Current Ranking

Previous Ranking

Diff

Team

Wins

Commentary

1

3

+2

BOS

37-21

Boston has gotten off to the best start in FCBL behind strong pitching from both Justin Verlander (10-2 2.09 ERA) and Jack Flaherty (7-2 3.11 ERA.)  Freddie Freeman has paced the offense hitting .341 with 17 Home Runs.  The trade with the Indians brought in reinforcements for the lineup, rotation, and bullpen, but came at a great cost. 

2

2

-

BAL

36-22

Hyun-Jin Ryu (9-2 2.96 ERA) has led the Orioles early on.  Mookie Betts  is hitting .315 but both Francisco Lindor (.235) and George Springer (.227) have struggled to make contact.  However, that has not slowed the Orioles yet.  The Orioles now have the best run differential in the league at +88 and are 9-1 in their last 10.  

3

1

-2

LAD

35-23

MVP candidate Cody Bellinger has gotten off to a hot start hitting 25 home runs in the seasons first two months.   He has led an offense that has scored 18 more runs than any other team.  The pitching staff has struggled early as Walker Buehler (6.03), Dustin May (5.02), and Ross Stripling(5.24) have all underperformed.

4

12

+8

CHC

33-25

The Chicago Cubs have made the biggest move up since the preseason.  Led by Tyler Glasnow (5-0 2.64 ERA) and Sean Manaea (8-1 2.80 ERA) they have been able to hold first place until very recently.  The offense is being paced by Javy Baez(.291) and Avisail Garcia (.299), but has also seen superstar 2b Gleyber Torres (.258), Gary Sanchez (.182),  and Trey Mancini (.201) struggle. 

5

5

-

CIN

32-26

Manager Bennett's Reds team has gotten off to a solid start led mainly by stellar starters Sonny Gray(6-1 2.53 ERA) and Mike Clevinger (6-4 3.20 ERA).  Christian Yelich has also put up MVP type numbers hitting .345 with 17 Home Runs.  However, David Peralta (.190) and Whit Merrifield (.238) have both struggled to get on base.  Cincinnati's bullpen has also been a liability with 6 members posting ERA's of 4.50 or below.

6

11

+5

WSH

32-26

The Nationals are 6 games above .500 led by hot hitting rookie Yordan Alvarez (.343 23 HR 53 RBI's).  If the rookie can stay healthy he has a legitimate shot at the MVP and leading Nationals to the playoff.  Alvarez has also gotten support from Aaron Judge (.270 12 HR's) and Jeff McNeil (.283 9 HR's).  On the mound both Mike Minor(8-3 3.35) and Anthony Descalfani(7-2 3.75) have been solid.  Look for Manager Auman to pull off a trade to aquire additional help for a pitching staff that has allowed the 5th most runs in the league

7

10

+3

TEX

29-29

Mike Trout (.275 24 HR 44 RBI's) leads the way for the Rangers.  However Trevor Story has struggled to a .209 average the overall lineup is in the middle of the pack in terms of runs scored.  The pitching is also average placing 8th in runs against.  Over the last 10 games, the Rangers are 5-5. Might the Rangers use the draft pick firepower to pull off a major deal and make the Rangers title contenders while Trout is still in his prime?  I hope so, otherwise this team will continue to be very average in 2020.

8

6

-2

PIT

28-30

Congratulations Pittsburgh!  You are in a first place tie!  1st round pick Bryan Reynolds has delivered a .303 average and Yulieski Gurriel has put up a .319 average, but the rest of the lineup has under delivered.  Frankie Montas has been spectacular so far going 8-3 with a 2.26 ERA.  A 3-7 record versus the Cardinals is the difference between a tie and being alone in first place.

9

7

-2

STL

28-30

The other half of the East divisions first place tie is the St Louis Cardinals.  The Cardinals have been fantastic against division foes going 19-11, but have struggled outside the division with a 2-7 record.    Austin Meadows (.269 18 HR 45 RBI) and Max Scherzer (6-3 2.55 ERA 127 K's) have been fantastic, but Jacob DeGrom (2-8 4.63) and Ronald Acuna (.196) have struggled.  St Louis has the second lowest runs against in the league.  Look for Acuna and DeGrom to snap out of their funks as the Cardinals pull away from the rest of the division

10

4

-6

KC

27-31

The Royals have had an attrocious May going 11-17. To add salt to the wound, the Royals have put up a 2-8 record against division rival Baltimore.  While the offense has some strong individual performances such as Keston Hiura (.306), Shin Soo Choo (.293) and Marcus Semien (.283) they have struggled to score runs.  The pitching has also been mediocre outside of Yu Darvish (5-3 3.00 ERA).  Look for Manager Blue to adjust the lineup to increase run production.

11

14

+3

CLE

27-31

Despite rebuilding, Cleveland put up a 14-14 record in May.  The Indians continue to generate runs behind Tommy Edman's .333 average and Roberto Perez's 17 HR's.  The starting pitching has been able to generate strikeouts this year with Strasburgh placing 2nd and Giolito placing 4th in the Americal league.  Cleveland is now 5 games out of a playoff spot, so it appears Manager Thome will continue to deal players for picks over the coming month.

12

13

+1

TOR

26-32

Despite posting a run differential of -44, the Toronto Blue Jays are only 2 games out of first place.  The star performer so far has been Shane Greene, who has put up a 2.81 ERA and a National League leading 10 saves.  The Blue Jays may be set up for some improvement over the next month based on the scheduling.  To date, they've only played 23 games at the Rogers Center while playing 35 games on the road.

13

16

+3

TB

26-32

Josh Donaldson has turned into a stellar acquisition for the Rays.  Thus far the power hitting third baseman has put up a .255 average with 20 HR's and 42 RBI's.  Sweet swinging Ketel Marte has also done well this year with a .314 average.  As opposed top the Jays, the Rays have already played most of their games at home.  Manager Branagan will more than likely start shopping Donaldson in order to build his team for the future.

14

8

-6

ATL

25-33

Long in the past are the days when Manager Noland's pitching staff would dominate the league.  This year the Braves staff has allowed the most amount of runs scored in the league.  The offense has also struggled placing 12th in runs scored.  Overall, the ZBraves have a -66 run differential. The draft day Gleyber Torres deal is a sign of things to come as Noland will continue to trade contender helping pieces for future draft picks. 

15

8

-7

PHI

23-35

In the preseason the Phillies were ranked as high as 1st and as low as 16th.  Unless Manager Adams can turn it around, the Phillies will place near the bottom of those predictions.  Aristedes Aquino has led the offense with 20 Home Runs and 35 RBI's and Corey Seager has put up a .293 average, but the rest of the offense has struggled.  Jameson Taillon was performing well (2-2 3.02 ERA) but was shipped to the Reds.  Might Noah Syndergaard(6-4 3.43 ERA) be next to go?

16

15

-1

DET

20-38

As voted on in the preseason, the Tigers are coming in at the bottom of the league.  Detroit got off to a horrendous 10-20 start in April and are looking to repeat the effort in May going 10-18 so far.  Thy have already reached a triple digit run differential of -100.  The offense (2nd worst) and the pitching (worst in FCBL) have been equally bad. Giancarlo Stanton has been a bright spot putting up a .328 average and 8 Home runs.