MLB Projected Standings, Week 13

Happy Independence Day! What's more American than watching baseball? Watching baseball with HOT TAKES about contenders and pretenders! Who reigns supreme this week in the projected standings?

You can read about the model here, or keep on reading for the updated standings (change in win total from last week in parentheses, playoff teams underlined).

MLB Projected Standings, Week 13:

AL West	AL Central	AL East
Rangers, 90-72 (0) 0 GB	Indians, 95-67 (+3), 0 GB	Orioles, 88-74 (+1), 0 GB
Astros, 87-75 (+1) 3 GB	Tigers, 85-77 (+2), 10 GB	Blue Jays, 87-75 (+1), 1 GB
Mariners, 83-79 (+2), 7 GB	Royals, 82-80 (+1), 13 GB	Red Sox, 87-75 (-2), 1 GB
Athletics, 72-90 (0), 18 GB	White Sox, 78-84 (-2), 17 GB	Yankees, 82-80 (0), 6 GB
Angels, 72-90 (-2), 18 GB	Twins, 64-98 (0), 31 GB	Rays, 71-91 (-4), 17 GB
.
NL West	NL Central	NL East
Giants, 95-67 (-1), 0 GB	Cubs, 100-62 (-3), 0 GB	Nationals, 97-65 (+2), 0 GB
Dodgers, 94-68 (0), 1 GB	Cardinals, 87-75 (-1), 13 GB	Mets, 90-72 (-1), 7 GB
Rockies, 74-88 (-1), 21 GB	Pirates, 82-80 (+2), 18 GB	Marlins, 84-78 (0), 13 GB
Diamondbacks, 73-89 (-2), 22 GB	Brewers, 71-91 (-1), 29 GB	Phillies, 69-93 (+3), 28 GB
Padres, 70-92 (0), 25 GB	Reds, 63-99 (-3), 37 GB	Braves, 59-103 (-1), 38 GB

Wild card play-in games: Red Sox at Blue Jays, Mets at Dodgers

ALDS match-ups: play-in vs. Indians, Orioles vs. Rangers

NLDS match-ups: play-in vs. Cubs, Giants vs. Nationals

Some musings:

• The Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Astros are separated by .3 wins. The wild card is a true wild card at the moment.
• Cleveland's 14 game winning streak sure helped them out in the projected standings. Shocking. However it's also worth noting they were the projected champion of the AL Central and projected to be one of the best teams in the AL. Still, is Cleveland all of a sudden title town?
• The Orioles still hold on to first place in the AL East and rise in the standings even with their four game sweep in Seattle included.
• The Cubs have some competition at the top of the NL for the first time this year. Chicago has sunk while the Washington Nationals have risen. This could very well be a fluky weak where one team's low and another team's high intersect, or it could be something more. It doesn't matter all that much anyway. These are both teams well on their way to the postseason.
• The handful of teams I would say have tough choices between buying or selling at the trade deadline: Mariners, Royals, Yankees, Cardinals, and Marlins. Everyone else is fairly securely in the playoff hunt or out of it. I would guess that the Royals and Cardinals will buy, given their recent playoff history. The Yankees seem to be wavering according to press reports. The Mariners and Marlins will be interesting given their playoff droughts.