Monday, July 27, 2009

Season 5 Power Rankings - End of Regular Season

Chuckles McGee - Cobbfather Post Gazette

It's time for the final edition of the power rankings for Season 5. Down the stretch, the top teams really showed why they are there, for the most part. Leading the way was #1 Tampa Bay, holding on to the top spot with a 10-2 record down the stretch. #2 Jackson (10-2), #3 Sacramento (10-2) and #4 Vancouver (11-1) all jumped up one spot with impressive stretch runs. #5 Rochester faltered in their last 12, falling 3 spots in the final poll. Atlanta, New York (NL), San Francisco, Burlington and Memphis round out the final Top 10.

This being the end of the regular season, it's good time to go back and compare the final rankings with the preseason predictions. Here are the top five that most outperformed their predictions, the top five that most underperformed, and those that finished where they started.

Most Improved Teams from the Preseason Rankings: #23 Little Rock (+9, preseason #32), #8 San Francisco (+8, preseason #16), #11 Honolulu (+8, preseason #19), #15 Hartford (+7, preseason #22), #4 Vancouver (+6, preseason #10), #19 Buffalo (+6, preseason #25)

Most Decline from the Preseason Rankings: #27 Syracuse (-13, preseason #14), #13 New York Pride of the Yankees (-9, preseason #4), #12 Florida (-9, preseason #3), #24 Oakland (-7, preseason #17), #21 St. Louis (-6, preseason #15)

Finished Where they Started: #2 Jackson, #6 Atlanta, #30 Ottawa

Interesting to see those preseason comparisons, indeed.

And now the complete last edition of the Power Rankings for Season 5!!


Rank

Team

Record

Prev

1

Tampa Bay

112-50

1

2

Jackson

103-59

3

3

Sacramento
102-60

4

4

Vancouver

102-605

5

Rochester

98-64

2

6

Atlanta

96-66

6

7

New York (NL)

92-70

9

8

San Francisco
91-7110

9

Burlington

92-70

7

10

Memphis

91-71
8

11

Honolulu

87-75

13

12

Florida

86-76

14

13

New York (AL)

85-77

15

14

Dover

86-76

11

15

Hartford

84-78

16

16

Austin

84-78

12

17

Boston

83-79

17

18

San Juan

82-80

19

19

Buffalo

80-82

18

20

Cleveland

76-86

20

21

St. Louis

71-91

21

22

Detroit

70-92

22

23

Little Rock

69-93

26

24

Oakland

69-93

23

25

Charleston

69-93

25

26

Cheyenne

66-96

24

27

Syracuse

64-98

29

28

Durham
65-97

28

29

Wichita
64-98

27

30

Ottawa

59-103

31

31

Kansas City

59-103

30

32

Los Angeles

55-107

32


That's it for the Power Rankings for Season 5, good luck to the playoff teams!