Every year MLB teams fight to make the playoffs. Every year 1 team will be crowned World Series Champions. This journey is the longest in all of American sports. Some years players break records. Every year a new player bursts on the scene and emerges as a potential superstar. So how has this season shaped out so far?
Last year the Atlanta Braves were the 8th worst team in the MLB. So far this season, they have more wins than every other team in the league. Part of this is credited to a 37 year-old Chris Sale. This is after last year, when, according to mlb.com Sale fractured his left ribcage while diving for a ball in the 9th inning and making the play to get the runner out. Sale is now tied for first in pitching wins, in the 96th percentile of pitching run value, and the 93rd percentile of chase percentage. All of this while being in the 63rd percentile of fastball velocity and the 49th percentile of barrel percentage. In simple terms, Sale throws slow and opposing batters hit barrels, but he is one of the most dominant pitchers in the league. This is attributed to his slider, which has 49 inches of total break. That means that from his release the ball can move over 4 feet before crossing the plate.
The Braves also have the best offense in baseball right now. As of May 10th they have a league leading 216 RBI’s and a league leading 6 players with 20 or more RBI’s.
What about the other side of the standings? Last year the Rockies, Nationals, and White Sox were the 3 worst teams in baseball. This year the bottom spot belongs to the New York Mets. Failing to replace stars Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and Bo Bichette, as well as losing Jeff McNeil, the Mets have only 15 wins. Pitching clearly isn’t the issue. According to ESPN.com, the Mets have a team ERA of 3.85, which is 10th in the MLB. However, they have zero players with 20 RBI’s and have the 2nd least runs in the MLB with 138 and also RBI’s with 131.
Pitching in the MLB has been questioned all season. Christopher Sanchez has a league leading 60 strikeouts but is 64th in the league with a 1.34 whip. That isn’t the biggest pitching surprise of the season, as a curse has seemingly been put on many of the league’s top pitchers. Notable injuries have occurred to last season’s AL Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, AL Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet, AL Cy Young 3rd place finisher Hunter Brown, as well as Shane Bieber, Gerrit Cole, Edwin Diaz, Blake Snell, and a returning from injury Spencer Strider.
To add onto the wildness, one of baseball’s finest pitchers, Max Scherzer, had a lingering finger injury that almost forced him into retirement. His solution? Playing the piano. The same pitcher that is nicknamed “Mad Max” has become a piano player. If not for a piano, Scherzer’s career could be over.
On the hitting side of the spectrum, fans have speculated that juiced balls are back in the MLB. With teams hovering around the 40 game mark in the season, 23 players have at least 10 HR’s. To pair with that, 30 players have at least 25 RBI’s. The Astro’s left fielder, Yordan Alverez, is currently 9th in AVG, 13th in HRs, 9th in RBIs, and 2nd in OPS.
The most intriguing hitter in the league, however, is the new first baseman for the White Sox, Munetaka Murakami. Nicknamed the “South Side Samuri” Murakami is on pace for a legendary season. Murakami is on pace to hit 61 HRs, while striking out 243 times. Murakami is one of the purest home run hitters in MLB history.
The biggest fielding story this season was by far Jo Adell robbing 3 HRs in one game. Before his legendary performance, no 2 teams had ever combined for more than 2 HR robberies in a game. Last season Fernando Tatis Jr. led the league with 4 robberies, and the most somebody’s ever had in a season was 5.
Two months into it, the 2026 MLB season has been extremely exciting. With a whole summer and fall left to go, the MLB season is nowhere close to an end. The March has begun, but which players and teams can keep marching strong, or come out of nowhere and be there all the way to October.
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