely they would at least have a winning record if Henderson were hitting like he did in 2024 (.893 OPS).
Boston Red Sox (66-58): 3.5 runs allowed per game since April 26 (best in MLB)
For the 27 games that Alex Cora was calling the shots, Boston allowed 4.6 runs per game. But since Chad Tracy was named the interim manager, the Red Sox have had the most impenetrable pitching staff in the majors. In the preseason, Steamer projected Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett for a combined total of 53 innings pitched in the majors. They have unexpectedly become indispensable pieces of this starting rotation.
New York Yankees (69-55): $138M presently on the IL
The Yankees have seven players with a luxury tax salary of at least $22M. From that group, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger and Carlos Rodón are presently on the IL. And though both Gerrit Cole and Max Fried are healthy now, they each missed about two months of action and weren't in the rotation together for the first time until late July. Trent Grisham also missed a few weeks with a hamstring injury, so none of the seven has been able to give the Yankees a full season for all that money. How many will be healthy for October?
Tampa Bay Rays (74-49): 41-21 at home (best in MLB)
This one was better before the Rays dropped five of their last six at home, but it's still impressive. From 2018-23 (excluding 2020), the Rays went 255-150 at home, trailing only the Dodgers (272-134) for the best home record in the majors. And after going 41-40 in their "home" games at Steinbrenner Park last season, getting back to playing in Tropicana Field has been a major factor in Tampa Bay's resurgence. They've already swept eight series at home this season, including one each against the Yankees and Red Sox.
Toronto Blue Jays (61-65): Zero regulars with an OPS of .745 or better
At the start of play on Monday, there were 450 players across MLB with at least 80 plate appearances this season, 142 of whom have an OPS of .740 or better. There were 28 teams with at least three such players, including seven from the Colorado Rockies alone. But the Blue Jays have zero, simply overflowing with mediocrity. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s vanishing act (seven home runs, .693 OPS) has gotten most of the attention, but this entire offense has taken a huge step backward from last year.
AL Central
2 of 6
Chicago White Sox (65-58): 594 runs scored (best in AL)
The seven highest scoring teams in the majors all hail from the National League, but the ChiSox are tops among the Junior Circuit. They didn't have anyone reach 23 home runs in either 2024 or 2025, but Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas have each already hit 26. Barring injury, they are going to have a trio of 30 HR hitters in a single season for the first time since 2008—Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin. And they're on pace to improve their win total from 60 to 85 because of it.
Cleveland Guardians (60-65): Zero players with 14 or more home runs
In the Blue Jays section, we noted there are 28 teams with at least three regulars with an OPS of .745 or better. Cleveland is the other exception to that rule, with only Chase DeLauter (.799) meeting that description. The Guardians added Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe and called up Ángel Genao to help address the fact that no one on this roster has hit more than 13 home runs. But it has done little good, sitting at 3-9 (and shut out twice) since the trade deadline.
Detroit Tigers (60-64): Went 6-22 in May
Since June 1, Detroit has been just about the best team in the majors, 12 games above .500 with a +122 run differential. But they were so unredeemably awful in May that they still have a losing record for the year and ended up selling off Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize at the trade deadline. Blowing 10 saves in May alone turned this whole season into an uphill battle.
Kansas City Royals (51-74): .662 OPS w/RISP (30th in MLB); .827 OPS against w/RISP (29th in MLB)
When the bases are empty, the Royals are...fine. On offense, they have a .709 OPS with 80 solo home runs, compared to a .727 OPS against with 77 solo home runs allowed. But when runners are in scoring position? Yikes. Going one step beyond the numbers above, Kansas City has a .580 OPS in its 114 plate appearances with the bases loaded, while opponents have a 1.045 OPS in 110 plate appearances. Now that's how you flirt with the worst record in baseball.
Minnesota Twins (60-65): 13-26 vs. National League
If the Twins end up missing the postseason by a slim margin, they'll look back on their 5-8 record against the Royals with plenty of disappointment. But were it not for MLB's worst winning percentage in interleague play, they would be in fantastic position for a playoff spot. Even with that rough record against Kansas City, the Twins have gone 47-39 within the American League, virtually in a five-way tie with Boston, New York, Houston and Chicago for the second-best mark in the league. But getting swept by the Dodgers, Phillies, Pirates and Reds has been their undoing.
AL West
3 of 6
Athletics (49-75): 714 runs allowed (worst in MLB); 446 runs allowed at home
On the road, Athletics pitching has been respectable. We're talking a 4.35 ERA that ranks 17th in the majors. But between Sutter Health Park and a few games at Las Vegas Ballpark, they have been historically futile at home to the tune of a 6.50 ERA. Even the 2025 Colorado Rockies—en route to allowing more total runs than any other team in a single season in the past 25 years—only had a 6.50 ERA against at Coors Field. The A's cannot get out of West Sacramento soon enough.
Houston Astros (63-62): 16 starting pitchers have combined for a 5.12 ERA
Hunter Brown has been solid in 13 turns through the rotation, while Peter Lambert's 21 starts and 3.11 ERA were not on anyone's preseason bingo card. But the other 14 pitchers who have started at least one game for the Astros have done so with a cumulative ERA of 5.93. Good luck figuring out who starts Game 3 of the postseason (if they make it), as the rotation is why the Astros are barely winning this extremely winnable division in spite of Yordan Alvarez's MVP campaign.
Los Angeles Angels (48-75): 25.2% K rate on offense (second-worst in MLB)
The good news for the Angels is 25.2 percent is improvement upon last year's abysmal 27.1 percent strikeout rate. It's still pretty darn bad, though, and any potential benefit from that improvement has been undone by the fact that the Halos are on pace to hit about 60 fewer home runs than last season. They might be headed for at least 100 losses for the first time in franchise history.
Seattle Mariners (59-66): Cal Raleigh's 65 OPS+
There's regression to the mean. There's slumping. And then there's whatever has happened to Cal Raleigh. He hit 60 home runs in 2025 with an OPS+ of 168, this after three consecutive seasons with at least 27 dingers and an OPS+ of 114 or greater. But this year, he hasn't been able to hit the broad side of a barn, slugging an unfathomable .236 against fastballs. (He slugged .662 against fastballs last year.) And with his transformation from should-have-been MVP into an LVP, Seattle has the lowest scoring offense in the majors. Raleigh did provide what proved to be the game-winning home run on Sunday against Houston, though. That was massive.
Texas Rangers (61-64): 7-13 vs. Angels and Athletics
When two of the worst teams in the majors are in your division, you simply have to use that to your advantage. Case in point, the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Padres have gone a combined 38-17 against the Rockies and Giants, much like the Tigers, Guardians and Royals went 53-25 against the White Sox and Twins last year. But the Rangers inexplicably have a losing record against both the Angels and the A's, repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot as they perpetually dance around the postseason cut line.
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NL East
4 of 6
Atlanta Braves (74-50): 2.96 bullpen ERA through June 7 (best in MLB); 4.03 bullpen ERA since (12th-best)
Robert Suarez (elbow) has been out for two months, and Raisel Iglesias has come back to earth in a big way since early July. But when the Braves were at their peak, the trio of Dylan Lee, Suarez and Iglesias were like Fort Knox protecting any late lead. Through the team's first 66 games, those three relievers had a cumulative 0.90 ERA with 23 holds and 17 saves. Atlanta has managed to tread water as a .500 team over the past 10 weeks, but they could really re-emerge as a top threat to win the World Series if that bullpen finds its stride again.
Miami Marlins (64-61): Plus-20 run differential
This is the 34th season in Marlins history. Prior to 2026, they had only twice finished a season with a run differential of +19 or better: when they won the World Series in 1997 and when they won the World Series in 2003. Though their odds of making the postseason are a bit slim, this has been one of their best seasons ever, anchored by the three-headed pitching force of Sandy Alcantara, Max Meyer and Eury Pérez. If Meyer (neck) makes it back from the IL in time to make an impact, maybe they can pull off another miracle run through October?
New York Mets (56-69): Minus-17 Outs Above Average
There are a few teams who have been worse than the Mets on defense, most emphatically the Mariners at minus-42 OAA and a minus-34 FRV. But the Mets have been well below average defensively, an ironic outcome after the club emphasized "run prevention" while constructing this roster last offseason. Trading Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien and watching Semien decline defensively has been a major factor in the Mets' disappointing season.
Philadelphia Phillies (67-58): .327 winning percentage when "other" pitchers start
In Cristopher Sánchez's 25 starts, the Phillies have gone 18-7. In Jesús Luzardo's 25 turns through the rotation, they're 17-8. And they have a 14-6 record to show for Zack Wheeler's 20 starts. That's a combined winning percentage of .700 when one of their trio of aces is on the bump. However, when Aaron Nola, Andrew Painter or someone else gets the start, the Phillies instead have a losing percentage of nearly .700. And that's why the team arguably best equipped to topple the Dodgers is struggling to even remain in the projected postseason field.
Washington Nationals (60-66): 32 blown saves
In each of the past 16 162-game seasons, the team that led the majors in scoring won at least 89 games, with 98.0 being the average win total. But while the Nationals have scored 25 more runs than the second-best offense this season, they are on pace for 77 wins. It's largely because this bullpen has been a travesty, already blowing 32 saves while no other team is north of 26.
NL Central
5 of 6
Chicago Cubs (72-53): 27.5 fWAR on offense (best in MLB); 3.5 fWAR among pitchers (28th in MLB)
Pete Crow-Armstrong might edge out Shohei Ohtani for NL MVP, and the Cubs sure have gotten a lot of offense out of Alex Bregman, Nico Hoerner and Seiya Suzuki since the All-Star Break. It has been the most well-rounded and most valuable group of position players this season. But the pitching has kept the Cubs from chasing down the Brewers and from feeling like a particularly strong candidate to win the World Series. Can Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes come to change that?
Cincinnati Reds (59-64): .226 batting average (last in MLB)
With 161 home runs on the year, the Reds have already almost surpassed their total from last season (167). Yet, they are dead last in the National League in scoring, on pace for roughly 50 fewer runs than last year. And, well, that'll happen when your teamwide batting average goes from .245 to .226 and your strikeout rate climbs from 23.3 percent to 25.3 percent. Third base and right field, in particular, have been black holes in this lineup.
Milwaukee Brewers (77-48): 5.38 runs scored per home run hit (highest ratio in MLB)
Sometimes you have to concoct a new statistic to prove a point, but the Brewers are one of the best run manufacturers in recent history. No one else has a ratio north of 4.65 this season. And from 2017-25, there were just two instances of a team averaging at least 5.1 runs scored per home run hit, with the Guardians doing so in both 2022 and 2023. However, neither of those offenses reached 700 runs scored while the Brewers are on pace for close to 800. We shall see if it continues to work in the postseason, though.
Pittsburgh Pirates (61-65): 3-13 in Paul Skenes' last 16 starts
In mid-May, the Pirates were 24-20 overall and 6-3 when Skenes was starting. To that point, he had a 1.98 ERA—and let's not forget that a lot of the minimal damage against him was contained to the Opening Day disaster fueled by terrible fielding by Oneil Cruz in center. He was otherwise dominant early on. But since then, the Pirates are 37-45 overall and 3-13 when Skenes starts. He was supposed to be the consistent force for this team, but he has a 5.00 ERA over those last 16 appearances, during which Pittsburgh has fallen almost hopelessly out of contention for a playoff spot.
St. Louis Cardinals (63-61): Zero run differential (through Saturday)
The Cardinals have been the season-long definition of average. (Which, to be clear, is a compliment compared to their preseason win total of 69.5.) They climbed to as high as nine games above .500 in mid-May and again in mid-June and sank to as low as three games below .500 at the beginning of August. But aside from Jordan Walker's breakthrough in April/May and JJ Wetherholt's ROY quest, the Cardinals have just been kind of average across the board for five months.
NL West
6 of 6
Arizona Diamondbacks (66-59): 37 comeback wins (tied with CHC for most in MLB)
In the eighth inning this season, the Diamondbacks have outscored their opposition by a combined margin of 75-44. Only the Blue Jays (85-52) have a better margin than Arizona's +31 mark, but no one has tallied more come-from-behind victories than the Snakes have. Seven Diamondbacks have an OPS of .900 or better in the eighth inning. So, if they make the postseason, it appears they are prepared to give us some late excitement.
Colorado Rockies (50-74): 709 runs allowed (most in NL)
To be sure, the Rockies have been better than last year, as well as better than expected. In fact, they are on pace to win 22 more games than they did in 2025, which puts them in a four-horse race with the Braves, Rays and White Sox for biggest year-over-year improvement. Even so, they are 24 games below .500 and deader than disco by mid-August for the umpteenth consecutive year because of a pitching staff that gets shelled on an all-too-regular basis.
Los Angeles Dodgers (74-51): 23 combined starts from Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani (one since July 4)
Since starting out 59-31, the Dodgers have gone 15-20, opening the door to a possible world in which they don't even get a first-round bye. It surely bears mentioning, though, that in those 35 games, they received one start from Snell and zero trips to the mound from Glasnow or Ohtani. Even with the recent addition of Tarik Skubal, they have continued to underwhelm while the pitching staff has struggled/healed. Can they get back to full strength by October and complete the three-peat?
San Diego Padres (67-58): .803 OPS since the All-Star Break (best in MLB); had an MLB-worst .673 OPS before ASB
When all those Mason Miller trade rumors started swirling, they were fueled by disappointing offense. Fernando Tatis Jr. did wake up in a big way starting in June, but he, Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts were all drastically under-delivering for a team that went 17-28 to close out the first half. But after sending zero hitters to the All-Star Game, the Padres have flipped the script, storming back into the postseason picture behind one of the hottest offenses in the game. (And they're still waiting on Machado and Bogaerts to lock in.)
San Francisco Giants (51-73): Zero four-game winning streaks or winning months
Even basement dwellers usually have a stretch of competence at some point during the year. The Mets went 16-12 in May. The A's had a five-game winning streak during a 16-10 run through April. Heck, even the 119-loss Rockies from last year managed to cobble together a pair of four-game winning streaks. But not these Giants, who have yet to produce a four-game winning streak or a winning month—despite being the only team with winning records against the Braves (4-1), Brewers (4-3) and Dodgers (4-3).
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