At the beginning of March we did a pre-season NL power rankings and plan to do this every few weeks once the season starts. DJ is taking part in these now too so there are 5 really smart and knowledgeable people. These are probably the most accurate power rankings you'll ever find. You shouldn't even question them since they are so accurate. Take our word for it.
| Rk. | Team | Avg | W-L | Comment | Up/Dwn |
| 1 |  |
1.4 | 13-7 | No Pujols. No Carpenter. Wainright terrible so far. Doesn't matter. Best team in the league. | 2 |
| 2 |  |
4.4 | 14-6 | The Dodgers have played 16 games against teams who are worse than .500. They're 12-4 in those games, but they're not going to play teams with below average records all season. Matt Kemp may be fun to watch all season long though. | 9 |
| 3 |  |
4.8 | 13-7 | Even though the Braves are behind the Nationals in the standings at the moment, they are have really been playing well lately, going 13-3 after the embarassing 0-4 start. | -1 |
| 4 |  |
5.2 | 10-10 | If Lincecum is tranformed, they're boned. | 2 |
| 5 |  |
5.4 | 14-6 | Their youth could propel them to the top of the toughest division in the NL | 4 |
| 6 |
|
5.6 | 9-11 | Phils are getting their money's worth on the Howard extension. He hasn't struck out yet this year! | -5 |
| 7 |  |
6.4 | 10-10 | Josh Collmenter and Daniel Hudson haven't been performing as they'd like, plus they lost Chris Young to the DL and they're still managing to break even. | 2 |
| 8 |  |
6.8 | 9-11 | Losing Narveson for the whole season hurts the Brewers. | -1 |
| 9 |  |
8.4 | 7-12 | So far, the most interesting thing about this team has been a rarely activated HR device and the manager's foray into foreign relations. | -4 |
| 10 |  |
8.6 | 9-11 | Madson went down before the season started, Marshall has struggled, and their best pitcher is serving as a set-up man. Plus Brandon Phillips seems to be struggling under the weight of his new contract extension. | -6 |
| 11 |  |
10.2 | 10-9 | Troy Tuluwitzki isn't off to a bad start by any means, but it's not as good as he and the Rockies would hope. It appears the reason for this is that his GB/FB ratio is 1.8 compared to 1.1 in his career. His BB%, K% and BABIP are all in line with what we'd expect. | -1 |
| 12 |  |
11.4 | 11-9 | The Mets are going to stink, but at least they had a decent start out of the gate. Not sure if I'd rather have that or no for the Cubs | 2 |
| 13 |  |
13.2 | 7-14 | At 7-14 the Padres own the worst record in the NL and are already 8 games out of first place. | -1 |
| 14 |  |
13.8 | 8-11 | Better than the Cubs 2 years in a row. That should be their 2013 slogan. | -1 |
| 15 |  |
15.2 | 8-12 | J.D. Martinez! Jose Altuve! So there are bright spots for the future. Sadly, neither of them can pitch so it's pretty much Wandy Rodriguez and pray for a crapload of rain. | 1 |
| 16 |  |
15.2 | 7-13 | This is a year! | -1 |
The Astros had 3 votes for 16th, but 1 for 13th. The Cubs had none higher than 14th so since they were tied with an average rating of 15.2, we went with the team that the highest vote, which was the Astros.
Here's how we all voted:
| DylanJ | mb21 | berselius | AndCounting | Aisle 424 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | St. Louis Cardinals | Los Angeles Dodgers | St. Louis Cardinals | St. Louis Cardinals |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | San Francisco Giants | Washington Nationals | Los Angeles Dodgers | Washington Nationals |
| MIlwaukee Brewers | Philadelphia Phillies | St. Louis Cardinals | San Francisco Giants | Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | Atlanta Braves | Atlanta Braves | Atlanta Braves | Atlanta Braves |
| San Francisco Giants | Cincinnati Reds | Miami Marlins | Washington Nationals | Philadelphia Phillies |
| Cincinnati Reds | MIlwaukee Brewers | San Francisco Giants | Philadelphia Phillies | MIlwaukee Brewers |
| Philadelphia Phillies | Miami Marlins | Philadelphia Phillies | Arizona Diamondbacks | Arizona Diamondbacks |
| Atlanta Braves | Arizona Diamondbacks | Arizona Diamondbacks | MIlwaukee Brewers | Colorado Rockies |
| Washington Nationals | Washington Nationals | Cincinnati Reds | Miami Marlins | Miami Marlins |
| San Diego Padres | Colorado Rockies | New York Mets | Colorado Rockies | San Francisco Giants |
| Colorado Rockies | New York Mets | MIlwaukee Brewers | Cincinnati Reds | New York Mets |
| Miami Marlins | Los Angeles Dodgers | Colorado Rockies | New York Mets | Cincinnati Reds |
| New York Mets | San Diego Padres | Pittsburgh Pirates | San Diego Padres | Houston Astros |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | Pittsburgh Pirates | Chicago Cubs | Pittsburgh Pirates | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| Houston Astros | Chicago Cubs | San Diego Padres | Chicago Cubs | San Diego Padres |
| Chicago Cubs | Houston Astros | Houston Astros | Houston Astros | Chicago Cubs |
Today’s line-up vs RHP Joe Blanton
LF DeJesus
2B Barney
SS Castro
1B The Hair
LF Soriano
3B Stewart
CF Johnson
C Geo
P Wells
The Cubs should be ranked no. 1 since they’ve called Campana up. Now, they can do anything from winning a series against the defending world champs to beating the best pitcher in the game.
You know I’ve been called a dreamer
Dreams that never will come true
But I’ve been called so many things before
Tell you what I’m gonna do
I’ll take a melody and see
What I can do about it
I’ll take a simple C to G
And feel brand new about it
[youtube
Download | Convert YouTube to MP3
Possibly one of my favorite JGB songs…
Also, the “no Carpenter” statement about the Cardinals is technically false. They do have a Carpenter, it’s just that his first name is Matt and he’s playing first base.
(dying laughing), I remember the Brewers getting excited that they could use “We didn’t have a losing record last year” for marketing purposes a few years back.
Sveum just said Castillo’s in the lineup today, not Geo
@ GBTS:
total bummer
interesting method of player evaluation you have there, phil.
Missed call turns into a run. Nice hitting by LaHair.
@ ACT:
Your negativity is noted, and will be indicated on your permanent record.
It’s kind of quirky that the Cubs and their shitty offense still has not been shut out.
@ Mobile Rice:
Scrap factor.
Len just referred to BABIP. He pronounced it “Bab-ip.” I’ve always pronounced it by spelling it out.
@ josh:
I’ve always said it the same way as Len. Spelling out a five letter acronym seems to awkward
Wells is looking sharp today
@ Berselius:
I’m interested/nervous to see how he handles the topic. The subject is kind of nuanced and a lot of people get it wrong. Strictly speaking, BABIP is like any other rate stat in that you have to regress it to estimate a player’s true talent. What’s notable about it is that you have to regress it a lot for pitchers.
@ Berselius:
The radar gun doesn’t seem to agree.
Guess I spoke too soon (dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
Ditto
Harper on deck.
@ GBTS:
I wish mlb.tv were showing this game for free rather than the Lincecum game.
@ GBTS:
According to the PBP, he Barneyed the ball (grounded to the pitcher).
Strasburg should be illegal.
@ ACT:
I like this Bass kid on San Diego a lot.
I stopped watching the Cubs, but apparently this Papelbon guy is pretty good.
castro is a stolen base machine
@ GBTS:
Perfect through 5 now.
@ ACT:
@ ACT:
Lincecum breaks it up with an infield single!
(dying laughing)
Lincecum ends the perfect game.
And Strasburg just doubled.
How ya like that, DH fagets?
Strasburg doubles!
@ GBTS:
He should do that more.
@ GBTS:
@ Rice Cube:
Is there an echo in here?
@ Berselius:
He was fucking awesome through three. Then he started spiking every other pitch in the dirt. I don’t know what the hell happened. You aren’t going to get many calls if you can’t get it across the plate on the fly.
@ GBTS:
Did he hit it with his Dumbo ears?
I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.
These are two great games going on right now.
wrt the Strasburg double: I admit that I love it when a dominating pitcher humiliates the opposition with his bat. It’s as if he’s saying, “I don’t see why you’re having so much trouble with this hitting thing. Look, I’ll show you. See, it’s easy!”
@ GBTS:
The Cubs game is already over. I’m not sure what else you could mean.
Strasburg just owned Kemp.
josh wrote:
@ ACT:
The occasional pitcher hit/homerun is probably why the non-DH has persisted as long as it has. Yeah, numbers-wise the DH makes sense, but that moment when Ted Lilly half-swings one into the gap creates a lot of good feelings.
Just read the actual post. Funny stuff!
@ GW:
More like “13-year-old” face. Doesn’t Strasburg look like he got called up from the sandlot?
(dying laughing)
Harper intentionally flips off his helmet mid-double.
@ GBTS:
Guy comes across as a bit of a show-boater. Let’s just say that Bob Brenly would probably not say about Bryce Harper “He plays the game the RIGHT way.”
And he just made an INCREDIBLE throw from left field. Wow.
@ GBTS:
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/ext/video.jsp?mlbPlayerId=547180&access_token=U2FsdGVkX1-ibhBn_VEj_7lYQrF_4CcJ4ces6cHcgdjvuG6Bb4NH6OXt_nfRnfQQxFsLVjVKx8xvNW3IhanScQTj0CZDJSdx0Kzq6SB9_skNpXCZOvLKudbtOjBh3OC4&
(dying laughing)
@ GW:
Maybe the helmet got in his eyes? Maybe he was finally getting to live that childhood dream everyone has where you hit a double in a major league park, and damn if you don’t run so fast your hat flies off. Could go either way.
@ josh:
wind resistance. the helmet was negating the aerodynamic perfection of his haircut
@ GBTS:
The Nats now have the hardest throwing pitchers and the hardest throwing outfielders.
Though, ironically, their weakest arm is now in right. Maybe Werth and Harper can trade positions.
Those 100 mph fastballs don’t work very well when they find holes after being put in play.
Better angle of the ump-tackle:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/umpire-jeff-kellogg-tackles-half-naked-fan-orioles-202018838.html
@ ACT:
I thought Werth was a defensive genius. Wasn’t that why the Nats gave him 100 billion dollars?
Kemp wins that shit. Fitting.
Matt Kemp is a madman.
@ josh:
I wasn’t knocking Werth; both DRS and UZR give him very good arm ratings. It’s just that Harper and Ankiel have absolute cannons.
Happy Lee Elia day!
New game thread: http://www.obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/cubs-vs-phillies-vs-iowa-cubs.html