Season 20 Power Rankings #3

There's just 40 games to go in Season 20 and it's time to see how things are shaking out with another edition of the Power Rankings.  Dover is firmly entrenched as the world's top team, continuing their stellar play this season.  Little Rock stays at #2 with impressive numbers, despite falling off a bit in the win column.  Their numbers say they should have a better record.  Boston has the best record since the last rankings and comes in at #4, although their pitching numbers are still a cause for concern.  Here's the full rankings, good luck to all down the stretch!

	Team	W	L	PREV	Comments
1	Dover	83	39	1	Continues to roll, offense is getting even better
2	Little Rock	72	50	2	Mediocre as of late, but still have the numbers to stay #2
3	Tampa Bay	74	48	5	Offense has really found its groove as of late
4	Boston	73	49	9	On a roll with great offense, but pitching still not great
5	Texas	74	48	6	Pitching has improved here, and are in the thick of things
6	Pittsburgh	77	45	11	Pitching good as always, and offense improved
7	Colorado Springs	71	51	3	Only .500 since last rankings, but hanging in there
8	Buffalo	69	53	4	Not great as of late, but pitching is still amongst the best
9	St. Louis	65	57	22	Have really come around, with all numbers improving
10	Los Angeles	65	57	14	Pitching is out of this world, and offense improving some
11	Vancouver	64	58	8	Pitching has come around, but bats in a bit of a slump
12	Atlanta	67	55	12	Offensive resurgence is keeping them in playoff race
13	Minnesota	68	54	10	Not playing great as of late, but team has a lot of talent
14	Detroit	60	62	7	Rough going since the last rankings all around
15	Kansas City	65	57	15	Holding steady, but pitching has been very bad this season
16	Omaha	62	60	19	Saw some improvement recently, especially on offense
17	Boise	62	60	17	Middle of the pack across the board this season
18	Charlotte	62	60	20	Playing decent, with a little more offense, they'll be solid
19	Helena	55	67	13	Pitching not great, and big bats have slumped lately
20	Austin	58	64	16	Fell off a bit as of late, offense is just not there
21	Philadelphia	55	67	28	Playing better as of late, winning record since last rankings
22	El Paso	52	70	24	Pitching has improved for this squad as of late
23	Syracuse	57	65	25	Pretty average across the board this season
24	New York	55	67	21	Numbers fell off across the board here since last rankings
25	Burlington	53	69	23	Numbers say their record should be better this season
26	Cleveland	59	63	18	Pitching is getting lit up recently, but offense is good
27	Colorado	48	74	29	Offense keeps them in games, despite horrid pitching
28	Durham	53	69	26	The wheels have fallen off this season, should be better
29	Honolulu	52	70	27	Pitching has improved as of late, and offense is not bad
30	Florida	44	78	31	Pitching is getting better, but offense struggling
31	Seattle	42	80	30	Horrible as of late, basically getting no offense at all
32	Washington	36	86	32	Holding steady all season here, that says a lot.

Season 20 All Star Coverage

The Season 20 All Star Game is upon us, coincidentally on the same day as the MLB All Star Game.  The AL team is led by 5 Colorado Springs players and 4 Tampa Bay players.   One of those Tampa Bay players being James Haselman who is making his 9th consecutive All Star appearance to start his career.  Amazing!  Honorable mention goes to Yamid Montanez, who is making his 8th appearance and Elston Lloyd, who is making his 7th.  13 players on the AL squad are making their first All Star appearance.

On the NL side, the team is led by 6 players from the top team in the most recent rankings, Dover, which seems appropriate.  5 players from Minnesota made it, followed by Little Rock with 4.  Andres Candelaria has the most appearances for this season's NL squad, this being his 8th. Jung Hasegawa and Al James are making their 7th appearances.  12 players on the NL squad are making their first appearance.

Here are the complete rosters, although home field in the World Series is not on the line, it should still be a great game!

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Starters

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
C	Vic Martinez	Burlington	2nd
1B	Eugene Brantley	Tampa Bay	5th
2B	Gerald Jacobsen	Tampa Bay	1st
3B	Roberto Bennett	Vancouver	5th
SS	Benito Beltre	Vancouver	2nd
LF	Donaldo Javier	New York	1st
CF	Aaron Kennedy	Boston	2nd
RF	John Pickett	Helena	1st
DH	Joey Ryan	Kansas City	2nd

Pitchers

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
P	James Haselman	Tampa Bay	9th
P	Arthur Camilli	Colorado Springs	6th
P	Allen Cox	Kansas City	6th
P	Paulie Flynn	Atlanta	1st
P	Ned Meyers	Colorado Springs	4th
P	Thomas Hutchinson	Atlanta	1st
P	Walt White	Charlotte	1st
P	Alex Satou	Colorado Springs	2nd
P	Jonathan Lawton	Cleveland	1st
P	Jo-jo Strickland	Cleveland	1st
P	Allie Dunham	St. Louis	1st
P	Hipolito Estrada	Tampa Bay	2nd
P	Juan Belliard	St. Louis	1st

Reserves

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
C	Elston Lloyd	Vancouver	7th
1B	Luis Alarcon	Colorado Springs	2nd
2B	Yamid Montanez	Boston	8th
3B	Carlos James	Kansas City	3rd
SS	Edgar Castro	Colorado	2nd
LF	Theo Waters	Charlotte	1st
CF	Vic Crowe	Colorado Springs	1st
RF	Lastings Morris	Colorado	1st

AL All Stars by Team

Colorado Springs	5
Tampa Bay	4
Kansas City	3
Vancouver	3
Atlanta	2
Boston	2
Charlotte	2
Cleveland	2
Colorado	2
St. Louis	2
Burlington	1
Helena	1
New York	1

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Starters

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
C	Stan Dickens	Dover	2nd
1B	Pascual Hernandez	Buffalo	2nd
2B	Calvin Decker	Little Rock	3rd
3B	Pepe Guillen	Minnesota	3rd
SS	Albert Pineda	Dover	4th
LF	Andres Candelaria	Minnesota	8th
CF	Andrew Roberts	Minnesota	1st
RF	Cap Rivera	Syracuse	3rd

Pitchers

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
P	Marvin Walsh	Pittsburgh	3rd
P	Don Monahan	Dover	1st
P	Willie Arredondo	Dover	1st
P	Pablo Gandarillas	Syracuse	3rd
P	Vicente Villano	Texas	1st
P	Will Ogden	Dover	1st
P	Jung Hasegawa	Austin	7th
P	Juan Seanez	Little Rock	1st
P	Cecil Milton	Minnesota	1st
P	Ringo Childs	Minnesota	1st
P	Welington Melendez	Buffalo	1st
P	Douglas Banks	Buffalo	2nd
P	Felix Wheat	Pittsburgh	2nd
P	Chip Torres	Los Angeles	3rd

Reserves 

	Player	Franchise	Appearance
C	Dan Pall	Honolulu	1st
1B	Greg Riley	Texas	1st
2B	Steve Hansell	Boise	1st
3B	Geronimo Johnson	Boise	2nd
SS	George Fultz	Little Rock	5th
LF	Vic Gonzales	Dover	4th
CF	Bernie Hernandez	Little Rock	2nd
RF	Al James	Pittsburgh	7th

NL All Stars by Team 

Dover	6
Minnesota	5
Little Rock	4
Buffalo	3
Pittsburgh	3
Boise	2
Syracuse	2
Texas	2
Austin	1
Honolulu	1
Los Angeles	1

Season 20 Power Rankings # 2

It's time for another edition of the power rankings!  And yes, there is a new number 1!  Since the last rankings, Dover has been on fire, establishing themselves as the league's top team.  Little Rock is still a strong # 2, even though they dropped out of the top spot.   Other highlights include a big jump for Texas vaulting from #21 all the way up to #6 with a solid run since the last rankings.  Overall though, the top of the rankings remained relatively stable.  Without further adieu, here are the complete rankings!

	Team	W	L	PREV	Comments
1	Dover	61	27	2	Takes over the top spot, as they've been on fire lately
2	Little Rock	54	34	1	Still extremely solid all around and playing well
3	Colorado Springs	54	34	4	High numbers across the board, very solid team
4	Buffalo	51	37	5	Playing well, although offense has fallen off a bit
5	Tampa Bay	51	37	8	Pitching has been better, and offense has been solid
6	Texas	52	36	21	Playing fantastic since last rankings, improved all around
7	Detroit	45	43	9	Solid team, numbers say record should be better
8	Vancouver	46	42	13	The champs are hanging in there, don't count them out
9	Boston	48	40	7	Pitching has been roughed up as of late, needs to improve
10	Minnesota	52	36	3	Major all around decrease in production since last rankings
11	Pittsburgh	53	35	6	Pitching is keeping them in it, not getting much offense at all
12	Atlanta	46	42	16	Really coming around due to solid young players
13	Helena	42	46	25	Great since the last rankings, pitching is getting it together
14	Los Angeles	43	45	24	Playing well, offense is improving, pitching is lights out
15	Kansas City	47	41	12	Hanging in there, but pitching has been really bad.
16	Austin	45	43	18	Need to get something going on offense to get back in it
17	Boise	43	45	26	Bounced back a bit since the last rankings
18	Cleveland	46	42	19	Getting it done, but the numbers are a bit low all around
19	Omaha	45	43	14	Pitching hasn't been great as of late
20	Charlotte	45	43	10	Numbers down all around, but could bounce back
21	New York	42	46	17	Playing just decent so far, but not amongst the elite
22	St. Louis	41	47	15	Offense dropped off a lot since last rankings
23	Burlington	40	48	23	Even though pitching improved, offense is just average
24	El Paso	36	52	22	Pretty much middle of the road across the board
25	Syracuse	41	47	20	Rough stretch since the last rankings, should bounce back
26	Durham	40	48	11	Really bad since last rankings, pitching fell off and bats cold
27	Honolulu	39	49	28	New owner aboard, offense is better, but pitching struggling
28	Philadelphia	36	52	31	Majorly improved pitching, but offense is still lacking
29	Colorado	32	56	27	Has the worse team ERA I've ever seen, but good bats
30	Seattle	35	53	29	Numbers improving, but not yet in the win column
31	Florida	31	57	30	Numbers not horrible, but has yet to break through
32	Washington	26	62	32	Numbers improved, but not enough to move up

Season 20 Power Rankings # 1

Season 20 is well under way, and it's time for the first edition of the power rankings!  So far, it seems like this is a repeat of Season 19 in many ways.  Vancouver is the preseason #1, and then struggles out of the gate and takes a tumble, to be replaced at the top by Little Rock, your #1 team, just like last season!  It's almost eerie, but Little Rock's combination of solid pitching and the league's top offense puts them atop the rankings.  However, there are a lot of teams nipping at the heels, and it will be interesting to see if it continues to play out like last season, or if a new path will be set.  Here are the complete rankings:

	Team	W	L	PREV	Comments
1	Little Rock	34	19	4	Also made #1 in the 1st rankings last season, solid squad
2	Dover	33	20	5	Pitching has been much better this season
3	Minnesota	37	16	11	Great squad, but offense is not quite amongst elite
4	Colorado Springs	35	18	7	The bats have been getting it done so far
5	Buffalo	31	22	2	This team is incredibly solid across the board.
6	Pittsburgh	36	17	3	Getting it done with the league's top pitching staff.
7	Boston	31	22	9	Offense has been firing, pitching is just average
8	Tampa Bay	31	22	6	Haselman led staff is only middle of the pack
9	Detroit	28	25	12	Excellent pitching, and the offense is good enough.
10	Charlotte	29	24	27	Huge jump here, doing well with both pitching and offense
11	Durham	28	25	10	They are hanging in there, good but not great overall so far
12	Kansas City	29	24	8	Pitching has been roughed up so far, offense is solid
13	Vancouver	27	26	1	Typical opening season slump, they'll bounce back.
14	Omaha	28	25	21	Numbers about what you'd guess for Omaha
15	St. Louis	25	28	22	Pretty much average across the board right now
16	Atlanta	25	28	16	Showing signs of improvement, and will only get better
17	New York	26	27	25	Doing fairly well, pitching has been good
18	Austin	26	27	20	Pitching is one of the tops in the league, but little offense
19	Cleveland	27	26	17	Holding their own, but nothing spectacular about their play
20	Syracuse	27	26	19	Numbers are pretty much middle of the road
21	Texas	27	26	30	Improved pitching, but offense isn't there even in their park
22	El Paso	20	33	13	Numbers say their record should be better, bad luck so far
23	Burlington	24	29	15	Pitching has not been good, which is why they've struggled
24	Los Angeles	19	34	14	Elite pitching, with no offense, but they should improve
25	Helena	20	33	23	Pitching has been a major weakness this season
26	Boise	23	30	18	Surprised to see them struggling this much so far
27	Colorado	19	34	31	They're pitching staff has been killed, but good offense
28	Honolulu	25	28	26	Pitching has struggled so far, and offense has been sparse
29	Seattle	21	32	29	Pitching has been bad, especially given their home park
30	Florida	20	33	28	Still struggling, thought they might turn a corner this season
31	Philadelphia	20	33	24	Offense has been struggling, pitching has been mediocre
32	Washington	17	36	32	Atrocious pitching so far, and offense hasn't done much