Cubicle GM MLB Power Rankings: September 16th

Welcome to another edition of the Cubicle GM MLB Power Rankings.  Despite no real shifts in any of the playoff races, there was quite a bit of movement in the ranks this week.

The Top 10 got another shakeup, as the San Francisco Giants got back into the NL Wild Card Race as well as back into the top third of the rankings.  Dropping out were the Tampa Bay Rays, on the heels of an 11-game losing streak that saw them drop to just one game over. 500.

The Yankees remain at the top, but are again not a unanimous No. 1 selection, as Red Sox Nation member Gideon switched his vote back to the Dodgers.  For the first time in nearly two months, a team from Los Angeles dropped out of the top three, as the Angels fall to No. 4 behind the Red Sox due to the head-to-head record tiebreaker.

The bottom of the ranks got a shakeup as well, as the Pittsburgh Pirates checked in at No. 30 for the first time.  The ranks also got a new entry into the bottom five, as the Indians lost seven of eight to drop them four spots, to No. 26.

The aforementioned Indians and Rays were the biggest downward movers of the week, while the Chicago Cubs also moved four spots, but did so in the right direction, having won seven of their last eight. 

There was a lot of overall movement this week, as 21 teams changed positions, although only nine of them were more than one spot.

An interesting aspect of this week’s rankings was the number of ties near the top. The Red Sox and Angels tied for third (Boston took it on head-to-head), Philadelphia and St. Louis tied for fifth (Philly wins the H2H tiebreaker), Detroit and Atlanta tied for 10th (Detroit takes it on win percentage), and Chicago and Florida tied for 12th (Chicago on H2H here as well).

The disagreements in the rankings between myself, Gideon, and Mickey are no longer a surprise.  It is still clear that Gideon feels differently about Seattle, Toronto, and Houston than the rest of us, and will continue to do so until his formula says otherwise.

For the fifth-straight week running, there were no double-digit discrepancies between any of the ranks, and there were just four gaps of seven or more.  In fact, these disagreements were the exact same four from last week.  Of course, all involved good old Gid.

Seattle Mariners (8) – Mickey 11, Gideon 19

Toronto Blue Jays (8) – Jacob 20, Gideon 12

Houston Astros (7) – Jacob 18, Gideon 25

Arizona Diamondbacks (7) – Jacob 27, Gideon 20

On the divisional front, the AL West retained the top spot with an 11.50 average, an improvement from last week despite the Angels’ fall.  The AL East remained in second with an average score of 12.20. 

At the bottom, the AL Central retook the cellar thanks to the fall of the Indians, coming in with a score of 19.53, the lowest score by any division in the history of our rankings.  The NL Central was second to last, but nearly a full point better with an average score of 18.61.

You can check out the backup data here.  So, without further ado, onto the rankings.  As always, last week’s ranks in parentheses.

1. New York Yankees (1) – The Yankees remain at the top of the rankings and maintain the best record in baseball by six games over the Los Angeles duo.  Despite all that, all anyone is talking about today is the bench-clearing brawl that occurred in Tuesday night’s loss to Toronto.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (3) – What more can you say about the Dodgers and their come from behind/walkoff victories?  The Dodgers won their 37th comeback victory of the season last night on Andre Ethier’s fourth walkoff homer of the season.

3. Boston Red Sox (4) – The Red Sox have won six in a row to close the AL East gap to just 6 1/2 games while opening up a 5 1/2-game lead on the Rangers in the Wild Card race.  The Sox will have some tough decisions to make with regards to their playoff rotation after Dice-K made a strong return to the club.

4. Los Angeles Angels (2) – The Angels have a six-game lead in the AL West at 28 games over .500, but two LA Times writers fear that they can’t win the big ones when it counts coming off a loss to Boston in Fenway Park.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (5) – The Phillies have won three straight and six of eight to open a seven-game lead in the NL East, and can put the division away when they face Atlanta and Florida over the next week.  The Phillies were encouraged by a great outing from Cliff Lee.

6. St. Louis Cardinals (6) – After sweeping the Brewers, the Cardinals have lost four of five to see their division lead drop back into the single digits.  Bryan Burwell of StL Today thinks both Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright have a shot at the Cy Young, despite Wainwright’s loss to Florida.

7. Colorado Rockies (7) –The Rockies have seen their Wild Card lead shrink after four straight losses, including two to the Giants, and to make matters worse, they will have to face Matt Cain Thursday night.  Despite the situation, the Rockies aren’t panicking, according to SS Troy Tulowitzki.

8. Texas Rangers (8) – Despite a recent slide which has seen them lose three straight and four of five, the Rangers remain at No. 8 in the rankings.  The Rangers got good and bad news in Tuesday’s loss, as they snapped a 22-inning scoreless streak, but lost Michael Young to injury.

9. San Francisco Giants (11) – The Giants have won two big games over the Rockies to pull within 2 1/2 games of what appears to be the final available playoff spot.  The Giants had to be encouraged to get a good outing from Barry Zito in Tuesday night’s win.

10. Detroit Tigers (9) – Detroit holds a 4 1/2-game lead in the AL Central, despite having a run differential of just +6 through 144 games.  The Tigers will need to worry a bit about their rotation, as trade deadline acquisition Jarrod Washburn left after one terrible inning with an injury.

11. Atlanta Braves (12)

12. Chicago Cubs (16)

13. Florida Marlins (13)

14. Tampa Bay Rays (10)

15. Seattle Mariners (15)

16. Minnesota Twins (14)

17. Toronto Blue Jays (18)

18. Chicago White Sox (17)

19. Oakland Athletics (21)

20. Milwaukee Brewers (19)

21. Houston Astros (20)

22. Cincinnati Reds (23)

23. Arizona Diamondbacks (25)

24. New York Mets (24)

25. San Diego Padres (26)

26. Cleveland Indians (22)

27. Baltimore Orioles (27)

28. Washington Nationals (29)

29. Kansas City Royals (30)

30. Pittsburgh Pirates (28)

This article originally posted on Cubicle GM.