Major League Baseball - Week In Review

The Chicago Cubs are surging in the National League Central division standings, having won five in a row after a 4-0 shutout of the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on May 3. Pitcher Kyle Hendricks twirled a complete game gem as the Cubs closed to within a game and a half of first place. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo slugged his eighth home run to spark the offense. St. Louis had a five game win streak as well in the past week and have the best record in the National League.
Jean Segura and Rhys Hoskins hit home runs to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-2 win against the Washington Nationals on Friday and they opened up a 2 1/2 game lead on the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets in the NL East.
Over in the NL West, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are going at it this weekend in a three-game series in San Diego. The Dodgers, Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks are separated by just 1 1/2 games in the division race. On Friday night, the Dodgers held off the Padres, 4-3 as Kenley Jansen earned the save. The D-Backs stayed within a game of the Dodgers, beating the Colorado Rockies, 10-9 for their third consecutive victory.
The three divisional races in the American League are bunched up as well as the New York Yankees cooled off the Minnesota Twins (they had the best record in baseball entering the three-game set in The Bronx) to keep pace with the Tampa Bay Rays, who currently have the best record in the majors. Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez hit a pair of homers to lead the way in the 6-3 win. The Rays pounded the hapless Baltimore Orioles, 7-0 on Friday night.
The Cleveland Indians lost pitcher Corey Kluber to a fractured right arm earlier this week as a line drive nailed him. The Tribe nipped the slumping Seattle Mariners, 2-1 on May 3, sending the M's to their fifth consecutive defeat. After a 13-2 start, Seattle has lost 14 of their last 19 games. In spite of their latest loss, the Mariners are only one game back of the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West division. The Indians are two games behind the Twins in the AL Central.
As for individual accomplishments, the home run leaders in the American League are Eddie Rosario (Twins) and Joey Gallo (Texas Rangers), who each have 11 home runs. Leading the National League are Cody Bellinger (Dodgers) and Christian Yelich (Milwaukee Brewers), who have slugged 14 dingers as of May 3. Currently, Major League Baseball is on pace to break the record for most home runs in a single season, which was set just two years ago.




AL STANDINGS (through May 3)                                   NL STANDINGS (through May 3)
East                                                                                     East
Tampa Bay 21-11                                                                Philadelphia 18-13              
NY Yankees 18-13                                                              Atlanta 16-16
Toronto 15-17                                                                     NY Mets 16-16
Boston 15-18                                                                      Washington 13-18
Baltimore 11-22                                                                  Miami 9-22


Central                                                                                Central
Minnesota 19-11                                                                  St. Louis 20-12
Cleveland 17-13                                                                   Chicago 17-12
Detroit 14-15                                                                        Milwaukee 18-16
Chicago 14-16                                                                      Pittsburgh 14-15
Kansas City 11-22                                                                Cincinnati 13-19
                                                                                                                                 


West                                                                                     West
Houston 18-14                                                                      LA Dodgers 21-13
Seattle 18-16                                                                        Arizona 19-13
LA Angels 15-17                                                                 San Diego 18-15
Texas 14-16                                                                         Colorado 15-18
Oakland 15-19                                                                     San Francisco 14-18