Week 16 notes and records

[Rangers GM (Stephen)]

Week 16 notes and records


Division leaders:
- Orioles (#1 AL, #3 overall)
- Royals (#4 AL, #8 overall)
- Rangers (#2 AL, #5 overall)
- Marlins (#3 NL, #4 overall)
- Brewers (#1 NL, #1 overall) *clinched division
- Rockies (#2 NL, #2 overall) *clinched division

Wild Card leaders:
- Rays (#3 AL, #7 overall)
- Astros (#5 AL, #9 overall)
- Guardians (#6 AL, #10 overall)
- Braves (#4 NL, #6 overall)
- Giants (#5 NL, #11 overall)
- Reds (#6 NL, #12 overall)


Races within 10 games:

AL East
----- Orioles
-8.5 Rays

NL East
----- Marlins
-6.5 Braves

AL WC3
+6.5 Astros
----- Guardians
-5.5 Angels
-6.5 Mariners

NL WC3
+1.5 Giants
----- Reds
-4.0 Cardinals
-7.0 Padres
-10.0 Pirates



Notes:
- One team achieved a 10-0-0 win this week. Congrats to the Royals for blanking the Twins.
- No division leads changed hands this week.
- For the second week in a row the Reds and Giants flipped wildcard spots, with Giants now 1.5 games ahead of the Reds in the NL WC2 slot.
- The Brewers snuck past the Rockies to take the #1 overall spot on tiebreakers. As the clear top two teams in the league, if they meet again in the NLCS then homefield advantage could be vital.
- After a tough matchup against the Rockies, the Marlins now sit 10.5 games back from the #2 overall spot and are likely out of the race for a first round bye. With a week 18 matchup against the chasing Braves, Miami is probably now looking over their shoulder rather than towards the teams ahead of them.
- With 2 weeks of the regular season remaining, the playoff picture is coming clearer. Three teams in the AL dropped from within to outside of 10 games from the final playoff spot. At this point, overcoming such a margin to sneak in at the end would be very tough.
- In what at a glance may appear to be an otherwise quiet week ahead of the storm in week 18, the Reds and Brewers are the only two teams currently both sitting in playoff positions who meet this matchup.
- Judging solely by league standings, there are a lot of mismatches this week. #2 COL face #23 ARI, #3 MIA face #24 WAS, #4 BAL face #25 BOS, #5 TEX face #30 OAK, #6 ATL face #27 NYM and #7 TB face #26 NYY. Can the underdogs influence the playoff picture?
- Another week, another entry into the SB record-books. Congrats to the Brewers for their second entry on this list this season.
- Two teams achieved sub-2 ERAs this week - and not through just scraping by the innings limit. Well done to the Brewers (1.62 ERA in 33.1 IP) and the Rangers (1.86 ERA in 82.1 IP).
- Despite a valiant effort from the Dodgers, unfortunately a .136 BA is still twenty points short of the lowest batting average records list.
- All teams met the AB and IP minimums for scoring.


Records:
SBs: Brewers (12) joined what is now a 5-way tie for 5th

[Twins GM (Mike)]

Royals, I would have given you a fight the week before last. I know that one was a longer period, but last week I had 34 fewer Runs, 14 fewer Home Runs, and 59 fewer RBIs than the previous period! I am sure you dont keep records on week to week changes, but 59 fewer RBIs over two consecutive periods, that has to be some kind of record!!

[Marlins GM (Dan)]

Given my recent roster woes, I think I gave the Rox a handful, was 5-5-0 going into Sunday's matchup. Here's hoping that my squad fills out as we approach September!

[Orioles GM (Andy)]

Suspect no other NL team shares that hope...