MLB Power Rankings – April 9, 2018

The 2018 Baseball Season is underway! Here is the first week of The Grueling Truth’s MLB Power Rankings. They take in a combination of Wins and Losses, the SD Score, and lastly, for at least the month of April, how they entered into 2018.

(For an explanation of how the SD Score is calculated, see below)

1 – Houston Astros (8-2); SD Score +2.07

2 – Pittsburgh Pirates (7-2); SD Score +1.74

3 – New York Mets (7-1), SD Score +1.62

4 – Atlanta Braves (6-3), SD Score +2.68

5 – Boston Red Sox (8-1); SD Score +1.51

6 – LA Angels (7-3); SD Score +1.73

7 – Arizona Diamondbacks (7-2); SD Score +1.69

8 – Toronto Blue Jays (6-4); SD Score +0.91

9 – Chicago Cubs (5-4); SD Score +1.24

10 – Minnesota Twins (4-3); SD Score +0.78

11 – New York Yankees (5-5); SD Score +0.99

12 – Detroit Tigers (4-4); SD Score +0.57

13 – Seattle Mariners (4-3); SD Score -0.07

14– San Francisco Giants (4-4); SD Score -0.33

15 – St. Louis Cardinals (4-5); SD Score +0.11

16 – Philadelphia Phillies (3-5); SD Score +0.18

17 – Cleveland Indians (4-5); SD Score -0.43

18 – Colorado Rockies (5-5); SD Score -0.95

19 – LA Dodgers (3-6); SD Score +0.23

20– Washington Nationals (4-5); SD Score -0.50

21 – Chicago White Sox (3-5); SD Score -0.95

22 – Milwaukee Brewers (5-5); SD Score -1.41

23 – Texas Rangers (4-7); SD Score -1.24

24– Baltimore Orioles (4-6); SD Score -1.62

25 – Oakland A’s (4-7); SD Score -1.26

26 – Kansas City Royals (2-5); SD Score -1.25

27 – San Diego Padres (2-8); SD Score -1.11

28 – Miami Marlins (3-6); SD Score -2.64

29 – Cincinnati Reds (2-6); SD Score -2.24

30 – Tampa Bay Rays (1-8); SD Score -2.06

SD Score explanation:

Run production is one of the best measures of how a team is performing and how dominant or bad they are.

The formula takes each team’s runs scored and runs allowed totals and how many standard deviations from the league average they are.

Example: 1927 Yankees

The 27 Yankees score 975 runs (1927 AL average was 762 and SD of team runs for the AL was about 115). Take the difference from the league average (975-762=213) and divide by the SD (115), the 1927 Yankees were 1.85 SD above the league average in runs scored.

They allowed 599 runs (the SD in runs allowed for the 1927 AL was about 88.5), which was 163 runs less than the league average. 163/88.5 gives us a 1.84 SD above the league average in runs allowed.

Add 1.85 and 1.84 to get a final SD Score of +3.69 for the 1927 Yankees, which is amazing.

(SD ranking explanation found in “Baseball Dynasties: The Greatest Teams of All Time” by Rob Neyer and Eddie Epstein)