So the better question is this: How is this team still behind the Giants? The obvious answer is that while the Dodgers are the league’s best team on paper, they’ve been the league’s worst team in extra innings-literally, at 1-8-and they’re five games under. And even without Seager, the Dodgers’ lineup boasts seven position players with an OPS+ of 110 or better the exception is former MVP Cody Bellinger, who’s still playing his way back into peak form after a hamstring injury. The Dodgers have the best run differential (plus-142), the highest PECOTA playoff odds (99.7 percent), and the best roster in the game, even with the likes of Corey Seager and Clayton Kershaw on the IL. How can a team that doesn’t lead its own division be the best team in baseball? Turns out it’s a really tough division. But teams currently outside the top 10 are running out of time to make their decisive move. That’s not to say we’re doomed to a dull pennant race-with any luck, the clear stratification between buyers and sellers will lead to a brisk trade deadline and some surprises in August and September. No team currently outside of the 10 playoff spots is within three games of getting in, and according to Baseball Prospectus’s projections, only the Yankees have better than a one-in-three chance of making a late charge and upsetting the current order. The result: an unusually clear playoff picture for this stage of the season. Certain surprise contenders have consolidated their early-season gains, while others returned quickly to the bottom half of the standings. As chaotic as the MLB standings were two months ago, things have now settled down considerably.
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