Sunday, June 13, 2010
What A Difference Three Weeks Makes
Since May 23, the Yankees have picked up six games on Tampa Bay to move back into a tie for first place in the AL East.
| team | w | l | rs | ra | wpct | pyth |
| New York | 14 | 5 | 109 | 71 | .737 | .694 |
| Boston | 13 | 7 | 120 | 75 | .650 | .712 |
| Tampa Bay | 8 | 11 | 93 | 98 | .421 | .475 |
| Toronto | 8 | 10 | 64 | 77 | .444 | .417 |
| Baltimore | 3 | 15 | 44 | 108 | .167 | .160 |
They’ve done it by going 14-5, which a bit less than one game better than what their PythagenPat record over that stretch is. They also needed Tampa Bay to go 8-11 and underperform their PythagenPat record by about a win. Boston gained ground on Tampa but dropped a bit further behind the Yankees despite playing to a higher PythagenPat record. I didn’t think it was possible for Baltimore to play worse than they did over their first 45 games of the year, but congratulations to them for proving me wrong.
Conventional wisdom says that as long as the Yankees win series that’s good enough, but the truth of the matter is, when you get a chance to play one of the worst teams in baseball at home, you really ought to sweep. Thankfully, the Yankees were able to do that against the Astros by taking today’s game.
The Yankees are now a hair ahead of Tampa Bay for best PythagenPat record in baseball, but for all intents and purposes they’re effectively dead even(.658 for the Yankees and .656 for the Rays).
Now if only they can get better than replacement level play out of first base…
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