One month ago, I ranked each team based loosely on their run differential. Each team was placed in a category according to the fast food restaurant they most resembled. Your favorite team was either Chick-fil-A, Wendy's, Culver's McDonald's, Burger King, or Hardee's. I enjoyed writing that post, so I decided to make it a monthly feature.
Before we get to May's rankings, here were the standings at this point last year. We are just past the 1/4 mark, with teams playing around 45 games.
2016 Standings
My goodness, the Braves and Twins were terrible. 2016 playoff team run differentials at that point in the season: +71, +23, +9, +33, -4, +118, +53, +13, +29, +22.
For this month's rankings, I'm adding an honorary restaurant to the mix, Portillo's. The famous—and delicious—Chicagoland restaurant opened a location in Champaign this past weekend. I now have the whole summer to eat there before all the suburb kids get back to school.
Just look at it.
(the ketchup was for the fries)
(+) = moved up from April
(-) = moved down from April
Portillo's: Better than the best
Astros (+56): 31-16 (+)
Dodgers (+65): 27-19 (+)
Chick-fil-A: Simply the best
Nationals (+54): 28-17
Yankees (+56): 27-17
Wendy's: A very solid choice
Diamondbacks (+54): 29-19 (+)
Cubs (+18): 24-21
Red Sox (+18): 24-21
Indians (+12): 24-21 (-)
Culver's: I'm intrigued
Rockies (+35): 31-17
Rays (+19): 24-25 (+)
Cardinals (+16): 22-20 (+)
Twins (+4): 25-18 (+)
McDonald's: It's good sometimes
Rangers (+15): 24-23
Brewers (+22): 25-21
Orioles (+2): 25-20 (-)
Blue Jays (-11): 21-26 (+)
Tigers (-11): 22-23 (+)
Reds (+1): 22-24
Burger King: They still have cheap nuggs
Angels (-5): 25-24 (+)
Mets (-22): 19-25 (-)
Mariners (-33): 20-27 (-)
White Sox (+15): 20-25
Pirates (-29): 21-26
Athletics (-42): 21-25
Braves (-26): 20-24 (+)
Hardee's: Is it still open?
Royals (-46): 19-27 (-)
Marlins (-45): 16-29 (-)
Phillies (-37): 15-29 (-)
Giants (-65): 20-28
Padres (-90): 17-31
Baseball is here! And more importantly, that means the over/under game is back. It seems as though everyone is an expert this time of year. Somehow we convince ourselves that we are better at predicting baseball outcomes than everyone else. Well, AFITB is putting that to the test for the third year in a row. Think you know more about baseball than us? You probably do. But go ahead and prove it anyway.