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Beyond the Box Score Power Rankings: Week 21

The Tigers finally climb into the top 10, joining the other division leaders.

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 76 48 New York leads the league in quite a few offensive categories - including stolen bases (an AL tops 123).
2 Red Sox 76 49 Daniel Bard is the only pitcher in the majors (min. 50 IP) with at least 9 K/9, less than 3 BB/9, and a GB% over 50%.
3 Phillies 81 43 Hunter Pence seems to be adjusting to playing for a good team just fine; .307/.386/.520 since coming to Philly.
4 Rangers 73 54 Ian Kinsler has tied Brandon Phillips for the second most 20-20 season by a second-baseman (3; Joe Morgan has 4).
5 Brewers 75 52 Milwaukee is 22-3 in their last 25 games, and has opened up the largest division lead in the majors (8.5 games).
6 Braves 75 52 For Jose Costanza (.360/.407/.480 in 84 PA), major league pitching has been as tough to handle as a game of Frogger.
7 Cardinals 66 60 Since the start of June, Albert Pujols has a .434 wOBA. And he's also now leading the NL in home runs, with 31.
8 Rays 68 56 Ben Zobrist is back in MVP form himself after a slightly down 2010 - he's on pace to cross the 8 fWAR line again like in '09.
9 Diamondbacks 69 57 Great bat (.299/.371/.548) and glove (+13 UZR) have made Justin Upton the NL's fWAR leader (6.2).
10 Tigers 67 58 Doug Fister has only walked 2 batters in 21.2 IP since getting traded to Detroit - though he's also hit two guys.
11 Blue Jays 64 62 Despite getting into just 39 games, back-up catcher Jose Molina is third on the team in position player fWAR (1.4).
12 Reds 61 65 MLB ERA leader Johnny Cueto (1.89) has the lowest BABIP in baseball (.225) and the 7th lowest HR/FB rate (5.8%).
13 White Sox 62 63 Mark Buehrle is on pace for his 11th straight 200+ IP season - the most for any hurler since Greg Maddux's 14 in a row ('88-'01).
14 Mets 60 65 David Wright is hitting .292/.357/.469 since coming off the DL, but it's a .285 wOBA Aug. following the .479 July.
15 Angels 68 59 Maybe with the recent call-up of Hank Conger, the Jeff Mathis (.176/.225/.254) days my finally be waning in LA.
16 Giants 67 60 San Francisco is right there with the Mariners for the worst offense in the majors (79 wRC+ and only 3.4 runs per game).
17 Rockies 59 68 His BABIP is down from .384 to .312, but Carlos Gonzalez has cut down the K's and bumped up the walks in '11.
18 Dodgers 57 68 LA has fallen into last place in the West, which I imagine will hurt Matt Kemp's MVP odds despite the 6.0 fWAR.
19 Athletics 57 69 Josh Willingham has done a nice job in the middle of the A's line-up this year (.249/.333/.484, with a team leading 127 wRC+).
20 Indians 62 60 Kosuke Fukudome doesn't really hit for average or power, so having few walk (only 3 in 21 games for Cleveland) isn't too good.
21 Padres 58 70 San Diego actually has a positive run differential despite being well under .500; 496 runs scored, 492 runs allowed.
22 Marlins 57 69 Apparently missing fewer bats (6.5 K/9) isn't the solution to getting his ERA to equal his FIP for Ricky Nolasco.
23 Nationals 60 64 Ian Desmond's strike-out rate has jumped each year he's been in the big leagues - while his wOBA has dropped (down to .270 now).
24 Royals 52 75 Sometimes it's easy to forget that Melky Cabrera (.303/.335/.472, 3.3 fWAR this year) is still only 27 years old.
25 Cubs 56 70 Their pitchers have walked more batters than any team in baseball (3.7 BB/9), even though their starters and pen aren't last individually.
26 Mariners 53 71 The glovework is still there, but Franklin Gutierrez's power is missing (just 1 HR) and his offense has fallen off overall (.237 wOBA).
27 Pirates 59 65 They went from tied for first place as recently as July 25th to 15.5 games out now. Going 6-19 will help do that.
28 Twins 55 70 Minnesota has two of the five lowest strike-out pitchers in the majors; Carl Pavano (3.9 K/9) and Nick Blackburn (4.6 K/9).
29 Orioles 47 76 Mark Reynolds has an awful -22 UZR, but amazingly he's not last in baseball when you add in the positional adjustment (Ibanez).
30 Astros 42 84 Carlos Lee leads the team in home runs, which wouldn't be so bad if he was still a 30+ HR guy. Unfortunately he only has 11.