MLB

MLB Power Rankings: Can Anyone Stop the Angels?

The Angels continue to rise in our rankings, and are now closing in on the top five.

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.

TeamPlayoffsChampsDivisionnERD
1Los Angeles Dodgers88.50%19.20%75.60%1.09
2Oakland Athletics6.50%0.40%1.30%0.78
3Houston Astros71.20%5.20%32.50%0.77
4Toronto Blue Jays44.00%5.20%21.70%0.75
5St. Louis Cardinals99.10%12.50%83.50%0.54
6Los Angeles Angels87.40%11.20%64.20%0.5
7Kansas City Royals94.60%9.50%87.40%0.5
8San Francisco Giants52.10%4.20%23.50%0.48
9New York Yankees75.70%7.70%56.80%0.46
10Chicago Cubs54.00%2.80%2.80%0.43
11Cleveland Indians13.80%1.00%2.80%0.24
12Baltimore Orioles26.00%2.20%11.20%0.24
13Pittsburgh Pirates83.30%5.20%13.70%0.19
14Detroit Tigers14.70%1.20%3.40%0.18
15New York Mets40.20%2.40%31.20%0.1
16Tampa Bay Rays25.40%1.70%9.80%0.08
17Washington Nationals71.60%7.30%64.60%0.05
18Cincinnati Reds0.50%0.00%0.00%-0.08
19Miami Marlins0.50%0.00%0.50%-0.22
20Seattle Mariners5.90%0.40%1.30%-0.27
21Arizona Diamondbacks1.10%0.00%0.10%-0.45
22San Diego Padres2.60%0.10%0.80%-0.46
23Milwaukee Brewers1.00%0.00%0.00%-0.54
24Boston Red Sox1.60%0.00%0.60%-0.57
25Texas Rangers3.40%0.00%0.70%-0.61
26Minnesota Twins28.60%0.40%6.20%-0.75
27Atlanta Braves5.40%0.00%3.70%-0.91
28Colorado Rockies0.00%0.00%0.00%-1.13
29Chicago White Sox1.20%0.00%0.20%-1.23
30Philadelphia Phillies0.00%0.00%0.00%-1.76