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Now as you know I’m not watching baseball games this season due to the lockout, but I am still keeping up with wat is going on, so I can make adjustments to my fantasy teams. I’m watching a lot of the MLB Network and I’ve noticed that they like to really call something the best even though teams have played a little over 30 games in a 162-game season.

I think that if they just adjusted their terminology a little bit it would be much easier to get behind what they’re talking about. I think if they just said best right now instead of awarding something as the best and making it seem like the season is coming to an end. It’s as though they forgot that the Atlanta Braves where actually under .500 at the All-Star break last season and they won the World Series. I don’t think that anyone was saying the Braves where the best team after the first 30 games of last season, but by the end of the season they were the best team and that’s what matters.

This came into my mind because the Houston Astros have won 11 games in a row, and they were crowned the best team in baseball yesterday on the MLB Network. It’s not a big surprise that Houston is a good team, they were expected to be. Interestingly the Astros are 22-11, but that’s not the best record in baseball. You’d think that at this point in the season the team that was called the best team would have the best record, but they don’t.

The New York Yankees have the best record in baseball at 24-8 and are the only team that hasn’t lost double digit games this season. The Yankees are currently on their own winning streak having won five in a row including last night’s game against the Chicago White Sox.

As for the Astros. With their 11-game winning streak they have the second-best record in baseball, but Houston only has a 1/2 game lead in the American League West over the Los Angeles Angels. The New York Mets are also just 1/2 games behind the Astros record wise. Then you have teams like the Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants who all have either 20 or 21 wins. Isn’t it possible that one of these teams could be the best team in baseball?

It’s just way, way too early in the season to name any team the best team in baseball unless you add right now to that statement. Now who knows, by the end of the season maybe the Astros will be the best team in baseball, but as you can see right now it’s difficult to pick one team as the best.

Unfortunately, the MLB Network likes to do the same thing with awards as I also heard yesterday that Mike Trout is the American League MVP.

Now to be fair any time Trout is healthy he’s a candidate for MVP, but he hasn’t been able to stay healthy the past couple of seasons. Maybe they should wait and make sure he stays healthy until they give him the MVP award in May. If Trout stays healthy and has what has pretty much become a normal season for him, he’ll be right there in the MVP conversation and may actually win it.

I’m kind of baffled with the reasoning behind having to hand out awards this early in the season. I get that they’re trying to attract viewers to whatever show is on, but when you start pushing players or teams as the best it’s difficult to take anything that analyst says seriously when that player or team doesn’t come through and that analyst jumps on other players or team’s bandwagon.

It’s one thing to make pre-season predictions which I’m pretty sure we all do, but just a little over 30 games into a season I’m not sure if they should be saying any player or team is the best.

Maybe it’s just me on this one but let me know what you think of teams and players being assigned these types of tags so early in a season.