Power rankings system devised and compiled weekly by Stemshul. “Expert” analysis by paradroid.
Houston is the hottest team in baseball! This time without cheating! Well, maybe without cheating much more than any other team. Our new #1 moved all the way up from 6th. The Astros have won 9 in a row and now boast the best run differential in the league (+122). Houston is absolutely mashing the ball, averaging 5.64 runs per game, almost half a run better than the second best team (L.A. Dodgers at 5.16). The pitching in pretty good, too (3.97 runs per game, 9th best). I think the crackdown (on sticky stuff being applied to baseballs by pitchers) that started Monday will only make the Astros harder to get out. They also throw the 22nd most fastballs, the pitch most aided by doctoring the ball with the old sticky-icky (helps increase the spin rate, causing the ball to “rise”, which is unexpected for the hitter; thus more swings and misses on fastballs than ever before), so they should be hurt a little less by the crackdown than some teams.
Oakland should be worried; they throw the most fastballs (59.3%) and also don’t throw particularly hard (92.8 MPH average as a team, 24th best). Velocity is the other big factor in fastball effectiveness, so now they’ll have neither that nor boosted spin rate to aid their heavily relied upon fastballs. It will be interesting to see if certain teams benefit more or less from the rule change rule enforcement. It has always been ignored because the hitters want the pitchers to get good grip (nobody likes being hit by a hard baseball at 90+ MPH). But analytics has in the last few years revealed the advantages spin rate offered, and pitchers went from using the sanctioned rosin bag combined with sunscreen from their arms or necks to actually hiding substances designed for weightlifters and strongman competitions (like Spider Tack) inside their belts or on their hats so they can get their fingers good and sticky during the inning. Now, while the rosin bag and sunscreen are both allowed, baseball has now said you can’t combine the two and should only use the rosin bag for grip. Partly because batters started complaining about this competitive advantage because hitting is as bad as its been since 1969, after which baseball lowered the pitching mound to help the hitters. Partly because of the public response to this awkward answer to a reporter’s question on the topic. Good luck to the umps on determining whether a pitcher rubbed his arm to get some sunscreen on his hand or just because it was itchy or something. They’ll be checking pitchers for the now explicitly illegal stuff regularly during the game. We’ll see what happens.
Quick check in on the Tigers: another OK week at 3-3. They’ve been reliably around .500 or a little better since the 9-24 start (22-18 since May 7). Lately the hitting has really picked up while the pitching has dropped off. Injuries to starters Spencer Turnbull, José Ureña and Matt Boyd have contributed to the fall off in pitching. If Detroit can get the starting staff rolling like it was in May and keep up June’s run scoring, they could have something good.
[table id=136 /]
