MLB Heat Check: Los Angeles Dodgers Are Scorching (8-2 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: Los Angeles Dodgers are rolling, Washington Nationals are reeling, and the gap between those two feelings is enormous.

Burning up

Los Angeles Dodgers own the league's best recent ledger at 8-2, and the +21 runs margin underneath it says the record is earned. Per game the numbers read 6.4 for and 4.3 against, a gap that does not happen by accident across 10 games.

The chase belongs to Pittsburgh Pirates, who have gone 8-2 with a +11 margin of their own.

And do not sleep on New York Yankees, quietly 7-3 across their last 10.

Some context helps: across every club in the sample, scoring sits at 4.7 runs per game right now. Los Angeles Dodgers are beating the league's own pace by 1.7 a game.

The deep freeze

Then there is Washington Nationals. A 2-8 stretch is ugly on its own; pair it with a -20 runs margin and it stops looking like bad luck. They are being outscored by about 2.0 runs a game, and no scheduling quirk explains that away.

Kansas City Royals are not far behind on the misery index at 3-7.

In between the extremes it gets crowded, Tampa Bay Rays at 5-5 and Seattle Mariners at 5-5 are basically sharing a seat, and the next series either way will split them.

At a glance

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

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: Los Angeles Dodgers meet Miami Marlins in their next game, and we will find out quickly whether this stretch travels.