Week Nine
by Asher B. Chancey, BaseballEvolution.com
May 28, 2007

I don't know if the average baseball fan realizes this, but half of the teams in the Majors have already been eliminated from contention for the post-season.

And I am not just talking about the Devil Rays, Royals, and Nationals, four teams with no pitching who play in strong divisions and will have no chance to make headway this season.

I'm talking about teams like Philadelphia and the Yankees, teams that have plenty of hitting but whose pitching is simply not going to get them where they need to be this season.

I'm also talking about teams like the Cubs and the Giants, who have plenty of talent but distractions to the point of dysfunction at this point in the season.

And how about teams like the Blue Jays and the Marlins, teams with high hopes coming into the season who for one reason or another (injuries for the former, young and inexperience for the latter) can't seem to put it together.

Then, of course, there are the teams who have the deck stacked against them so badly that one wonders if they will ever be able to succeed without some sort of serious paradigm shift - Colorado, Texas, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh.

And, of course, the team that is willing to sacrifice its season so that its franchise player can get 3,000 hits - the Astros.

At this point in the season - the first week in June - there are probably really only 15 teams left who can have a legitimate expectation of making a run at the playoffs:

Boston in the AL East; everyone in the AL Central except KC (though the clock is ticking, Chicago); the Angels, A's, and Mariners in the AL West; the Mets and Braves in the NL East; the Brewers and Cardinals in the NL Central; and the Padres, Dodgers, and D'Backs in the NL West.

So, from this point through the remainder of the season, I am going to place a dividing line in the Power Rankings: the teams above the dividing line are still in the hunt for the post-season; the teams below the line are already out. And this won't change each week - we're going for the Full Monty here - once a team is below the line (let's call it the Line of Death, shall we), they stay there for the rest of the season.

The only way a team which falls below the Line of Death can get back above the line is by completing a transaction, or series of transaction, which changes the dynamic of their team.

It is up to the teams to prove me wrong.

Without further ado, here are the Week Nine Power Rankings. Enjoy and, as always, feel free to comment.

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Rank	Team	Comments	Prev
1		Boston Red Sox (37-18) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Indians, Yankees The Red Sox best hitters are - Pedroia and Youkilis?	1
2		New York Mets (35-20) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Giants, D'Backs Jose Reyes displaying Top 20 of all time talent right now.	2
3		Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (36-22) Record for the Week - 5-2 vs. Mariners, Orioles League's best team when Santana doesn't start on road.	3
4		San Diego Padres (33-23) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. Nationals, Pirates Pitching slipping - gave up four runs twice last week.	5
5		Cleveland Indians (34-30) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Red Sox, Tigers This is not a Championship caliber pitching staff.	4
6		Detroit Tigers (32-24) Record for the Week - 3-4 vs. Devil Rays, Indians Two teams atop AL Central have big issue at closer.	6
7		Los Angeles Dodgers (33-23) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. Pirates, Nationals Pierre's AVG, OBP, SLG all within 50 points.	9
8		Arizona Diamondbacks (34-24) Record for the Week - 5-1 vs. Phillies, Mets D'Backs pitching makes them legit (3.65 ERA).	10
9		Milwaukee Brewers (32-25) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Braves, Marlins Were 14-15 in May, which was still best in division.	7
10		Atlanta Braves (32-24) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. Brewers, Cubs Thorman as big a bust as Johnson is a surprise.	8
11		Seattle Mariners (28-25) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Angels, Rangers Quick: name five Seattle Mariners. Can't do it, can you?	13
12		Oakland Athletics (28-27) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. Rangers, Twins Was Beane an idiot for picking up Cust or what?	14
13		Chicago White Sox (25-27) Record for the Week - 1-6 vs. Twins, Blue Jays Snake in the Grass: Sox lurking, waiting to pounce.	12
14		Minnesota Twins (28-27) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. White Sox, A's Hanging around, but won't last through August.	17
15		Baltimore Orioles (27-30) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Royals, Angels Strong defense, solid pitching keeping O's above Line of Death.	18
16		San Francisco Giants (26-28) Record for the Week - 2-3 vs. Mets, Phillies Play it safe w/SF for now; flirting w/Line of Death.	14
17		St. Louis Cardinals (24-30) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Astros, Rockies Will have a winning record by the time they play 90 games.	27
---------------- Line of Death! --------------
18		Florida Marlins (27-30) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Cubs, Brewers Uggla/Ramirez best offensive middle infield duo in league.	18
19		Philadelphia Phillies (28-28) Record for the Week - 2-4 vs. D'Backs, Giants Strong offense; team doesn't have pitching to succeed.	11
20		Toronto Blue Jays (27-29) Record for the Week - 5-2 vs. Yankees, White Sox Royce Clayton not actually having worst season on team.	25
21		Colorado Rockies (27-30) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Cardinals, Reds Schedule remains soft for another week (Astros, Orioles).	24
22		Pittsburgh Pirates (24-32) Record for the Week - 2-5 vs. Red, Padres, Dodgers Don't ask me why: Team reminds me of the 1990 Braves.	21(tie)
23		New York Yankees (24-30) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Blue Jays, Red Sox A little hitting, pitching, defense, and they are right back in it.	22
24		Tampa Bay Devil Rays (23-31) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Tigers, Royals Carlos Pena has finally found a home.	24
25		Chicago Cubs (23-31) Record for the Week - 1-5 vs. Marlins, Braves Hey Zambrano - shut up and pitch.	21(tie)
26		Houston Astros (23-33) Record for the Week - 2-4 vs. Reds, Cardinals Say it with me: Houston, we have a problem.	21(tie)
27		Cincinnati Reds (22-36) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Pirates, Astros, Rockies Dunn's OPS is lower than Alex Gonzalez's.	28
28		Texas Rangers (20-37) Record for the Week - 2-5 vs. A's, Mariners Rangers win% still higher than former owner's approval rating.	29
29		Washington Nationals (23-34) Record for the Week - 2-4 vs. Dodgers, Padres Back to earth for overachieving team w/no upside.	26
30		Kansas City Royals (21-37) Record for the Week - 2-4 vs. Orioles, D'Rays Alex Gordon makes me glad I accidentally missed fantasy draft.	30

Power Rankings for Previous Weeks: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26

Questions? Concerns? Comments? Asher lives in Philadelphia, PA, and can be reached at asher@baseballevolution.com.