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Some early season flukes, like the Rays and Mariners, are starting to look more and more like legitimate teams (though Tampa is much higher in the circle of trust than Seattle is), writes Ryan Womell of NBC Sports.
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These rankings are courtesy of NBC Sports.
1. Houston Astros - The Astros are 10-5 - Jose Altuve homered for the fifth straight game, Justin Verlander struck out eight of the first 10 batters he faced and finished with a season-high 11, and the Houston Astros won their eighth straight beating the Seattle Mariners 3-1 on Saturday night.
2. LA Dodgers - The Dodgers' run-differential of +31 is by far the best in the National League. Every other NL West team is in the negatives. Oh, and Cody Bellinger won National League Player of the Week and looks like a future first-round fantasy pick.
Give them the division crown already.
3. Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies' lineup depth is impressive, but their starting rotation and bullpen looked like potential weak spots. That's what makes it so incredible that they sit at 7-3 through the season's first 10 games despite some serious struggles from ace Aaron Nola.
4. New York Yankees - The talent is there to withstand, but the depth is diminishing by the game.
5. Boston Red Sox - It's hard to defend Boston in the top 5 considering their abhorrent start. 3-9, and a -28 run-differential speak for themselves. But this team is way, way too talented to stay down for long. The only reason they moved down again is Chris Sale's velocity problems. If they persist, this team's ceiling goes way down.
6. Tampa Bay Rays - They have given up the fewest runs in Major League Baseball thus far this season. Something to think about when betting the total.
7. Milwaukee Brewers - They aren't as strong as their record might suggest.
8. St. Louis Cardinals - The Cardinals are 6-5, and in third place within the NL Central, but actually own the best run-differential in the division.
9. Atlanta Braves - The Braves have gone 7-1 since their sweep at the hands of Philadelphia to open the season.
10. Chicago Cubs
And NBC Sports has the Seattle Mariners ranked 14?
They note that Seattle does "have baseball's best record, best run-differential, and are the only team to score at least 100 runs so far this season."
Nuff said!
- Ean Lamb, Gambling911.com
