MBL POWER RANKING - 2/5/2015

Now that each team has completed their first divisional round of play, it's time for another edition of the Power Rankings.  This is still a fairly small sample size to work with as most teams have completed just 18 games.  No change at the top of the rankings as the Boston Beaneaters still occupy the top spot, followed again by their division rival, the New York Rippers.  But besides those two, there was a lot of movement going on since the last edition.  So let's take a look at how the team's graded out this time around.

RNK	+/-	TEAM	BAT	PIT	FLD	PCT	rDiff	PYTH	xW	xL	LUCK
1	0	Boston Beaneaters	5	1	13	0.722	41	0.724	13	5	(0)
2	0	New York Rippers	14	5	4	0.667	18	0.604	13	8	1
3	4	Detroit Buckeyes	1	16	7	0.571	29	0.613	13	8	(1)
4	13	Houston Buffaloes	8	10	5	0.524	8	0.538	11	10	(0)
5	(1)	Arizona Apaches	6	12	8	0.476	9	0.540	11	10	(1)
6	5	Pittsburgh Crawfords	2	13	22	0.571	7	0.527	11	10	1
7	1	Minnesota Millers	19	6	12	0.556	17	0.602	11	7	(1)
8	1	Colorado Briar Jumpers	15	7	16	0.611	24	0.634	11	7	(0)
9	6	Cincinnati Red Stockings	7	11	20	0.524	9	0.540	11	10	(0)
10	9	Atlanta Stonecutters	9	14	6	0.444	(4)	0.479	9	9	(1)
11	(8)	Baltimore Stouts	3	17	19	0.722	13	0.561	10	8	3
12	(6)	Seattle Lightning	21	2	11	0.667	17	0.602	11	7	1
13	(8)	Washington Tribe	13	8	21	0.619	13	0.561	12	9	1
14	(4)	Oakland Osprey	20	3	18	0.389	(12)	0.424	8	10	(1)
15	5	San Diego Vipers	24	9	2	0.429	(18)	0.399	8	13	1
16	0	Milwaukee Phantoms	11	23	1	0.389	(21)	0.405	7	11	(0)
17	(5)	San Francisco Quakers	23	4	15	0.476	(9)	0.449	9	12	1
18	3	St. Louis Sliders	4	18	23	0.476	(7)	0.474	10	11	0
19	(1)	Miami Panthers	10	15	24	0.524	4	0.517	11	10	0
20	3	Washington Senators	12	19	14	0.429	0	0.500	11	11	(2)
21	(8)	Los Angeles Diablos	17	20	9	0.333	(21)	0.406	9	12	(2)
22	(8)	Cleveland Rock 'N Rollers	18	24	3	0.286	(57)	0.299	6	15	(0)
23	(1)	Brooklyn Ba Bums	16	22	10	0.381	(21)	0.411	9	12	(1)
24	0	New York Bombers	22	21	17	0.286	(39)	0.320	7	14	(1)

GLOSSARY

RNK - Overall Power Ranking +/- - Difference between this ranking and the team's last ranking BAT - Batting Rank

PIT - Pitching Rank

FLD - Fielding Rank

PCT - Actual Win Percentage rDIFF - Run Differential

PYTH - Expected Win Percentage xW - Expected Wins xL - Expected Losses

LUCK - Difference between actual wins and expected wins

Here are some things I take away as I look at these numbers:

• The Boston Beaneaters continues to pace the field with their combination of solid hitting and exceptional pitching.  Boston starters sport a combined 3.16 ERA.  By comparison, Cleveland starters have been rocked to the tune of a 8.03 ERA.  Ouch!  The Beaners also have the greatest run differential in the league by far, outscoring their opponents by 41 runs through only 18 games.
• On their heals is division rival, the New York Rippers.  New York is second in the league in team ERA.  They also are scorching on the basepaths, stealing 35 bases through their first 21 games, nearly doubling the total of the second best team in the category (HOU-18).
• The Classic League's Metro Division has the #1 and #2 ranked teams so far in Boston and NYR.  But they also have the two bottom ranked teams as well in #23 Brooklyn Broken Arrow Bums and #24 New York Bombers.  Both of these teams had to be looking forward to getting out of Metro Division play.  In their first series outside of the division, Brooklyn took one of three against a tough Detroit squad, while the Bombers won two of three against Cincinnati.  
• The Milwaukee Phantoms come in at #16 overall, but they are tops in the fielding category.  The Phantoms as a whole have committed only seven errors in 679 total chances through their first 18 games.  By comparison, the league's worst fielding team, the St. Louis Sliders, have committed 30 errors.
• Another team struggling defensively is the Pittsburgh Crawfords.  The team currently is next to last in the league in fielding percentage.  Despite their defensive woes, the Crawfords moved up five spots in the rankings into the #6 position overall.
• Their Rust Belt Division rival, the Detroit Buckeyes, come in at #3 in the current rankings, up four spots from last time.  Both of these teams can attribute their move in the rankings to their outstanding offenses.  The two teams rank 1-2 in the league in runs per game, batting average, on-base percentage and OPS.  No wonder Cleveland's team ERA is through the roof.
• The biggest mover from last time is the Houston Buffaloes, who improved a whopping 13 spots into the #4 position overall.  The team is currently 1.5 games behind division leader Colorado in the Expansion's Western Division.  They are only one game over .500, with just a +8 run differential.  But as a team, they are very consistent across the board.  The Buffaloes are the only team in the entire league to be ranked in the top-10 in all three categories.  As a matter of fact, the lowest they are ranked in any single sub-category is 14th in runs per game and 14th in WHIP.  Crazy.
• The Baltimore Stouts grade out as the luckiest team in the league thus far, winning three more games than their run differential says they should.  They are also the team that dropped the most in the standings, falling eight spots down to #11 overall.
• The Pacific Division of the Expansion League is an interesting case.  All four teams rank in the top-9 in overall pitching (SEA 2, OAK 3, SF 4, SD 9).  They also rank as four of the bottom five teams in batting (OAK 20, SEA 21, SF 23, SD 24).  It will be quite interesting to see what happens once these teams get out of divisional play to see if their pitching is just that good, or if their hitting is just that bad.
• Sticking in the Pacific, the San Francisco Quakers hold the dubious distinction of being the only team in the entire league who haven't thrown out a baserunner attempting to steal against them.  Opposing runners are a perfect 14-0 against the Quakers backstops.  St. Louis catchers have given up a league leading 23 stolen bases.
• If the San Diego Vipers can find their bats outside of their division, they should continue to move up in the standings.  As is, they shot up five spots to #15 overall.  But they are ranked dead last in the league in hitting, scoring only 3.76 runs per game.  But they are also the only team in the league, along with the NY Rippers, to rank in the top-9 in both the pitching and defense categories.
• We've already touched on it before, but the Cleveland Rock 'N Rollers are really struggling on the hill in the early going.  Their team ERA of 7.50 ranks them dead last in the category, almost a full run-and-a-half worse than their next closest competitor.  It's also over four full runs worse than league leading Boston.  Cleveland is also worst in the league with a 1.95 WHIP.  They are the only team in the league to allow over 100 walks so far.  The team has also given up 28 homers, which is third worst.

I'm looking forward to how the next couple weeks shake out as teams begin play outside of their own divisions.  Will the pitching strong Pacific Division find their bats?  Will the big bats in the Rust Belt come back down to earth?  Can Boston keep their hold on the #1 overall ranking?  We'll find out next time!