Imagine this scenario: With two games left in the season, the Los Angeles Angels lead the AL West by a half-game, needing just one victory over second-place Texas to clinch a remarkable worst-to-first division title and their first postseason berth since 2014.

If baseball’s season were as short as football’s, that’s pretty much where things would stand.

This question — what would the dominant baseball narratives be if this season were 17 games long? — is a worthwhile thought experiment, given how much discussion there’s been lately about parity. There’s a conventional wisdom that the NFL is a more competitive league, with so many teams staying alive in the playoff race down to the last couple weeks — and teams making dramatic rises and falls in the standings from one season to the next.

But how much of that is simply a result of how short the football season is? Right now, all but one of baseball’s 30 teams have played between 15 and 17 games. And right now, the baseball standings mirror the type of anything-can-happen drama the NFL provides.

The Angels are in first place after entering the season as complete afterthoughts. The Atlanta Braves are in last. Toronto leads the AL East after finishing last in 2024. At this moment, 23 of the 30 teams are within two games of a playoff spot.

Shorter seasons lead to quirkier results and more compressed standings. That’s worth remembering the next time the competitive balance in baseball and football are compared.

Comeback of the week >> Arizona trailed by four runs with one out in the bottom of the ninth before storming back for a 5-4 victory over Milwaukee on Saturday night.

After a walk, a triple and another walk, Corbin Carroll doubled home two runs, putting the tying run on second. Geraldo Perdomo drew another walk, then Jake McCarthy singled to tie the game.

Following an intentional walk, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to end the game. The Diamondbacks had a 0.6% chance of winning earlier in the inning, according to Baseball Savant.