A word on the Power Rankings

As I've stated previously, the power rankings are based on stats and their variation, not ranking. Here is a hypothetical example:

Let's say one stat is Stolen Bases. Team A leads the league with 50 SBs. Team B is 2nd with 37 SBs and Team C is 3rd with 34 SBs. If I used a ranking method, then Team A gets X points for 1st, Team B Y points for second, ad Team C Z points for third. The fact that Team A has 13 SBs more than second, while Team B only has 3 more than third is ignored. And that's why ranking systems don't tell the full story.

The way I do it, Team A leads and has 50 SB. So Team a would get 10 points as the leader. Then I take Team B's total and divide by Team A's total (37/50) and convert it into the 10 point scale. Team B would get 7.4 points. Then I divide Team C's total by Team A's total and so on. And for SBs I'd get a list that look something like this-

Team A- 10
Team B- 7.4
Team C- 6.8
and so on.

That's why the leagues can't be compared, the leaders are different and that is the top score. Subsequently, when I made the first combined ranking, sometimes the AL had the top score (usually hitting) and sometimes the NL did (usually pitching) thus the new combined ranking was based on different leaders.

One thing I will reveal is that Wins is a category I use. When I made the first power ranking, the teams with the most wins were all over the scale. I think a team with the 3rd most wins was actually 12th in the power ranking. While this is possible, I simply didn't like it. Because, the team with the most wins, wins. So, I doubled the score for Wins, it's worth 20 points. After all, it doesn't matter how you play the game, just whether you win or lose.

In the end, the power rankings were created to be easy and have something to post during the season. They are by no means a prediction of upcoming events; however, they may have some small use as to how the season is progressing. Mostly, they are just something to talk about...and laugh at!

Power Rankings

Couple of notes before the list. I changed about half the formulas. The changes were designed to spread the point range out further. This should make it more entertaining and even more inaccurate than before. Ironically, in attempting to create a large spread for the scores, I had some of the closest scores since started...go figure. Still, 700 is the highest possible and 0 the lowest.

Secondly, for the first time ever, I created a chart that combines both AL and NL teams. This had the effect of actually rearranging the order of some teams. For example, in the usual NL St Louis is slightly ahead of Toledo; however, in the combined listing, Toledo moved slightly ahead of St Louis. I've always said that the league scores were not directly comparable, here's the proof!

These Rankings are thru Game 46. Again, since it's early, things will move significantly, especially with the new formulas. Enjoy!


AL

1) Tampa Bay- 677
2) Syracuse- 626
3) Fargo- 619
4) Florida- 528
5) Rochester- 521.72
6) Louisville- 521.67
7) Salt Lake City- 520
8) Helena- 519
9) Tucson- 513
10) Colorado Springs- 476
11) Charlotte- 472
12) Ottawa- 466
13) Kansas City- 451
14) Dover- 449
15) Toronto- 431
16) Little Rock- 405

NL

1) Texas- 664
2) Chicago- 598
3) Atlanta- 576
4) Las Vegas- 564
5) St. Louis- 546.2
6) Toledo- 545.9
7) Vancouver- 537
8) New York- 530.1
9) Huntington- 530.0
10) Boise- 495
11) Detroit- 486
12) Richmond- 474
13) Anaheim- 469
14) Austin- 444
15) Trenton- 381
16) Columbus- 363

Combined Leagues

1) Texas- 654
2) Tampa Bay- 651
3) Syracuse- 601
4) Fargo- 592
5) Chicago- 589
6) Atlanta- 568
7) Las Vegas- 556
8) Toledo- 537.7
9) St. Louis- 537.6
10) Vancouver- 529
11) New York- 524
12) Huntington- 522
13) Florida- 504
14) Rochester- 501.3
15) Helena- 500.9
16) Louisville- 499.6
17) Salt Lake City- 498.6
18) Tucson- 493
19) Boise 487
20) Detroit- 480
21) Richmond- 467
22) Anaheim- 462
23) Colorado Springs- 454
24) Charlotte- 453
25) Ottawa- 447
26) Kansas City- 437
27) Austin- 436
28) Dover- 432
29) Toronto- 412
30) Little Rock- 390
31) Trenton- 375
32) Columbus- 356