Week 15 Real Rankings

NOTES:
- Week 15 is done and we're 72% of the way through the regular season, two weeks away from the start of the open trading period, four weeks away from the trade deadline, and six weeks away from the regular season. What do we know? There's two really good teams, two pretty good teams, one really bad team and a massive cluster of nine teams that are 17.5 games apart from eachother. Lets see what we know about each team:

1. MONTEZUMAS - My team has been pretty dominant since the halfway mark, going 40-7-3 since week 11 (3.9 RR). This week was historic as the pitching compiled a 1.4 in pitching. At half a game out, it looks like a two horse race.

2. SEXUAL NAPALM - Mike's team hasn't had the relative dominance in recent week, with no sub-5.0 weeks since week 11. Still, he's been one of the most consistent teams, as shown by his VAR and consistent rank with the best hitting and second best pitching.

3. ONE NUT - Jason started strong but has settled in the second tier. With the second best offense and 10th best pitching, perhaps he's rethinking dealing Erv and Felix for a less powerful Braun. He could certainly use reinforcements in this area as his pitching has had an RR of over 9.0 five weeks this season.

4. MUNCHKINS - Chris Shomphe had a tough start, but started to surge after week 5 with four sub-5.0 weeks in a five-week span. He's come back down lately with a 6.8 RR since the halfway point. For the full season, the team suffers the same imbalance as Jason over the course of the season (4th Hit RR/11th Pitch RR). However, he's had the 7th best pitching since the halfway point.

5. COWHIDE - One of the more inconsistent teams in the league, in the past six weeks, Dave has three good weeks ranging from 4.8-5.7 and three bad weeks from 8.3-9.6. This can be entirely blamed on his pitching staff, which has posted three sub-3.0 weeks and two 9.0-plus weeks recently. That said, overall, he's one of the most balanced teams with 8th Hit RR and 5th Pitch RR.

6. KEEPIN - Pierce and Chris Shannon's teams have been the most confusing, so its fitting that they're side by side and 0.11 RR apart, with similar imbalances 10th Hit/6th Pitch and 11th Hit/ 4th Pitch, respectively. Pierce bucked the RR initially by ranking low and climbing in the standings, but has settled on both fronts and is probably around where he should be talent-wise.

7. DONKEY - Guess which team has the second best Real Rank since the halfway point? It's not Napalm, its Donkey by a wide margin (5.1 to 6.6). I made the case a few weeks ago that Shannon could still make a run for it. That is obvious, despite his place in the standings (10th). Even if he decides to keep selling, he could squeak in a la '13 Napalm with a shot at a championship and a bounty of picks.

8. ANAL - Andrew got a much-needed boost in the Actual Standing this week with an 8-1-1 win following back to back 1-8-1 losses. Like Dave, he's been pretty inconsistent lately with 3 weeks of 6.5-7.2 and 3 weeks of 9.1-10.6 over the last 6 weeks. Overall, he's balanced with a 7th best Hit RR and 9th best Pitch RR.

9. ANGRY - Kyle has a clear need for his team, and that's pitching. He's got a powerful offesne that ranks 5th best overall, but with 12th-ranked pitching has had few good weeks. That said, its been better since the second half started, ranking 6th best since week 11. Its the offense that has had troubles lately, with three ranks of over 11.0 in the past six weeks -- that's really bad.

10. RING OF FIRE -  This is just not the type of dominance we've come to expect from Dagan, but the team has improved overall with only one real stinker in the past six weeks. Overall, he's balanced but its really hard to know what to expect from his offense from week to week, as exemplified by his week 12 performance (2.6) and week 13 (11.6). He's gotten lucky though and sits in a playoff spot currently.

11. MOOSE - The champ has had a rough go of it this season. By this time last season, he was sitting in 4th. Ultimately though, it was his four-week surge beginning in week 17 that propelled him into the playoffs and brought him a championship. He's sitting in the last playoff spot currently, so it could conceivably happen again, but there's an imbalance that needs to be addressed - he has the worst offense in the league and 3rd best pitching.

12. URBAN - If he's been nothing else, Dan has been consistent. Unfortunately, the success has been fleeting, though it should be noted that he has had a nice three week stretch of 7.5, 6.5, and 7.5. If he can keep that up, he shouldn't have a problem making up the 3.5 games that separate him and the last playoff spot.

13. M.E.T. - Russ and Gibby have been the most consistent on the season, just at different ends of the spectrum. Still, the playoffs are clearly in his sights if the team continues to perform the way it has the last four weeks, when he's stayed in the 6.7-7.1 range. There's still hope and a real good offense here.

14. PRESTIGE - The one team I would officially call dead. 21 games is a lot to make up and its not like there's many signs of improvement or hope. That said, there's lots of parts. Ortiz, Werth, Grandy, Gordon, Morse, Trumbo, Wilson, Lynn, Skaggs, and Verlander all have value, while EE, Samardzjia, and Longoria are a nice trio of keepers. Hopefully Lars takes advantage of this to improve his keepers and draft status.