Power rankings system devised and compiled weekly by Stemshul. “Expert” analysis by paradroid.
The unexpected has happened in the NLCS: the Braves, only here because everybody else in the division was worse, a team whose record was under .500 before game #110 (L.A. was at 65-44 at this point, but were about to reel off 16 wins in their next 19 games), a team who lost probably its best player and MVP candidate Ronald Acuña, Jr. halfway through the season, has beaten the Dodgers, who were only a game behind the the Giants for the best record in baseball. Most had L.A. as the best team in MLB; certainly they had the deepest roster and the most star power. They won 18 games more than Atlanta in the regular season, but even that 106-56 record only means winning 65% of the time. Baseball is a game of failure, where even the best hitters fail to produce runs in most innings. That’s why the postseason can be so unpredictable despite shifting to a seven game series in the final two rounds. Translation? I was wrong. The Braves won the pennant handily despite a late inning comeback in game 3 and an 11-2 game 5 win by the Dodgers to stave off elimination, until yesterday when the Braves took it 4-2 to win in six.
In the ALCS, things went a little more according to expectation, with Houston taking care of Boston after going down one game to two with decisive 9-2, 9-1, and 5-0 victories. Once again the Astros bombed the ball, averaging 6 runs a game and, outside of a 9-5 game two loss and a 12-3 game 3 loss, were good enough pitching to defeat the Red Sox in 6. It looked like Boston has the upper hand after 3 games, but Houston held them to 3 runs in the final three of the series to punch their ticket to the World Series. So I got this one right. Hooray!
I am a little bummed we aren’t seeing a rematch of 2017 with all the story lines that would entail, but having the “worst” team make an unexpected run to meet one of the favorites will also be great. At this point, I’d like to see Atlanta win it all. They haven’t been this far since ’99, whereas the Astros were here in 2017 and 2019. In the dubious name department, the “Braves”, while not as bad as the Washington Football Team’s previous moniker or the Cleveland Guardians now retired nickname, has received some pushback, particularly with the team endorsed use of the tomahawk chop, although other teams (Kansas City Chiefs, Florida State Seminoles, and many high schools as well) also use the arm motion and accompanying Native American-stereotype singalong. Houston, however, was called the Houston Colt .45s for the first three years of its existence, so that’s fun. Anyway, I think the run ends here for Atlanta. I pick the Astros in 6 games. We’ll be back for one final end of season rankings after the World Series is over.
A note on the chart below; we’ve opted to show only the 10 playoff teams since they are the only ones to add points to their score. Also, the 1st and 2nd teams listed are the only ones still alive. These are in order by score. 3-10, the eliminated playoff teams, are also in order by score, excluding the surviving teams. The rank, however, reflects their overall updated position among all teams. There, you’ve been Avril-ed. Again. Oops…
[table id=159 /]
