Rankings

Let's do something usually reserved around these parts for Steeler fans.  Let's check the rankings!

USAToday's baseball power rankings have the Pirates at 6th overall.  The Reds take their number 1 spot, with the Rangers, Yankees, Nationals, and Braves rounding out the top 5.  They actually dropped one spot from last week.  Comment: "11-game homestand can define the rest of their season."

SportsIllustrated gets their rankings from fangraphs.com, which is a very cool site.  Their rankings are little different.  They are "based not on the current standings or a gut feeling about team quality, but on how well they've performed at the underlying traits that predict future performance better than wins and losses."  Their top five goes: Nationals, Rangers, Cardinals, Yankees, Diamondbacks.  The Pirates come in 17th, just behind the Milwaukee Brewers.  Usually I'm a "modern stats" guy, but come on.

Here's the headline on the SportingNews MLB rankings page: "MLB power rankings: Orioles, Pirates offer thrifty alternative to big-dollar deals." Their top 6 goes Reds, Nationals, Rangers, Yankees, Braves, Pirates. A.J. Burnett gets a whole paragraph in their write up. It reads, "Being traded to Pittsburgh not only was the best thing that could have happened to the veteran right-hander, but the move has paid off just as much for the Pirates, too, and never more so than last week. Burnett came within four outs of pitching his second no-hitter last Tuesday at Wrigley Field, then delivered an even more impressive outing Sunday. With the Pirates needing a win to avoid being swept in a showdown series at Cincinnati, Burnett came through by holding the Reds to three hits and two runs in 8 2/3 innings as the Pirates won, 6-2. “I’ve never had an ace before,” said manager Clint Hurdle, a title Burnett never had to worry about in his time with the Yankees."

No surprises in BleacherReport's rankings.  They rank the Pirates 6th, calling Andrew McCutcheon "the front-runner for NL MVP right now" and "a major part of the Pirates being in a position to contend."  (Duh.)  They have the same teams as everyone else in the top five: Reds, Nationals, Yankees, Rangers, Braves, then Pirates.

ESPN's rankings also have the Reds on top, followed by the Nationals, Yankees, Rangers, Braves -- and Pirates.   They also praise Burnett, pointing out that he "is 3-0 with a 2.18 ERA in three starts against the NL Central-leading Reds this season"

What's my conclusion?  Power rankings are really boring and are based almost exclusively on overall record.  Every site has the same 6 teams in the top 6 -- except for fangraphs.com which is totally insane.  At least they're doing something other than ranking the teams based solely on their  record...