Season 19 Final Regular Season Power Rankings

Leon Jackson - Senior Writer - Cobbfather Post Gazette

The regular season is in the books for Season 19, and it's time to look at where teams stand in the rankings heading into the playoffs.  Yet again, there is a new #1, as one team stood clearly above the rest after a tremendous last quarter of the season.  Buffalo is the fifth different #1 team this season, as they dominated the stretch run going 31-10.  They move up from #2 to claim the top spot.  The league's only other 100 win team, Pittsburgh comes in at #2.  Heading into the playoffs, it seems it's still anyone's for the taking, as the top teams have all been bunched up, with five different number 1's.  It's going to be an exciting post-season for sure!  Here are the final rankings for Season 19.

	Team	W	L	PREV	Comments
1	Buffalo	105	57	2	Established as league's top team with great stretch run
2	Pittsburgh	102	60	5	Also had a great stretch run, pitching looking good
3	Dover	96	66	8	Played great all around the last quarter to get a wild card
4	Vancouver	94	68	3	Pitching stepped it up down the stretch
5	Little Rock	92	70	4	#3 NL seed, numbers say they are even better
6	Boston	93	69	14	Great stretch run thanks to greatly improved pitching
7	Durham	93	69	12	Also great stretch run, could be a factor in the AL playoffs
8	El Paso	87	75	10	Played well enough to earn the 2nd NL wild card
9	Kansas City	96	66	6	Average down the stretch, but earned #1 AL seed
10	Tampa Bay	88	74	1	No Haselman in the playoffs?  Offense slowed at the end
11	Detroit	85	77	13	Solid all year, it's a shame they won't be in the playoffs
12	Colorado Springs	91	71	7	Under .500 the last quarter, but #6 seed in the AL
13	Burlington	84	78	17	Nice season all around, just missed playoffs
14	Los Angeles	85	77	16	If the offense improves next season, look out
15	Cleveland	87	75	18	Pitching hurts their ranking, but did win the division
16	Minnesota	86	76	11	Good season to build on here
17	Boise	87	75	9	They were awful the last 41, but managed to win division
18	Austin	78	84	19	Offense never got it together
19	St. Louis	75	87	24	Over .500 down the stretch is a good sign
20	Omaha	78	84	23	Offense needs some help, but pitching is solid
21	Syracuse	75	87	15	Rough stretch run due to lack of offense
22	Arizona	74	88	21	Offense is there, but could use some better pitching
23	Atlanta	69	93	25	Still in rebuilding mode, should improve soon
24	New York (NL)	74	88	22	Average across the board, needs a few tweaks.
25	Charlotte	72	90	28	Played decent down the stretch, over .500
26	Seattle	68	94	31	Great finish after an awful first three quarters
27	New York (AL)	73	89	20	Pitching got lit up towards the end
28	Honolulu	75	87	26	Poor stretch run, the pitching stats weren't good
29	Florida	67	95	30	Did finish over .500 the last quarter, a good sign
30	Texas	65	97	27	Forgettable last 41 games, looking towards next season
31	Washington	50	112	32	Bad down the stretch, needs some help in the field
32	Colorado	48	114	29	Major help needed with the pitching staff

Season 19 - 3rd Quarter Power Rankings

Leon Jackson - Senior Writer - Cobbfather Post Gazette

It's hard to believe that the season is 3/4 of the way done, and that means another edition of the power rankings.  Once again there is movement at the top, as 3 teams managed to leapfrog the entire top 7 to finish as the top 3.  Interestingly enough, #1-7 from the last rankings placed #4-10 in this edition, in a slightly different order.  The top 6 were extremely close in this edition, and it's hard to say that anyone of them stands out over the rest, but a top team must be named, and there is a yet another new #1 team.   Struggling mightily in the 2nd quarter, falling under .500, things looked down for Tampa Bay, but you're never out of it when you have James Haselman and a great supporting cast.   With the best record in the world over the last 40, and ranking amongst the top of the league in most major categories, Tampa Bay has jumped from #18 all the way up to #1.  Also making impressive jumps were the league's top team in pitching, Buffalo, going from #10 to #2, and preseason #1 Vancouver is back in the game coming in at #3 up from #12.  Here are the complete power ranking through three quarters of the season!

	Team	W	L	PREV	Comments
1	Tampa Bay	68	53	18	On fire over the last 40, major improvement all-around
2	Buffalo	74	47	10	#1 in pitching, and offense has been playing better
3	Vancouver	71	50	12	Substantially better pitching over the last 40
4	Little Rock	69	52	3	Numbers still look great, but pitching has fallen off a bit
5	Pittsburgh	73	48	1	Still playing well, but numbers down a bit the last 40
6	Kansas City	75	46	2	Slight decline in offense, but still great overall
7	Colorado Springs	71	50	4	Mediocre 3rd quarter, but a solid club
8	Dover	71	50	6	Offense is rolling, pitching is just ok.
9	Boise	71	50	5	Pitching took a bit of a hit the last 40, but still solid
10	El Paso	64	57	7	Mediocre record the last 40 bumps them down a few
11	Minnesota	66	55	13	Played well in the 3rd quarter, offense was better
12	Durham	69	52	16	Nice record the last 40, and pitching was a bit better
13	Detroit	62	59	14	Good numbers across the board, but not elite.
14	Boston	66	55	8	Offense has been killing it, pitching has been killing them
15	Syracuse	59	62	22	Saw a nice improvement in pitching the last 40
16	Los Angeles	62	59	20	Elite pitching staff, but can't get anything going on offense
17	Burlington	61	60	9	Offense dropped off significantly over the last 40
18	Cleveland	65	56	11	Pitching is rough, and under .500 the last 40
19	Austin	59	62	15	Not getting much production on offense.
20	New York (AL)	57	64	21	Numbers have been pretty steady here
21	Arizona	58	63	19	Pitching improved some, which is a good sign
22	New York (NL)	56	65	29	Over .500 the last 40, pitching majorly improved
23	Omaha	58	63	17	Rough 3rd quarter, offense is really struggling
24	St. Louis	54	67	24	Held steady at 24, even though numbers were down
25	Atlanta	50	71	25	Not much change here from last quarter
26	Honolulu	59	62	26	Offense seems to be a bit of a question mark here
27	Texas	51	70	23	Numbers are down a bit the last quarter
28	Charlotte	51	70	27	Pitching was roughed up during the 3rd quarter
29	Colorado	37	84	31	Pitching is a major problem here.
30	Florida	46	75	32	Offense is not doing anything at all
31	Seattle	46	75	28	Would expect better pitching in their park
32	Washington	37	84	30	Pitching has been shaky, and last in fielding isn't helping

Season 19 All-Star Coverage

Leon Jackson - Senior Writer - Cobbfather Post Gazette

Season 19's All-Star Game is upon us, and it's time to see who has made this season's All-Star squads!  In the American League, the team is highlighted by hurlers James Haselman and Harry Mieses each making their 8th All-Star appearance. Yamid Montanez is making his 7th All-Star appearance this season, which automatically qualifies him for the Hall of Fame ballot.

In the NL, it's slugger Andres Candelaria is the leader in appearances on the squad this season making his 7th, which again, automatically qualifies him for the Hall of Fame ballot.

The teams with the most all-stars were Arizona and Vancouver in the AL with 5 each, and Little Rock in the NL with 5.   Without further adieu, here's the complete All-Star rosters for Season 19!

AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STARS
STARTERS

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
C	Welington Aquino	Colorado Springs	1st
1B	Eugene Brantley	Tampa Bay	4th
2B	Dustan Jackson	Kansas City	2nd
3B	Pepe Guillen	Arizona	2nd
SS	Benito Beltre	Vancouver	1st
LF	Chris Kile	Cleveland	3rd
CF	Morgan Cerda	Atlanta	1st
RF	Clarence Loney	Cleveland	6th
DH	Joey Ryan	Kansas City	1st

PITCHERS AND RESERVES

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
P	Allen Cox	Kansas City	5th
P	James Haselman	Tampa Bay	8th
P	Ellie Jenkins	Boston	1st
P	Trevor McQuillan	New York	3rd
P	Cody Bonds	Colorado Springs	1st
P	Victor Almanzar	Boston	4th
P	Harry Mieses	Colorado Springs	8th
P	Lorenzo Gonzalez	Vancouver	6th
P	Anibal Batista	Arizona	1st
P	Brent Voyles	Arizona	2nd
P	Julio Sanchez	New York	3rd
P	Edgard Fernandez	Vancouver	3rd
P	Ralph Drew	Tampa Bay	1st
C	Elston Lloyd	Vancouver	6th
1B	Luis Posada	Arizona	1st
2B	Yamid Montanez	Boston	7th
3B	Roberto Bennett	Vancouver	4th
SS	Gorkys Benitez	Boston	2nd
LF	Crash Meacham	Atlanta	1st
CF	Dante Iwamura	Arizona	1st
RF	Shawon Stoops	Durham	6th

AL ALL-STARS BY TEAM

Arizona	5
Vancouver	5
Boston	4
Colorado Springs	3
Tampa Bay	3
Kansas City	3
Cleveland	2
Atlanta	2
New York	2
Durham	1

NATIONAL LEAGUE ALL-STARS
STARTERS

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
C	Mark Martin	Little Rock	5th
1B	Ray Rudolph	Little Rock	1st
2B	Calvin Decker	Little Rock	2nd
3B	Jose Pizzaro	El Paso	3rd
SS	Xavier Dean	Boise	2nd
LF	Andres Candelaria	Minnesota	7th
CF	Vic Gonzales	Dover	3rd
RF	Garrett Patrick	Dover	1st

PITCHERS AND RESERVES

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
P	Rodrigo Ontiveros	Boise	1st
P	Clarence Poole	El Paso	3rd
P	Lariel Perez	Buffalo	1st
P	Norman LaPorta	Austin	5th
P	Jung Hasegawa	Austin	6th
P	Eddie Allen	Boise	3rd
P	Andres Baez	Honolulu	1st
P	Daniel Haselman	Little Rock	2nd
P	Douglas Banks	Buffalo	1st
P	Tony Lopez	Los Angeles	5th
P	Dennis Saito	Omaha	1st
P	Marvin Walsh	Pittsburgh	2nd
P	Kid Torres	Dover	2nd
P	Rob Corbin	Pittsburgh	1st
C	Clyde Lowry	Pittsburgh	1st
1B	Rafael Mercedes	Minnesota	1st
2B	Hootie Cookson	Dover	1st
3B	Cap Rivera	Austin	2nd
SS	Gail Roberts	Texas	1st
LF	Howard Greer	Pittsburgh	3rd
CF	Hub Petrov	Buffalo	1st
RF	Carlos Trevino	Little Rock	1st

NL ALL-STARS BY TEAM

Little Rock	5
Dover	4
Pittsburgh	4
Austin	3
Boise	3
Buffalo	3
El Paso	2
Minnesota	2
Honolulu	1
Los Angeles	1
Texas	1

Season 19 Midseason Power Rankings

Leon Jackson - Senior Writer - Cobbfather Post Gazette

We're at the halfway point of Season 19, and it's time for another update to the power rankings.  There seems to be a lot of parity this season, no one team has stood out thus far.  The top 4 in this edition of the power rankings were neck and neck, and then there was a bit of a drop off.  Little Rock was the top team in the previous power rankings.  While their offense remains extremely dominant, they only went 22-19 since the quarter season rankings, which isn't enough to hold on to the top spot.  For the top spot, pitching has overtaken offense, and Pittsburgh and their dominant pitching staff is your new top team!  Here are the full rankings at the halfway point of Season 19.

	Team	W	L	PREV	Comments
1	Pittsburgh	49	32	4	Pitching is dominant, and offense is holding their own
2	Kansas City	50	31	12	Best record in the world in the last quarter
3	Little Rock	47	34	1	Best offense by far, but fell off a bit the last quarter
4	Colorado Springs	49	32	7	Good balance of pitching and offense
5	Boise	48	33	2	Still doing well, but pitching fell off a bit
6	Dover	48	33	8	Holding steady, hasn't been able to break out yet
7	El Paso	43	38	15	Pitching has really stepped it up in the last quarter
8	Boston	46	35	13	Nice run as of late, if pitching gets it together, look out
9	Burlington	43	38	21	Big jump here, numbers have greatly improved overall
10	Buffalo	47	34	5	Offense fell off a bit, but pitching is still dominant
11	Cleveland	46	35	10	Holding steady, great offense but pitching not good
12	Vancouver	45	36	9	Fantastic offense, but pitching not coming through
13	Minnesota	42	39	11	Fell off a bit, but numbers look good
14	Detroit	41	40	17	Pitching has been better as of late
15	Austin	41	40	26	Hugh improvement in pitching and offense is better too
16	Durham	45	36	6	Pitching actually held steady, offense dropped a bit
17	Omaha	42	39	19	Tremendous pitching, but offense is not producing
18	Tampa Bay	39	42	3	Horrible since last rankings, offense really took a dive
19	Arizona	38	43	24	Playing well in last 41, pitching really improved
20	Los Angeles	42	39	16	Strong pitching, but offense is pretty weak
21	New York (AL)	38	43	27	Nice improvement across the board since last rankings
22	Syracuse	38	43	14	Numbers steady, but bad last 41, tough luck?
23	Texas	36	45	31	Tremendous improvement, numbers improved massively
24	St. Louis	37	44	18	Pitching took a bit of a downturn since last rankings
25	Atlanta	34	47	20	Offense hasn't been producing as of late
26	Honolulu	42	39	23	Getting it done, but numbers seem low for the record
27	Charlotte	37	44	25	Improvement in pitching is a good sign
28	Seattle	31	50	32	Showing signs of life after horrendous start
29	New York (NL)	35	46	22	Really struggling as of late, especially pitching
30	Washington	24	57	29	Still underperfoming a bit, but pitching took a hit
31	Colorado	23	58	28	Their pitching is getting absolutely crushed
32	Florida	30	51	30	Numbers on offense are totally horrendous

Season 19 Quarter Season Power Rankings

Leon Jackson - Senior Writer - Cobbfather Post Gazette

A quarter of the season is over and it's time to update the power rankings.  There is a #1 has the defending champs Vancouver are a bit slow out of the gate, but still have a nice record.  But the new #1 is Little Rock whose stats across the board have been elite thus far.  The biggest leap up the rankings was made by Boise, who jumped from preseason #23 all the way up to #2.  Buffalo, Cleveland and Minnesota all made huge leaps as well.  Congrats on the great starts!   Here's the full ranking through the first quarter of the season.

	Team	W	L	PREV	Comments
1	Little Rock	25	15	7	Playing elite, #1 in offense and great pitching
2	Boise	25	15	23	What a jump!  Excellent start across the board!
3	Tampa Bay	24	16	2	Rock solid so far, as expected
4	Pittsburgh	25	15	4	Pitching has been incredibly solid so far
5	Buffalo	26	14	18	#1 in pitching, and offense is holding its weight
6	Durham	27	13	11	Best record, but pitching moves them down
7	Colorado Springs	26	14	3	Playing great, still amongst elite, # 3-7 is tight
8	Dover	26	14	10	Great offense, but pitching hasn't been great.
9	Vancouver	24	16	1	Not getting pitching so far, but offense is great.
10	Cleveland	23	17	21	Nice jump here, can the pitching hold up?
11	Minnesota	22	18	25	Big jump, and they may be underachieving!
12	Kansas City	24	16	5	Solid play across the board, but not elite
13	Boston	22	18	15	Decent numbers so far, can they do more?
14	Syracuse	21	19	12	Average across the board, do they have more?
15	El Paso	20	20	6	Numbers say they should improve
16	Los Angeles	22	18	9	Fantastic pitching, but offense is weak so far
17	Detroit	19	21	16	Underachieving a bit, will pitching improve?
18	St. Louis	18	22	8	Underachieving, but pitching is a good sign
19	Omaha	20	20	17	Great pitching, but offense not producing at all
20	Atlanta	17	23	22	Underachieving, but better pitching would help
21	Burlington	20	20	24	Nice start on offense, will pitching improve?
22	New York (NL)	20	20	13	Decent start, will the offense step it up?
23	Honolulu	21	19	31	Nice start, but they may be overachieving a bit
24	Arizona	14	26	20	Slugging well, but pitching is getting hammered
25	Charlotte	20	20	30	Overachieving some, but .500 start is good
26	Austin	16	24	14	Offense is slow out of the gate
27	New York (AL)	15	25	19	Underachieving a bit, could be tough sched
28	Colorado	12	28	27	Pitching is getting completely obliterated so far
29	Washington	9	31	26	In a tough division, numbers say they're better
30	Florida	15	25	32	Possibly the worst offense in the league so far
31	Texas	11	29	28	Pitching has been rough and the bats cold
32	Seattle	11	29	29	Rough start all around, particularly pitching

Season 19 Preseason Power Rankings

Leon Jackson - Senior Writer - Cobbfather Post Gazette

A new season is upon us, and we took a shot at ranking the team preseason.  Looks like it will be another great year in Cobbfather, good luck to all teams in the regular season.  Now, here's the preseason power rankings!

		Season 18
	Team	W	L	Comments
1	Vancouver	115	47	Look primed and ready for another title run
2	Tampa Bay	106	56	Not all about Haselman, offense is good too
3	Colorado Springs	104	58	2 time CY winner Mieses joins a great staff
4	Pittsburgh	103	59	Has reigning MVP and CY winners amongst others
5	Kansas City	95	67	This excellent roster now has an active owner!
6	El Paso	95	67	Last year's NL champs should be good again.
7	Little Rock	99	63	Well balanced team with a lot of power
8	St. Louis	78	84	Offense is great, just need pitching to step up
9	Los Angeles	88	74	Great pitching, but do they have enough on offense?
10	Dover	77	85	Improved alot through top FA Kondou and via trades
11	Durham	79	83	Spent $196 mil on 2 top SP's this offseason.
12	Syracuse	86	76	Nice power on offense, will pitching improve?
13	New York (NL)	83	79	Adding Moreno is a boost to the offense.
14	Austin	92	70	Norman LaPorta should put them in contention again
15	Boston	77	85	Signed top SP FA Almanzar, is it enough to contend?
16	Detroit	84	78	Losing Almanzar hurts, but still good pieces here
17	Omaha	89	73	Needs offense to improve, great pitching
18	Buffalo	88	74	Nice pitching, but offense is a question mark.
19	New York (AL)	84	78	Pitching is pretty solid, will the offense produce?
20	Arizona	85	77	Has a few stars, is the supporting cast good enough?
21	Cleveland	83	79	Has some great talent on offense, will pitching hold up?
22	Atlanta	70	92	Has some good minors talent, will they get the call?
23	Boise	75	87	Offense has good power, can they take the next step?
24	Burlington	56	106	Picked up some nice free agents, should be improved
25	Minnesota	73	89	Pitching is decent, offense could use a little help
26	Washington	71	91	Team is coming along, but need a few more pieces
27	Colorado	80	82	Got hit hard with departing free agents
28	Texas	62	100	Coming along, but still rebuilding
29	Seattle	57	105	Still looks to be a few players away.
30	Charlotte	50	112	Not as bad as their record last year, should improve
31	Honolulu	52	110	Rebuild still ongoing
32	Florida	56	106	Will their prospects hit the bigs anytime soon?