MLB Heat Check: Toronto Blue Jays Are Scorching (8-2 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: Toronto Blue Jays keep winning, Seattle Mariners keep losing, and everybody else lives somewhere in the weather between.

Burning up

Start with Toronto Blue Jays. They have won 8 of their last 10, and they have not been sneaking past anyone: the runs margin over that stretch is +24, which breaks down to about 5.5 scored and 3.1 allowed per game. That is the arithmetic of a team winning on merit, not on bounces.

Philadelphia Phillies are the closest thing to company at 7-3, with a +17 runs margin that says the record is no fluke.

Keep Houston Astros in the conversation too, at 7-3 over their last 10.

The whole league is averaging 4.6 runs a game in this stretch, which makes Toronto Blue Jays outrunning that number by 0.9 per night the loudest stat on the page.

Who's cold

Then there is Seattle Mariners. A 2-8 stretch is ugly on its own; pair it with a -22 runs margin and it stops looking like bad luck. They are being outscored by about 2.2 runs a game, and no scheduling quirk explains that away.

They have company at the cold end: Los Angeles Angels, 2-8 over the same window.

The middle of the table is where the real congestion lives: New York Mets (5-5) and Milwaukee Brewers (5-5) are separated by almost nothing, and one good weekend reshuffles the whole neighborhood.

The board

The top of the ledger, at a glance:

The fine print

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.

Next up on the slate: Toronto Blue Jays against Athletics. Check back after that one goes final.