Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports MLB Power Rankings: Blue Jays No. 14???

Just when I was about to call it a night, I came across Tim Brown’s latest MLB Power Rankings. Brown, who is an employee of Yahoo! Sports, justifies his rankings by teams being ranked according to what he believes a team’s general capabilities are, rather than how they are playing today. “It is, for example and for the moment, why the Boston Red Sox are where they are and the Seattle Mariners are where they are.”

If that is the case, then there is no point in publishing his power rankings every week. If he is simply ranking teams on his perception of its general capabilities, then there could not be any possible way for a team to drastically move up or down in the rankings because of the generalization. He could have made this list on opening day and be done with it.

And based on these rankings, he should have.

Naturally, when I look at these types of rankings, I immediately look to where the Toronto Blue Jays are placed. After an 8-3 start, which is tops in the uber-difficult AL East, and another dominating win tonight against the Minnesota Twins, I expected the Jays to be pretty highly regarded.

After browsing the usual suspects in the top 10, with no signs of chirping Jays anywhere, I begin to get concerned. I scroll down the page to see the Jays at No. 14, sandwiched in between the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago White Sox, who share 5-4 records.

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14. Toronto Blue Jays (8-3; Previous: 17) – Jesse Litsch diagnosed with a strained right forearm, Doc Halladay prescribes bed rest and anti-inflammatories.

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If you are interested in amateur hour with Tim Brown, read the rest of the rankings here.

Good one, Tim. Usually there is a quick witty remark beside each team. But that’s not even funny. Not even remotely funny. I don’t even know what that means. I understand the whole Doc and Doctor prescribing thing, but you could have done more with it than “bed rest and anti-inflammatories.” How about Doc prescribing a ginger snack for the ginger kid. Or Doc prescribing a decent fastball.

I digress. Naturally, I am pretty irked at the comment and the No. 14 spot. I am especially annoyed considering where the Twins are ranked. They are 10th! TENTH—ahead of the Blue Jays! The Blue Jays just finished annihilating the Twins 3-1 in a four game series in the Metrodome. They utterly dominated the Twins by outscoring them 31-13! In 11 games this season, the Twins have score 37 total runs. The Blue Jays almost did that in four games…on the road…against the 10th best team in the Majors.

Come on, Tim. Reward a team that is playing well and punish those who are not. That is what these power rankings are all about.