Week 10 MLB Power Rankings
Week 10 Power Rankings
Tier 1
1- Wait ‘ Til Next Year (7-2) [-]
2- Win’s Up Doc (6-3) [+5]
3- Sporty Strauss (6-3) [+3]
4- The BamO’s (5-4) [+1]
Tier 2
5- Ornery Otters (4-5) [+3]
6- $traight Cash Homie (4-5) [-4]
7- Cooper Troopers (6-3) [-2]
8- The Pullies (4-5) [-5]
9- Las Cabras (5-4) [-]
Tier 3
10- Minnesota Moose Knuckles (2-7) [-]
11- Shepherd Goods Choppers (3-6) [-]
12- DTC Porkchop Express (2-7) [-]
(Tier 1) After a couple weeks of being at the top of the league on his own, Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) took a shocking, last-minute defeat at the hands of Win’s Up Doc (2). With a 135-point final day behind the stellar bats of Jose Altuve, Jeremy Pena and awesome free agent find William Contreras with the addition of STELLAR clutch pitching performances from Carlos Rodon and German Marquez, Win’s Up Doc reclaims his throne as the #2 team in the League of Leagues. We’ll see how long it stays that way, and Oat is still absolutely in need of some reinforcements to the starting staff, but this past week was an immensely a positive sign for a team that had lost 3 straight in a row to far inferior opponents than Wait ‘Til Next Year.
For Wait ‘Til Next Year, this means that his two losses so far this season are against Wait Til ‘Next Year AND Sporty Strauss, two teams that could overtake him for the 1-seed and potentially block him from a BYE if he ever goes on a cold streak. In general, these losses show that he’s not unbeatable by any stretch.
Speaking of Sporty Strauss (3), he’s also back on track this week after the Cabras debacle. He edged out the Cooper Troopers in ANOTHER much-needed victory, and it was a pretty darn close matchup. He would have lost to 7 other teams, so it’s not like Sporty Strauss is a juggernaut right now, but a win is a win for a team that should continue to get healthy as the season progresses. Strauss is beginning to find good starts from pitchers, and he had a massive week from reliever Kenley Jansen, who scored 32.5 points – an absurd total for an RP that swung this matchup (along with another player to be named later).
Onwards, after a 4-game winning streak, The BamO’s (4) are closer to a Tier 1 team than the rest of this lot, being at 5-4 with the inside track at winning the Shepherd Goods Division. But he’s still middle of the pack (6th) in scoring, and he has an unfavorable schedule the rest of the season, starting this week against Wait ‘Til Next Year. This past matchup, he had huge weeks from Eduardo Escobar and Brandon Crawford – both new additions along with Noah Syndergaard, who also performed well. And his usual suspects – Jazz Chisholm, Pete Alonso and Joe Musgrove – were also stellar, giving him the second highest scoring output of the week. Right now, The BamO’s are a little bit in a tier of their own in between Tier 1 and Tier 2, and they can prove their worth by being competitive against Wait ‘Til Next Year this week, win or lose.
(Tier 2) Elsewhere, the Ornery Otters (5) secured an absolutely CRUCIAL victory against $traight Cash Homie (6) in what was one of the most scintillating MLB League of Leagues contests to date. Going into the Sunday Night MLB game (Angels-Mets), Jack had a starting pitcher, Patrick Sandoval, who was absolutely dealing with 8 strikeouts and only one run allowed. Sandoval gave $traight Cash Homie a tie with three innings remaining when he got pulled, and Seth Lugo, a relief pitcher for the Ornery Otters, came in and scored 7 points to give the Ornery Otters a narrow 7-point victory. Now, both teams are have a 4-5 record and could be jockeying with each other for playoff spots.
Right now, there are 5 teams with 5 or 4 wins – a very muddled middle of the league. Another one in that group is The Pullies (7) who had a very poor performance against Las Cabras (9) – a loss that puts their playoff status in SERIOUS jeopardy. There’s a lot of blame to go around on The Pullies roster for the lowest scoring week in the league this week. Their catchers, Melendez and Vazquez, were both terrible with 32 total at bats. Frank Schwindel scored one point in 5 or 6 games. Patrick Wisdom scored 3 points in the same time period, and Eugenio Suarez wasn’t much better. Worst of all, Francisco Lindor scored only 4.5 points on the week, tanking The Pullies chances at winning. There were positive performances this week too (Buxton, Shohei), but almost entirely across the board, this was one of the worst hitting weeks in League of Leagues record. Las Cabras are the literal lowest-scoring team in the entire league, so dropping winnable games like this is a sure way to blow your chances at an MLB title.
Las Cabras themselves somehow enter Tier 2 after a 3-game win streak against playoff hopefuls (Doc, Strauss and Pullies). They are playing spoiler in the biggest way right now, despite making a win-now trade to bolster The BamO’s. Las Cabras have a real chance to sneak into the playoffs or, at the very least, secure that Consolation BYE which might help them get 4th place.
The final team to mention in Tier 2 might be, roster-wise, in the biggest trouble. The Cooper Troopers (7) suffered a devastating injury to Walker Buehler, who could be sidelined until the playoffs or even afterwards. It’s a crushing blow to a team that had gone on a bit of a run due to good pitching, and now Coop is going going to need some help to keep his 6-3 squad afloat. He’s gotten lucky with wins and injuries thus far, and his upcoming schedule is still spectacularly favorable. With 2 games against the SG Choppers’ completely rehabbed tanking roster in the next 3 weeks and a Pullies matchup sandwiched in between them combined with each of another Cabras and Moose Knuckles matchup in late-season divisional play, the Cooper Troopers could get to that coveted 9 or 10-win plateau pretty easily and still make the playoffs. All is not lost for avoiding that last-place penalty unless this team totally tanks down the stretch.
(Tier 3) The Shepherd Goods Choppers (11) are an enigmatic squad. They are 8th in points scored despite trading away most of their contributing players. The roster is relatively bereft, but it’s still winning games… albeit against the struggling MN Moose Knuckles (10). In general, it looks like the Choppers and Moose Knuckles are circling each other for a hugely important ‘tanking’ round 1 of the playoffs. Both teams will be wanting desperately to lose (though Dye would certainly avoid last place with a win).
DTC Porkchop Express are the sewer of the league right now. There isn’t much to say about the most boring roster in the league.
Current Playoff Seeding
Wait ‘Til Next Year (7-2) *BYE
Win’s Up Doc (6-3) *BYE
The BamO’s (5-4)
Sporty Strauss (6-3)
Cooper Troopers (6-3)
Las Cabras (5-4)
Consolation Bracket
Ornery Otters (4-5) *BYE
The Pullies (4-5) *BYE
$traight Cash Homie (4-5)
SG Choppers (3-6)
DTC Porkchop Express (2-7)
MN Moose Knuckles (2-7)
Week 9 High Score
Win’s Up Doc (Oat)
502 points
Notes: A lower-scoring week in general allows Doc to narrowly edge The BamO’s for a high score. It couldn’t have come at a better time too. Unlike teams over the past couple of weeks who have been pounding poor teams, Win’s Up Doc beat the best team in the league with the highest score. It doesn’t get better than that.
Week 9 Low Score
The Pullies (Eric/Peter)
402 points
Notes: On the flip side, The Pullies were the lowest scoring team and they lost to the second lowest scoring team. It doesn’t get worse than that. With just a little bit more production or lineup maneuvering, the Pullies could have won this game easily.
Week 9 MVP
Justin Verlander (Sporty Strauss)
72 points
Notes: Holy smokes. 72 points!? I’m not sure that’s a record, but it has to be up there. In two starts, JV allowed one earned run with 17 strikeouts, without one of those starts, Strauss would have likely lost and been in serious jeopardy. Verlander just saved his season.
Week 8 LVP
MacKenzie Gore (MN Moose Knuckles)
-8.5 points
Notes: There was still time for the MN Moose Knuckles to claw their way back into contention, but not after this week. Hall’s season is toast because he just cannot get consistent starting pitching. MacKenzie gore is the latest in a long line of disappointing starts, going 2.1 innings with 6 earned runs. Chris Bassitt also scored in the negatives this week with a couple other starters at 11 points or less. Such a disappointment.
Week 10 Matchups
Wait ’Til Next Year (1) vs The BamO’s (4)
Win’s Up Doc (2) vs $traight Cash Homie (6)
Sporty Strauss (3) vs MN Moose Knuckles (10)
Ornery Otters (5) vs Las Cabras (9)
The Pullies (8) vs DTC Porkchop Express (12)
Cooper Troopers (7) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (11)
Week 10 MATCHUP of the WEEK
Win’s Up Doc (2) vs $traight Cash Homie (6)
Notes: What a huge matchup at this point in the season. For $traight Can Homie, there is so much on the line. He can’t afford to keep dropping games in such a tight playoff race, and he has a legitimate shot at a BYE if he can beat Win’s Up Doc. He has vaulted up to 4th in points scored, but the wins just aren’t coming. He’s had some bad luck (after some good luck early this season) and now has to fight for his playoff life.
On the other side, there’s even more at stake for Win’s Up Doc. This is the only matchup this season between these two teams, so if Doc loses, he’s putting himself in jeopardy of a lost H2H tiebreaker. The schedule the rest of the way for Win’s Up Doc is pretty brutal, particularly given the division, and Doc needs all the wins he can muster to keep up with Sporty Strauss who plays a terrible team this week.
In terms of the matchup itself, expect this to be a VERY high scoring affair. Both starting pitching staffs have EXCELLENT matchups this week, playing some of the worst teams in all of baseball. Win’s Up Doc has the edge in terms of pitchers with multiple-start weeks, but not by much. The starting pitching looks to be dead even this week.
Hitting, on the other hand, still goes to Win’s Up Doc, who simply has a deeper team than $traight Cash Homie, though not by a wide margin. Jack still has the best hitter, Aaron Judge, in this matchup.
Either way this one shakes out, the fireworks are going to be flying early this summer!
Lineups (80 Hitter plays, 10 SP Plays)
C - William Contreras vs Keibert Ruiz
1B - Freddie Freeman vs Vladimir Guerrero
2B - Jose Altuve vs Andres Gimenez
3B - Nolan Arenado vs Austin Riley
SS - Xander Bogaerts vs Christopher Morel
CF - Joc Pederson vs Aaron Judge
CO - Kyle Tucker vs Yordan Alvarez
CO - Michael Brantley vs Austin Hays
DH - Josh Bell vs Jorge Soler
UTIL - Carlos Correa vs Christian Walker
UTIL - Jeremy Pena vs Brendan Rodgers
UTIL - Jose Abreu vs Gleyber Torres
UTIL - Wilmer Flores vs Ramon Laureano
SP1 - Kevin Gausman (BAL) vs Sean Manaea (@CHC)
SP2 - Yu Darvish (@CHC) vs Frankie Montas (KC)
SP3 - Yu Darvish (@COL) vs Martin Perez (@DET)
SP4 - Carlos Rodon (@PIT) vs Nick Pivetta (OAK)
SP5 - Tyler Anderson (LAA) vs Zac Gallen (CIN)
SP6 - Michael Wacha (STL) vs Luis Castillo (@ARI)
SP7 - Alex Wood (KC) vs Patrick Sandoval (@SEA)
SP8 - Alex Wood (@PIT) vs Trevor Rogers (@PHI)
SP9 - Paul Blackburn (@BOS) vs Dane Dunning (@DET)
SP10 - German Marquez (SD) vs Jose Urquidy (@TEX)
Win’s Up Doc: Advantage at 13/20 positions
$traight Cash Homie: Advantage at 7/20 positions