Week 7 Power Rankings

1. Grumpy Munchkins – Casten continues to have a high functioning, balanced team that is tied for the top pitching (by average rank). Though it hasn’t all been roses (Luebke, Madson, Robertson), Morrow and Dunn have been fantastic, while McCutchen and Pujols got back on track and Harper started to prove he belonged. It will be interesting to see if the pitching keeps this pace since many of the members have a history of volatility, but for now, all is well.

2. One Nut Wonders – Jason gets the bump this week as Russ’ pitching continues to flounder and the team took a serious hit with the loss of Berkman. One Nut’s average rank is still slightly better (4.6 to 4.8) with ERA (8th) his worst category. Pitching was mediocre this week with only 4 QS and 3 saves, but the offense is clicking on all cylinders, lead by Pacman Jones and Braun.

3. Clayton & The King – Looks like Berkman is done, possibly for the season, laying waste to what seemed to be like two quality early picks in Berkman and CCrawford (Avila, obviously, also didn’t work out).  But Trout has been phenomenal and JHardy has picked up where he left off last year. The problem is pitching; and four regular starters (Nova, Wainright, Harrison, and Minor) with ERAs over 5.00 is a big problem.

4. Prestige Worldwide – Troy’s team came to play this week and Lars was lucky to escape with a split, as it took a 7 rbi Sunday from Lucroy to hold off a loss to the last place Billy Chapel. The closers produced, but some of the top producers to this point (Lynn, Bedard, Detweiler) didn’t perform. Lars stays at 4th this week, but his average rank in pitching went from 7.6 to 8.2; further decline will force him down this list as well.

5. Ring of Fire – Tough week for Dagan with Anal giving him a thorough probing 2-6-2 and it could’ve been worse. Still in playoff position at third, but he fell two spots in the statistical rankings with an overall rank of 7.2 – down from 6.0 last week (in part due to fluctuations in the cluster of six teams with a 1.17-1.25 overall WHIP). The team is the most balanced in the league statistically, with only a 0.4 difference in offense and pitching.

6. Montezuma’s Revenge – Two weeks and two homers. My statistical ranking may be higher than some of the aforementioned teams, but my team certainly did nothing this week to deserve a move up. Pitching was supposed to be my greatest challenge, but right now I’m averaging 2.8th while offense is at 9.6, making my team the least balanced in the league. But the names are still good, the team is mostly healthy, and hopefully for me the reversion to the mean will be as fruitful as this two-week period has been shitful.

7. Moose is Loose – Brian took down Jason with some great pitching, as Ervin has bounced back, Grienke was dominant again, and the EJax for Balfour trade is squarely in the win category for Moose. Kuroda and Danks, though, don’t look like their former selves and Ubaldo may never look like the 2010 version. Plenty to like on offense though going forward, which should improve his average rank of 8th.

8. Donkey Punchers – Still a little baffled that Chris’ team hasn’t performed better and I expect good things will come. Pitching has been stellar (minus saves of course) but the offense is second worst. Not sure IDavis will ever turn it around, which is too bad because I thought he was going to be a good one, but LoMo, Napoli, and Teix should all do better and help push Chris into playoff contention.

9. Cowhide Joyride – Nice win over a quality team last week and a slight improvement to his average rank moves Dave up a bit. His offense was tremendous and he picked up Soriano at the right time (hit his first 3 HR of the year after Dave grabbed him) and Reddick has been incredible. That pitching though…Bumgarner will be better and Johan should continue to be good, but Dave got a taste of the real Westbrook, Zito, and Nolasco this week and that might be a challenge going forward.

10. Urban Achievers – Dan continues his move up the ranks with a 7-3 finish for the week and some particularly great pitching. Really, the savvy pickups over the course of the season have made all the difference (ABass has been amazing and I was apparently wrong about Vogelsong) and that’s without CC being his typical self. Get DJennings back and MReynolds healthy and hot and we might just have a sleeper playoff team.

11. Keepin It Real – Pierce would’ve done much better than his 3-7 record indicated had he played other teams this week, but it seems like it was a week for the bottom dwellers to show they’re not giving up yet. Looks like I was wrong on Aroldis; not only was he a great setup man, he’s evolved into the closer and, with his K ability, he might be right up there with Kimbrel. The key for this team will be the offense maintaining status quo while Panda and Jacoby rest up, and the middle-of-the-road starters staying on the road.

12. The Angry Pirates – Hard to tell where this team is going, if anywhere. Seems like the offense is more than capable, but the pitching is the worst in the league. And it isn’t like there’s an easy fix as each of the pitchers have some sort of question mark, notably the health of JJ and Sale. If Blanton and WChen are who we thought they were, this team will need a minor miracle to compete.

13. Anal Hershiser – The all old guy team (Chipper, Raul, Helton) could really use MMorse right about now. Andrew beat Dagan, but it was pretty close across the board and the sixth place pitching is really holding the team’s head above water. But you have to wonder how long HAlvarez, Colon, JWilliams, and DSmyly will be adequate flanks to VerlHarenBurg.

14. Billy Chapel – Troy rounded out the Revenge of the Bottom Dwellers with a 5-5 tie with Lars, a sign of progress with an incredible 11 QSs (He almost had WHIP and Ks too). He also nailed 12 homers (that’s more than I’ve had in like a month) thanks in large part to super pickup MAviles and HPence. Kennedy, Hudson and Fister can help bring the staff toward respectability, but more help is needed.