Week 1 Real Rankings

The Real Rankings are back! As a reminder for the league and introduction to Shomphe, I started running this last year in an effort to provide a different perspective on your team's production on a weekly basis. The weekly ranks (top table) shows how your team produced relative to the rest of the league -- as opposed to just your opponent for that week (i.e., the actual standings).  This is useful because it gives teams credit for production that did not result in a win, while also punishing teams for cheap wins.

For example, Russ had the 4th best OBP for the week, but lost the category because Mike had the 2nd best OBP for the week. Meanwhile, my team only had the 8th best OBP, but I got the win because Andrew was last in the category this week. The Real Rankings correct this injustice and compares all the teams in all categories.

The overall ranks (bottom table) simply track the team's Real Rankings over the course of the season. From left to right, RK is your overall average Real Ranking for the season, STD is the Actual head-to-head standings, +/- is the difference between the Real and Actual Rankings, OV is the overall average Real Ranking for the season, VAR shows the variability week-to-week (low = consistent team).

Few things to keep in mind:
- While there was some consternation when I unveiled this last year, it is not intended to replace the Actual Rankings nor should your goal for the season be to end up at the top of the Real Ranking. It will not help you. All it is meant to do is give you a more comprehensive means in which to assess your team's production for the week. Some of the concern came from the name of "Real Rankings," but the bullet below will show why I'm keeping the name.

- In the first full year last year, the Real Rankings actually were a testament to the validity of the head-to-head system, which some fantasy baseball purists disdain. Of the top eight teams in the Real Rankings last season overall, only one did not get one of the eight playoff spots (Jason came in 6th in the Real Ranking and 9th in the Actual Rankings, narrowly missing out on a playoff spot). Otherwise, every team's Real Rank was within one spot of their Actual Rank.

RNK	STD	+/-	TEAM	AVG
1	1	0	Clayton & The King	5.3
2	2	0	Donkey Punchers	6.4
3	3	0	Keepin it REAL...	6.5
4	5	-1	Moose is Loose!	6.5
5	4	1	Ring of Fire	6.7
6	9	-3	One Nut Wonders	6.9
7	6	1	Montezuma's Revenge	7.1
8	7	1	Anal Hershiser	7.2
9	8	1	Sexual Napalm	7.3
10	10	0	Cowhide Joyride	7.4
11	11	0	Prestige Worldwide	7.6
12	13	-1	The Angry Pirates	7.7
13	14	-1	THE GRUMPY MUNCHKINS	8.4
14	13	1	Urban Achievers	8.7

- As you can see, Russ started 2014 where he left off last year, coming in tops in the Real Ranking even though he's low in the Actual Standings. Conversely, Dagan is second in the standings by 10th in Real Ranks.

- For the 2013 season, Russ was first with a 5.3 average and Dan was last at 8.7.  On a per-week basis, the highest Real Rank was 2.2 for Mike in Week 9 and the lowest was my 11.3, also in Week 9.

- Kyle had the smallest variance last year at 0.9. Chris and I tied for most volatile at 4.4.

- What you can't see here is the difference in hitting vs. pitching performance. Shomphe had the largest difference between pitching and hitting, coming in 1st in hitting and 14th in pitching.  Dave was the most consistent by category, coming in 9th in hitting and 11th in pitching.

- Unless something stands out, most weeks I won't post any commentary, just the tables. I try to get them posted some time on Mondays.

- Its important to not overreact to this at this point. We're 4.8% of the way through the regular reason.