Report-card season can be a stressful time of year. Just ask clubs like the Oakland Athletics and the Milwaukee Brewers, who will be racing to their mailboxes to snag those progress reports before their owners find out just how poorly they’ve done.
While Oakland and Milwaukee have been among the game’s biggest duds, an array of clubs have aced the opening quarter of the MLB season.
In the process of dishing out grades, the win-loss record was the most important factor. After all, winning games is what it’s all about. For that reason, the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals earned some of the highest marks of all.
A heavy emphasis was placed on the performance of each team’s rotation, but bullpen contributions and lineup production also factored into the equation. Plus, the respective preseason expectations of each club were also taken into consideration. And that’s great news for overachievers like the Minnesota Twins.