MLB Heat Check: San Diego Padres Are Scorching (8-2 Last 10)

Every MLB season has a week when the temperature map redraws itself, and this feels like one of them. San Diego Padres have become the team nobody wants to see next on the schedule, while Colorado Rockies are hunting for anything that resembles a good night.

Who's hot

Start with San Diego Padres. They have won 8 of their last 10, and they have not been sneaking past anyone: the runs margin over that stretch is +18, which breaks down to about 6.2 scored and 4.4 allowed per game. That is the arithmetic of a team winning on merit, not on bounces.

Los Angeles Dodgers are the closest thing to company at 7-3, with a +24 runs margin that says the record is no fluke.

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

Some context helps: across every club in the sample, scoring sits at 4.3 runs per game right now. San Diego Padres are beating the league's own pace by 1.9 a game.

Who's cold

Then there is Colorado Rockies. 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: Kansas City Royals, 2-8 over the same window.

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

The board

The top of the ledger, at a glance:

The fine print

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.

Next up on the slate: San Diego Padres against Los Angeles Dodgers. Check back after that one goes final.