MLB Heat Check, San Diego Padres 9-1 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: San Diego Padres keep winning, Colorado Rockies keep losing, and everybody else lives somewhere in the weather between.

Burning up

Start with San Diego Padres. They have won 9 of their last 10, and they have not been sneaking past anyone: the runs margin over that stretch is +22, which breaks down to about 6.6 scored and 4.4 allowed per game. That is the arithmetic of a team winning on merit, not on bounces.

Tampa Bay Rays are the closest thing to company at 8-2, with a +31 runs margin that says the record is no fluke.

And do not sleep on Los Angeles Dodgers, quietly 7-3 across their last 10.

Some context helps: across every club in the sample, scoring sits at 4.6 runs per game right now. San Diego Padres are beating the league's own pace by 2.0 a game.

Who's cold

At the bottom of the temperature map sit Colorado Rockies: 1-9 in their last 10, -37 on runs margin. That is about 3.7 a game in the wrong direction, and no lineup shuffle fixes it overnight.

Cincinnati Reds (2-8) share the cold row, for whatever comfort that provides.

Do not ignore the middle class, either: Miami Marlins (5-5) and Los Angeles Angels (5-5) sit close enough that a single hot or cold series flips their order.

By the numbers

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: San Diego Padres meet Miami Marlins in their next game, and we will find out quickly whether this stretch travels.