Sorry guys, I missed last week, but I promise to make it up to you by posting a blog with the current Pythagorean Theorem rankings for the MLB.
So the the every present weekly question is... where should the Oakland Athletics be ranked in the Weekly MLB Power Rankings?
We are technically own the best record in the AL (by winning percentage), but are tied with the Boston Red Sox in terms of the Standings (that is, if we were to be in the same division we'd be tied for first with them), simply because they've played more games than us. So to start it off, I always have to ask... Who in the AL is better than the Athletics?
The only teams that really compare to the A's so far this season are the Red Sox and the Angels. The next tier down in the AL would include the Indians, White Sox and Rays, but they're not quite in the same class as the first three teams. Comparing runs scored to runs against the Athletics edge out the Red Sox while the Angels trail far behind. Also, this week Oakland went 4-2 (Orioles, Rangers) while Boston went 3-4 (Tigers, Twins) so we'll give the edge there to the A's as well, ranking them #1 in the AL, Red Sox #2, Angels #3. Due to standings, runs scored/against and the previous week's records we'll rank the next AL teams Rays, Indians, White Sox, Twins giving us...
- Athletics -- Pitching beats...
- Red Sox -- ...Hitting. Period.
- Angels -- And Oakland has even hit more than LA too.
- Rays -- Riding 5 game win streak against Toronto, LA, New York
- Indians -- 5-2 Last week
- White Sox -- Buoyed by high runs scored to runs against ratio
- Twins -- Took a series from Boston, dropped one to Chicago
- Yankees -- Merely playing .500 ball, I don't care about the names they have or how much they pay them
- Blue Jays
- Rangers
- Orioles
- Royals
- Tigers
- Mariners
So that's how I shake down the AL. It's late and I'm tired, so I'll be quick with the NL... The top tier of the NL includes the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Cubs, Cardinals, Braves and Marlins. I think only the Cubs are actually better than the Athletics due to the Diamondbacks recent slump. I include the Braves simply because they've had so many hard luck losses and they've played better than their record shows. The Astros could also be mentioned in that group because of their recent performance.
In closing, I think the A's should be ranked #2, behind the Cubs and ahead of the Red Sox... and in searching the web... no one else agrees with me. Here's what Fox (#8), ESPN (#1) TSN (#6), and Sporting News (#2) have to say... what do you think?
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