MLB Heat Check: Philadelphia Phillies Are Scorching (9-1 Last 10)

Form is the story the standings tell slowly and the last ten games tell fast. Right now the fast version of MLB is easy to summarize: Philadelphia Phillies are rolling, Detroit Tigers are reeling, and the gap between those two feelings is enormous.

Who's hot

Nobody is playing better than Philadelphia Phillies right now. The record says 9-1 over their last 10; the runs column says even more, a +27 margin that works out to 6.6 scored and 3.9 allowed a night.

Right behind them sit Kansas City Royals, 9-1 over the same kind of stretch and +25 on runs margin, quieter, but pointed the same direction.

Milwaukee Brewers (7-3) round out the warm end of the ledger.

The whole league is averaging 4.3 runs a game in this stretch, which makes Philadelphia Phillies outrunning that number by 2.3 per night the loudest stat on the page.

The deep freeze

Detroit Tigers are the cold front. They have gone 1-9 over their last 10, and the -20 margin underneath means the losses have not even been close, roughly 2.0 runs a game the wrong way.

They have company at the cold end: Colorado Rockies, 2-8 over the same window.

In between the extremes it gets crowded, Pittsburgh Pirates at 5-5 and Baltimore Orioles 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

One reading tip before you go: runs margin travels better than record. A fat margin with a modest record usually means the wins are coming; the reverse usually means they are not.

The schedule cooperates, too, Philadelphia Phillies face Seattle Mariners next, so this story gets its next chapter almost immediately.