MLB Heat Check, Atlanta Braves 8-2 in Their Last 10

Ten games is not a season, but it is a mood, and moods decide a lot of games. The current mood around MLB: Atlanta Braves keep winning, Los Angeles Angels keep losing, and everybody else lives somewhere in the weather between.

Who's hot

Atlanta Braves own the league's best recent ledger at 8-2, and the +10 runs margin underneath it says the record is earned. Per game the numbers read 4.3 for and 3.3 against, a gap that does not happen by accident across 10 games.

Right behind them sit Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 over the same kind of stretch and +11 on runs margin, quieter, but pointed the same direction.

Keep Tampa Bay Rays in the conversation too, at 7-3 over their last 10.

The cold end

At the bottom of the temperature map sit Los Angeles Angels: 1-9 in their last 10, -12 on runs margin. That is about 1.2 a game in the wrong direction, and no lineup shuffle fixes it overnight.

Detroit Tigers (3-7) share the cold row, for whatever comfort that provides.

Do not ignore the middle class, either: Texas Rangers (5-5) and Chicago White Sox (5-5) sit close enough that a single hot or cold series flips their order.

At a glance

Here is the warm half of the form table, last ten games for every club:

Worth remembering

Records fib a little and runs margins fib less. When the two columns disagree about a team, trust the margin, it is the slower liar.

One to circle: Atlanta Braves meet Philadelphia Phillies in their next game, and we will find out quickly whether this stretch travels.