Saturday, February 22, 2014

Season 14 Power Rankings # 2

With a little more than half of Season 14 in the books, it's time to check in with another edition of the power rankings.  The story since the first rankings has been the incredible play of Buffalo, going 33-9 since the last rankings to pull out in front of the pack.  They have been bringing it on every level as of late, it has been quite the impressive run.  Oklahoma City comes in at #2, still playing very well.  New Britain stepped it up to leap from #10 up to # 3.   Previous #1 Memphis fell to #11 as their pitching staff's incredible start could not be maintained.  Here's the complete rankings!


Team  W L PREV    Comments
1 Buffalo  59 23 2 They have been outstanding on every level as of late
2 Oklahoma City 51 31 3 Playing solid ball and winning games, still elite 
3 New Britain  49 33 10 Their pitching is getting it done, leading to a nice bump 
4 Honolulu 48 34 4 Their pitching has taken a hit lately, but still winning
5 Tampa Bay 47 35 11 Playing incredibly well, one of the best teams in pitching
6 Madison 48 34 12 It's all about offense here, but pitching has improved some
7 Detroit 46 36 14 Maintained it's hot offense, while the pitching stepped up
8 Seattle 46 36 18 Major improvement in pitching since last rankings
9 Tucson 47 35 5 Pitching took a hit, but offensive production increased
10 St. Louis 48 34 8 Their pitching took a nice turn, but offense has been down
11 Memphis  46 36 1 The pitching staff's incredible start has leveled off a bit
12 Pawtucket  46 36 6 Numbers fell off a bit across the board here, but still solid
13 Texas  45 37 23 Nice jump as the pitching really has come together lately
14 Rochester 42 40 15 Their pitching is amongst the best, but bats are a concern
15 Pittsburgh 41 41 19 Offense improved here, but the pitching fell of a little
16 Little Rock  40 42 20 Offense is great, but the pitching has been shaky lately
17 Toronto 41 41 22 Bouncing back a bit after a pretty rough start to the season
18 San Francisco 41 41 21 .500 for the 2nd straight rankings, pitching is on the up
19 Arizona 39 43 7 Rough stretch as of late, pitching fell off since last rankings
20 Nashville  38 44 17 Numbers were pretty stable, need pitching to step it up
21 Vancouver 40 42 9 It's been pretty bad as of late, numbers down overall
22 Jacksonville 36 46 16 Their pitching got roughed up, resulting in a bit of a drop 
23 Oakland 35 47 29 Playing better, as the offense improved significantly
24 Chicago (AL) 37 45 13 Rough stretch, as their offense has fallen off a bit lately
25 Cincinnati 35 47 24 Hanging in there, they could use some offensive production
26 Burlington 35 47 26 Major fall off in offense, must have played a lot at home
27 Louisville 33 49 31 Showing signs of life with improvement across the board
28 Portland  29 53 32 Pitching is stepping up, with numbers a lot better lately
29 Cleveland 32 50 25 The numbers are down overall, resulting in them dropping
30 Indianapolis 30 52 27 Pitching isn't bad, but the offense isn't there quite yet
31 Chicago (NL) 29 53 30 Actually improved some after a horrid start so we'll see
32 New York  33 49 28 The rebuild here is still in process, they're not quite there

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Season 14 Power Rankings # 1

We're a quarter of the way through Season 14, and thus far it's been a tale of two leagues.  The AL has shown tremendous parity this season, with a number of division races within a couple of games from top to bottom, while the NL has had a number of teams with tremendous records, that have broken away from the pack early.  In fact, so much so that the top 5 teams in the rankings all come from the NL.  At the top, with the world's top pitching staff, and a 7-1 record vs. the #2-4 teams, Memphis becomes just the 4th different team to land on top of the rankings with an amazing 28-12 start, jumping up all the way from #15.  Buffalo comes in at #2, and dethroned #1 Oklahoma City comes in at #3, but they are still a major threat, make no mistake.  Honolulu and Tucson round out the top 5.   And now, here's the complete rankings!


Team  W L PREV    Comments
1 Memphis  28 12 15 #1 in ERA and beating the top teams, so they get the nod
2 Buffalo  26 14 3 Probably top team by the numbers, but 0-3 vs. Memphis
3 Oklahoma City 23 17 1 Still looking great, and may have been a bit unlucky so far
4 Honolulu 24 16 4 Solid through the first quarter, pitching has been great
5 Tucson 25 15 6 Holding their own in a very top heavy NL
6 Pawtucket  25 15 9 AL's top team right now, getting it done with offense
7 Arizona 22 18 2 Pitching started off slow for the defending champs
8 St. Louis 26 14 25 Hanging in well with the NL's top teams, nice pitching
9 Vancouver 26 14 26 Another surprise team cracks the top 10 with a nice start
10 New Britain  21 19 11 Offense is looking solid, the record should improve
11 Tampa Bay 20 20 7 Tremendous pitching, if the offense picks it up, look out
12 Madison 21 19 8 Their pitching has been getting lit, but offense is top notch
13 Chicago (AL) 22 18 20 Doing well so far, getting nice offensive production
14 Detroit 21 19 22 League's top offense has them with a winning record
15 Rochester 20 20 13 Nice pitching, but the offense hasn't shown up yet
16 Jacksonville 20 20 24 Great pitching, and numbers show record can improve
17 Nashville  20 20 18 Pretty average across the board, but still in it
18 Seattle 20 20 16 Pitching not getting it done, but AL is loaded with offense
19 Pittsburgh 19 21 10 Not bad so far, will be better if offense turns it up
20 Little Rock  19 21 12 Pretty decent numbers, so a rebound wouldn't be suprising
21 San Francisco 20 20 30 Hanging in there in the AL West so far, a nice surpise
22 Toronto 18 22 5 Not looking good so far, but potential is there to heat up
23 Texas  18 22 17 Pretty mediocre start, but offense is capabale of more
24 Cincinnati 16 24 14 It's tough in the NL right now, with a lot of great teams
25 Cleveland 17 23 19 Middle of the pack in most categories right now
26 Burlington 17 23 31 Showing signs of improvement, which is good to see
27 Indianapolis 17 23 32 Actually tied for the division lead right now
28 New York  18 22 27 Numbers not looking great, but hanging in record wise
29 Oakland 16 24 23 Pitching staff showing signs of improvement, a good sign
30 Chicago (NL) 11 29 28 Rough start may be a bit of bad luck, and tough schedule
31 Louisville 14 26 29 Clearly in rebuild right now, so not that much of a surprise
32 Portland  10 30 21 Bad start, but they actually have a pretty decent offense