The final playoff push begins

If you looked at this report to determine who make the playoffs and who advances, you would find some interesting results in the NL. This site looks at and grades each teams hitting, fielding, starting pitching and bullpens. 

StatCorner Team Runs Above Average Report

http://www.statcorner.com/TeamReport.php

• The Nationals and the Giants are the two most well-balanced teams looking to advance, with positive number across the board. 
• The Brewers are also well-balanced across the board, less their bullpen which is scored slightly negative. And they may not even make the playoffs.
• The Pirates are the highest ranked team overall, higher than the Nats, but with a slight negative to their bullpen and a LARGE negative to their fielding.  And they may not even make the playoffs, minus a late push to catch the Cardinals for the division (more likely) or the Giants for the wild-card (slightly less likely). 
• The Dodgers score high overall, but their bullpen is somewhat negative and their fielding is hideous. I don't recall their gloves being that bad, but you have to hit the ball to find out and I was watching the Giants take their hacks. 
• The Cardinals throw a dubious set of gloves out there as well, belying their organizational image as Captain Fundamentals. How they are beating the Pirates, I don't know.  

Looking at the remaining schedule again, the Pirates and Cardinals both play the Reds (not at the same time, that would be weird) but the schedule favors the Cardinals overall in that they finish with the Cubs and Diamondbacks whereas the Pirates clean-up with the Braves and the Brewers.

For the Giants sake, I guess I would rather see the Cardinals win the division rather than the Pirates, who appear to be clicking and have a lot of energy right now. They could be a real buzz-saw if they make the playoffs. 

It surprises me that so many teams are graded weak defensively which, in theory, should be a strength for a playoff club. The Cardinals IF grades and the Pirates and Dodgers OF grades could come back to haunt them in late September and into October. Although as we've seen in the past, in the playoffs -- especially the shorter series -- you ride your strengths and hide your weaknesses. 

I am surprised as well that the Giants offense grades out slightly better than the Nats, not so much that the Nats starters are slightly better versus the Giants bullpen grading out a bit ahead.