National League Grade Book: May

NL East
1) Atlanta Braves              (C)
2) Washington Nationals   (C-)
3) Philadelphia Phillies      (D)
4) New York Mets             (D-)
5) Miami Marlins               (F)

Analysis: First of all I’ll say, what is up with this division. If you saw the numbers from the month of May, you would think Atlanta should be running away with the division as early as it is. Before I touch on the rest of the division, maybe I’m a little critical of Atlanta since they had such a great first month and I still believe they’ll take it all the way to the World Series. They scored over 120 runs, but gave up 110. Not the ratio you would want, but makes sense they went 15-13 for the month. They still have B.J. Upton struggling with the bat and their pitching wasn’t as good (but still good) for the month. They were unable to capitalize on the poor month the rest of the division had. The grade was purely given based on unable to take advantage of the rest of the division’s piss poor play.

The rest of the division didn’t even score over 100 runs, which also means the rest of the division gave up more runs overall than what they scored. Now wonder why Atlanta is only up by 4.5 games in the division. Washington would be the only other team making a run at them and their offense is stinking it up to say it lightly. Stratsburg hasn’t been great, Gio Gonzalez dropped off and Dan Haren has gotten better, but is still inconsistent. They also went 15-13 for the month, so they should be satisfied they aren’t too far down in the standings.

It only gets worse from here folks. The Phillies went 14-14 for the month, but they only scored 92 runs and gave up 120. Yikes. Cole Hamels is on a massive decline, Roy Halladay may not just be out for the season, but for his career, and Cliff Lee is not the ace he used to be. Maybe it’s time to revamp this team completely.

The New York Mets got a B+ from me last month, but this month not so much. They also struggled with the bat and also in their rotation. They went 12-15 (which includes a sweep of the NY Yankees) and they scored a measly 88 runs and gave up 126 runs. Double yikes. This is probably what was expected more along the lines of what they had in April. Not sure if there will be much improving, but sweeping the other New York team is a good start.

Oh it does get worse from here when the team I thought would be the worst in the league and possibly worst ever is in this division. I’m talking about the Miami Marlins. They went 6-22 for the month and the only surprising part of that is they TIED for the worst in the league for the month of May. They managed to score 79 runs and gave up 121, which isn’t a shock when they don’t have anyone to drive in runs. Giancarlo Stanton would be the only one that could do it and he’s sitting on the DL. It’s sad to watch, but if you get a laugh over a sad team, then they would be the one to watch.

NL Central
1) Cincinnati Reds        (A)
2) St. Louis Cardinals   (A+)
3) Pittsburgh Pirates     (A)
4) Milwaukee Brewers  (F)
5) Chicago Cubs           (C+)

Analysis: This division is the complete opposite of what I spoke about in the NL East. Like I thought when I first predicted these standings above, any of those top 3 teams can finish in first and they always seem to switch their positioning. The Reds get an A for this month and that’s after going 19-8, scoring 136 runs while giving up 93 runs. Out of all of that they are tied for 2nd place at the end of May. Seriously? Yeah, it gets better from here. The Reds offense is in full stride and their starting pitching down to their bullpen and closer is excellent. A fully fundamental team to watch.

So how are the Reds an A and the Cardinals get an A+? Well at the moment they are sitting in first place after going 20-7 in the month of May. Purely dominating. They scored 133 runs and gave up 85. The more impressive part for me which earned them the A+ is that they ALWAYS seem to struggle with guys getting injured, but it doesn’t mean they struggle in performing. They have injuries in the infield and also in their starting pitching AND bullpen. They just have guys that fill in and step up to the plate (no pun intended). Rookie pitcher Shelby Miller has acted as an ace and they will continue to improve as the season progresses.

The Penguins aren’t the only good team in Pittsburgh right now. The Pirates are sitting tied for 2nd at the end of May with the Reds after going 19-9. The runs scored surely drops with the Pirates and as I mentioned for the month of April, I think they can use another big bat in the lineup. But they are that type of scrappy team that can win games 1-0, because their pitching only gave up 76 runs for the whole month of May. What an incredible top 3 teams in this division, it would be a shame if any of these teams miss out on the playoffs.

So I hope you enjoyed the stats for the first 3 teams I mentioned because it gets a ton worse from here. I mentioned earlier that the Miami Marlins tied with the worst record in May with a team and that team happens to be Milwaukee. Who thought that would be the team? A team that has Ryan Braun swinging the bat and Gallardo on the mound, you would think they’d have more than 6 wins in a month, right? Wrong. They went 6-22, and who is looking forward to the Marlins vs. Brewers series? They’ve given up a whopping 148 runs while only scoring 98. There’s only one place to go from here and that’s up…for their sake.

I gave the Cubs a C+ and that’s a little deceiving maybe. They are under .500 by 7 games, but they finished the month on a 5 game winning streak. They also got Matt Garza back from the DL, which adds a consistent starter to the rotation. The hitting has started to pick it up, including Rizzo who got on a hot streak in the beginning of the month. They finished the month with a 13-14 record, but they scored 129 runs and gave up 99 runs. They definitely improved and maybe they will continue to do so, but still shouldn’t compete with the big 3 in this division.

NL West
1) San Francisco Giants     (C-)
2) Los Angeles Dodgers     (F)
3) San Diego Padres          (C+)
4) Arizona Diamondbacks  (B+)
5) Colorado Rockies          (D)

Analysis: So I guess the Central is the only good division in the National League for the month of May. I still believe the Giants will take the division, but they have looked mediocre as of late. They currently sit in 2nd place only 1 game behind 1st and even though they finished going 14-13 for the month, I believe they hung in there because they win games that matter. What I mean by that is they win games within their division. Their pitching has struggled over the last month with Cain giving up too many long balls, Lincecum hasn’t found his groove, and Zito lost his mojo from April. This team is way too talented to fall off, so I think they will have a very good June.

Unlike the other team in LA, the Dodgers have not improved. They are also dealing with tons of injuries from the pitching staff to their infield and outfield, with the latest victim being Matt Kemp. In all reality, Matt Kemp wasn’t putting up stellar numbers anyway, so what are they missing from this? Don Mattingly seemed to stir up the pot after sitting Ethier for “not trying” and they just don’t have an identity in their lineup when players are always getting a day off. I still don’t know what their lineup really looks like. They need more than Kershaw to make progress in this division. I think they need to make a coaching staff in order for this team to put something together. They finished May by going 10-17 and scoring under 100 runs. The amount of money spent on their offense, that is clearly unacceptable.

The Padres get a C+ even thought they finished May by going 14-13, which actually happens to be 2nd best in their division. They’ve played in tight games all month and they aren’t a push over. Do I still think they’ll finish the division in 3rd? Not really, but they have so many young players that may not have much to play for towards the end of the year, they may play spoilers. I’ll still keep my eye on them.

Before the season I definitely thought Arizona was going through a major facelift by trading Justin Upton and they just have too many outfielders in knowing what to do with them, but the refreshing part about the D-Backs is their pitching rotation, and I’m not even talking about Ian Kennedy. They have been getting great performances from Corbin and Miley for the first 2 months of the season. The pitching staff is where it happens for this team and as long as they have that they’ll compete for division.

I didn’t give Colorado any credit leading up into the season and they got a good grade from me last month, but this month they dropped down as I expected. They scored 120 and gave up 120, so they are just about average right now. Their pitching staff came back down to Earth and I see a steady decline from them starting June 1st.

National League Grade Book: April

NL East

1) Atlanta Braves           (A+)
2) Washington Nationals    (C)
3) Philadelphia Phillies       (D)
4) New York Mets               (B+)
5) Miami Marlins                 (F)

Analysis: Atlanta is right where I thought they would be. They are clearly the strongest team not just in the offensive side, but also in pitching. They have a strong rotation, bullpen, and probably the strongest to close it out with Kimbrell. They are at around a +40 runs for/against differential with one month down and they can win both at home and on the road. Justin Upton is tearing it up in his new uniform and can you imagine how they will be when BJ Upton breaks his slump and they get Brian McCann and Beachy back from the DL. They are on track for my World Series prediction.

Washington gets an average grade from me. They have not looked great at all and really in the pitching department. When they played Atlanta at home, Atlanta crushed them in the 3-game series. Strasburg has looked beatable, not to mention Gio Gonzalez’s stuff has looked soft. Bryce Harper has gotten off to a great start, but not much help elsewhere with Ryan Zimmerman hitting the DL already. I think they’ll climb out of it, but I don’t see them as a sinking ship just yet.

Philadelphia I expected more out of. Ryan Howard has been hitting decently, but not with power. Actually, Philadelphia as a whole hasn’t been hitting with much power at all. Their pitching has been spotty so far especially from Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee. The question is will they break the slump, will they give prospects a chance, or will they trade for help. A little too early to tell just yet.

New York has looked like a good team, but the worry is will they stay healthy. If recent years tell you anything then the answer is no. Matt Harvey has looked outstanding to start the season and their offense is another team where you may not recognize a lot of names, but they are putting up lots of runs in the early going.

Miami’s section I’ll keep to a minimum, just like their run production. They may be the worst team in the league or at least compete hard for that role. They don’t enjoy scoring runs or really even getting on base. Giancarlo Stanton was out for about a week with an injury, but managed to stay of the DL. He started slow last year as well and got hot in May. The problem with that is, if he gets hot in May, look to see the Marlins ship him out of Miami and really take a nose dive.

NL Central
1) Cincinnati Reds        (B+)
2) St. Louis Cardinals   (A-)
3) Pittsburgh Pirates     (B)
4) Milwaukee Brewers  (C)
5) Chicago Cubs           (D)

Analysis: Cincinnati only gets a B+ from me. I know, I know. Why so harsh for a team who has already scored over 110 runs after the first month. Mainly because it was expected that they would be doing something like that. The only quirk I have with the Reds right now is they had a very heavy home schedule for the first month and have dominated with it. They had a light road schedule and struggled with it so far. I expect that to change over time.

St. Louis is always near the top aren’t they? They get an A- because they are not only scoring runs, but they aren’t giving up a lot either. They aren’t a pretty team, but they always seem to get the job done. It’s that scrappy type of team that wins games with hit and runs, stealing bases, and bunting the runners over. They’ll compete with Cincinnati all year and should be enjoyable.

Pittsburgh also gets a good grade from even though they have been struggling with run production, but their pitching has kept them in games. They are about even with runs for/against and I think in this division they have the opportunity to finish middle of the pack. If they hang in there long enough, maybe they’ll make some trades to boost up that pitching staff.

Milwaukee gets an average grade from me, but that’s not a bad thing. They’ve performed a lot better than I had expected they would be, but again it’s still early into the year. They have been performing much like Pittsburgh has, but they’ve scored more runs, but also given up more. I think the lack of pitching will catch up with them in no time.

Chicago is not a surprise to be stuck in the cellar this early in the year. Truthfully, they haven’t looked much better than the Marlins. Rizzo leads the club in homers, but he’s hitting under .200. They are still without Matt Garza and they keep giving Carlos Marmol opportunities to close out games. Why wouldn’t this club give Sandberg a chance to manage? I’d look to see them continue to drop out of contention and probably trade away Soriano to a team looking for a bat. Gotta feel bad for those Cubs fans.

NL West
1) San Francisco Giants     (B-)
2) Los Angeles Dodgers     (F)
3) San Diego Padres          (F)
4) Arizona Diamondbacks   (B)
5) Colorado Rockies           (A)

Analysis: First of all, this division is crazy to start the season and not at all as I expected. The San Francisco Giants gets a pretty good grade to start the season, which are lead by Buster Posey. Their strong part of their team always remains their pitching staff led by Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, but Barry Zito has gotten off to a nice impressive start and Madison Bumgarner is continuing to show his skill. I think the Giants are in a good spot and will only improve.

I’m going to be harsh with the Los Angeles Dodgers because they are my home team and get to follow them a lot. There’s a lot of things I can say, but I’ll keep it G rated and say they are just lame. They struggle with scoring runs and knocking in runners in scoring position. They have a ton of injuries including Greinke and Billingsley. The bright spot has been Carl Crawford and Clayton Kershaw. Adrian Gonzalez has also looked sharp, but the problem is the lineup in general and the lack of runs being scored. (No mention of Matt Kemp is intentional). They are in the same situation as the Angels as I’m concerned. If they don’t figure it out soon, expect some firings.

San Diego also gets an F and that probably shouldn’t be a surprise. I did pick them to finish 3rd in this division, but I expected growing pains. I thought they would make more of a run toward the end of the year when they start bringing up prospects. As bad as they have been, they are around the same run differential as the Dodgers. Ouch.

Arizona has shown great offense in the first month of the season. Their pitching has been average as well and I expect them to keep it up. I think they have a high ceiling for their success this season especially if Adam Eaton gets healthy and they bring him up to the Majors around the All-Star break. They are also enjoyable to watch and a greatly managed team.

Colorado has been a shock to me. I picked them to finish last and there is still a chance for that, but they had a great first month to the season. They are among the tops of runs scored in the National League and they have been great at home, where runs are obviously scored. They have had strong offensive production from CarGo, Tulo, Helton and Fowler. The problem is I don’t know many of their pitchers. Actually, I know one. De La Rosa is their ace and the rest of their starters are: Garland, Nicasio, and Francis. Can the starters keep up the good work? We’ll see where they end up next month.

American League Grade Book: April

The first month of the baseball season has come and gone and there are some teams that made some strong impressions for both good and the bad. I will list the teams below as I picked them to finish and put a grade letter next to them (“A+” being the best and “F” being the worst). I’ll had some critiques as well, as usual.

American League

AL East
1) Tampa Bay Rays      (D)
2) Toronto Blue Jays     (F)
3) Boston Red Sox       (B)
4) New York Yankees   (C)
5) Baltimore Orioles     (B+)

Analysis: Tampa Bay has been lackluster to start this season, especially their offense which is non-existent. If they expect to win the division, they have to score runs when runners are in position. Of course its only the first month of the season, but they’ve shown struggles scoring runs and also getting victories on the road.

Toronto has been the most disappointing. It seems to happen every year with higher hopes that the team will break through and get into the playoffs. They made a lot of acquisitions in the off-season which has panned out for them yet. Their pitching has been atrocious and of course it doesn’t help that Jose Reyes is already on the DL.

Boston as a city as been through a lot in April, but their baseball team is better than most expected them to be. Hanrahan got dinged up early and thought maybe it’s another long year for the Boston bullpen. Andrew Bailey stepped in great and their offense has looked good. Just in time for Ortiz that returned from the DL towards the end of the month, but Clay Bucholtz has been unbelievable for the first month.

New York is right where I expected them to be. Their pitching has been average, but mostly keeping them in games with a not-so-great offense. A lot of their offensive players are older players that may not amount to anything when the season ends. But the Yankees need them to hang on until they get their star power back in the lineup.

Baltimore has the best grade in this division from me for the month of April. Mainly because I had them finishing dead last. They have almost the same team as they did last year with a lot of young talent. Their offense has looked sharp, especially Adam Jones. I’d be interested to see where they are at the end of May.

AL Central
1) Detroit Tigers             (C)
2) Cleveland Indians      (C)
3) Chicago White Sox    (D)
4) Kansas City Royals    (B)
5) Minnesota Twins        (B+)

Analysis: Detroit gets an average grade from me only because one would expect so much from a team of that caliber. They will be fine by the end of the season, but the first month of the season they got off to a slow start. Verlander hasn’t looked to be the top pitcher you would expect, but again, not worried, it’s still very early in the year.

Cleveland also gets an average grade from me. Their offense has had the spurts I knew they had the potential for. Other than Masterson, their pitching has been somewhat forgettable. I still feel confident that they have the opportunity to squeak in the playoffs and finish in 2nd in this division. It’s very wide open after the first month.

Chicago gets a D. Plain and simple. They were a good team last year, but so far this year they haven’t put anything together and on top of that, they are boring to watch. Not a lot of run support to help out their pitching which has been fairly decent so far.

Kansas City has been a surprise to me. I think their pitching has really kept them in it so far. The additions of James Shields and Ervin Santana has helped them out big time. Their offense hasn’t even clicked yet. If Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas can heat up at some point, they may have a dangerous team with the addition to Billy Butler.

Minnesota is the bigger surprise, hence the better grade…just by a smidge. I thought Minnesota would be one of the worst teams this season and of course there is still time for that to unfold. I think they have benefited from a somewhat weak schedule to start the season and also they seem to get postponed a lot. By the end of May they have a good chance to be where I figured they would be.

AL West
1) LA Angels     (F)
2) Oakland Athletics     (A-)
3) Seattle Mariners       (D)
4) Texas Rangers         (A)
5) Houston Astros         (C)

Analysis: LA Angels have been awful. With a lineup like that they should not be struggling for yet the second season in a row. They can’t score runs AND their pitching has been bad. It doesn’t help that Jared Weaver is on the DL, but the rest of the starters haven’t helped out either. Their bullpen has been shaky as well. For a team that can’t score any runs and then you look at their lineup and you see names like Pujols, Hamilton, Trout, and Trumbo you should question why they haven’t been winning games. Maybe it’s just a slow start and they’ll pick it up, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a hitting coach or Manager to be fired if they don’t pick it up soon.

Oakland gets a very good grade from me, partly because I figured they would be near the top for most of the season, but their offense has been outstanding. I believe they have the most runs scored in the AL so far this season and they are always a team that lacks star players, yet they always seem to be good. They are led by Coco Crisp and Jed Lowrie. The question is will they keep it up, get help, or will their pitching remain at a constant high to help out their offense when they go cold.

Seattle has been disappointing to me so far this year. I thought they would be much better, but they are yet another team that is struggling with the bat. On top of that, their pitching hasn’t been great either other than King Felix. There is still a potential for them, but I’d like to see them bring up some of their prospects earlier rather than later.

Texas is getting an A from me because I didn’t see them competing at the top. Every year they seem to lose some of their best players in recent years, which all seem to flurry to the Angels (CJ Wilson and Josh Hamilton), yet its the Rangers that remain a team to beat in the West. The best thing is, I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Texas either with some of the young prospects not in the Majors yet. Darvish is also looking like the Ace they want and need.

Houston gets an average grade from me because I thought they would be much worse. Their offense has been better than Seattle and they are close in runs scored with Texas. They’ve shown they can score runs and show a little future potential. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they have potential this season, but refreshing that they may not lose 120 games this season like many predicted.

Check back tomorrow for the National League grades from the month of April!