Tuesday, July 2, 2013

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