Houston Astros

Record: 35-22, 1st in AL West

After dominating with an .823 OPS in 2017, the Houston Astros offense has regressed to resemble something more like its 2016 self: overly reliant on Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and George Springer.my cheap nfl jerseys

A bright side, however, is that Alex Bregman caught up to those three in May, boosting his OPS from .741 to .807.

Also, it sure helps that the Astros are blowing away everyone else by allowing only 2.81 runs per game.

Despite some shortcomings in their bullpen (looking at you, Ken Giles), it’s not a bad overall unit. There’s also not much more to be said about Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and the team’s rotation, which has earned its sparkling 2.54 ERA.nfl womens jerseys  And not to be overlooked is the team’s defense, which is tops in the AL in efficiency.

Although the Astros’ record doesn’t say it, their plus-123 run differential makes a compelling case that they are indeed MLB’s best team.

Grade: A

Record: 30-26, 3rd in AL West nfl jerseys authentic

The Los Angeles Angels have handled losing teams with a 15-7 record, so it’s a tough break that there’s only one of those within the AL West.

Even still, the Angels have a case for being better than their overall record indicates.nfl jerseys cheap collection

Their plus-27 run differential gets at how well their attack is balanced between their offense and their pitching. The former has a strong core in Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Andrelton Simmons and Justin Upton, and the latter is better than it gets credit for.

Sure, Ohtani pitches like an ace when it’s his day. But he’s only one of five starters who had a 3.25 ERA or better in May. That’s pretty good evidence that the team knew what it was doing when it settled on a six-man rotation for 2018.

The Angels will be hard-pressed to catch the Astros. But at this point, they should be a wild-card favorite.

Grade: B cheap womens nfl jerseys

42 games, their modest minus-four run differential gave hope of a turnaround.

Sure enough, they’ve won 10 of their last 13 games. The effort has been spearheaded by a pitching staff that’s put up a 2.31 ERA. Further injury trouble for Clayton Kershaw and Kenta Maeda will make it tough to keep that up, but they have a shot as long as Walker Buehler and Kenley Jansen keep rolling.

The Dodgers must nonetheless be held accountable for all that came before. Their offense has been unreliable from Day 1 en route to a pedestrian .715 OPS, and what good pitching they’ve gotten has been undercut by Alex Wood’s regression and the soft underbelly of their bullpen.official nfl jersey

The Dodgers were so weak early on that it wasn’t even good teams who beat up on them. It was bad teams, who still boast a 17-12 record against the defending NL champs.

Grade: C-