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Here are the team OPS+ and ERA+ totals so far this season, via Baseball Reference:AL Team OPS+
1. New York Yankees (118)
2. Minnesota Twins (110)
3. Toronto Blue Jays (109)
4. Texas Rangers (108)
5. Tampa Bay Rays (108)
6. Boston Red Sox (106)
7. Cleveland Indians (102)
8. Los Angeles Angels (94)
9. Detroit Tigers (94)
10. Baltimore Orioles (94)
11. Kansas City Royals (89)
12. Seattle Mariners (88)
13. Oakland A's (84)
14. Chicago White Sox (84)
Comments:
- The Rays offense continues to do well even with the injuries to Jason Bartlett, Akinori Iwamura, and Pat Burrell. One reason for that is the emergence of Ben Zobrist, who actually leads the AL with a 182 OPS+(Joe Mauer doesn't have enough at-bats yet.) I knew he was playing well, but didn't realize it was THAT well. On the season he is hitting .311 AVG/12 HR/35 RBI/7 SB/.425 OBP/.675 SLG/1.101 OPS/182 OPS+. He's already reached career highs in RBI, SB, BB, and 2B; and he has tied career highs for hits and home runs. Joe Maddon was right on when he said he was impressed with Zobrist since the end of last season and thought he would contribute a lot to the Rays this year, but I think even he wasn't expecting Zobrist to be THIS good.
- Aaron Hill (.308 AVG/14 HR/43 RBI/.344 OBP/.496 SLG/.840 OPS/120 OPS+) and Adam Lind (.315 AVG/12 HR/45 RBI/.379 OBP/.560 SLG/.939 OPS/146 OPS+) continue to bolster the Blue Jays offense this season with their improved hitting. Both have really broken out this season and have helped improve a usually tame Toronto offense. I was high on both of these guys coming into the season, but even I didn't think they would be hitting this good. We'll have to see if either of them cools off in the second half of the season.
NL Team OPS+
1. Philadelphia Phillies (109)
2. New York Mets (103)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (103)
4. Washington Nationals (101)
5. Houston Astros (99)
6. Milwaukee Brewers (96)
7. Pittsburgh Pirates (95)
8. Colorado Rockies (94)
9. St. Louis Cardinals (93)
10. San Diego Padres (93)
11. Atlanta Braves (91)
12. Chicago Cubs (90)
13. Florida Marlins (87)
14. Cincinnati Reds (87)
15. Arizona Diamondbacks (82)
16. San Francisco Giants (80)
Comments:
- Brad Hawpe (.339 AVG/9 HR/45 RBI/.411 OBP/.611 SLG/1.023 OPS/159 OPS+) is having a terrific season at the plate and has not been getting much notice for it. Hawpe has always been a solid hitter, but has been improved so far this year because of his decreased strikeout-rate. He is striking out just 16.8% of the time now compared to his career average of 22.0% of the time. It's possible he may have worked on shortening his swing during the offseason.
- David Wright might only have 4 HRs this season, but he's still hitting a red hot .354 on the season, which is second in the NL only to Miguel Tejada's .355 average. The new ballpark seems to be hurting Wright's power, but he's still finding ways to contribute and his current .975 OPS would be a career high if the season ended today. His slugging really hasn't taken much of a hit because he's hitting more doubles and his OBP is up because of the high batting average and the fact that he's walking more. His walk rate has increased to 15.3% of his plate appearances, up from 12.8% last season. He also has 16 SB already on the season, which puts him on pace for a career high 46 steals.
- After a slow start, D'Back's OF Justin Upton (.312 AVG/11 HR/35 RBI/8 SB/.389 OBP/.579 SLG/.968 OPS/145 OPS+) has really come on strong. Upton could be one of the best players in the game pretty soon and he is still just 21 years old.
AL Team ERA+
1. Seattle Mariners (117)
2. Boston Red Sox (114)
3. Chicago White Sox (110)
4. Detroit Tigers (109)
5. Toronto Blue Jays (106)
6. Tampa Bay Rays (103)
7. Kansas City Royals (102)
8. Los Angeles Angels (99)
9. Texas Rangers (98)
10. Oakland A's (97)
11. New York Yankees (93)
12. Minnesota Twins (90)
13. Baltimore Orioles (89)
14. Cleveland Indians (88)
Comments:
- Erik Bedard has been pitching excellent this season for the Mariners going 5-2 with a 2.47 ERA and 65 K's in 65.2 innings of work, while posting a 176 ERA+. If I were the Mariners, I would unload him now in a trade before he gets hurt again. His value right now is probably higher than it will be at any point the rest of the season. The Phillies seem like the most likely landing spot for Bedard and I think that would be a solid move for them.
NL Team ERA+
1. Los Angeles Dodgers (116)
2. San Francisco Giants (115)
3. Cincinnati Reds (115)
4. Chicago Cubs (113)
5. St. Louis Cardinals (108)
6. New York Mets (108)
7. Atlanta Braves (105)
8. Milwaukee Brewers (103)
9. Arizona Diamondbacks (101)
10. Colorado Rockies (100)
11. Florida Marlins (97)
12. Pittsburgh Pirates (94)
13. Philadelphia Phillies (93)
14. Houston Astros (93)
15. San Diego Padres (85)
16. Washington Nationals (80)
Comments:
- Dan Haren is in the midst of a filthy season for Arizona despite having just a 4-4 record. He leads the NL in ERA+ at 195. He also has a league leading 2.33 ERA and 7.55 K to BB ratio. Unfortunately for him, he pitches for the D'Backs who have given him poor run support and make the rest of the poor hitting NL look like the Yankees on offense. They are currently the 29th worst team in baseball in hitting.
More MLB News:
- Not only is Miguel Tejada leading the NL with a .355 batting average, but he could possibly be traded to the Cardinals, who are looking for another bat in their lineup. The Cardinals offense is struggling with a 93 OPS+, despite Albert Pujols having another monster season. St. Louis is also interested in picking up the recently released Tom Glavine.
- The Rockies are reportedly willing to trade almost anyone on their roster, since they have gotten off to a poor 27-32 start despite scoring 11 more runs than they have given up. It might be a little too soon for the Rockies to start giving up on the season, since their expected record right now is 31-28, which would actually only put them 1 game out of the NL Wild Card.
- It's been about a week now but the Braves acquired OF Nate McLouth from the Pirates. McLouth is currently hitting .259 with 10 HR, 36 RBI, and 9 SB and should give the struggling Braves offense a little more life.
More: MLB & MLB Weekly
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