American League

A very static week for the AL as almost every team scored in the 7-13 run range. Aside from the top teams of course, who remain at the top. The picture has barely changed.

1) Royals. Another week, another blowout. This team is on top of the world at present.

2) Cubs. In case anybody thought, for whatever reason, that Emery was going soft, he produced the season’s first 50 to make up for his loss against the Royals. Take Boston out of the picture and the Cubs remain by far the best team in either league.

3) Devil Rays. Big_DAWG is getting it done as this team’s defense does its job. The Rays are in great shape as long as this trajectory continues.

4) Reds. The Reds’ scores are looking less and less impressive every week, as this time they put out their lowest score yet and just barely squeezed out the win. Even if they are one of the last three teams with only double-digit run totals, they’ll need to shape up in their upcoming road trip if they don’t want to start dropping down these rankings.

5) Rangers. T-Boz proved on MOTW that this team still can get it done on the road, which helps this team’s ranking, but it’s hard to imagine their position climbing higher than this unless they manage to figure out their tough home games.

6) Angels. The good news, and honestly a very encouraging sign, for the Angels is that they put out a double-digit score for the second week in a row. The bad news is that their AI defense has been getting absolutely obliterated in recent weeks, their home field doing them no favors in that regard. Bobby’s done good work with this team but as it stands, he’ll need to do even more to overcome his defense.

7) Braves. Neither Atlanta’s big score nor the big score put up against them turned out to be sustainable. Overall what we have here is a team whose defense has mostly held true, but has themselves put out wildly inconsistent scores, and that merits a middling ranking.

8) Orioles. The O’s outburst at the Alley was indeed a one-team deal, but they did follow it up with their best other score yet, just narrowly losing to the Reds. Perhaps some of that improvement rubbed off on them and they’ll start to win more games soon.

9) Rockies. The Rockies’ trajectory remains the same through five weeks. If this sort of scoring continues, they’ll win a few more games – but only a few.

10) Pirates. QM, if you want to impress me enough to move your team back up, you’ll have to do better that that.

11) Hornets. Hey, a solid run total from the Hornets! But in order to actually move up in the rankings, they’ll need to sustain this improvement and see other teams fall on hard times. I don’t foresee an actual move soon.

National League

1) Monsters. The Monsters continue to put up surprisingly low run outputs, as this week they got their worst score yet in a situation that appeared very favorable for them. But they have been consistently putting up solid totals, still with the highest score floor in the NL, and only one out of five teams getting anything done against their defense is a big point in their favor as well.

2) Diamondbacks. The D’Backs were able to bounce right back and get it done in an intimidating matchup. Aside from that hiccup against the Monsters, they’ve had consistently solid run totals, and their defense has continued to hold as well and is currently #2 in the NL. Next week might well be their worst remaining matchup; if they can come out of that one on top, they’re in great shape to take the division.

3) Cardinals. The Cards proved that at least some of the time, they can get it done at home as well! Putting up the highest NL score so far this season is a significant boost to them, and the worst they can do at home now is 2-5. It seems likely that they’ll pick up some more home wins as well, and they’re in great shape for the wild card.

4) Giants. The Giants struggled for the second time in three weeks in a very concerning sign. They’re still sitting pretty in a weak division, but to look like good overall contenders, they need to stop putting on this sort of performance. Otherwise their stock will continue to fall.

5) Twins. The Twins put up their second mid-10s score in a row, and their defense held true once again. While they clearly haven’t reached the full potential that this lineup offers, this is starting to look like a team that has found its groove.

6) Melonheads. Some encouraging signs for the Melonheads as they had a monster first inning this week, picked up their second straight win, and have the second-best player R.D. in the NL. However, stuck in a division with both the Monsters and Cardinals and with a loss against each, the playoffs may be already out of reach, and this week also offered up other concerning signs for this team – namely, the one combined run they scored after the first inning, and the fact that their defense has yet to keep their opponents down to a single digit score.

7) Yankees. What I expected to be a resurgence for this team became a not-particularly-close loss instead for a team that just can’t find its footing in this league. I think the Yankees are in the conversation to win just about any week of the season, but they’re certainly not the favorites.

8) Fishes. I’m still not sure about this team and don’t have a clear read on their performance, but what is clear as that they’ve been getting it done for the past three weeks. Does Chris have a good grip on this team so that he can reliably score enough to win, if not by a ton, or has he just been getting lucky? Time will tell.

9) Athletics. Some good news for the A’s: they put up a new personal high score this week! Unfortunately, they were outshot by the Fishes, and in general if their AI defense doesn’t shape up for them, they’ll need to up their scoring even more.

10) Marlins. Not only did the Marlins have a rough run-in with the Monsters defense, but with big games by a couple of other teams, they now have the lowest ceiling of any team in the NL, the only ones not to hit double digits yet. Their situation is looking grim.

11) Brewers. The Brewers couldn’t keep the momentum going as they crashed right back down against the Cards. Clearly, Silver drinking is not the right solution for this team.

12) Wombats. The good news is that the Wombats finally had their breakout score this week with a nice total of 15 runs. The bad news is, well, just about everything else.