MLB

MLB Power Rankings Update: Will Anyone Catch the Cubs?

The Cubs have been the best team in baseball this year, but is another team close?

Here at numberFire, we like math. We're not about subjectivity. So when we calculate our power rankings, it's not based on what our eyes are telling us or what our feelings say. It's based on straight up math.

For baseball, we use our nERD metric to show how good a team actually is performing. nERD, for those of you who are unaware, tells us how many runs a team should win by against a league-average opponent on a neutral field. A nERD of 1.00, for instance, means that team would beat an ordinary one by a run. If that team was facing a squad with a nERD of -0.5, we'd expect them to win by 1.5 runs.

Take a look at how things are shaping up around Major League Baseball, sorted by nERD.

RankTeamPlayoffsChampsDivisionnERD
#1Chicago Cubs95.80%22.00%84.80%2.45
#2Boston Red Sox83.50%14.00%62.30%1.91
#3Seattle Mariners75.10%9.00%58.60%1.49
#4Los Angeles Dodgers60.80%7.30%36.80%1.21
#5St. Louis Cardinals41.80%3.50%8.00%1.2
#6Washington Nationals79.20%8.20%57.30%1.04
#7Cleveland Indians44.50%4.20%31.90%0.62
#8Toronto Blue Jays50.00%4.00%20.50%0.57
#9New York Mets60.80%5.50%32.40%0.55
#10San Francisco Giants73.50%5.80%56.00%0.49
#11Pittsburgh Pirates39.70%1.40%6.90%0.48
#12Tampa Bay Rays9.30%0.50%2.60%0.34
#13Baltimore Orioles30.80%1.80%9.90%0.32
#14Kansas City Royals49.30%3.20%37.00%0.07
#15Chicago White Sox31.80%1.40%20.40%0.05
#16Miami Marlins24.20%0.80%8.90%-0.06
#17Houston Astros16.20%1.00%6.90%-0.22
#18New York Yankees19.60%1.00%4.70%-0.23
#19Detroit Tigers18.30%1.40%10.70%-0.41
#20Los Angeles Angels12.70%0.60%5.00%-0.45
#21Arizona Diamondbacks5.10%0.30%2.60%-0.45
#22Texas Rangers50.60%2.20%26.40%-0.46
#23Colorado Rockies10.20%0.40%4.30%-0.53
#24Philadelphia Phillies6.00%0.10%1.40%-0.91
#25Oakland Athletics8.00%0.40%3.00%-0.92
#26Milwaukee Brewers2.00%0.00%0.30%-1
#27San Diego Padres0.80%0.10%0.20%-1.11
#28Minnesota Twins0.10%0.00%0.00%-1.5
#29Atlanta Braves0.10%0.00%0.00%-1.51
#30Cincinnati Reds0.00%0.00%0.00%-2.18