Power Rankings-April 1st, 2008

The rankings are right out of the game. The commentary is all me.

1. Minnesota Twins (Probably the most dominant lineup in baseball)

2. Chicago Cubs (Forget it. Twins-Cubs for the next 3 World Series)

3. New York Yankees (The Yanks are OLD (31.4) They won't be upset yet, but look out in a couple years)

4. Florida Marlins (If it weren't for the Cubs rotation it would be Twins-Marlins for the next 5 years)

5. St. Louis Cardinals (Big moves have made the central a little more interesting)

6. New York Mets (The GM claims they're rebuilding. Doesn't mean they still won't challenge for the division title)

7. Detroit Tigers (Great rotation, but to me the lineup looks a little shaky. Still, probably wild card if they can't sneak the plague in the twins locker room)

8. Texas Rangers (Seattle and the Angels could surprise, but the Rangers are still the team to beat out west)

9. Arizona Diamondbacks (The pitching staff might have to overacheive to snatch the title from the Dodgers)

10. Baltimore Orioles (Pitching is solid, but after Bay and Duncan who is going to hit? And rumour is Duncan won't be around long)

11. Boston Red Sox (Underacheivers for two straight seasons, yet expectations are always high in Boston. Lots of talent, but not much to show for it. And it's a dogfight to see who can catch Detroit for the wild card)

12 (tie). Tampa Bay Devil Rays (I was surprised to see the Rays ranked so high with such an inexperienced bullpen and not that much hitting after Jacobs. Look for them to drop off if their starters can't hack it.)

12 (tie). Atlanta Braves (It's easy to fall way behind Florida and New York when your starting pitching is so young. Still, the Braves can certainly put runs on the board. It likely won't be enough.)

14. Houston Astros (Berkman, Scott and Lane will continue to combine for large amounts of homers. And if they do it at the right time Roy Oswalt could win 18+ games.)

15. Los Angeles Dodgers (In Spite of such a low ranking it will be very hard for anyone to upset the Dodgers atop the NL West. Nigh on impossible in fact. It's the Ichiro effect!)

16. Seattle Mariners (Second in the West twice in a row, the Mariners can only bounce back after a poor 74-88 showing last year. Don't be surprised if they sneak up on the Rangers.)

17. Toronto Blue Jays (In the crap shoot that is the AL East, anyone can finish second and challenge Detroit for the wildcard spot. Frankly I'm insulted to be ranked so low. I will be sending a letter of complaint to the author of this list. The rat.)

18. Los Angeles Angels (With a questionable bullpen and a underacheiving bunch of starters LA will have to work hard to slide past Seattle and Texas, but stranger things have happened.)

19. San Francisco Giants (Atkins and Dunn will continue to hit. Zito and Morris will continue to win. But four players do not a team make.)

20. Milwaukee Brewers (Alot of teams are stuck trying to catch the top two in the division. The Brewers have alot to look forwards to when they see their pitching staff, but the future isn't here yet.)

21. Cincinnati Reds (Seems like a high ranking for the Reds who have a couple bats but not much else.)

22. Cleveland Indians (It's a long way up to catch the Twins and Tigers. Cleveland has some great pitching but that's just not enough to catch to of baseball's premier teams.)

23. Oakland Athletics (The A's have likely the top three pitchers in the AL West, and with a little management it might be them challenging Texas. It's a shame really.)

24. Chicago White Sox (It should be interesting to see who finishes third in the AL Central. It will certainly be a close race.)

25. Kansas City Royals (I can't help but feel bad for KC, the team for whom nothing seems to go right.)

26. San Diego Padres (With a little pitching the Padres would make it a three way race for the division title. The lineup is already pretty darn good, but the pitching will continue to let them down.)

27 (tie). Philadelphia Phillies (Philly finished third in the division last year, but this time it looks like they'll be overtaken by Atlanta for that honour.)

27 (tie). Colorado Rockies (The middle of the orders seems to be well established, but there is alot of work to do. Rockies fans may have to wait a couple years to see real improvements.)

29. Washington Nationals (Another big year from both Weeks and Hunter could propel the Nationals past Philadelphia if they get some help from the pitching.)

30. Pittsburgh Pirates (I don't think Pitt deserves the bottom rung, the lineup seems to be too good for it. Still, they will have to get strong performances from the pitching staff if they want to move up, which didn't happen last year.)

I see the Dodgers were ranked twice......


Haha.. yeah I'm rebuilding...

Quote :

I see the Dodgers were ranked twice......

Damn, someone kidnapped the Angels!

Let this be a lesson to the other LA franchise....YOU SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH ANAHEIM!


Fixed.

How do you view this in the game? Is it one of the options in the standings? I still think STL will win the central.

Quote :

Is it one of the options in the standings?

Yes.

Yea I don't think PIT deserves the last spot either. I think I'm in a far worse spot financially than I am in terms of talent. I figure I can get this team out of debt in 4 seasons. Hopefully by then I'll have built a decent farm system and maybe even be able to sign a couple free agents and begin to be competitive.

9th. Not bad.

But how are the Brewers at 20. Their team sucks.