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Power Rankings: Quick Hits Edition
(Through Thursday’s games)

1. Detroit Tigers – 79 pts (30 Record, 30 Pythagorean, 19 Minors)
2. Minnesota Twins – 76 pts (26 R, 26 P, 24 M)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers – 73 pts (21 R, 24 P, 28 M)
4. Chicago White Sox – 71 pts (27 R, 27 P, 17 M)
5. New York Yankees – 68 pts (28 R, 28 P, 12 M)
6. Boston Red Sox – 68 pts (25 R, 25 P, 18 M)
7. Los Angeles Angels – 67 pts (20 R, 20 P, 27 M)
8. New York Mets – 66 pts (29 R, 29 P, 8 M)
9. Arizona Diamondbacks – 60 pts (17 R, 13 P, 30 M)
10. Cleveland Indians – 57 pts (5 R, 23 P, 29 M)
11. St. Louis Cardinals – 56 pts (24 R, 19 P, 13 M)
12. Colorado Rockies – 53 pts (12 R, 18 P, 23 M)
13. Milwaukee Brewers – 51 pts (19 R, 6 P, 26 M)
14. Houston Astros – 50 pts (14 R, 14 P, 22 M)
15. Toronto Blue Jays – 49 pts (22 R, 22 P, 5 M)
16. Texas Rangers – 46 pts (16 R, 21 P, 9 M)
17. Florida Marlins – 39 pts (9 R, 9 P, 21 M)
18. Atlanta Braves – 39 pts (8 R, 16 P, 15 M)
19. Oakland Athletics – 38 pts (23 R, 12 P, 3 M)
20. Seattle Mariners – 36 pts (15 R, 17 P, 4 M)
21. San Diego Padres – 34 pts (18 R, 15 P, 1 M)
22. Philadelphia Phillies – 34 pts (13 R, 11 P, 10 M)
23. Cincinnati Reds – 33 pts (19 R, 8 P, 6 M)
24. Baltimore Orioles – 32 pts (7 R, 5 P, 20 M)
25. Tampa Bay Devil Rays – 30 pts (3 R, 2 P, 25 M)
26. San Francisco Giants – 28 pts (11 R, 10 P, 7 M)
27. Chicago Cubs – 23 pts (4 R, 3 P, 16 M)
28. Pittsburgh Pirates – 17 pts (2 R, 4 P, 11 M)
29. Kansas City Royals – 16 pts (1 R, 1 P, 14 M)
30. Washington Nationals – 15 pts (6 R, 7 P, 2 M)

Power Ranking Notes
The Dodgers little winning streak helped them shoot up the rankings, while the Reds low scoring games have them falling (but they are still in the pennant race)…The Athletics and the Brewers are the highest over achieving teams listed; both have 8 wins more than they should according to the Pythagorean Theory…The Indians are the biggest under achievers; they should have 17 more wins based off their run differential…Arizona will have some good teams for the next few years; their system is ranked the highest because of strong seasons from Stephen Drew (who is now the big league team), Carlos Quentin (also called up), Justin Upton, Micah Owing, Chris Young, and Miguel Montero…

Power Ranking Reasoning
I wanted to explain the importance of using a minor league system ranking in the power rankings. First off, at this point in the season, if an important player goes down, can he be replaced? If David Wright were to suffer a season ending injury, do the Mets have someone to replace him? They don’t, and that’s why they rank so low. Secondly, it only accounts for a third of the total points in the rankings. If a team is doing well enough, a low minor score won’t hurt them (again, look at the Mets). Lastly, most casual fans don’t know much about what their team has in the minors. This is a good way to see how they rank compared to the rest of the league.

A Request to Readers
I’m starting a project where I’ll be looking at what it takes to have a hall of fame career stats wise. I’m looking to get a few names of some players that our readers think deserve to go in. That Bootleg Guy had a nice little feature on his opinions of some current players, but I can’t find it to link it. The idea for this came from some co-workers who believe without a doubt that Jim Edmonds is a HOF caliber player. E-mail me with who you thing should be in.

Finding the Pulse
Neil picks his preseason Heisman hopefuls.
Patrick finally called me (and Michaelangelo).
Murtz has special tennis coverage.
Tim joins Jim on the Marvel Handbook
Grut is one of the funniest guys on the site.