Tailgate Crashers Official Baseball Rankings: 04/15/2008

Disclaimer
Here are the new and updated Baseball Rankings. Instead of just taking the record, pythagorean record, and farm system, I’ve given each part a weighed score:
– The Record accounts for half of the score. Since the standings are based of record, I thought it deserved more weight than the other parts.
– The Pythagorean Record is based off of Bill James theory that you can somewhat predict a team by runs scored and runs allowed. The Pythagorean Records accounts for a third of the score.
– The Farm System is worth a sixth of the scoring, since it will impact the team, but maybe not now.
– The Standard Deviation is 3 wins.

Again, it’s early in the season, there really isn’t much to these. All stats and records are prior to games on Tuesday.

Format
Team, Previous Ranking (rank up, down, same)
Record, Runs Scored, Runs Allowed, Minor League System Ranking (system up, down, same)

1. Arizona Diamondbacks, 4th (+)
9-3, 77 RS, 45 RA, 24th System (=)

2. Oakland Athletics, 16th (+)
8-5, 59 RS, 50 RA, 2nd System (+)

3. St. Louis Cardinals, 3rd (=)
9-4, 60 RS, 46 RA, 21st System (=)

4. Milwaukee Brewers, 2nd (-)
8-4, 58 RS, 47 RA, 23th System (=)

5. Baltimore Orioles, 1st (-)
7-5, 55 RS, 53 RA, 10th System (-)

6. Chicago White Sox, 6th (=)
7-4, 70 RS, 49 RA, 29th System (=)

7. Kansas City Royals, 7th (=)
7-5, 38 RS, 32 RA, 26th System (-)

8. Los Angeles Angels, 8th (=)
7-6, 65 RS, 64 RA, 8th System (=)

9. Chicago Cubs, 14th (+)
7-5, 59 RS, 60 RA, 11th System (-)

10. Boston Red Sox, 18th (+)
7-6, 55 RS, 59 RA, 1st System (+)

11. Tampa Bay Rays, 9th (-)
6-6, 63 RS, 49 RA, 3rd System (-)

12. Toronto Blue Jays, 5th (-)
7-5, 62 RS, 45 RA, 25th System (-)

13. Pittsburgh Pirates, 24th (+)
6-6, 63 RS, 65 RA, 18th System (+)

14. Atlanta Braves, 15th (+)
5-7, 67 RS, 52 RA, 5th System (=)

15. Cincinnati Reds, 12th (-)
6-7, 52 RS, 51 RA, 6th System (+)

16. Florida Marlins, 19th (+)
7-5, 56 RS, 70 RA, 15th System (+)

17. New York Yankees, 17th (=)
6-7, 43 RS, 52 RA, 9th System (-)

18. New York Mets, 20th (+)
5-6, 58 RS, 47 RA, 28th System (-)

19. San Diego Padres, 10th (-)
7-6, 41 RS, 47 RA, 17th System (-)

20. Minnesota Twins, 25th (+)
6-6, 43 RS, 44 RA, 13th System (-)

21. Philadelphia Phillies, 23rd (+)
6-7, 59 RS, 62 RA, 22nd System (=)

22. Seattle Mariners, 26th (+)
6-7, 61 RS, 60 RA, 19th System (+)

23. Los Angeles Dodgers, 13th (-)
5-7, 47 RS, 43 RA, 12th System (-)

24. Texas Rangers, 11th (-)
5-7, 49 RS, 55 RA, 4th System (=)

25. Colorado Rockies, 28th (+)
5-7, 46 RS, 65 RA, 7th System (+)

26. Cleveland Indians, 21st (-)
5-7, 54 RS, 60 RA, 20th System (-)

27. San Francisco Giants, 29th (+)
5-8, 41 RS, 65 RA, 16th System (-)

28. Houston Astros, 27th (-)
5-8, 53 RS, 55 RA, 30th System (=)

29. Washington Nationals, 22nd (-)
4-9, 51 RS, 70 RA, 14th System (-)

30. Detroit Tigers, 30th (=)
2-10, 33 RS, 78 RA, 27th System (+)

Breakdown
Based off what we’ve seen, the Diamondbacks are the best team in the league. If you take their winning percentage over 162 games, they would win 112 games (tied with the Cardinals for most wins). This year, they are also scoring more than they are giving up, something they didn’t do last year. Their Pythagorean Record over 162 games would be 117-45, better than their actual record. I know they’ll hit some cold streaks, but if they continue to score they’ll run away with the West.

The Athletics made the biggest jump last week; they moved up 14 spots. On the flip side, the Rangers dropped the most, losing 13 spots in the rankings.

The Braves, Mets, Rays, and Dodgers should all have 2 more wins than they really do; they also should have winning records.

The Marlins are the team winning more than they should for the second week in a row, along with the Giants. Both have picked up 2 additional wins.

[To figure the pythagorean record, ask me in the comments or use this formula:
(RS^2)/(RS^2 + RA^2)]

I’m going to be keeping graphs for each team to show where they move each week. I’ll hopefully will start linking those up each week.

I’ll be back next Tuesday with the updated rankings.