The Hottest Teams in August

We are roughly two-thirds through the season, so its time to see who's getting hot for the stretch run. With several teams in contention for division titles and even more playing for wild-card births, now is the time for any team who wants to be playing in October to step it up a notch. To figure out what teams may be hot, here are some statistics for the month of August. We can see the top five teams in each league for the categories of Runs Scored, OPS (On-base percentage plus Slugging percentage), and ERA.

AL Teams Runs Scored Mariners 57 Rangers 46 Blue Jays 45 Indians 41 Orioles 39

AL Teams OPS Mariners .864 Blue Jays .863 Indians .842 Orioles .825 Yankees .822

AL Teams ERA Tigers 3.00 Red Sox 3.21 Devil Rays 3.65 Royals 4.15 Indians 4.16

In the American League, the only team that appears on all three lists is the Indians, whose six game win streak attests to the fact that they are playing well right now. Along those same lines, notice that three of the leaders in ERA come out of the AL Central (Indians, Tigers, and Royals.) The White Sox do not appear on any of the leader lists, but they will not be caught in the AL Central because the lead is too large.

The Mariners have exploded offensively so far in August. If they can continue to be this productive offensively, their pitching staff should make it difficult for the A's to catch them in the AL West.

NL Teams OPS Expos .888 Giants .877 Rockies .872 Phillies .829 Astros .818

NL Teams Runs Scored Padres 53 Giants 50 Astros 49 Phillies 42 Cubs 42

NL Teams ERA Marlins 2.39 Giants 3.04 Braves 3.63 Mets 3.86 Rockies 4.06

There are a few surprises on the lists. One, the Rockies are fifth in ERA so far in August. What makes this more surprising that they played 6 of their first 8 August games in Coors Field. Maybe GM Dan O'Dowd has figured out the trick to pitching in Denver.

Two, the Expos lead the league in OPS at .888. Its not their On-Base Percentage that makes the OPS so high; it's the Slugging Pct. Led by Vladmir Guerrero and Lee Stevens, the Expos have unloaded with the power.

Three, the Diamondbacks are nowhere among the leaders, but the Giants are on all three lists. I realize this is a small sample of statistics, but look for the Giants to take off and leave the D'backs.

So what teams can we expect to win the most games for the rest of the season? Look for the Indians and the Mariners in the AL. In the National League, the Giants, the Mets, and the Rockies will win, although the Mets will get the wild-card, and the Rockies will get a strong third place finish.

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