As the Major League Baseball season stretches into its final month, one fact remains abundantly clear: the state of Missouri is ahead of the curve.

The St. Louis Cardinals currently lead the National League, while the Kansas City Royals sit atop the American League. 

Both teams have used a combination of strong starting pitching to complement powerful lineups.  The Cardinals have been led by shortstop Jhonny Peralta, who has a batting average of .280 to go along with 16 home runs and 56 runs batted in. 

The Cardinals have a quartet of pitchers—John Lackey, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez and Lance Lynn—who all have an earned run average of under three. 

The Royals have been spotty with their pitching at times this season, but the team looked to alleviate that hole by acquiring top starting pitcher Jonny Cueto from the Cincinnati Reds at the July 31 trading deadline. 

Since being traded to the Royals, Cueto has won all four of his starts to go along with a 1.80 ERA. The Royals batters have been led for most of the season by first baseman Eric Hosmer and outfielder Lorenzo Cain. 

Hosmer and Cain are batting .318 and .313, respectively, to go along with 71 and 52 RBIs. The Royals have had the luxury of playing in a weak AL Central that has no other teams over .500.

Contrast that with the Cardinals, who play in an NL Central that has the top three records in the entire national league with the Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs. 

The Cubs, in particular, have exceeded expectations on the backs of their young core, including rookie third baseman Kris Bryant and fellow rookie catcher Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber has batted .310 for Chicago, while Bryant has added 66 RBIs.

In addition to the team’s first-year players, the Cubs roster also includes young stars such as first baseman Anthony Rizzo, second baseman Adison Russell and shortstop Starling Castro. Rizzo has been the star of the team, batting .295 with 23 home runs and 70 RBIs. 

The surprise team in the National League thus far has been the New York Mets. The Mets came into the season with high goals for their pitching staff, and low ones for their hitters. 

Led by star pitchers Jacob DeGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard, the Mets have one of the league’s best ERAs. DeGrom has been the ace of the staff, striking out 158 batters while compiling the National League’s second lowest ERA with 1.98.

The bullpen has been able to complement the starting pitching with an anchor in the form of closer Jeurys Familia, who has 33 saves on the season. 

Newly acquired setup man Tyler Clippard has four holds, with an ERA of 2.61.

The Mets’ season really took off at the trading deadline when they acquired Clippard, third baseman Juan Uribe, second baseman Kelly Johnson and outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. 

 The Mets have been on a tear since then, starting from a few games out of first place in the NL East to now sitting 4.5 games ahead of the Washington Nationals. 

The Nationals have fallen hard from their spot as the presumptive World Series favorites to open the season. With a highly touted starting rotation and a dangerous lineup, the Nationals started the season as the dominant team many deemed them to be. As their injuries began to pick up in the middle of the season, so did the losses, and the team has yet to improve since.