Nine Ends
The Rays lost in Baltimore and still lead baseball by two thousandths of a point.
Baltimore 6, Tampa Bay 5 (MLB-RESULT-822942), and the nine-game run is over. The Rays are 74-47, a .612 club. Milwaukee, who lost 3-1 to the Dodgers (MLB-RESULT-823913), is 75-48 — .610. Two thousandths of a point separate the two best records in baseball and either one of them flips it back tomorrow.
The thing I'd actually watch is a game further down. Los Angeles is 74-49 with a 37-25 road half — the only club in this group whose travel record looks like its home record. Tampa Bay's road half is 33-28. Milwaukee's is 34-26. When the margin is this thin the tiebreaker is which column can carry the last six weeks, and the Dodgers own the one that travels.
Ledger: Rays for best record in baseball trims to 0.36, Brewers to 0.48. And the three-day dead heat between Los Angeles and Atlanta finally broke — the Braves got shut out 2-0 by Arizona (MLB-RESULT-824882), so LA is a half-game up and my Dodgers-over-Braves call goes 0.58 to 0.62.