The Philadelphia Phillies were one of just three teams this week to improve by at least 10 spots, but they can't even get some love on their own within the below subset of squads.
| Rank | Team | nERD | Record | Playoff Odds | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Chicago White Sox | -0.44 | 9-9 | 7.6% | -1 |
| 19 | Texas Rangers | -0.39 | 9-11 | 16.2% | +4 |
| 18 | Baltimore Orioles | -0.08 | 13-5 | 50.0% | 0 |
| 17 | New York Mets | -0.03 | 8-11 | 32.6% | -5 |
| 16 | Philadelphia Phillies | 0.07 | 9-9 | 3.2% | +10 |
| 15 | Milwaukee Brewers | 0.11 | 10-11 | 7.2% | -8 |
| 14 | Miami Marlins | 0.28 | 10-8 | 33.4% | +3 |
| 13 | Colorado Rockies | 0.29 | 14-6 | 37.1% | +11 |
| 12 | Boston Red Sox | 0.43 | 11-8 | 80.5% | -2 |
| 11 | Tampa Bay Rays | 0.47 | 10-11 | 16.3% | +3 |
Biggest Rise: Colorado Rockies
That's because the Colorado Rockies are charging ahead. They not only have a 1.5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, but their 14 wins are the most in baseball.
As usual, Colorado can attribute a lot of their success to superior offensive production -- their team wRC+ of 121 during this time is sixth-best in baseball. The rotation hasn't been bad, though -- their 3.12 ERA is eighth-best, but they've also outperformed their peripherals quite a bit (4.33 FIP, 4.32 xFIP).
This strong week of play has improved their playoff odds by nearly 14 percentage points.
Biggest Drop: Milwaukee Brewers
Nobody has figured out how to get Eric Thames out consistently yet (.320/.485/.760 triple slash in his last 33 plate appearances), but he can't pitch.
When we look at the pitching staff's overall production for the Milwaukee Brewers, their 0.1 fWAR from this past week is tied with the Seattle Mariners for the second-worst in baseball, better than only the Tampa Bay Rays (0.0).