Week 9 & 10 Real Rankings

Apologies for missing a week. There's been a lot of changes in the real rankings and the actual standings There have been some massive hitting and pitching performances in the past couple weeks, including 19 HR by LOC in week 9, 21 HR by Ring in week 10, a 1.76/0.96 in week 10 and a 1.91/0.92 in week 9 by Donkey, and a mind-boggling 13 SBs by Angry in week 9.  The power output and injuries have been a huge story this year.

Another interesting story has been the evolution of the 1B position, which was supposed to be a declining position.  But not with afterthoughts like Ryan Zimmerman, Mark Reynolds, Justin Smoak, Yonder Alonso, Logan Morrison, Justin Bour, Marwin Gonzalez, and Travis Shaw all among the top 75 overall players.  Factor in young guns Joey Gallo and Cody Bellinger and you suddenly have a very deep position.

But from a H&T perspective, the big story is that Ring of Fire – the top ranked team according to Real Rankings – is currently on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs, while the Angry Pirates – the 11^th placed team in the Real Rankings – sits only 1.5 games out of first. It’s hard to look at the data and say it’s anything other than plain dumb luck.  Over the last five weeks, the Pirates are DEAD LAST in Real Rankings, yet they own a 28-19-3 record.  Meanwhile, Ring has the 4^TH HIGHEST Real Ranking over the last 5, but owns a mirror image 19-27-4 record.  This is exactly why so many leagues use Rotisserie style scoring. That said, as I’ve mentioned, most of the time these things work out in terms of overall rankings.

We are roughly at the halfway point of the regular season, so there is still a lot of time for your luck to reverse course (for good and for bad), particularly when you consider the number of injuries.  Currently, 13 keepers are on the DL (or suspended, in the case of Marte), which is 16%! That includes multiple keepers for Montezumas (Villar, Joc, Trout), Napalm (Duffy, Freeman), and Keep off Groin (Marte, Segura).

Unlike past years, it’s hard to call one or two teams dominant.  Anal isn’t far away, with particular domination in the tricky SB and S+H categories, but the back-end behind Darvish and Archer is too temperamental to be considered intimidating.  Aaron Sanchez is on the mend and if guys like Smoak, Conforto, Avisail, and Inciarte maintain their pace, there is plenty to worry about for other opponents.

The only team that has effectively sold is Brokeback and we’re already in mid June.  After making a couple trades, Moose must be encouraged by the 13-7 record the past two weeks, while fellow bottom-dwellers One Nut and Stroman aren’t keen to give up too quickly. The open trading period is still quite a ways away though (July 30^th – Aug 13^th).

Speaking of Conforto, there are an usual amount of odd names in the latest top 25 overall.  Never would’ve guessed the list would include names like Judge, Lamb, Zimmerman, Reynolds, Conforto, Hicks, Ervin, Thames…:

Top 25 by Yahoo

1              Paul Goldschmidt Ari - 1B             Ring of Fire

2              Aaron Judge NYY - OF                    Moose is Loose!

3              Joey Votto Cin - 1B                          Ring of Fire

4              Charlie Blackmon Col - OF             Stroman my Cobb Odor

5              Max Scherzer Was - P                    Montezuma's Revenge

6              Bryce Harper Was - OF                   Thor's Hammered

7              Mike Trout LAA - OF                       Montezuma's Revenge

8              Clayton Kershaw LAD - P               Brokeback Moundmen

9              Jake Lamb Ari - 3B                            Thor's Hammered

10           Ryan Zimmerman Was - 1B          Livin' on a Correa

11           Mark Reynolds Col - 1B                  Thor's Hammered

12           Chris Sale Bos - P                              The Angry Pirates

13           Dallas Keuchel Hou - P                   Donkey Punchers

14           Craig Kimbrel Bos - P                       Anal Hershiser

15           Michael Conforto NYM - OF        Anal Hershiser

16           Aaron Hicks NYY - OF                      Cowhide Joyride

17           Eric Thames Mil - 1B,OF                 Donkey Punchers

18           Andrew Miller Cle - P                     Donkey Punchers

19           Ervin Santana Min - P                     Thor's Hammered

20           Miguel Sanó Min - 3B,OF              Montezuma's Revenge

21           Anthony Rizzo ChC - 1B                 Brokeback Moundmen

22           George Springer Hou - OF            Anal Hershiser

23           José Altuve Hou - 2B                       Cowhide Joyride

24           Felipe Rivero Pit - P                         Thor's Hammered

25           Nolan Arenado Col - 3B                 Anal Hershiser

Last but not least, the Real Rankings over the last four weeks have show just how volatile and unpredictable this season has been:

1             Donkey Punchers            4.83

2             Anal Hershiser                5.20

3             Montezuma's                   5.73

4             Thor's Hammered            6.48

5             Ring of Fire                     6.53

6             Livin' on a Correa            6.83

7             Sexual Napalm                7.35

8             Cowhide Joyride              7.40

9             Keep Off Groin                7.85

10           Moose is Loose!               7.90

11           Brokeback                        7.95

12           One Nut Wonders             8.03

13           The Angry Pirates            8.45

14           Stroman my Cobb            8.48

Also, please pay if you haven’t (which includes all of you except Chad and Chris Shannon).