Welcome to our weekly ranking of all the MLB teams!  In this ranking, we use aggregate team hitting, baserunning, pitching, and fielding statistics--not team wins, losses, runs scored, or runs allowed--to evaluate the performance of teams to date.  You can think of the estimated winning percentage (eW%) below as how we'd expect things to fall out if we threw teams with these aggregate statistics into one big league and let them battle it out for thousands of games.  They don't replace your actual standings, but they give you something different to consider when thinking about team performances.


The table is sortable if you click in the header.  All data are park-adjusted when possible.  A legend is below the table, followed by commentary.

Beyond The Boxscore Power Rankings

Defense
Pitching = tERA and tRns are a home-brew version of Graham MacAree's statistic.
Fielding = Fld: average of bUZR (from FanGraphs) and THT's batted balls statistic (converted to runs)
eRA (estimated runs allowed) = Pitching - Fielding

The Rest
eW%lg = estimated winning percentage within the specific league (AL or NL).  Compare this to true winning %!
LgAdj = league adjustment (bonus to AL teams, penalty to NL teams, because the AL has superior level of play)
eW% = estimated winning percentage if all teams were in one league (after league adjustment)

Methods provided in more detail in the first post in this series

Team Leaders (asterisks indicate teams improving in specific ranking):

American League

Offense (wOBA): Yankees, Rays*, Angels
Pitching (tERA): White Sox, Red Sox, Athletics
Fielding (Fld): Mariners, Rangers, Rays

National League
Offense (wOBA): Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers
Pitching (tERA): Rockies, Dodgers*, Braves
Fielding (Fld): Giants, Reds*, Dodgers

"On Paper" Playoff Leaders (asterisks indicate new leaders):

American League: E=Yankees*, C=White Sox, W=Angels, WC=Rays
National League: E=Phillies, C=Cardinals*, W=Rockies, WC=Dodgers

This Week's Movers

With just over a month left to play, things seem to be stabilizing again.  The only change to the division races occurred with the Yankees leapfrogging over the Rays once again to take the AL East lead.  Depending on how much the Kazmir trade hurts the Rays in the near-term, this could be the last time we see that happen.  The Red Sox still rank a very strong third in that division (and third in baseball) according to our rankings, but that doesn't change the fact that they have a 2.5 lead in the true wild card race.

Among the biggest gainers this week were the Minnesota Twins, who are on an 11-4 tear right now and are just 4.5 games back of first place Detroit.  Based on the power rankings, the Twins have gained ground such that they rank almost identically to the White Sox, who have fallen to three games under 0.500.  I don't think I've written about the Twins yet this season.  But by the rankings, they rate out as a club with marginally above-average hitting (Joe Mauer helps there!), marginally above-average pitching, and rather terrible fielding.  The result is a team that is right around average, has been lurking in the shadows for most of the season, and could be about ready to make a run at the thoroughly-average Tigers.  Don't count the Twins out.

Two things of personal interest.  One, the Angels now rank above the Blue Jays, which means that the obstacle to Rally taking the power rankings "seriously" has been removed.  As Steven Colbert puts it, I accept your apology. :)

Second, my Reds put together a nice little week, winning 9 of their last 11 as they put the smack down on the Pirates.  Unfortunately, the Padres had a nice week, which means my team is still in the basement of the power rankings.  At least their fielding ranks as the second-best in the NL...