The Best and Worst So Far in 2024

Which team is hitting the ball the hardest? Which team has the highest sprint speed on defense? Who has clocked the slowest home run trot? Let's go inside the numbers!

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. celebrates hitting a home run off Logan Gilbert on April 10. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images)

Hi friends-

Some housekeeping!

• If you’re planning on coming to our in-person meet-up on Memorial Day (May 27) at Citi Field for Mets vs. Dodgers, please email bestteambook@gmail.com with how many tickets you would like, so I can start to get a headcount. I’m working with the Mets’ group sales, and the ticket price will probably be $50-$70 (the least expensive they have for that day, at press time).

• Don’t forget we’re having our book club Zoom for The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood, by Jane Leavy, on Monday May 6 at 5:30 PM PT. I can’t recommend this book enough, so get going if you haven’t started it yet! You will not be able to put it down.

This MLB season is so young that it’s probably foolish to draw any big conclusions. The Astros are probably not going to finish the year with a .316 winning percentage, though I do believe the org’s general shift away from analytics to just vibes, man, all but guarantees its eventual slide back into mediocrity. The Pirates will not be a playoff team, as much as we want that to happen, because their owner is too cheap. Tyler O’Neil will not win the AL MVP—as much as he wants to stick it to the Cardinals, and specifically Oli Marmol, for their weird feud going public last season.

But it’s fair to say the Rockies, Marlins and White Sox are playing the kind of unwatchable ball we expected, and it’s not surprising the Braves and Dodgers have the most wins so far in the National League.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised watching the Royals, and think Bobby Witt Jr. is currently the American League’s Most Valuable Player. Maikel Garcia, Vinny Pasquantino and MJ Melendez are also banging that ball around, and Cole Ragans looks like an ace.

This piece initially started as an exercise digging into the Royals’ advanced statistics, to see why they’re so good, and if it’s sustainable, but then it expanded when I played around with a new MLB research tool that gives me more information than I’ve ever had before. I think the same info is available on Statcast, if you’d like to follow along. So, here we go!