Quick, name the team with the largest lead in a division right now in all of baseball. Don't look it up. Just go off the top of your head.
Did you say the Seattle Mariners?
Remarkably, it's them. The hold an 8.5-game lead in the AL West. They were +300 to win the division back in spring training, which doesn't make them an extreme longshot or anything, but the Astros were +100 and the defending champion Rangers were +210. The Mariners have now been in first place for 57 days and haven't trailed anyone in the division since May 11. Just a month ago, they were only up 1.5 games. Since a four-game losing streak that ended over Memorial Day weekend, the Mariners have really stepped on the gas.
After a weekend sweep of the Rangers, the Mariners have now won 16 of their last 21 games. They have certainly had help in building such a huge lead, with the Rangers flailing to five games under .500 while the Astros are six under -- plus, the Angels and A's are bad, as expected.
Let's not detract from the fine work the Mariners have done for themselves, though. They are 10-3 against the Astros and Rangers in head-to-head action. They take care of business at home, as they are now 27-12 in T-Mobile Park.
They have a great rotation with Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert forming a three-headed monster at the front and Bryan Woo has been exceptional in his six starts.
There is certainly concern with the offense and that should be addressed in front of the trade deadline by Jerry Dipoto. I'm sure there's someone somewhere screaming "unsustainable!!" about their 17-7 record in one-run games, but they've built a sizable cushion in the AL West and those games played are already banked. Even if the Mariners only played .500 ball the rest of the way, they'd finish 87-75 and that likely takes the division at this rate. It most certainly would make the playoffs. As we've seen a number of times in recent years, just making the playoffs is good enough to consider a team a threat to win the World Series. The playoff rotation would certainly be stout enough.
The Mariners are one of five teams to have never won the World Series, along with the Brewers, Rays, Rockies and Padres. What if this is the year? How cool would it be to see such a streak end in back-to-back seasons (the Rangers hadn't ever won until last year)? It's fun to think about it. The Mariners are playing well enough to consider such a scenario.
Yes, things are looking up in Seattle. The Mariners are playing like a team that can win the World Series. Let that soak in.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Remember Aaron Judge's at-bats cutting into stuff like college football games as he was pursuing 60 home runs? He's on pace for 57 right now and that is after he started so slow. | -- | 51-27 |
| 2 |  | Total bummer about Kyle Bradish, but it's time to deal some of that prospect depth for starting pitching (this coming July, that is), even if for a rental. Coby Mayo is back from injury and Heston Kjerstad is absolutely tearing up Triple-A. If not them, there are plenty of others. | 1 | 49-26 |
| 3 |  | With Trea Turner returning, they need to make room elsewhere for Edmundo Sosa to stay in the lineup, given how good he's been. Maybe an outfield corner spot with starts at second base sprinkled in? | 1 | 49-26 |
| 4 |  | Now Yoshinobu Yamamoto is hurt. So is Mookie Betts. Just weather the storm and get everyone back by playoff time, right? | -- | 47-31 |
| 5 |  | An injury has held him to 43 games so far, but Steven Kwan is now all the way up to .398. Yes, that's hit batting average. | -- | 47-26 |
| 6 |  | When they bit the bullet and traded Corbin Burnes, many people marveled at the Orioles for not having to dip into their highest-ranked prospects to make the deal. Joey Ortiz was part of it. He's hitting .282/.383/.475 while playing solid defense and he might even make the All-Star team. Considering Burnes was going to walk in free agency after this year anyway, this has the makings of a brilliant move by the Brewers. | 1 | 44-32 |
| 7 |  | Pete Alonso would be a very nice fit, but there's an issue. See the Mets comment ... | 1 | 44-34 |
| 8 |  | Rough stretch for the Royals, as they've lost six of eight. My hunch is it was a lot more "played the Yankees and Dodgers" than some sort of tumble in their level of play. We'll see. They visit the A's next. | 2 | 42-35 |
| 9 |  | Remember, the Braves slugged over .500 AS A TEAM last year. Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies aren't even at .400 this year while Matt Olson has surged up to .471. | -- | 42-31 |
| 10 |  | Royce Lewis now has seven homers in 12 games. Please avoid injury moving forward! | -- | 41-35 |
| 11 |  | Taking series over the Phillies and Yankees in the same week is pretty damn impressive. I definitely noticed. There's just nowhere to move them upward. There was a big gap between 10 and 11 last week and no one in the top 10 deserves to fall out of it. | -- | 40-36 |
| 12 |  | It's been 64 games in his age-34 season and George Springer is hitting .196/.290/.289. Uh oh. | -- | 35-40 |
| 13 |  | The Cardinals have climbed back to .500, just like they did at 27-27. They haven't been over .500, not even for a day, since they were 5-4. A trip to Miami likely changes this fact very soon. | 7 | 37-37 |
| 14 |  | They finally got their sweep but then immediately got swept. There's just no consistency with this bunch. They haven't been more than three games over .500 but also haven't been more than four under. | 1 | 40-40 |
| 15 |  | Is Jorge Soler heating up? He's 15 for 48 (.313) this month and homered on Sunday. When he's all the way on, he can be a game changer. | 1 | 36-40 |
| 16 |  | The Reds now have 103 stolen bases as a team. In the Wild Card Era, only two teams have reached 200 steals in a season (1996 Rockies with 201 and 2007 Mets with 200). | 1 | 36-39 |
| 17 |  | They won two series this past week, but those were home dates against the lowly Angels and White Sox. This week will provide a better test as they visit D.C. and then Philly. | 5 | 38-38 |
| 18 |  | While fans of so many other teams pine over the possibility of trading for Pete Alonso, the Mets sit just 1.5 games out of a playoff spot. | 7 | 36-38 |
| 19 |  | The Nationals are in a virtual tie for the third NL wild-card spot right now. It's a testament to how awful the NL wild-card picture is, yes, but you gotta credit the Nats for playing over what everyone thought their ceiling was. | 4 | 37-38 |
| 20 |  | They are now 10-3 when Ronel Blanco starts and 23-36 when he doesn't. Who would've ever thought of such a scenario before the season started? Remarkable story. | 2 | 36-40 |
| 21 |  | The Tigers have three players with at least four triples. It's doubtful that all three get to 10, but if so, this would only be the second team in the Wild Card Era (1995-present) to have three players with 10 triples in a season. The only one right now is the 2019 Royals with Hunter Dozier, Whit Merrifield and Adalberto Mondesi. | 5 | 35-40 |
| 22 |  | Paul Skenes has 46 strikeouts and six walks, which is 7.67 strikeouts per walk. No rookie in the modern era (1901-present) with at least 50 innings pitched has ever posted a K:BB of at least seven. (Shota Imanaga is doing it this year, too). | 3 | 36-39 |
| 23 |  | José Caballero leads the AL with 22 stolen bases. He's on pace for 50. The only Rays player to ever get to 50 steals was Carl Crawford (five times, topping out at 60 in 2009). | 2 | 37-39 |
| 24 |  | The champs were in first place just over a month ago. Since May 8, however, they've gone 11-21. | 7 | 35-40 |
| 25 |  | They haven't won a three-game series since Mother's Day. The only series win since then was a two-gamer over the pathetic White Sox and they had to mount huge, late comebacks in both of those wins. They are 10-21 since that Mother's Day win. | 1 | 36-40 |
| 26 |  | The positives this season are sparse, but how about Logan O'Hoppe? He appears to be establishing himself as one of the best offensive catchers in the game. | -- | 30-45 |
| 27 |  | After posting a winning May (14-13), the Rockies have remembered who they are this month, now sitting 4-11 in June. | 1 | 26-50 |
| 28 |  | During their nine-game losing streak, they've been walked off three times. That's rough. | 1 | 29-49 |
| 29 |  | When Josh Bell gets traded this July, he'll be joining his fifth team in three seasons. He's not Kenny Lofton yet, but there's time. Lofton had only played for three different teams when he was Bell's age. He closed with nine teams in his last six seasons. | -- | 26-49 |
| 30 |  | Can we just end Chicago baseball for the year? The Bears season can't come soon enough. | -- | 20-57 |
