MLB Power Rankings – August 6, 2018

Power Rankings aren’t just standings, but rather, they should measure domination and production in conjunction with their record. These rankings take into account each team’s record, run production, and how they measure against the rest of the league.

For an explanation of how the SD Score is calculated, see below. The number to the right is where they were ranked last week.

1 – Boston Red Sox (79-34); SD Score +3.59 (1)

2 – Houston Astros (71-42); SD Score +3.57 (2)

3 – NY Yankees (68-42); SD Score +2.30 (3)

4 – Chicago Cubs (64-47); SD Score +1.87 (4)

5 – Oakland A’s (67-46); SD Score +1.15 (8)

6 – Cleveland Indians (61-49); SD Score +1.92 (6)

7 – Atlanta Braves (60-48); SD Score +1.23 (10)

8 – Arizona Diamondbacks (62-51), SD Score +1.74 (9)

9 – Milwaukee Brewers (65-50); SD Score +0.69 (7)

10 – Philadelphia Phillies (63-48); SD Score +0.58 (12)

11 – LA Dodgers (62-51); SD Score +1.16 (5)

12 – Washington Nationals (57-54); SD Score +0.63 (17)

13 – Seattle Mariners (64-48); SD Score -0.46 (11)

14 – St. Louis Cardinals (58-54); SD Score +0.36 (15)

15 – Colorado Rockies (59-52); SD Score -0.04 (14)

16 –  LA Angels (55-58); SD Score +0.44 (13)

17 – Pittsburgh Pirates (57-55); SD Score -0.08 (16)

18 – Tampa Bay Rays (56-56); SD Score -0.08 (18)

19 – San Francisco Giants (57-56); SD Score -0.65 (19)

20 – Minnesota Twins (52-58); SD Score -0.29 (20)

21 – Cincinnati Reds (49-63); SD Score -0.83 (21)

22 – Toronto Blue Jays (51-60); SD Score -0.97 (22)

23 – Texas (49-64); SD Score -0.86 (23)

24 – NY Mets (45-64), SD Score -1.74 (24)

25 – Detroit Tigers (47-65); SD Score -1.72 (25)

26 – San Diego Padres (44-70); SD Score -2.16 (26)

27 – Miami Marlins (46-67); SD Score -2.78 (27)

28 – Chicago White Sox (41-70); SD Score -2.54 (28)

29 – Baltimore (32-78); SD Score -2.87 (29)

30 – Kansas City Royals (34-77); SD Score -3.67 (30)

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)