- St. Louis Cardinals
Who else would it be? The Red Birds continue to roll as they hold the Major’s best record at 67-38. According to FanGraphs, the Cardinals are on pace to win 97 games. St. Louis has been one of baseball’s best since the All Star break with an 11-5 record. Randall Grichuk continues to be a Godsend for the Cardinals. He is hitting .312 with an on-base percentage of .400 with four homers and 10 RBIs since the break. He will need to continue his hot play as Matt Holliday was placed on the DL for the second time this season. St. Louis will go on the road this week to take on two division rivals, the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers.
- Kansas City Royals
The Royals have been the clear-cut favorite to win the American League for some time now, and just this past week they got stronger with the additions of Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist. The additions are quickly paying dividends as Zobrist has three homers and six RBIs in just four games for KC and Cueto tossed six quality innings in his first start. Kansas City owns the AL’s best record at 62-42, and it will look to improve upon that this week with series against the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox.
- Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh owns a 61-43 record, which is good for the second best record in the National League. The Bucs got swept to start the second half, but are 8-5 since then are playing better ball. The Pirates are winners of their last three series and are trending upward going into two big series against potential playoff teams in the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers.
- Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers arguably have the best one-two punch in all of baseball in Zack Grienke and Clayton Kershaw. Greinke had a 45.2 inning scoreless inning streak earlier this season, and Kershaw is in the midst of a 37 scoreless inning streak. Assuming the Dodgers do stave off the Giants in the west Greinke and Kershaw will be awfully tough to beat in a five- or seven-game series. LA finally got its starting pitching help this week as it acquired Alex Wood from the Braves and Mat Latos from the Marlins. The Dodgers now have a fairly deep starting rotation rather than Greinke and Kershaw and then praying for three days of rain. The Dodgers will take on the hapless Phillies and the Pirates this week.
- Houston Astros
The Astros might have made the best move of the 2015 trade deadline this past week with the acquisition of Scott Kazmir. Kazmir has quietly been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, as he owns the third-best ERA in the league. The Astros swept a three-game series over the Angels earlier this week to take sole possession of the AL West. Houston has been rolling since the All Star break with an 11-4 record. FanGraphs has the Astros on pace for 90 wins, which would more than likely be good enough for a playoff birth. Houston will take on the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics this week.
- San Francisco Giants
- New York Yankees
- Washington Nationals
- Chicago Cubs
- Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
- New York Mets
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Minnesota Twins
- Baltimore Orioles
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Chicago White Sox
- Texas Rangers
- Detroit Tigers
- San Diego Padres
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Atlanta Braves
- Oakland Athletics
- Seattle Mariners
- Cincinnati Reds
- Cleveland Indians
- Boston Red Sox
- Colorado Rockies
- Miami Marlins
- Philadelphia Phillies
Follow Bobby on Twitter @RENorell_III
