With this is mind, the true divisional standings will become a monthly rather than a weekly effort for the present. It will be more like a treat to see who's faring poorly in the MLB standings but doing quite well against their division. I also think it may reveal a high-flying Premiership team propelled to the top by facing mostly Championship teams, ripe for an early postseason exit.
PREMIERSHIP STANDINGS (ALL MLB):
| POSITION | TEAM | GAMES PLAYED | WINS | LOSSES | RUNS SCORED | RUNS ALLOWED | RUN DIFF |
| #1 | Tampa Bay Rays | 18 | 13 | 5 | 107 | 63 | 44 |
| #2 | New York Yankees | 17 | 12 | 5 | 92 | 59 | 33 |
| #2 | Philadelphia Phillies | 17 | 11 | 6 | 98 | 65 | 33 |
| #4 | Minnesota Twins | 18 | 13 | 5 | 98 | 66 | 32 |
| #5 | San Francisco Giants | 17 | 10 | 7 | 79 | 51 | 28 |
| #6 | St. Louis Cardinals | 17 | 10 | 7 | 76 | 59 | 17 |
| #7 | Colorado Rockies | 18 | 9 | 9 | 85 | 68 | 17 |
| #8 | Florida Marlins | 18 | 10 | 8 | 87 | 84 | 3 |
| #9 | Toronto Blue Jays | 18 | 10 | 8 | 81 | 80 | 1 |
| #10 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 17 | 8 | 9 | 103 | 103 | 0 |
| #11 | Chicago Cubs | 18 | 8 | 10 | 77 | 78 | -1 |
| #12 | Texas Rangers | 17 | 7 | 10 | 71 | 73 | -2 |
| #13 | Atlanta Braves | 17 | 8 | 9 | 70 | 75 | -5 |
| #14 | Boston Red Sox | 18 | 8 | 10 | 76 | 94 | -18 |
| #15 | Los Angeles Angels | 19 | 9 | 10 | 74 | 94 | -20 |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (ALL MLB):
| POSITION | TEAM | GAMES PLAYED | WINS | LOSSES | RUNS SCORED | RUNS ALLOWED | RUN DIFF |
| #1 | San Diego Padres | 17 | 11 | 6 | 79 | 57 | 22 |
| #2 | Oakland Athletics | 19 | 11 | 8 | 81 | 65 | 16 |
| #3 | New York Mets | 18 | 9 | 9 | 74 | 64 | 10 |
| #4 | Milwaukee Brewers | 17 | 8 | 9 | 99 | 89 | 10 |
| #5 | Seattle Mariners | 18 | 9 | 9 | 70 | 66 | 4 |
| #6 | Arizona Diamondbacks | 17 | 7 | 10 | 90 | 90 | 0 |
| #7 | Detroit Tigers | 18 | 10 | 8 | 84 | 85 | -1 |
| #8 | Cleveland Indians | 17 | 8 | 9 | 60 | 73 | -13 |
| #9 | Chicago White Sox | 18 | 7 | 11 | 71 | 88 | -17 |
| #10 | Washington Nationals | 18 | 9 | 9 | 83 | 100 | -17 |
| #11 | Kansas City Royals | 17 | 6 | 11 | 81 | 103 | -22 |
| #12 | Houston Astros | 17 | 7 | 10 | 50 | 76 | -26 |
| #13 | Cincinnati Reds | 18 | 7 | 11 | 82 | 112 | -30 |
| #14 | Baltimore Orioles | 18 | 2 | 16 | 55 | 92 | -37 |
| #15 | Pittsburgh Pirates | 17 | 7 | 10 | 59 | 120 | -61 |
PREMIERSHIP STANDINGS (VS. PREMIERSHIP TEAMS):
| POSITION | TEAM | GAMES PLAYED | WINS | LOSSES | RUNS SCORED | RUNS ALLOWED | RUN DIFF |
| #1 | New York Yankees | 14 | 10 | 4 | 80 | 51 | 29 |
| #2 | Minnesota Twins | 7 | 5 | 2 | 38 | 20 | 18 |
| #3 | San Francisco Giants | 8 | 5 | 3 | 37 | 27 | 10 |
| #4 | Tampa Bay Rays | 7 | 5 | 2 | 36 | 29 | 7 |
| #5 | Atlanta Braves | 12 | 6 | 6 | 53 | 47 | 6 |
| #6 | Florida Marlins | 7 | 5 | 2 | 33 | 28 | 5 |
| #7 | Philadelphia Phillies | 6 | 3 | 3 | 22 | 20 | 2 |
| #8 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 6 | 3 | 3 | 30 | 34 | -4 |
| #9 | Colorado Rockies | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 17 | -4 |
| #10 | St. Louis Cardinals | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -5 |
| #11 | Toronto Blue Jays | 8 | 3 | 5 | 32 | 40 | -8 |
| #12 | Chicago Cubs | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 19 | -10 |
| #13 | Los Angeles Angels | 12 | 6 | 6 | 47 | 58 | -11 |
| #14 | Texas Rangers | 9 | 2 | 7 | 32 | 46 | -14 |
| #15 | Boston Red Sox | 13 | 4 | 9 | 46 | 72 | -26 |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (VS. CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS):
| POSITION | TEAM | GAMES PLAYED | WINS | LOSSES | RUNS SCORED | RUNS ALLOWED | RUN DIFF |
| #1 | Milwaukee Brewers | 6 | 4 | 2 | 50 | 21 | 29 |
| #2 | San Diego Padres | 8 | 6 | 2 | 43 | 24 | 19 |
| #3 | Seattle Mariners | 15 | 8 | 7 | 62 | 48 | 14 |
| #4 | Oakland Athletics | 13 | 8 | 5 | 51 | 41 | 10 |
| #5 | Arizona Diamondbacks | 9 | 4 | 5 | 47 | 41 | 6 |
| #6 | Washington Nationals | 6 | 4 | 2 | 31 | 27 | 4 |
| #7 | Houston Astros | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 4 |
| #8 | New York Mets | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 11 | 2 |
| #9 | Kansas City Royals | 6 | 3 | 3 | 32 | 31 | 1 |
| #10 | Detroit Tigers | 12 | 7 | 5 | 58 | 61 | -3 |
| #11 | Chicago White Sox | 8 | 3 | 5 | 32 | 36 | -4 |
| #12 | Cleveland Indians | 11 | 6 | 5 | 44 | 49 | -5 |
| #13 | Baltimore Orioles | 7 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 32 | -13 |
| #14 | Cincinnati Reds | 5 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 29 | -15 |
| #15 | Pittsburgh Pirates | 11 | 4 | 7 | 33 | 82 | -49 |
As you can see, it is not the season to be a Pirates fan. That is not a typo above. They really have allowed 61 more runs than they have driven in. Their disastrous series against the Brewers, in which they were outscored 36-1 did not help matters. This series, incidentally, also propelled Los Cervezeros to the top of the true Championship division this week. We'll see how they are in a month or so.
Running the risk of making judgments from a small sample size, one of the starkest contrasts between the two Premiership standings is the Rays. Though they sit atop the MLB board with +44 RD, their performance against Prem clubs has yielded a paltry +7 RD. On the other hand, the Braves seem to have the opposite problem: a +6 RD against the top tier teams, but -11 vs. the Championship.
That's all for now, kids. I'll catch you next Saturday if I don't give an op-ed piece before.
