Cubicle GM MLB Power Rankings: August 25th
August 25, 2009 · Jacob Nitzberg · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Welcome to another edition of the Cubicle GM MLB Power Rankings. There appears to be an elite group forming at the top, as the No. 1- 4 teams all stayed the same from last week.
While there was no movement in the order of the teams, the Dodgers gained ground on the Angels in terms of average score, with the Phillies right on both of their heels.
The bottom of the rankings also held firm, with the Padres and Royals checking in at Nos. 29 and 30, respectively. There doesn’t seem to be much chance either of these teams will get above No. 28 for the rest of the season.
As we saw last week, the three distinct groupings of teams have remained intact. The teams comprising the No. 1-10, 11-20, and 21-30 spots in the rankings still have not changed from the Aug. 11 rankings.
Although much stayed the same, there were a few moves that were expected, mostly at the top. The Rangers went 2-3 over the last week and dropped one-and-a-half games behind Boston in the AL Wild Card race.
As such, Texas dropped three spots to No. 8 while Boston regained the two spots lost last week to check in at No. 5.
In addition, as the Cardinals have opened up a massive divisional lead against the Cubs in part by beating the higher-ranked Dodgers, they climbed two spots to No. 6, losing the tiebreaker to Boston based on winning percentage.
As the Power Rankings has grown, the contributors here at Cubicle GM have evolved our methods for ranking the teams. With this, the disagreements between myself, Gideon, Mickey and Joey have gradually decreased over time. For the second straight week there were no double-digit discrepancies between any of the ranks, and there were just four gaps of seven or more.
Houston Astros (9)—Jacob/Joey 17, Gideon 26
Detroit Tigers (8)—Joey 7, Gideon 15
Toronto Blue Jays (8)—Gideon 12, Joey 20
Pittsburgh Pirates (7)—Joey 22, Jacob 29
On the divisional front, the AL West remained in front but saw its average score drop to 12.06. The AL East remains in second, but also saw its average score drop, to 12.35. At the bottom, the AL Central has finally been supplanted, as its 18.60 average was just slightly better than its NL counterpart, which checked in at 18.67 this week.
You can check out the backup data here. So, without further ado, onto the rankings. As always, last week’s ranks in parentheses.
1. New York Yankees (1)—The Yankees are a league-high 30 games over .500 coming off another series win against the second-place Red Sox. After hitting two homers on Sunday, this piece looks at whether Hideki Matsui will be a Yankee in 2010.
2. Los Angeles Angels (2)—The Angels couldn’t take advantage of a bad week by the Rangers, losing two of three in Toronto and four of their last five. Even though there is still over a month left in the season, one Angels’ blogger takes a look at the team’s offseason decisions.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (3)—The Dodgers got a break this past weekend as they took three of four from the reeling Cubs, but they still saw their division lead shrink to just three games over Colorado. With that in mind, the upcoming series between the two teams is going to be a big one.
4. Philadelphia Phillies (4)—Philly has lost just once since the last edition of the rankings, and now leads the NL East by a seven-game margin. After a day off on Monday, SS Jimmy Rollins shouldn’t expect one for the rest of the year.
5. Boston Red Sox (7)—Despite dropping two of three to the Yankees, the Sox gained ground in the Wild Card race and moved back into the top five. Closer Jonathan Papelbon may not want the Sox to take a look at Billy Wagner, but one writer doesn’t really think that matters.
6. St. Louis Cardinals (8)—The Cardinals took care of business on the West Coast, winning five of seven on their trip to Los Angeles and San Diego, and now have a season-high eight game lead in the Central. New signing John Smoltz faced and beat the Padres on Sunday, in what turned out the perfect situation for his debut.
7. Colorado Rockies (6)—Even though the Rockies have won six of their last seven, they still fell one spot in the rankings as they were leapfrogged by the Cardinals. To show us, Colorado won a game in incredible fashion last night.
8. Texas Rangers (5)—Texas has lost four of six to drop into second place in the AL Wild Card, and now has a tough task as they travel to New York and Minnesota over the next week. Slated to be the fourth outfielder, a big part of the Rangers’ success has been the contributions of Marlon Byrd.
9. Tampa Bay Rays (9)—The Rays just keep winning at home, taking four of six last week at the Trop to improve to 42-21, third best in the majors. The Rays were also encouraged by Sunday’s start from David Price, despite the loss to Texas in that game.
10. San Francisco Giants (10)—The Giants saw their postseason chances take a major hit on Monday night, as they lost a heartbreaker to Colorado in 14 innings. The Giants are now seven games behind the Dodgers and trail Colorado by four. More bad news as recent acquisition Freddy Sanchez may wind up on the DL.
11. Atlanta Braves (13)
12. Detroit Tigers (11)
13. Florida Marlins (12)
14. Chicago White Sox (15)
15. Chicago Cubs (14)
16. Minnesota Twins (18)
17. Seattle Mariners (16)
18. Toronto Blue Jays (17)
19. Milwaukee Brewers (19)
20. Houston Astros (20)
21. Oakland Athletics (22)
22. Cleveland Indians (23)
23. New York Mets (24)
24. Arizona Diamondbacks (21)
25. Pittsburgh Pirates (28)
26. Baltimore Orioles (26)
27. Cincinnati Reds (25)
28. Washington Nationals (27)
29. San Diego Padres (29)
30. Kansas City Royals (30)
This article originally posted on Cubicle GM.
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