Through the 2024 season, its safe to say fans have gotten their fair share of surprises. Between the Houston Astro’s sudden fall from grace, and the Toronto Blue Jay’s oddly underwhelming start, there have been 7 teams that have stayed hot through it all.

 

#7: Milwaukee Brewers(36 – 26, .581)

The Milwaukee Brewers are yet again at the top of the NLC. Sitting comfortably in 1st place, 5.5 games away from the 2nd place Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers seem to be the favorite to win the National League Central in 2024. William Contreras – undoubtably their best player, is leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a hopeful playoff run, batting .313 with 8 home runs, 44 RBI, and a .864 OPS.

Though the NL Central is a relatively weak division, The Brewers have shown their fight against teams at times this season. (Although they were

just recently swept by the red hot Philadelphia Phillies – we’ll get to them later.

#6: Kansas City Royals (37-26, .587)

This one came as a surprise to all baseball fans this year, as nobody really expected the Kansas City Royals to get off to such a steaming hot start in relativity to their recent history. Although playing in arguably the weakest division in baseball, the Kansas City Royals have really shown that with the help of guys like Salvador Perez (who isn’t 40, by the way,) and Bobby Witt Jr., they can really make it happen in Kansas City.

Catcher Salvador Perez, in his 13th year of MLB service, is batting .309 with 10 home runs, 41 RBI, with an .890 OPS. The best part about this is that Perez isn’t even the best player on the Royals – That honor goes to the great Bobby Witt Jr…batting .316 with 11 HR, 46 RBI, 19 Stolen Bags, and an incredible .931 OPS, Bobby Witt Jr. is making an argument to be one of the best, if not THE, best all around player in baseball.

Things get better for the Kansas City Royals. Pitcher Seth Lugo leads the league in Wins, is 7th in ERA with 2.13, comes 2nd in WAR with 3.0. Pitcher Brady Singer comes 13th in ERA with 2.76, and pitcher Cole Ragans with a cool 3.21 ERA, and coming 6th in the league in Strikeouts with 89 on the year.

This Royals team is scary, especially with these three pitchers blazing on the mound, and guys like Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez swinging the bat. How far could these Royals run into the playoffs? Sitting in 2nd Place only to the hot Guardians team, only time will tell.

 

#5: Los Angeles Dodgers (39-25, .609)

Where do you begin with the Los Angeles Dodgers? Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman. The Big 3, they’re all amazing. Ohtani could quite possibly be inhuman though, batting .318 with 15 HR, 40 RBI, 14SB, and an unreal .973 OPS on the year. In a year where he’s supposed to be recovering from a torn UCL that ended his 2023 early, Ohtani is truly showing the league why he should be unanimously considered the greatest of all time.

Outfielder turned shortstop Mookie Betts has cooled down from his initial unreal start to the year, and even while cooled off he’s hitting .312 with 10 HR, 35 RBI, and a slight .923 OPS. If this is his version of “cooled off”, it really shows how much you should fear Mookie Betts when he’s on top of his game.

In 2024, you cant talk about the Dodgers without mentioning the highest paid pitcher of all time: Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Signed out of Japan this offseason by the Dodgers, Yamamoto has pitched well but not quite up to what his $325,000,000 contract says he should. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a great pitcher, but simply not a pitcher worth three hundred MILLION dollars. Sorry Dodger fans.

#4: Baltimore Orioles (39 – 22, .639)

The Baltimore Orioles have been nothing short of great, as usual. Although their 106 – series long streak of not being swept at all was ended recently by the St. Louis Cardinals, this does not invalidate how well the Orioles have been playing this year.

Gunnar Henderson, 2nd round pick in 2019, is making an argument to be the face of the Orioles over Adley Rutcshman, who is also amazing at the plate and all around as a player. Gunnar  Henderson, age 22, is hitting .265 with 19 HR, 42 RBI, and a .951 OPS. The only reason Gunnar hasn’t led the Orioles into 1st place is because of the scorching hot Yankees team that they’re sitting 4.5 games behind of – and probably will be for the foreseeable future.

Recent acquisition Corbin Burnes has been pitching amazing for the Orioles, pitching to a 2.26 ERA in nearly 80 IP with 76 strikeouts in 2023. His ERA is good for the 9th best in the entire MLB.

#3: Cleveland Guardians(4o – 21, .656)

The Cleveland Guardians just have an all around amazing team. There isn’t a single guy on that team I would want to face as a pitcher. David Fry, Josh Naylor, Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, Steven Kwan, and more. There simply is not a guy in that lineup who doesn’t have the potential to do major damage.

Jose Ramirez has been undoubtably THE BEST pure 3rd baseman in the league in 2024. There is no argument for that. Hitting .276 with 17 HR, SIXTY RBI, and an .887 OPS, Jose Ramirez is a Top 5 player in the league and the best 3B in the league right now. (He is also getting me hundreds of points in fantasy :D)

Josh Naylor has been one of the best first basemen in the league in 2024, hitting a slightly underwhelming .224 AVG, but redeeming himself with 16 HR, 45 RBI, and an .801 OPS. He has also gotten me hundreds of fantasy points. Bless than man.

#2: Philadelphia Phillies (44 – 19, 6.98)

The funniest thing about the Phillies is that this year, the White Sox have won less games (15) than the Phillies have lost (19). The Philadelphia Phillies have arguably the most complete lineup in the league, superior to that of the Cleveland Guardians. You don’t want to face Bryce. You don’t want to face Schwarber. Castellanos. Bohm. Stott. There are guys all around in this lineup that will do damage, which is why they’re only one singular game behind the best team in the league in competition for the best record in baseball.

Bryce Harper is back this year, batting to a .268 avg, 14 HR, 44 RBI, and an .890 OPS. Alec Bohm has broken out immensely, hitting .291, 6 HR, 50 RBI, and a .818 OPS. Along with other great hitters on this team, the Phillies truly look unstoppable.

The Phillies 100% have the best 1-2-3 Pitching Rotation in the entire MLB right now in Ranger Suarez, Zack Wheeler, and Aaron Nola. Ranger Suarez leads the MLB in ERA with 1.70, is tied for first in wins with Seth Lugo having 9, coming 5th in WAR with 2.8, and has the best WHIP in the MLB with .80.

All of this, while Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola have pitched to a 2.23 and 2.77 ERA, 11th and 12th respectively. Their top 3 is truly the nastiest in all of baseball. But now, its time for the true best team in the MLB in 2o24..

#1: New York Yankees (45 – 19, .703)

The New York Yankees are unreal right now. Absolutely Unfathomable. Spearheaded by the two hottest hitters in all of baseball, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, it truly looks like the sky is the limit for the 2024 New York Yankees. Juan Soto is hitting .318, 17HR, 53 RBI, with a STUPID OPS of 1.027.

The worst part is… he’s not even the best hitter on his own team. Aaron Judge is hitting .289, with a league leading 21 HR, 54 RBI, and a league leading 1.080 OPS. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge are the only two hitters who have an OPS north of 1.000, and the New York Yankees have them both. It would be a foolish decision by Yankees GM Brian Cashman to ever let Juan Soto out of New York.

Rookie pitcher Luis Gil was brought in to replace the injured ace Gerrit Cole, and he has NOT disappointed in any way even remotely possible. 2nd in wins with 8, 2nd in ERA with 1.82, 9th in strikeouts with 85, 4th in whip with 0.92, Luis Gil is the best pitcher in New York right now, and one of the best in the entire MLB. With the rest of the Yankees rotation in Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees will undoubtably have the best rotation in all of baseball when Gerrit Cole returns later this month, assuming Gil keeps this up. The Yankees could really win it all this year, and I’m pretty sure nobody would be surprised if they did.

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That wraps up the 7 best teams in the MLB so far in 2024. Any agreements, disagreements, and questions can be left in the comments below! Don’t forget to register for a Baseball Report account if you haven’t already!

 

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