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Beyond the Box Score Power Rankings: Week 20

By Daniel Moroz

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).

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