Language Selection

Get healthy now with MedBeds!
Click here to book your session

Protect your whole family with Orgo-Life® Quantum MedBed Energy Technology® devices.

Advertising by Adpathway

         

 Advertising by Adpathway

FanGraphs Power Rankings: September 7–13

3 hours ago 1

PROTECT YOUR DNA WITH QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY

Orgo-Life the new way to the future

  Advertising by Adpathway

The Padres’ recent hot streak has put some daylight between them and the Diamondbacks for the last open playoff spot in the National League. If that gap remains, playoff seeding is all that will be left to figure out in the Senior Circuit. Thankfully, we still have the potential for upheaval in the American League, where all three divisions are up for grabs and the Wild Card race is still unsettled.

Our power rankings use a modified Elo rating system. If you’re familiar with chess rankings, you’ll know that Elo is an elegant ranking format that measures teams’ relative strength and is very reactive to recent performance. To avoid overweighting recent results during the season, we weigh each team’s raw Elo rank using our coin flip playoff odds (specifically, we regress the playoff odds by 50% and weigh those against the raw Elo ranking, increasing in weight as the season progresses to a maximum of 25%). The weighted Elo ranks are then displayed as “Power Score” in the tables below. As the best and worst teams sort themselves out between now and October, they’ll filter to the top and bottom of the rankings, while the exercise remains reactive to hot streaks and cold snaps. If you’re looking for a visual representation of the ups and downs of your team throughout the season, look no further than the brand new Power Rankings Board in the FanGraphs Lab.

First up are the full rankings, presented in a sortable table. Below that, I’ve grouped the teams into tiers with comments on a handful of clubs. You’ll notice that the official ordinal rankings don’t always match the tiers — there are times where I take editorial liberties when grouping teams together — but generally, the ordering is consistent. One thing to note: The playoff odds listed in the tables below are our standard Depth Charts odds, not the coin flip odds that are used in the ranking formula.

FanGraphs Power Rankings

Rank Team W-L Hot/Cold Elo Opp Elo Playoff% Power Score Δ
1 MIL 93-57 1582 1496 100.0% 1621 3
2 TBR 90-59 🔥 1575 1489 100.0% 1615 5
3 NYY 86-63 1568 1498 100.0% 1610 3
4 BOS 82-68 1561 1499 100.0% 1605 -3
5 LAD 90-59 🔥 ⛵ 1558 1493 100.0% 1602 0
6 ATL 88-62 🛣️ 1555 1499 100.0% 1600 -4
7 PHI 83-67 🛣️ 1553 1502 96.9% 1595 -4
8 SDP 81-68 🔥 1560 1504 77.5% 1580 5
9 CHC 83-67 🛣️ 1526 1501 98.8% 1576 -1
10 HOU 75-75 🛣️ 1507 1492 75.8% 1534 0
11 CHW 76-73 ❄️ 1487 1501 75.8% 1525 -2
12 TOR 75-75 1535 1504 43.0% 1519 0
13 CLE 76-74 1496 1500 67.3% 1509 1
14 ARI 79-71 1526 1504 26.7% 1492 -3
15 TEX 74-76 1482 1495 31.2% 1470 0
16 NYM 69-80 1529 1509 0.0% 1465 0
17 PIT 75-75 1517 1509 0.1% 1455 0
18 BAL 72-78 🛣️ 1486 1502 1.4% 1434 4
19 MIA 74-76 🛣️ 1483 1502 0.0% 1429 0
20 KCR 66-84 🛣️ 1483 1497 0.0% 1429 1
21 CIN 70-79 🛣️ 1480 1506 0.0% 1427 -3
22 DET 70-79 🔥 ⛵ 1475 1491 0.7% 1424 3
23 STL 74-76 1471 1502 0.0% 1420 -3
24 SEA 70-80 1464 1499 4.2% 1416 0
25 MIN 70-79 1454 1492 0.6% 1407 -2
26 SFG 62-88 1444 1505 0.0% 1399 1
27 WSN 70-81 1443 1501 0.0% 1398 -1
28 ATH 61-89 🔥 1430 1503 0.0% 1388 1
29 LAA 56-93 1395 1500 0.0% 1362 1
30 COL 55-94 ❄️ 1377 1507 0.0% 1348 -2

🔥 Elo up >20 pts (last 10) | ❄️ Elo down >20 pts (last 10)
🛣️ Avg opp Elo >1525 (last 10) | ⛵ Avg opp Elo <1475 (last 10)

Tier 1 – The Best of the Best

Team Record Elo Opponent Elo Playoff Odds Power Score
Brewers 93-57 1582 1496 100.0% 1621
Rays 90-59 1575 1489 100.0% 1615
Yankees 86-63 1568 1498 100.0% 1610

The Brewers put the NL Central race to bed with a big sweep of the Cubs last week. The division isn’t officially clinched, but Milwaukee’s magic number is down to two. The Brewers became the first National League team to secure a spot in the playoffs when they demolished the Reds on Friday night, 20-0, a score that is shockingly only their second-largest shutout victory of the season. Jackson Chourio was an absolute menace. In addition hitting to the go-ahead, two-run single on Monday and the game-tying two-run home run on Tuesday — both coming in the ninth inning — Chourio collected 11 other hits, including another home run against Chicago on Wednesday.

You Aren't a FanGraphs Member

It looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed.

We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member.

1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other.

2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off.

3. Dark mode and Classic mode!

4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them.

5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects.

6. Remove the photos on the home page! (Honestly, this doesn't sound so great to us, but some people wanted it, and we like to give our Members what they want.)

7. Even more Steamer projections! We have handedness, percentile, and context neutral projections available for Members only.

8. Get FanGraphs Walk-Off, a customized year end review! Find out exactly how you used FanGraphs this year, and how that compares to other Members. Don't be a victim of FOMO.

9. A weekly mailbag column, exclusively for Members.

10. Help support FanGraphs and our entire staff! Our Members provide us with critical resources to improve the site and deliver new features!

We hope you'll consider a Membership today, for yourself or as a gift! And we realize this has been an awfully long sales pitch, so we've also removed all the other ads in this article. We didn't want to overdo it.

Although the Rays clinched a playoff berth on Friday night, the battle for the AL East crown isn’t over yet. Tampa Bay and New York are separated by four games right now with a huge four-game series between the two rivals on the schedule next week. The Rays just wrapped up a sweep of the Astros over the weekend and have a series against the Red Sox this coming weekend leading into that decisive series in New York. All three of those teams are potential postseason opponents, making these last few weeks of the regular season a test of Tampa Bay’s mettle against some of the best the AL has to offer.

As for the Yankees, they managed to keep pace with the Rays by sweeping the Rockies and winning the Subway Series against the Mets over the weekend. Aaron Judge’s return hasn’t exactly been a spark for the lineup; he tallied just three hits in five games and struck out in half of his plate appearances last week. Instead, it was Cody Bellinger leading the charge with eight hits and three home runs. The injury issues haven’t abated either; Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit the IL on Thursday with a thumb sprain, though it doesn’t seem serious enough to jeopardize his availability in the playoffs.

Tier 2 – On the Cusp of Greatness

Team Record Elo Opponent Elo Playoff Odds Power Score
Red Sox 82-68 1561 1499 100.0% 1605
Dodgers 90-59 1558 1493 100.0% 1602
Braves 88-62 1555 1499 100.0% 1600

The Red Sox stumbled a bit last week, losing three straight to the Angels and Royals. They got back on track with a pair of wins on Saturday and Sunday, but the losses probably cost the team a shot at overtaking the Yankees for the top spot in the Wild Card standings. Boston now sits 3.5 games behind New York with two weeks left to play. That means we’re likely to see another AL Wild Card series in Yankee Stadium between these two historic rivals.

Last week, the Dodgers finally bit the bullet and placed Shohei Ohtani on the IL to ensure that he’s fully healthy for the postseason. Despite their superstar’s injuries, they had been playing well until a pair of losses to the Marlins over the weekend snapped an eight-game winning streak. In Ohtani’s absence, the run scoring has been led by Teoscar Hernández and Mookie Betts; the two veterans have combined for 31 hits, eight home runs, and 27 RBI since the calendar flipped to September.

The Braves probably put the NL East out of reach with a series win over the Phillies this past weekend. It started with a dramatic extra-innings, walk-off victory on Friday and culminated in a 12-2 blowout on Saturday. After those two wins, Sunday’s loss didn’t sting so bad — Atlanta is five games up with two weeks left to play. With a patchwork rotation behind Chris Sale, owing to a myriad of injuries throughout the season, the Braves have to be glad they picked up Tyler Mahle at the trade deadline. He hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his seven starts with Atlanta and held the Phillies to just a single run in seven innings in that blowout win on Saturday.

Tier 3 – Solid Contenders

Team Record Elo Opponent Elo Playoff Odds Power Score
Phillies 83-67 1553 1502 96.9% 1595
Padres 81-68 1560 1504 77.5% 1580
Cubs 83-67 1526 1501 98.8% 1576

The Phillies faltered last week, losing both of their series to the Astros and Braves. Their grip on a postseason berth is probably secure — they’re four games ahead of the Diamondbacks, the first team outside the playoff picture in the NL — but their place in the Wild Card pecking order is very much up in the air. They’re currently tied with the Cubs for that top spot, with the Padres just 1.5 games back. Where Philadelphia ends up could be critical because the team is currently sporting the worst road wOBA in baseball. The pitching staff has covered for that lack of punch on the road, but a Wild Card series away from Citizens Bank Park could make for a very short postseason run for the Phillies.

After being swept by the Brewers last week, the Cubs can also focus all their attention on their NL Wild Card seeding now. And with Ohtani on the IL for the rest of the regular season, Pete Crow-Armstrong has two weeks to solidify his case for NL MVP. He’s four stolen bases away from becoming the seventh member of the 40/40 club and a hair shy of becoming the ninth position player to post a double-digit WAR total in the last 50 years.

A seven-game winning streak has helped the Padres pull 2.5 games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the NL Wild Card race. Their Playoff Odds now stand at 77.6%, though that three-game series against Arizona the final weekend of the season still looms large. San Diego’s superstars have finally shown up to play. Jackson Merrill registered 12 hits and three home runs last week while Fernando Tatis Jr. matched his teammate with a dozen hits of his own. Since the All-Star break, those two teammates have combined for 5.5 WAR. The only pair of teammates to out produce them in that span — with 7.0 WAR accumulated — has been Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman on the Cubs.

Tier 4 – The AL Melee

Team Record Elo Opponent Elo Playoff Odds Power Score
Astros 75-75 1507 1492 75.8% 1534
White Sox 76-73 1487 1501 75.8% 1525
Blue Jays 75-75 1535 1504 43.0% 1519
Guardians 76-74 1496 1500 67.3% 1509

The Astros just can’t pull away in the AL West race. A sweep by the Rays over the weekend dropped Houston back to .500, just a game ahead of the Rangers. The biggest problem has been an ill-timed slump from Yordan Alvarez. No longer leading the AL in home runs or RBI, the slugger has posted a mere 103 wRC+ over the last three weeks. He missed two games this past weekend with an ankle injury that might explain some of the slow down. With the battle for the division going down to the wire, the Astros are hoping that the early return of Carlos Correa will help provide a spark for the offense. Originally thought to have been lost for the season when he underwent ankle surgery in May, he’s set to begin a brief rehab assignment this week.

The White Sox are running out of steam at the worst possible moment. A 1-5 week against the Pirates and Cardinals dropped them to just half a game ahead of the Guardians in the AL Central. Suddenly, Chicago’s playoff hopes look a lot less solid than they did just a few weeks ago. On the other side of the coin, the Guardians have been playing just well enough to maintain a grip on the final AL Wild Card spot while putting pressure on the White Sox during their slide. Incredibly, Cleveland has been doing this without any help from José Ramírez; he’s batting .111/.149/.111 in September and hasn’t collected a single barreled batted ball since coming off the IL in late July. These two rivals meet in a decisive three-game series to start this week. If the White Sox prevail, they’ll secure the all-important tiebreaker over the Guardians.

Canada’s long national nightmare is finally over: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. finally hit a home run at home in Rogers Centre on Sunday, part of a 4-for-5 day at the plate. The Blue Jays managed to keep pace with the Guardians in the AL Wild Card race with a series win over the Orioles this past weekend. And with the AL Central battle up in the air this week, Toronto might be the benefactor in the Wild Card race if the team can continue to rack up wins.

Tier 5 – Long Shots

Team Record Elo Opponent Elo Playoff Odds Power Score
Diamondbacks 79-71 1526 1504 26.7% 1492
Rangers 74-76 1482 1495 31.2% 1470

These two long-shot playoff hopefuls met in a series over the weekend with the Rangers emerging victorious and improving their chance at a late-season charge into the postseason. Texas couldn’t overcome the Mariners earlier in the week, but the series win over the weekend helped the team take advantage of the Astros’ stumbles. A weekend series against the Blue Jays, the team immediately ahead of the Rangers in the AL Wild Card standings, is the next hurdle to overcome.

As for the Diamondbacks, they activated Corbin Burnes, Zac Gallen, and Michael Soroka off the IL last week, a huge infusion of pitching talent to their roster. Those three pitchers aren’t the only veterans helping carry the team during this playoff chase; Nolan Arenado has four home runs across his last eight games. Corbin Carroll also returned to the lineup over the weekend — he had been slowed by a nagging back injury over the last few weeks — but was healthy enough to blast a home run in Friday’s game.

Tier 6 – No Man’s Land

Team Record Elo Opponent Elo Playoff Odds Power Score
Mets 69-80 1529 1509 0.0% 1465
Pirates 75-75 1517 1509 0.1% 1455
Orioles 72-78 1486 1502 1.4% 1434
Marlins 74-76 1483 1502 0.0% 1429
Royals 66-84 1483 1497 0.0% 1429
Reds 70-79 1480 1506 0.0% 1427
Tigers 70-79 1475 1491 0.7% 1424
Cardinals 74-76 1471 1502 0.0% 1420
Mariners 70-80 1464 1499 4.2% 1416
Twins 70-79 1454 1492 0.6% 1407

Depending on how these final two weeks go, the Pirates could finish the season with a record over .500 for the first time since 2018. There were higher hopes for them this year, especially after their hot start to the season and a mostly competitive summer. Still, it’s significant progress after a long period of rebuilding. The most surprising development? The team is fifth in baseball in run scoring. With a young and talented pitching staff continuing to grow and Konnor Griffin now established in the big leagues, the future is looking brighter than it has in a long time.

A late-season surge from the Tigers has them in position to create some chaos in the AL playoff picture. Riding a four-game winning streak, they face off against the Blue Jays and White Sox this week. It’s been a perplexing season for Detroit. The team is on track to fall short of its Pythagorean-projected win total by the largest margin of any Wild Card-era team. It’s a small consolation that Kevin McGonigle will likely win the AL Rookie of the Year award, but at least his phenomenal season gives the Tigers hope for the future.

The Mariners’ roller-coaster season hit another low against the Athletics last weekend, when the A’s took three of four in an absolutely critical series in Seattle. Then, this past weekend, the A’s won two backbreaking walk-off victories in Sacramento on Friday and Sunday, slamming the door on Seattle’s slim playoff hopes. In between those two losses, the Mariners set a franchise record with a 19-1 blowout win on Saturday. If only they could have distributed those runs a little more evenly across the three-game series.

Tier 7 – Hope Deferred

Team Record Elo Opponent Elo Playoff Odds Power Score
Giants 62-88 1444 1505 0.0% 1399
Nationals 70-81 1443 1501 0.0% 1398
Athletics 61-89 1430 1503 0.0% 1388
Angels 56-93 1395 1500 0.0% 1362
Rockies 55-94 1377 1507 0.0% 1348

The Giants have suffered through a miserable season this year, but at least fans could count on seeing some excitement from the big stars on the roster. Rafael Devers had been in the midst of a torrid hot streak — he smacked seven home runs and drove in 19 runs in September — but he was placed on the IL on Sunday and is expected to undergo season-ending surgery to address a core injury. If not for the injury, Devers had a shot at becoming the first Giant since Barry Bonds to hit 40 home runs in a season; instead, Devers finished the year with 37 homers. Adding to the disappointment, Logan Webb could be joining Devers on the shelf soon, as manager Tony Vitello told reporters Sunday that the team has discussed shutting Webb down for the remainder of the year. San Francisco’s ace has struggled mightily recently — he’s posted a 9.86 ERA over his last five starts — and since the team has already been eliminated from contention, there’s no reason to push him over the next two weeks.

Read Entire Article

         

        

HOW TO FIGHT BACK WITH THE 5G  

Protect your whole family with Quantum Orgo-Life® devices

  Advertising by Adpathway