Beyond the Box Score Power Rankings: Week 20

by Daniel Moroz on Aug 15, 2011 2:30 PM EDT in Power Rankings

All 8 teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today are in the top 13.

Just as a reminder: some of the things that go into these rankings include runs scored and allowed, run distributions, wOBA, wRC, FIP, xFIP, DRS, UZR, etc., Base Runs, BABIP and HR/FB% adjustments, and our guts.

Rank	Team	Wins	Losses	Comments
1	Yankees	72	46	AJ Burnett has seen his ERA go up each month this year, topping out at 9.58 in August thus far.
2	Red Sox	73	45	Boston position player have been great, leading the league in hitting (.354 wOBA) & fielding (+37 UZR).
3	Phillies	78	41	Ryan Madson... still doing a nice job as the closer (22 for 23 in saves, and a 2.16 ERA and 2.15 FIP).
4	Rangers	68	52	Alex Ogando hasn't exactly hit a wall as some may have expected; ~3.55 FIP through June, and ~3.27 FIP since.
5	Brewers	69	51	Yuniesky Betancourt has followed up a .322 wOBA July with a .408 wOBA (and .405 BABIP) August.
6	Cardinals	64	56	Jake Westbrook has the highest groundball rate in the majors (60.9%) - his best since '05.
7	Braves	70	50	In the AL Central, Atlanta's record would be good for a 5.5 game lead. In the NL East, they're 9 games out.
8	Diamondbacks	67	53	Your NL wins leaders, with 15, are Roy Halladay (expected) and Ian Kennedy (not quite expected).
9	Rays	64	55	Lowest ERA amongst AL closers? Kyle Farnsworth's 1.96. Not too shabby for $2.6 M, plus there's a club option for '12.
10	Mets	58	61	Jason Isringhausen is still sitting on 299 career saves. He has 6 this year, to go along with his -0.3 fWAR.
11	Reds	59	61	Joey Votto has the highest career BABIP (.355) amongst active players with at least 2,000 PA.
12	Blue Jays	60	59	Brandon Morrow's still leading AL starters in strike-out rate, by a lot. His 10.1 K/9 is well ahead of Michael Pineda's 9.1 K/9.
13	Tigers	64	55	Victor Martinez is hitting above his career level (123 wRC+ vs. 121), but is only at 1.8 fWAR. DH'ing a lot < catching a lot.
14	Angels	65	55	Ervin Santana's last four starts; 35.1 IP (3 CG), 3 ER, 30 K, 6 BB, with a no-hitter mixed in.
15	White Sox	59	60	For the second year in a row, Alexei Ramirez is leading AL shortstops in UZR, at +8.2 runs.

16	Giants	65	55	Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum, and Matt Cain are #5, #7, and #8 in the NL in pitcher fWAR, respectively.
17	Rockies	56	65	Jason Hammel has kind of reverted to his Rays days this year, walking batters and not K'ing many guys.
18	Indians	60	57	Justin Masterson is 5th in the AL in fWAR (4.6), and even has a chance to pass the two Angels (5.1, 5.0) and end up in 3rd.
19	Athletics	53	66	So, maybe Trevor Cahill doesn't have magic powers? 3.97 ERA, 3.92 FIP, 3.79 xFIP, with a .290 BABIP.
20	Dodgers	54	64	For the fourth year in a row, Chad Billingsley's ERA - FIP gap has gotten larger (from -0.71 in '07 to +0.62 this season).
21	Marlins	56	63	Wes Helms finally got released. In his recent four year stretch as a Marlin, he accumulated a grand total of -0.3 fWAR.
22	Royals	50	70	Kyle Davies finally got released. Positive fWAR, but an ugly 5.59 career ERA, and he was 1-9 with a 6.75 ERA this season.
23	Padres	53	68	Jesus Guzman has gotten a chance to play recently, and has rewarded San Diego with a .338/.381/.562 batting line.
24	Nationals	57	62	Chien-Ming Wang is 1-2 with a 3.60 ERA in three starts since returning from the DL. He also has just 3 K's in his 15 IP.
25	Cubs	52	68	Not that it's hugely significant, but they're the worst baserunning team in the majors by quite a bit (-14 runs at FanGraphs).
26	Mariners	51	67	We're getting pretty late into the season, and Ichiro is still below replacement level (-0.5 fWAR, -0.6 brWAR).
27	Pirates	56	62	Ronny Cedeno isn't hitting at all (.272 wOBA), but plus glovework at shortstop has him at 1.3 fWAR - 3rd on the team for position players.
28	Twins	52	67	Delmon Young isn't doing much to build on his 2010 break-out with the bat, but his unintentional walk rate is a career high (5%).
29	Orioles	45	72	The O's are the only team in the majors to only have one pitcher throw at least 120 IP for them (Jeremy Guthrie with 164).
30	Astros	38	82	Double their pitcher fWAR, and they'd still be in last place - only 2.6 (and more than all of it from Bud Norris and Wandy Rodriguez).