The weekend began with all five AL East teams being given at least a 30 percent chance to make the playoffs by Fangraphs. The only other division with even four was the NL West — but the fifth member, Colorado, was at zero percent.
This represents less than 10 percent of the season, and many games in this period were highly impacted by frigid weather. All you need to know about how much fluctuation can occur in such a short period, consider these two huge divisional storylines:
1. Do torpedo bats need to be banned? The furor feels so long ago now that I forget if Anthony Volpe was benefitting from a torpedo or Lou Gehrig. That first weekend probably had more to do with the shape of the Brewers pitching staff (down eight of its 13 best options) than of the bats. In those three games, the Yankees hit 15 homers and slashed .333/.427/.804 with 36 runs. In the next nine, the Yankees managed 11 homers, 46 runs and slashed .244/.317/.416, or not dissimilar to last year’s .248/.333/.429.
So let’s hold off on throwing all the bats in a wood chipper.
