MLB Heat Check, Tampa Bay Rays 8-2 in Their Last 10

Every MLB season has a week when the temperature map redraws itself, and this feels like one of them. Tampa Bay Rays have become the team nobody wants to see next on the schedule, while Oakland Athletics are hunting for anything that resembles a good night.

Burning up

Nobody is playing better than Tampa Bay Rays right now. The record says 8-2 over their last 10; the runs column says even more, a +7 margin that works out to 4.8 scored and 4.1 allowed a night.

Right behind them sit Detroit Tigers, 7-3 over the same kind of stretch and +48 on runs margin, quieter, but pointed the same direction.

And do not sleep on Boston Red Sox, quietly 7-3 across their last 10.

The whole league is averaging 4.3 runs a game in this stretch, which makes Tampa Bay Rays outrunning that number by 0.5 per night the loudest stat on the page.

Who's cold

Oakland Athletics are the cold front. They have gone 1-9 over their last 10, and the -42 margin underneath means the losses have not even been close, roughly 4.2 runs a game the wrong way.

They have company at the cold end: San Francisco Giants, 2-8 over the same window.

In between the extremes it gets crowded, St. Louis Cardinals at 5-5 and Chicago White Sox at 5-5 are basically sharing a seat, and the next series either way will split them.

By the numbers

For the fuller picture, the five best recent records in the league:

Worth remembering

As always, watch where record and runs margin tell different stories about the same club. The margin tends to know first.

One to circle: Tampa Bay Rays meet Athletics in their next game, and we will find out quickly whether this stretch travels.