Power rankings system devised and compiled weekly by Stemshul. “Expert” analysis by paradroid.
We’ve arrived at week 10 of the baseball season. Let’s take a quick look at Angels manager Joe Maddon’s current team as well has his two former teams, the Rays and the Cubs. We’ll start with the Rays, our #1 for the second week in a row. Tampa Bay had a solid 4-2 record this week, albeit mostly against weak opposition (four of those games against Texas and Washington, 29th and 24th respectively. Tampa has been getting it done with the 4th lowest payroll in the league (just over $43 million). For reference, the top spending Dodgers are at almost $195 million. The Rays are a well balanced team, 5th in both runs per game (4.92) and runs allowed per game (3.68). And they’re 1st with 48 defensive runs saved (an advanced analytics statistic that estimates how many more or fewer runs than average the defense’s performance has brought the team), 16 more than the next best, according to Fielding Bible.
The Cubs are 9th despite a 3-4 week, thanks to some tough opposition (Padres and Giants, 2nd and 4th in our rankings). Chicago has been solid in both halves of the inning, ranking 11th with 4.59 runs per game and 10th with 4.08 runs allowed per game. The defense has been mediocre, with 1 defensive run saved (19th). The Cubs have easily the best run differential in the N.L. Central (+31, the only positive number in the division), so despite being second at the moment, I have them as the favorites.
And now for Maddon’s current team, the Los Angeles Angels. Despite having Mike Trout, the best player in baseball for the last 10 years, the Angels have only made the postseason once. Now Maddon is back to the team where he spent the first 31 years of his baseball life as a prospect and coach. He’s won at his two previous stops, but we’ll have to see if he can turn around the fortunes of the Angels. Our rankings are more positive than their actual record, putting them at 15th (as compared to their winning percentage of .475, which is 20th). They have faced the 3rd toughest opposition (opponents winning percentage on .519) and gone 10-5 in their last 15 despite missing Trout due to injury since May 17. I think they’ll get it together enough to at least compete for the division title, especially if Trout can come back soon at full strength.
Quick check-in on the Tigers: 2-3 week against the White Sox and Mariners. The hitting continues to be improved since the atrocious start and the pitching now is actually kind of decent, even in the bullpen. Since May 8, the Tigers are 15-11 and are averaging 4.46 runs per game (would be good for 14th) and allowing 3.96 (would be good for 10th). That is a pretty decent sample size and bodes well for the rest of the year. It seems like the new coaching staff’s philosophies took a little while to take hold, maybe due a short spring training, but now the team looks to be on board and is performing much better (during the 9-24 start during, they averaged 3.16 runs per game and gave up 5.28).
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