MLB Six Pack: 5 teams that are hot and 1 that is not

Hot: New York Yankees

After spending much of April giving their fanbase heart palpitations, the New York Yankees have won seven of their last 10 games, and maybe, hopefully, started the long climb out of the basement of the AL East. The Bombers did have Oakland visiting for three games, and any team that is struggling surely likes to see that on the schedule. New York outscored the A’s 28-10 and took all three games.

Much of this winning streak has to do with Aaron Judge’s return from the injured list. The Yanks are 4-2 with Judge back in the lineup, and he has four homers and a 1.295 OPS during that stretch. Harrison Bader is just delightful to watch play center field and, while routinely dazzling with his glove, he has also hit .333 with 11 RBI since taking over the everyday center field role. Oswaldo Cabrera has been on a little heater lately, with 8 RBI of his own since May 7, and Anthony Rizzo has led the offensive surge, batting .357 through the first two weeks of the month, with four homers and 10 RBI.

The pitching has been bleak, not terrible, but definitely not great either. Only the Cardinals and A’s have allowed more hits since the calendar flipped to May, and that the Yankees are 9-5 speaks to how well the batting order has been rolling. New York has scored 83 times in those 14 contests and trails only St. Louis in runs scored this month.

Hot: St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis, by the way, is also 7-3 in their last 10 games and showing signs of life. At 17-25, they are still the worst team in the National League, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but as Dr. Leo Marvin says, “baby steps.”

No one has been hotter for the Cards than Nolan Arenado. Entering May with a .239 batting average and .600 OPS, he has raked in his last 12 games, batting .320 with five homers and 16 RBI. Nolan Gorman has also impressed, with four homers and 11 RBI, and Lars Nootbaar has really turned it on the new month as well, hitting .380.

The pitching has been better lately with Miles Mikolas leading the way, as he has only surrendered five earned runs in 16 May innings, but St. Louis has not won a Jordan Montgomery start in over a month (six losses in a row when he starts). While that’s not entirely his fault, he and Jack Flaherty have too many blowups for the Cards to produce sustained periods of prosperity. What that all means is that St. Louis needs those three guys to light their torches and guide this team out of the darkness of last place. Just 6.5 games behind Milwaukee, the pennant is still an attainable goal.

Hot: Los Angeles Dodgers

The NL West was always going to be the Dodgers to lose and, after letting Arizona hang around throughout April, the Dodgers have turned it up to 11 during May. Opening the month with a sweep of Philadelphia (outscoring the Phillies 36-11), they then took two against the Padres and two against Milwaukee before sweeping the Friars in L.A. If you lost count, that’s 10 wins in 12 games. They’ve carved out a nice little three-game lead on the Diamondbacks, are burying everyone else, and striving for their 11th divisional title in the last 12 years.

Pitching never seems to be a problem for the Dodgers, and this year is no different. Clayton Kershaw, seemingly unphased by time, along with Dustin May and Julio Urias are as good a trio of starters that you will find in the major leagues. Tony Gonsolin has been great since joining the rotation, allowing just three earned runs (all in one bad start against Philly) while striking out 16 batters in 19 innings.

Will Smith has really been impressive, batting .349 with four homers and eight walks against just three strikeouts in his last 11 games, Freddie Freeman is cranking out a 1.031 OPS with 12 RBI during May, and even Miguel Vargas, who I have not really been nice to, has been collecting RBI in bunches with 12 of his own halfway through the month.

Hot: Christian Yelich on Milwaukee Brewers

While Christian Yelich’s team, collectively, might not be in the best shape right now, no one looks like they are having more fun on the diamond than he does. Batting .333 over his last 13 games, he’s hit four homers with 12 RBI to go along with four stolen bases. He falls into the “hot” list, even if his team isn’t right now. That the Brewers have been able to climb ahead of Pittsburgh speaks more to how bad the Pirates have been than how good the Brewers are.

Not: Pittsburgh Pirates

The luster of April has faded, and while these may not exactly be the “same old Pirates,” they are currently sailing some stormy seas. The Buccos opened May with six straight losses, were swept out of Tampa and then Toronto, before finally beating the Rockies in Pittsburgh, only to then drop four of their next five. In all, the Pirates are 2-10 in May, so far. After hitting .264 as a team through their first 29 games, they are batting .180 through their last 12. The team that produced 156 runs on 34 April homers have managed to muster up just 20 runs on six dingers in May. The bats have cooled way off. Pittsburgh stole 41 bases in April and were caught just nine times. They’ve been caught eight times so far through the first half of May and have just nine steals. The pitchers have been consistent all season, and Mitch Keller has especially good lately, but for the Bucs to turn it back around and catch the Brewers, the bats are going to have to wake up soon.