Rankings Part 1

After a little over a month of the season I have created what I think is a more innovative ranking system. Instead of ranking the teams in order, I will rank the divisions in order with select teams being singled out for one reason or another.

Best division in baseball: NL Central
If the Cincinnati Reds can be in first place and 4 of the 6 teams are over .500 (with the Cubs being 4 over .500 before their six game skid) and the defending NL Champions only 1.5 games out this is definately the toughest division in baseball right now. Everyone is playing well, even Pittsburgh who are losing tough games against division opponents.

Worst division in baseball: NL East
You probably thought I would say the NL West, but here's the deal: the NL East would only have 1 team over .500 if Philadelphia hadn't faced Florida (the worst team in the league) and San Francisco (the worst team in the NL West). Atlanta has pitching troubles, Washington and Florida just have troubles, and the Mets, as good as they have been may have to go without Billy Wagner with his finger troubles.

Most Suprising team thusfar: Cincinnati Reds/Detroit Tigers/Colorado Rockies
In my season predictions column, I had the Reds and Rockies at the bottom of the division and the Tigers only ahead of Kansas City. But Detroit has been very hot thusfar and only the best team in baseball the Chicago White Sox are ahead of Detroit in the standings. Colorado is winning outside of Coors, and is pitching very well, so they could be in the race down the stretch with the division being so tight. Cincy has been hitting the cover off the ball and pitching just well enough to win games. I don't think Cincy will keep this up for the duration of the season, but they have been a great suprise thusfar.

Most Disappointing team thusfar: Minnesota Twins/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Minnesota made a lot of moves in the offseason only to be next to last in the division, and the Angels were supposed to compete with Oakland for the division crown this year. Anaheim needs to get Vlad Guerrero some protection in the lineup and get Bartolo Colon healthy and Jeff Weaver needs to get his head on straight so they can stay in the division race.

Teams on the rise: Philadelphia Phillies/San Diego Padres
Both have won their last 8 games and even though they have only beaten teams who's record are below .500 in that stretch, hey they are winning and there really isn't anyone else who fits this category

Teams on the decline: Chicago Cubs/San Francisco Giants
Is Barry that big of a distraction? Maybe. But I think the problem is their starting rotation. Matt Morris has been very disappointing thusfar and Noah Lowry has been on the DL. I thought Chicago would be next to last in the division earlier this year, but without Prior and Wood (very very overrated but that is for another column) they were over .500 until they ran into the Diamondbacks and Padres.