Friday, April 26, 2013

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