MLB Standings ordered by reversed one-run games: Do Yankees get a bump?
Good news: The New York Yankees swept the Oakland A's to push their record back a little further over .500 as they prepare to enter an eight-game gauntlet against the Rays and Blue Jays.
Bad news: The AL East is insane, and they remain in a highly unfair last place.
Somewhat in-between news: Their record has, for the most part, been earned. Their run differential indicates their record is about where it's supposed to be. Their record in one-run games, which is essentially a coin flip? It's just fine. They haven't begun to click yet, but the past six games have brought with them encouraging signs.
They are who we thought they were, for now, which means they weren't in danger when redditors decided to quantify luck this week and show MLB fans the standings if every one-run game were reversed. So, who's lucky? Who's luckier? Who's luckiest? Reddit's work went live on Wednesday, right before a ridiculous amount of one-run games occurred (eight in all!), but it's still worth pondering -- especially since it proves the Rays would be falling back to the pack already, in a just world.
MLB Standings: What if reddit reversed every one-run game for the Yankees?
- MLB Standings: What if reddit reversed every one-run game for the Yankees?
After Wednesday's games, you can give the following teams additional wins in this simulation (they lost one-run games on Wednesday): Pirates, Mariners, D-Backs, Blue Jays, Angels, Rays, Reds, Padres.
These teams earn one extra loss (for, uh, actually winning a close one): Rockies, Rangers, Marlins, Phillies, Astros, Orioles, Mets, Twins.
This means the Rays would only lose four wins off their total now instead of five, but ... still! Extremely sizable, with significant puck luck going their way, as the NHL fans among us would say. The Blue Jays would also creep a little closer, but they still wouldn't catch the Yankees at 22-16 rather than 21-17, sitting on the cushion of their one additional win.
The team most depressed by this alternate reality is the Mariners, who would've earned another "victory" Wednesday to move to 25-12 ahead of the Rangers, a full seven games better than they are in actuality. On the flip side, the Marlins would be dropped through a trap door to the basement -- they eked out another one-run win on Wednesday. If things normalize, they'll be falling down the standings in real life, too, but this extreme simulation subtracts 12 wins and places them at an unholy, A's-esque 7-31.
Reddit? Thank you for your service. Now, let's start to see some bouncing balls fall on the wrong side of history for the Rays.