Strat-O-Matic Sim: Astros, Dodgers Lead League Standings; Weaver, Maeda, Soler, Murphy May Awards

GLEN HEAD, N.Y. - June 4, 2020 - PRLog -- For the second straight month, Jorge Soler of the hanging-in-there (31-29) Kansas City Royals earned American League Player of the Month honors, highlighting the May award winners as Strat-O-Matic's (www.strat-o-matic.com) simulation of the 2020 baseball season enters June. The Houston Astros (41-19) and Los Angeles Dodgers (40-18) hold the best A.L and N.L. records, respectively, with Tampa Bay (37-24), Cleveland (37-23), Washington (37-21) and St. Louis (34-26) leading the other divisions through two months of play. Strat-O-Matic updates results and standings daily at www.strat-o-matic.com/2020-season-simulation/.

Strat-O-Matic also announced today that it has opened All-Star voting, based on the statistics generated in the simulation to date. Fans may vote at http://www.strat-o-matic.com/announcements/2020-strat-season-all-star-voting/, and may view each player's statistics via links from the main simulation page linked above. Voting continues through July 1, with the All-Star Game scheduled for July 14.

In addition to Soler, who hit 13 home runs and drove in 38 runs (1.215 OPS) during May to increase his MLB-leading totals to 25 and 70, winners include A.L. Pitcher of the Month Kenta Maeda of the Twins (3-1, 1.62 ERA), N.L. Player of the Month Daniel Murphy of Colorado (.402, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 1.110 OPS), and N.L. Pitcher of the Month Luke Weaver of Arizona (4-0, 1.77 ERA).

Despite a league-best eight wins from off-season prize pickup Gerrit Cole, the Yankees slumped in May, dropping to 31-29, 5.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the A.L. East and three games out of the wild card, with Oakland (36-25) and Minnesota (34-26) in a virtual tie for the two spots. Atlanta (33-27), San Diego (32-28) and Chicago (32-28) are tied atop the N.L. Wild Card standings.

Some of the other individual league leaders through May 31 include:

• Tommy Edman, St. Louis, N.L. batting (.359);
• Luis Arráez, Minnesota, A.L. batting (.351)
• Trevor Story, Colorado, N.L. home runs (23); N.L. runs (51)
• Keston Hiura, Milwaukee, N.L. RBI (52)
• Nelson Cruz, Minnesota, A.L. runs (44)
• Yonny Chirinos, Tampa Bay, A.L. victories (8, tied with G. Cole, NYY)
• Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles, N.L. victories (8); ERA (1.85)
• Blake Snell, Tampa Bay, A.L. ERA (1.36); strikeouts (119)
• Jacob deGrom, New York, N.L. strikeouts (109)