Week 6 MLB Power Rankings
Week 6 Power Rankings
Tier 1
1- Win’s Up Doc (5-0) [-]
2- Sporty Strauss (4-1) [+1]
3- Wait ‘ Til Next Year (4-1) [-1]
Tier 2
4- Minnesota Moose Knuckles (2-3) [+3]
5- $traight Cash Homie (3-2) [-]
6- Ornery Otters (1-4) [+4]
7- The Pullies (2-3) [-2]
8- The BamO’s (1-4) [-1]
Tier 3
9- Cooper Troopers (3-2) [-]
10- Las Cabras (2-3) [+1]
11- DTC Porkchop Express (2-3) [-5]
12- Shepherd Goods Choppers (1-4) [-]
(Tier 1) Win’s Up Doc (1) is taking advantage of the easy part of his schedule. He smashed the BamO’s last week and the Choppers this past week. Now he draws the lowest scoring team, the Cooper Troopers, this week before two more bottom-half teams, Las Cabras and The Pullies, in subsequent weeks. There’s a great chance Doc gets off to a 7 or 8 game winning streak to start the season, but what else is new? But starting in week 9, the schedule for Win’s Up Doc gets MUCH tougher for the rest of the season, so Strauss still has his opportunity.
Speaking of Sporty Strauss (2), he secured a critical victory against Wait ‘Til Next Year (3), flipping both teams in the Power Rankings. Sporty Strauss is keeping pace with Win’s Up Doc so far this season, and that should be expected to continue against a middle-of-the-pack schedule with Jack and Sam coming to town the next couple of weeks. There’s strong potential for him to drop one of those, but Sporty Strauss is still better than any team in the league not named Win’s Up Doc.
Wait ‘Til Next Year (3) takes his first loss of the season, and it’s no surprise against one of the other two members of the #Big3. There’s no cause for concern. He didn’t have as good of a week as previous weeks, but he still was solid and is 2nd in points on the season.
(Tier 2) The gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 increases every week, and the MN Moose Knuckles (4) take the top Tier 2 spot de facto by having the 4th-most points scored in the league. Hall’s superior knowledge of MLB and fantasy effort gives him a little bit of an edge over other teams in the same group. He should claw his way back into contention over time. But he’s still dropped games to two of the bottom-three teams in the League of Leagues so far.
The next 4 weeks are winnable, and the MN Moose Knuckles’ saving grace his his EXTRA 3 NON-DIVISIONAL OPPONENTS: DTC Porkchop Express, Ornery Otters, and the SG Choppers. That’s by far the best draw in the league, especially with Las Cabras and the Cooper Troopers in his division. Right now, he plays the 5 worst teams in the league (and Wait ‘Til Next Year) twice this season. Nobody else will be able to boast that, and it will lead the MN Moose Knuckles into a playoff spot.
$traight Cash Homie (5) finally scored like a playoff team this week, but he still lost to Hall. His team rode luck to a 3-game winning streak, but it has stopped now and he’ll have to find other ways to remain competitive. He gets Sporty Strauss and Wait ‘Til Next Year the next two weeks, so odds are high that Jack will be a sub-.500 team in a couple of weeks. We won’t overreact. His EXTRA 3 NON-DIVISIONAL OPPONENTS are Las Cabras, Cooper Troopers and Sporty Strauss – another great draw that should have him favored for a division win or wild card berth.
The BamO’s (8) and The Pullies (7) continue to be the toughest teams to rank in the League of Leagues right now. Two division opponents with equal records and equally bad losing streaks (3 and 4 games !!!). Both have an opportunity to compete – an opportunity that Sam particularly can’t squander with more season-long points than The Pullies. But Sam is getting some of the worst scheduling luck you’ll see. He’s 4th in total points this year, but he’s 1-4. He’s not out of it, but dropping games to the Cooper Troopers is a sure way to end up in the Consolation bracket.
The Pullies season also really seems to be slinking away. They play top-4 teams in the power rankings the next 3 weeks and have slipped all the way down to 8th in points. It’s a sad slide for a promising team that needs to make some changes if they want to make the playoffs. His EXTRA 3 NON-DIVISIONAL OPPONENTS are Wait ‘Til Next Year, Win’s Up Doc and DTC Porkchop Express, an absurdly brutal draw. They are a borderline Tier 3 team right now, and will slide down there next week if they can’t show signs of life against Wait ‘Til Next Year.
The BamO’s, on the other hand, have a little bit of a good draw/bad draw weekly schedule, leaning mostly on the unfavorable side. This week is Las Cabras but that’s followed by Sporty Strauss. He plays DTC a couple weeks after that, but that’s sandwiched between MN Moose Knuckles and Wait ‘Til Next Year. His EXTRA 3 NON-DIVISIONAL OPPONENTS are Sporty Strauss, Win’s Up Doc and Ornery Otters, another awful draw for a playoff hopeful.
But… how are the Ornery Otters ranked 6th Overall on the Power Rankings when they just accumulated their first win, you ask… well, that speaks to how weak the league is right now and the Ornery Otters are top half-ish in the league in points. Plus, their best player, Ronald Acuna, is just getting back to play. His upcoming schedule is also a cakewalk… he doesn’t play another Tier 1 team until divisional play starts again.
Korey’s season is FAR from over right now. He has better odds to make the playoffs than either The BamO’s or The Pullies and his games against Sam in weeks 11 and 14 could decide who makes the playoffs.
(Tier 3) Las Cabras (10) should probably get a little bit more respect than they do, but wins against the Choppers or Porkchop Express don’t mean much these days. If they can beat The BamO’s this week, they’ll earn a bit more respect. Then they’ll draw two Tier 1 teams after that. Luckily, their EXTRA 3 NON-DIVISIONAL OPPONENTS are $traight Cash Homie and the two teams they’ve already beaten so far this season. Plus, Fhima’s Division is relatively weak. Las Cabras aren’t the bottom feeder we thought, but it’s still a long road ahead. Expect them to compete, but ultimately fall short.
DTC Porkchop Express (11) lost to Las Cabras, which absolutely cannot happen if he wanted to compete. He probably doesn’t want to compete, which is why he dropped four spots in the Power Rankings. He just might not suck enough to fall out of contention, especially with how week the last two wild card spots seem to be right now.
The Cooper Troopers (9) got bailed out by a last-second victory. They are still firmly in danger of losing the League of Leagues based on points scored, but there’s some fight to Coop. He seems to have a set of good pitchers every two weeks that carry him to wins.
And then the SG Choppers (12) are firmly the last-place team. The Pullies have to be absolutely kicking themselves for dropping a game to Jord.
Week 5 High Score
Win’s Up Doc (Oat)
460 points
Notes: Believe it or not, this is Oat’s first high score of the season. Despite being the top-ranked team every week of the season and the highest-scoring team the past few weeks, he hasn’t had the crown until now. This cements his status as the clear team to beat.
Week 5 Low Score
The Pullies (Eric/Peter)
343.5 points
Notes: What in the world is going on with The Pullies right now? All preseason statistics showed this team should have been one of the better teams. The first couple weeks proved that. But now, they are getting weekly low scores with pitiful non-Ohtani production out of the lineup and starting staff, of which they haven’t gotten 10 plays out of the past two games. The Pullies need to ‘pull’ themselves together, or a promising season will slip away faster than one’s money at the casino.
Week 5 MVP
Mike Trout (Sporty Strauss)
34 points
Notes: The best player in baseball over the last 5-or-so seasons came up huge for Sporty Strauss this week. 3 home runs. 9 runs scored. 7 RBIs. This win was NARROW, and Strauss only won by 14 points. A normal week from Trout erases that in a heartbeat.
Week 5 LVP
Tylor Megill (Wait ‘Til Next Year)
-16 points
Notes: Ouch. This one hurts. An average performance from Megill could have flipped this matchup, but instead, Wait ‘Til Next Year takes his first loss. Megill has still been a great addition for him, but there’s significant worry about his play going forward now. Just sitting Megill in this game would have given Kyle the win.
Week 6 Matchups
Win’s Up Doc (1) vs Cooper Troopers (9)
Sporty Strauss (2) vs $traight Cash Homie (5)
Wait ’Til Next Year (3) vs The Pullies (7)
MN Moose Knuckles (4) vs Ornery Otters (6)
The BamO’s (8) vs Las Cabras (10)
DTC Porkchop Express (11) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (12)
Week 6 MATCHUP of the WEEK
MN Moose Knuckles (4) vs Ornery Otters (6)
Notes: This is a legitimately important matchup. A win for the MN Moose Knuckles cements him as a wild card favorite. A win for the Ornery Otters puts him right into the thick of the playoff chase. A loss shouldn’t be considered the end of the world for either team, but it will sting.
The irony is that both of these teams would probably like to sell some pieces. One would wonder if the other team in this matchup could switch into buy mode to try to get this important win and sneak into the playoffs.
Within the matchup itself, MN Moose Knuckles still hold the edge with pitching depth. But luckily for the Ornery Otters, Hall doesn’t have any of his good pitchers going twice this week. But neither does Korey. Expect hot weeks from hitters to decide this matchup.
Lineups (80 Hitter plays, 10 SP Plays)
C - Daulton Varsho vs Travis d’Arnaud
1B - Eric Hosmer vs Anthony Rizzo
2B - Trae Turner vs Brandon Drury
3B - Justin Turner vs Rafael Devers
SS - Willy Adames vs Trevor Story
CF - Tyler Naquin vs Luis Robert
CO - JD Martinez vs Ronald Acuna Jr
CO - Yadiel Hernandez vs Ian Happ
DH - Nelson Cruz vs Paul Goldschmidt
UTIL - Tommy Pham vs DJ LaMahieu
UTIL - Ben Gamel vs Jose Iglesias
UTIL - Max Muncy vs Josh Donaldson
UTIL - Matt Chapman vs Jesse Winker
SP1 - Taijuan Walker (x2) vs Steven Matz (x2)
SP2 - Chris Bassitt (x1) vs Max Fried (x1)
SP3 - Chad Kuhl (x1) vs Robbie Ray (x1)
SP4 - Lucas Giolito ???? (x1) vs Zack Greinke (x1)
SP5 - Luis Garcia (x1) vs Josh Winder (x1)
SP6 - Shane Bieber (x1) vs Kyle Freeland (x1)
SP7 - Ranger Suarez (x1) vs Tyler Mahle (x1)
SP8 - MacKenzie Gore (x1) vs Sonny Gray (x1)
SP9 - Jose Berrios (x1) vs Chris Archer (x1)
MN Moose Knuckles: Advantage at 11/19 positions
Ornery Otters: Advantage at 8/19 positions