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 Kansas City Royals are hunting for anything that resembles a good night.

Who's hot

Nobody is playing better than San Diego Padres right now. The record says 8-2 over their last 10; the runs column says even more, a +18 margin that works out to 6.0 scored and 4.2 allowed a night.

The chase belongs to Cleveland Guardians, who have gone 8-2 with a +17 margin of their own.

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 4.2 runs per game right now. San Diego Padres are beating the league's own pace by 1.8 a game.

Who's cold

Kansas City Royals are the cold front. They have gone 2-8 over their last 10, and the -21 margin underneath means the losses have not even been close, roughly 2.1 runs a game the wrong way.

They have company at the cold end: Colorado Rockies, 2-8 over the same window.

Do not ignore the middle class, either: Minnesota Twins (5-5) and Philadelphia Phillies (5-5) sit close enough that a single hot or cold series flips their order.

By the numbers

The top of the ledger, at a glance:

One more thing

As always, watch where record and runs margin tell different stories about the same club. The margin tends to know first.

The schedule cooperates, too, San Diego Padres face Arizona Diamondbacks next, so this story gets its next chapter almost immediately.