MLB Update

Here are the latest standings from Major League Baseball.  Each team's chances of making the divisional series -- according to Fangraphs.com -- are in parentheses.  Teams with less than a 10 percent chance are in italics:

AMERICAN:
Los Angeles (92.1 %):  83-55  --
Baltimore (99.1 %):  81-57  2
Oakland (57.0 %):  79-60  4 1/2
Kansas City (59.3 %):  77-61  6
Detroit (60.9 %):  76-63  7 1/2
Seattle (23.1 %):  75-63  8
New York (2.0 %):  71-66  11 1/2
Cleveland (4.5 %):  71-66  11 1/2
Toronto (2.0 %):  71-67  12
Tampa Bay (0.0 %):  67-73  17
Chicago (0.0 %):  63-76  20 1/2
Minnesota (0.0 %):  61-78  22 1/2
Boston (0.0 %):  61-78  22 1/2
Houston (0.0 %):  61-79  23
Texas (0.0 %):  53-86  30 1/2

Los Angeles swept four games from Oakland last week, and thereby just about locked up the AL West.  Baltimore has pretty much clinched the East.  But Kansas City and Detroit are still battling for the Central.

The way that Oakland's offense has faded without Yoenis Cespedes in the line-up is very surprising to me.

NATIONAL:
Washington (99.7 %):  79-59 --
Los Angeles (92.9 %):  78-62  2
St. Louis (88.6 %):  76-63  3 1/2
San Francisco (52.7 %):  76-64  4
Milwaukee (27.7 %):  73-66  6 1/2
Atlanta (20.7 %):  73-67  7
Pittsburgh (17.3 %):  71-68  8 1/2
Miami (0.3 %):  67-71  12
San Diego (0.1 %):  66-72  13
Cincinnati (0.0 %):  66-73  13 1/2
New York (0.0 %):  66-74  14
Philadelphia (0.0 %):  64-75  15 1/2
Chicago (0.0 %):  64-76  16
Arizona (0.0 %):  58-81  21 1/2
Colorado (0.0 %):  56-84  24

This year's National League is a great example of why the Wild Card system has hurt interest in baseball.  A battle between the Nats, Cardinals and Dodgers for a trip to the World Series would be dramatic; a battle between the Brewers, Braves and Pirates for the second Wild Card spot -- not so much.