IP Sports Baseball Rankings: 05/07/2010

The top hasn’t changed, but there were a couple of big jumpers this week…

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	Last Week
1		TB Rays	30	30	28	59	1
		They’re playing like they did 2 years ago, only better.
2		NY Yankees	29	29	10	52	2
		When the Rays take a step forward, the Yankees have too.
3		Minnesota Twins	28	27	14	51	5
		It looks like the Twins could run away with the division, if the season ended soon. They still have a long way to go though.
4		San Francisco Giants	27	28	1	46	7
		Even without top prospect Buster Posey in the major yet, this team looks strong early on.
5		Toronto Blue Jays	23	21	24	45	17
		The Jays must have missed the memo that they weren’t supposed to be good this year.
6		STL Cardinals	26	26	3	44	3
		They looked flat as they got spanked by the Phillies; they’ll need to start beating better competition.
7		San Diego Padres	24	25	9	44	4
		Still playing strong, but coming back to the pack; if they are falling off already, this could be a long season.
8		Philadelphia Phillies	25	24	6	43	9
		There is very little to worry about with this team, although closer is still a concern.
9		Detroit Tigers	22	18	20	41	8
		Mourning one of the best announcers hasn’t stopped this team from playing decent ball.
10		NY Mets	21	22	11	39	6
		Jerry Manual is hoping that this team continues to improve; his job is on the line.
11		Texas Rangers	19	20	16	38	20
		Was there any doubt about Vladimir Guererro’s performance in his favorite ballpark? He looks like he’s in Montreal again.
12		Boston Red Sox	17	16	29	37	15
		Looking better, but not the dominate team everyone expected.
13		Oakland Athletics	18	19	13	35	10
		Current slide coincides with Brett Anderson’s DL stint – coincidence?
14		Washington Nationals	20	10	18	33	14
		Washington is still looking strong; Livan Hernandez is pitching like he was 10 years ago.
15		Colorado Rockies	16	23	4	33	12
		If the Rockies are in their annual slow start, they should be kicking it into gear in the next month or so.
16		Florida Marlins	13	17	25	33	11
		Reigning ROY Chris Coghlan has lost his bat; they think it’s with Cameron Maybin’s.
17		Cincinnati Reds	15	7	26	28	19
		When your best pitcher was in college a year ago, you need to be worried; I could see Chapman getting the call soon.
18		Chicago Cubs	11	13	21	27	21
		Top Prospect Starlin Castro has been called up to try to shake things up.
19		Arizona Diamondbacks	14	15	5	26	16
		On paper, this should be a better team; when you have to rely on Rodrigo Lopez and Kris Benson, you have issues.
20		Atlanta Braves	9	12	23	25	26
		The Braves aren’t giving up a ton of run, but they aren’t scoring them either.
21		Milwaukee Brewers	10	14	7	22	24
		Trevor Hoffman’s age has finally caught up with him; they don’t really have a fallback option either.
22		LA Dodgers	8	11	19	22	23
		I think if you can pitch right now, the Dodgers would consider you.
23		KC Royals	4	6	30	18	25
		They gain their points from a strong farm system; too bad most of those guys won’t help this year.
24		Pittsburgh Pirates	12	1	15	18	28
		While still being out scored by the opposition, they keep eeking out some wins.
25		Seattle Mariners	5	8	22	18	13
		Milton Bradley needs as much help as this team does; DH should be a priority.
26		Cleveland Indians	3	4	27	15	22
		Lou Marson isn’t cutting it behind the plate, so Carlos Santana will probably get the call soon.
27		Chicago White Sox	7	9	2	14	27
		A.J. Pierzynski could be dealt, since he gains 10 and 5 no trade rights next month; Tyler Flowers is ready to replace him.
28		LA Angels	6	5	12	13	18
		Sure, the Angels lost some key pieces, but no one expected this.
29		Houston Astros	2	2	17	9	29
		Oswalt and Berkman are acknowledging that they could be moving out of Houston soon.
30		Baltimore Orioles	1	3	8	6	30
		Look for all veterans to be on the market soon, as re-building is about to start.