Preseason: 78.5 Current Trajectory: 91.7 Grade: A-Īfter all the offseason outrage with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom for failing to re-sign Xander Bogaerts and for signing Justin Turner instead of re-signing J.D. Might we see this frugal franchise spend some money at the trade deadline to improve its odds of winning it all? That has worked wonders for Baltimore, which surprisingly boasts the third-best record in the majors. They've also gotten sensational production out of the bullpen tandem of Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista with a combined three wins, six holds and 11 saves. However, there are two things they do as well as any team: draw walks and steal bases. In most offensive categories, the O's have been just average or slightly above it. The starting rotation has not been good, posting a cumulative ERA of 5.08. Preseason: 76.5 Current Trajectory: 98.5 Grade: A+

Tampa Bay's Wander Franco Patrick Smith/Getty Images Teams are broken up by division and listed in alphabetical order within each division, beginning with the AL East and finishing in the NL West. (Continuing the Miami example, 68.2 is 8.3 below their preseason win total of 76.5, so the Marlins get a D.) So it goes down the line in three-win chunks in each direction to the A+ and F- grades.

Teams with a trajectory of one to four wins better than expected get a C+, while teams with a trajectory of one to four wins worse than expected get a C-.Ĭlubs that are four to seven wins ahead of pace got a B-, while those four-to seven wins behind pace got a D+. Teams with a trajectory within one (in either direction) of their preseason win total were given the perfectly average grade of C, as they are who we thought they would be. Find the average of the two percentages (.421), multiply it by 162 and you get a Current Trajectory of 68.2 wins.įrom there, grades are based entirely upon how that trajectory compares to the preseason win total. For example, the Miami Marlins are 19-19 (.500) but have a minus-54 run differential suggesting they should be 13-25 (.342). Preseason is simply what the DraftKings preseason win projections were, chronicled in this article published March 29, or 'Opening Day Eve.' (Please temporarily overlook our prognostication that both New York teams would exceed expectations.)Ĭurrent Trajectory is a 50-50 average of current winning percentage and current Pythagorean winning percentage-what the team's record should be based on run differential-extrapolated to 162 games. We haven't quite reached the quarter mark of the 2023 Major League Baseball season, but after six full weeks of action, we're ready to hand out a report card grade to all 30 teams.įor each squad, you'll see Preseason, Current Trajectory and Grade categories.

Baltimore's Adley Rutschman Patrick Smith/Getty Images

If The Seas Catch Fire by L.A. Witt