The Weekly Windup: MLB Week in Review - June 1st - June 8th
Recapping the week in baseball, updating rankings, and discussing some notable stats
Each week—published on Sunday evenings—I write a short recap of the past week in baseball, provide updated Elo ratings, team rankings, and pitcher power ratings. I also highlight one or two interesting stats that caught my eye over the course of the week.
Some milestone win totals were reached earlier this week. The Tigers became the first team to reach 40 wins after beating the Guardians on Monday, while the Colorado Rockies finally reached the double-digit win mark on Monday, beating the Marlins 6-4. Not only did the Rockies hit 10-wins, they broke their MLB record 22-series losing streak, which dated back to last season. Aaron Judge appears to be falling back down to earth, hitting just .300 in 26 plate appearances this week, dropping his season average to .390 (unacceptable…). Meanwhile, Cal Raleigh is making a push to compete with Judge in the MVP race. The Mariners star hit 4 homers and, going into this past week, became the first catcher to hit 20 home runs before June 1st. The Dodgers maintain their lead in our updated Elo ratings, with the Astros and Mets making the biggest jump and Phillies seeing the biggest drop.
Tarik Skubal continues to dominate the AL and remains comfortably atop our pitcher power ratings. In the NL, MacKenzie Gore is making a sneaky case for a Cy Young. While our Elo ratings don’t totally reflect it yet, as his pre-season projections are still carrying a heavy weight, the Nationals’ ace is off to a heck of a start to 2025. Gore has an MLB-leading 12.9 K/9 and ranks third in the NL in FanGraphs Pitching WAR.
Stat of the Week
99.9%: The Atlanta Braves had a 99.9% win probability, per Statcast, leading the Diamondbacks 10-4 with one out in the top of the 9th. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then homered and it was all D-Backs from then on out. Arizona came back and won the game 11-10.
Team of the Week
Toronto Blue Jays: The Jays have won ten of their last twelve games, and have raised their FanGraphs playoff odds 14% (up to 57.7%) since last Sunday. Those wins have largely come in pivotal matchups, including a 2-1 series victory over the Phillies, highlighted by a walk-off from catcher Alejandro Kirk on Wednesday. Most recently, the team has taken two of three from fellow Wild Card contender Minnesota, dropping the series finale 6-3 today in Minneapolis. The Jays have the best batting WAR in baseball over the past three weeks (4.9).
Player of the Week
Jacob Wilson: The A’s rookie is hitting .577 in 28 PA’s and has posted 0.7 WAR, both MLB-bests since June 1st. The son of former Pirates all-star SS Jack Wilson is hitting .370 with an OPS of .931 and wRC+ of 166 this season, all of which lead MLB rookies by a wide margin. Yahoo Sports has Wilson at -400 odds to win the Rookie of the Year in the AL, miles ahead of Yankee Jasson Domiguez, who has the next-best odds at +800.