It’s early in the season, but never too early for power rankings.
These aren’t your typical rankings; I look at record, run differential, and farm system. I weigh the scores on all 3; record makes up half the score, the run differential makes up a third of the score, and a sixth of the score is from farm system.
For Run Differential, I use the Pythagorean Theorem formulated by Bill James to see what a teams record should be; you can predict how well a team should be playing by this. In theory, a team should be in about the same range for their Pythagorean Record as their true record.
| Rank | Team | Record | Pythagorean | System | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Philadelphia Phillies | 30 | 30 | 3 | 51 |
| Defending NL Champs look like the could repeat. | ||||||
| 2 |  |
Minnesota Twins | 28 | 28 | 9 | 50 |
| The Twins were one of the favorites of the Central, and looking like it early on. | ||||||
| 3 |  |
San Francisco Giants | 29 | 29 | 1 | 49 |
| The Giants are off to a hot start; improved offense looks good right now. | ||||||
| 4 |  |
Toronto Blue Jays | 27 | 19 | 27 | 49 |
| A surprise start here; don’t expect it to last though. | ||||||
| 5 | |
STL Cardinals | 26 | 26 | 6 | 45 |
| The Redbirds look strong out of the gate; Brad Penny looks good after 2 starts. | ||||||
| 6 |  |
TB Rays | 24 | 21 | 22 | 45 |
| The Rays look solid early on; rank is high due to strong system. | ||||||
| 7 |  |
NY Yankees | 25 | 24 | 8 | 44 |
| The Defending Champs are in second, but should be in first by the end of the month. | ||||||
| 8 |  |
Oakland Athletics | 22 | 27 | 7 | 42 |
| Strong pitching and some decent hitting have the A’s looking good early on. | ||||||
| 9 |  |
Detroit Tigers | 23 | 16 | 24 | 42 |
| The Tigers should be there with the Twins when all is said and done; they’re off to a strong start | ||||||
| 10 |  |
Texas Rangers | 18 | 25 | 19 | 41 |
| Rangers are looking up at the A’s right now, but could move up after a couple of weeks. | ||||||
| 11 |  |
Florida Marlins | 21 | 15 | 29 | 41 |
| Another good start by the Marlins, but can they continue throughout the season? | ||||||
| 12 |  |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 20 | 22 | 14 | 39 |
| This is somewhat surprising, due to the many questions with the team, including ace Brandon Webb being on the DL | ||||||
| 13 |  |
Colorado Rockies | 19 | 23 | 13 | 39 |
| Tied with the D’Backs for second; have a better run differential though. | ||||||
| 14 |  |
Atlanta Braves | 17 | 18 | 21 | 36 |
| Atlanta has started with a winning record, due to the effect of rookie Jason Heyward. | ||||||
| 15 |  |
LA Dodgers | 15 | 17 | 23 | 34 |
| The Dodgers look lost; too many pitching questions. | ||||||
| 16 |  |
Boston Red Sox | 14 | 13 | 26 | 31 |
| A slow start for the BoSox, even with the better defense; I expect them to pick it up. | ||||||
| 17 |  |
Cincinnati Reds | 16 | 8 | 25 | 30 |
| Negative run differential with a .500 record; they should improve. | ||||||
| 18 |  |
KC Royals | 13 | 11 | 28 | 30 |
| A 4-5 start seems good for the Royals; they are on pace for 72 wins. | ||||||
| 19 |  |
Chicago Cubs | 11 | 9 | 18 | 23 |
| After the Cubs rough first series with the Braves, they’ve played OK. | ||||||
| 20 |  |
Chicago White Sox | 8 | 20 | 4 | 23 |
| Another under-achieving team; they should end up above the Royal. | ||||||
| 21 |  |
Milwaukee Brewers | 12 | 10 | 10 | 22 |
| The Brewers pitching looks suspect, like many predicted; unfortunately one culprit is ace Yovani Gallardo. | ||||||
| 22 |  |
NY Mets | 6 | 14 | 17 | 21 |
| Is John Maine really as bad as he’s pitching? The team is under-achieving at this point | ||||||
| 23 |  |
Cleveland Indians | 4 | 7 | 30 | 19 |
| The Tribe is living down to potential at this point. | ||||||
| 24 |  |
Washington Nationals | 10 | 5 | 15 | 18 |
| 5th worst run differential in baseball; on pace for 115 losses. | ||||||
| 25 |  |
San Diego Padres | 5 | 12 | 16 | 18 |
| The Padres are almost neutral in run differential; if they keep it up, they could finish close to .500. | ||||||
| 26 |  |
Seattle Mariners | 7 | 6 | 20 | 18 |
| The Mariners are hurting without Cliff Lee; they’d probably be hurting with him too. | ||||||
| 27 |  |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 9 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| No real surprise here, as they are working on building a system like the other successful small market clubs. | ||||||
| 28 |  |
LA Angels | 3 | 3 | 11 | 9 |
| Many predicted their downfall, but not to this degree. | ||||||
| 29 |  |
Houston Astros | 2 | 1 | 12 | 7 |
| Last team to win a game in the majors; they look pretty lost. | ||||||
| 30 |  |
Baltimore Orioles | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| A horrible start for the O’s; may have closer issues with Mike Gonzalez. | ||||||
