Baseball season is almost two months old, and by now, fans can get a pretty good idea where teams are trending. Every season, there are a few teams that pleasantly surprise its fanbase by performing better than it did last year. These are five teams that have turned their fortunes around from recent years:
Honorable mentions: Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants
5. Chicago Cubs
Entering the slew of games on Thursday, May 26, the Cubs are the best team in baseball with a 31-14 record. While their overall batting may appear middle of the road with a .258 team average (12th in MLB) and 1.16 home runs per game (11th), they’re still producing 5.69 runs per game, good for second in the MLB, per TeamRankings.com. Reuniting second baseman Ben Zobrist with manager Joe Maddon was a great offseason sign for the Cubs. It has already paid dividends, as Zobrist leads the club with a .346 average to go along with 6 dingers and 31 RBIs. Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo lead the team with 35 RBIs each. Chicago has racked up a +119 run differential already, which is a testament to its pitching. Last season’s Cy Young award-winner Jake Arrieta has picked up where he left off, and has notched a 9-0 record, a 1.72 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched. The rest of the rotation, consisting of Jason Hammel, John Lackey, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks, has combined for a 16-10 record with no individual’s ERA exceeding 3.38. The reason the Cubs are so “low” on the list is because everyone knew that they had a good team; maybe just not this good.
4. Chicago White Sox
Last season, the White Sox finished fourth in the AL Central with a 76-86 record. This year, they hold a 27-21 record and lead the division by half a game over the Cleveland Indians. A lot of that has to do with the success of their ace, Chris Sale. He has rebounded nicely from a down year (for him) with a 9-1 record, a 2.26 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 71.2 innings. Mat Latos (6-1, 4.06 ERA, 26 strikeouts) and Jose Quintana (5-4, 2.22, 60) have pitched great as well. Third baseman Todd Frazier leads the team with 34 RBIs, 14 HRs and 30 runs scored, while Melky Cabrera leads with a .294 batting average. First baseman Jose Abreu has cooled off significantly in his third season, hitting just .258 with only six homers and 27 RBIs. If he can find the same groove from his first two seasons, watch out for the White Sox.
3. Seattle Mariners
The Mariners lead the AL West by 1.5 games over last year’s division champs, the Texas Rangers, and hold a 28-18 record. Last year, the Mariners weren’t even close to sniffing the division crown when they finished in fourth place with a 76-86 record. What’s changed? Their run differential this year has been great at +54, good for third overall in the MLB. In his third year with Seattle, second baseman Robinson Cano has finally re-found his power that has been missing since his Yankee days. He already has 14 home runs, tying his 2014 total and only seven behind his 2015 total about a quarter of the way through the season. He also leads the team in average (.295) and RBIs (43), so he’s finally reverted back to the star player Seattle thought they signed. Designated hitter Nelson Cruz has also been a deadly bat for the Mariners, hitting 10 home runs, 32 RBIs with a .293 batting average in his second year in Seattle. Felix Hernandez (as per usual) and Taijuan Walker are leading the rotation and doing a great job on the mound. “King Felix” is 4-3 with a 2.21 ERA with 47 strikeouts, implying the wins will come. Walker is 2-4 but holds a 2.70 ERA with 47 strikeouts, which also leads to the notion he’s due for wins.
2. Philadelphia Phillies
After finishing dead last in the MLB in 2015 with a 63-99 record, most fans expected the Phillies to be a laughingstock again this year. That’s not the case. They’ve held their own in a tough NL East division so far, sitting in third place (behind Washington and the New York Mets) with a 26-21 record. The thing is, they’re only two games out of first place. A steady rotation headed by Vince Velasquez (5-1, 2.75 ERA, 61 strikeouts in 52.1 innings pitched) is a huge reason why. MLB sophomores Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff along with Jeremy Hellickson round out the rotation. Another second-year player, center fielder Odubel Herrera, has been a pleasant surprise for Philadelphia as he leads the team with a .327 average. 24-year-old third baseman Maikel Franco leads the team with eight homers and 26 RBIs. Longtime Phillies slugger Ryan Howard is tied for the team lead in home runs with Franco. The question mark concerning the team’s ability to maintain its success is their run differential of -31, which implies that when they win, it’s not by much, and when they lose, they lose big. Philadelphia may need more offensive contributers if they want to remain in the playoff hunt throughout the long season.
1. Boston Red Sox
In 2015, the Red Sox finished dead last in the AL East with a 78-84 record. Fast forward several months later, and they lead the division by two games over the Baltimore Orioles by holding a very respectable 29-17 record, good for the second best winning percentage in baseball. The key to their success is their lethal lineup. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts is continuing to blossom into a star in his fourth season. He holds a .349 average, five home runs and 26 RBIs, which are great numbers to have at the shortstop position. Maybe David Ortiz should hold off his retirement tour, because he’s putting up the same numbers he had in his prime. Big Papi, a future Hall-of-Famer, is hitting .333 with 11 home runs and 43 RBIs; he leads the Sox in the latter two categories. Dustin Pedroia, a fixture at second base for Boston, is doing what he’s always done with a .304 average to go with six homers and 20 RBIs. Right fielder Mookie Betts and third baseman Travis Shaw also have over 30 RBIs each. Perhaps the biggest shock at the plate for Boston has been the offensive emergence of defensive-stud center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. He leads the team with a batting average of .350 that’s over .100 points higher than his previous career high set last year (.249) with eight homers and 34 RBIs. The offensive powerhouse has allowed David Price to build a 7-1 record despite his awful 5.34 ERA. Rick Porcello has a 7-2 record with a respectable 3.47 ERA, while Steven Wright is just 4-4 despite a 2.52 ERA. Funny how run support for certain pitchers can effect records. Clay Buchholz has been brutal with a 2-4 record to go along with a 5.92 ERA. If the Red Sox can shore up their pitching and get Price to revert to his old ace form, they’ll be even more of a force to be reckoned with. They score more runs than any other team (5.96 per game) and are second in the league with a +78 run differential.
Featured Image via Flickr/Matthew Straubmuller
