Rangers, Nationals still lead but get ready for a wild second-half

The season has paused for the All-Star break but when it resumes on Thursday it will do so with one of the most postseason chases in recent memory. While the Yankees lead the Orioles by seven games in the AL East, the gap between first- and second-place teams in each of the other five divisions is no more than four games. Factor in the expanded playoff system that allows for two wild cards in each league and 11 teams in both the AL and NL are within 5 ½ games of a postseason berth.

NOTE: All stats are through Sunday, July 8.

Rankings written by Ben Duronio of Fangraphs.com. The system used to rank the teams is based not on the current standings or a gut feeling about team quality, but on how well they've performed at the underlying traits that predict future performance better than wins and losses.

wRC+ is an offensive index where 100 is league average and every point above or below that denotes how far from league average a player's performance has been up to that point. It is adjusted for park and league, so it takes into account the context of a player's surroundings, and allows for comparison of performance from players in different situations and in different times.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/07/09/fangraphs-power-rankings-week-13/index.html#ixzz20RuXo2Rw