The Boston Red Sox have had to deal with the "We don't have David Ortiz anymore" narrative virtually all season. They also didn't help themselves escape that narrative after posting a team Isolated Power (ISO) of .151 with the fewest home runs in the American League (92) through the All-Star break.
Things are finally starting to point up for Boston, though.
Could it be the arrival of top prospect Rafael Devers? It's very possible, but their recent string of success goes beyond winning an important series against the New York Yankees in the Bronx this past weekend.
Back on August 1st, our metrics gave Boston a 77.1% chance of reaching the playoffs. In just two weeks, that number has increased exactly 20 percentage points (currently 97.1%) and the Red Sox currently hold a 4.5-game lead in the AL East entering action on Tuesday.
Who else has seen their stock rise or fall since we last checked in around the league?
Unlike some other power rankings around the interwebs, ours here at numberFire aren't influenced by hype or the latest narratives. We put faith into our algorithms and use nERD to see which team is the best, which is a metric that represents runs scored above or below a league-average team per game.
Our rankings will include each team's nERD, their current record and playoff odds, along with how much their spot has changed over the past seven days.