MLB standings by strength of schedule: Astros unlucky, Phillies feasting

A lot of factors can determine how certain teams start any given season in MLB. A major injury to a key player obviously makes said team worse. Key contributors struggling or surprising players surging can also impact the team's record. Another key factor is the strength of schedule.

Strength of schedule shows the kind of competition teams have faced during any given season. Teams with a higher strength of schedule have faced tougher competition.

Strength of schedule often evens out by the time the season ends, especially with how the new schedule is formatted, but it can play a huge role in teams getting off to hot or cold starts to begin any given season. Here's how the standings would be ordered if they were determined by strength of schedule.

Note: All records and strength of schedules are from before games on Saturday, 5/11. The numbers come courtesy of ESPN.

MLB standings ordered by strength of schedule

AL East

The Baltimore Orioles have the second-toughest strength of schedule early on, yet they lead the AL East and hold the best record in the AL entering play on Saturday. That should absolutely terrify the league. Conversely, the Tampa Bay Rays, another team expected to compete, has faced the easiest strength of schedule yet are currently under .500. When things get tougher schedule-wise, they might be in serious trouble.

AL Central

The top three teams in the AL Central are all within 0.5 games of each other, so it's not surprising to see the strength of schedules for the teams in this division be so similar. What does stick out is the team with the best record in the division, the Cleveland Guardians, has faced the easiest strength of schedule so far. Perhaps we can see them crash down to earth a bit.

AL West

The one saving grace for the Houston Astros is that they've struggled while facing the toughest strength of schedule in the majors. Not only will they (hopefully) get healthier, but they'll face much easier competition as the season progresses, suggesting that they could potentially make a run to the postseason after all.

NL East

Yes, the Philadelphia Phillies have the best record in the majors entering play on Saturday, but they've also faced the 29th-toughest strength of schedule. They deserve a ton of credit for doing exactly what they're supposed to do against tough competition, but how will they play against the good teams? They lost their opening series against the Atlanta Braves, and haven't played a team that is currently over .500 since. It'll be interesting to see how they perform when the schedule gets much tougher.

NL Central

Only 0.5 games separate the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, but the Brewers have faced one of the toughest strength of schedules in baseball while the Cubs have faced the easiest among the teams in their division. When Chicago's schedule gets tougher and Milwaukee's gets easier, we might see Craig Counsell's former team start to pull away, which is not what Cubs fans had expected when they stole Milwaukee's manager.

NL West

The Los Angeles Dodgers have gone 16-9 over their last 27 games to take a commanding 5.5 game lead in the NL West, but 24 of those 27 games have come against teams who are currently under .500. To their credit, they swept the Braves in the three games they faced a team above .500. The Dodgers are a juggernaut, and can be seen as more of one when f