Power rankings system devised and compiled weekly by Stemshul. “Expert” analysis by paradroid.
Lucky number 7 sees the Dodgers move up 8 spots by going 5-1 this week, finally beginning to recover from an inexplicable twenty game stretch where they went 5-15. Despite losing 15 in 20, L.A. is still in the top five in both runs scored (4th with 5.17 per game) and runs allowed (5th with 3.76). One explanation for this is their league leading 11 losses by one run and their 1-5 record in extra innings. It looks like an exciting duel is brewing with the Padres in the N.L. West, with San Diego having leaped into first, up 4 spots thanks to a 6-1 week. Surprisingly, the Padres are second in the division with L.A. just behind in 3rd. The San Francisco Giants sit at the top by just a half game (and 3rd in our rankings). The Padres and Dodgers are not a surprise, but the Giants are. We’ll check back in with the N.L. West later on to see how it’s shaking out.
Heading in the other direction (at least in our rankings) is St. Louis. The Cards went 2-4 last week , including being swept in a 3 game series with the aforementioned Padres. St. Louis is still perched atop their division by 2.5 games. The N.L. Central is looking fiercely mediocre, with the next three teams (the Cubs, Brewers, and Reds) hovering right around .500 and Pittsburgh languishing in last at 17-24. The Cardinals can get by with a poor run of games in a way the Dodgers can’t, but I’d say the Dodgers are a far superior team despite the stiff competition within their division. St. Louis is likely to win their division, but if they don’t, there may not be a wildcard spot available to them. I think the Dodgers and Padres are nearly locks for the playoffs, regardless of who wins the division.
And we have good news in Tigerland: a no-hitter from Spencer Turnbull last night, the first for a Tiger since Justin Verlander’s in May of 2011! The Tigers have managed to lurch out of last and have a positive week in our ranking score (first time since week 2) by way of a 5-2 record. Detroit is now 7-2 since losing 18 of 21. There’s hope for the Tigers! The bullpen remains a problem and is still the worst in baseball. However, the bats are heating up a little and the starting pitching is surprisingly good, ranking 11th in baseball in ERA at 3.83. However, with the American League’s Designated Hitter rule, the ERAs always get skewed higher than in the National League. The Tigers are actually 4th out of 15 A.L. teams in starter’s ERA. It’s clearly the strength of the team right now, even with Tarik Skubal struggling. Casey Mize has been really good, especially for a rookie (3-3 with a 3.69 ERA), Matt Boyd has been fantastic (2.45 ERA), and now Turnbull (3-2, 2.88 ERA) is turning his nasty stuff into dominating starts. As the bats continue to trend towards their historical level, Tiger fans are hoping the team is closer to the 7-2 team they’ve seen lately than the 3-18 one they suffered through earlier in the year.
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