power rankings

Well, we're back from the break with some extended action......
MLB is in full swing as we enter August. Every division east of the Grand Canyon is hotter than a whore in church as no more than three games separate first and second in five of the six divisions.
-In the AL East, the Rays are holding on for dear life as the Sox methodically work towards first and the white-hot Yankees right themselves from their early struggles.
-The NL East is up for grabs as the Mets just put their claim on the division lead in taking two of three from Philly, meanwhile Florida refuses to go away.
-In the AL Central, the White Sox continue to slug their way through the division with a league-leading 143 HR, but the clutch hitting of the Twins has kept them in the race and now the resurgent Tigers look to put their paw print on the division.
-The NL Central hosts two of the best teams in the NL. The Cubs currently have the upper hand, but the Brewers are chugging along since CC joined the fray. Don't count out the Cardinals as they still have Pujols and who knows what impact the impending returns of Carpenter and Wainwright will have.
-The AL West has long been in the grasp of the Angels and while the Rangers and A's have made some noise, the true test will be to see if the Angels can secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs and maximize their use of that stupid monkey.
-And that brings us to the much maligned NL West, where the only thing hot in this division is the chimichangas they serve on the Mexican border. The putrid-ness of the division has allowed the fan favorite Rockies to make an appearance and their slim grasp of hope for a division title could quite possibly be the only exciting thing to come out of it.

Well, we’ve reached the 2008 All-Star Break and we have a new #1. As good as the AL East is, none of those teams have a winning road record, so something has to be said for the outstanding performance of the Angels on the road (31-18). You can check out the JBB (Just Before the Break) Awards written for this site here. And we hope you caught Josh Hamilton’s performance in the Home Run Derby – truly the greatest performance ever by a silver medalist!

1.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 57-38 (2)
-(4-3) K-Rod saved four more games (and blew one in dramatic fashion) this past week as the Angels took 4 out of the 7 on the road against their chief division rivals. No team in baseball has a bigger division lead and no team handles the pressures of playing on the road better (no AL team is above .500 on the road except them, at 31-18). They host the Red Sox right after the break which should be a good gauge for both teams as to where they are.

The Rays have pushed themselves into the realm of the elite and they aren't getting it done by chance. Chew on this...The AL East has a + 195 run differential! Every team has scored more runs than they've allowed, and in the era of the unbalanced schedule that means the Rays have had their hands full. I mean compare that to the atrocious first place D-Backs division and its -185 run differential!

1.
Tampa Bay Rays 55-32 (1)
-(6-0) Break up the Rays! Without a doubt they are the story of the year, even if they were to collapse and fade now. But with they're solid starting pitching and young spunky lineup, they look like they've shaped to hang around. Evan Longoria has also emerged as a big-time front runner for rookie of the year.

We're about halfway through the summer classic and there are some major surprises and disappointments as the All-Star break nears. Who would have guessed that Tampa Bay only needed to change their name to the Rays in order to compete in the AL East (Someone should tell the Orioles and Jays that birds are no longer hip.) The Cubbies had a tough week with their crosstown rivals but are still in control of the NL Central. Let's also not forget about the quiet Twinkies who have been stringing together a couple of decent weeks here and in turn have put together a solid first half performance. At the bottom of the barrel we have major disappointments from the Rockies, the Tigers (who are creeping back), Indians, Padres, and Mariners. One can either hold their breath in anticipation to see what these teams will do as the trade deadline quickly approaches or watch the WNBA on Tuesday nights... Yeah like the latter will happen.

Interleague rivalries are awesome.

The MLB schedule-makers blessed us with more interleague play this week (with more to come!) which has mostly just reaffirmed that the American League teams are just much, much better than their National League brethren. The AL teams combined to go 49-35 this week, stretching their season advantage to 96-72. Basically, an AL team beats an NL team at the efficiency of a playoff-caliber team over the course of the season. And if you remove the performances of Toronto & Seattle (who both had managerial changes this past week), the rest of the AL went 46-26 this week – that sort of winning percentage would equal a 104-win pace if one team was to play at that clip. If anyone brings up reasoning on how the NL is better, we’d love to hear it, because the NL is clearly inferior. Yet the Cubbies have retained the top spot. You figure it out.

1.
Chicago Cubs 48-28 (1)
-(3-3) Derrek Lee during an interview earlier this week on ESPN’s PTI said he was happy for the White Sox when they won the World Series in 2005. If any Cubs fans took that the wrong way all their qualms should have been quashed this past weekend as the Cubbies swept their inter-city rivals. Ryan Dempster improved to 8-0 at home, and increased their lead to 4.5 games in the NL Central, which is ever more important now that they have to weather injuries to both Soriano and Zambrano.

All apologies - we blew it. We did most of the teams, but had some hang-ups on finishing this article in light of a certain NBA team whipping the shizznat out of another NBA team. While we have some non-Sox and non-Pats fans in our midst (due to upbring, so it's excused), we are all Celtics fans, so productivity droppped to zero sometime Tuesday afternoon (and it wasn't that high to begin with due to Sunday night's Game 5). And it's tough to write about baseball when you're busy celebrating an NBA championship. Green 17 baby!

For purposes of this week, we have write-ups on performance but the rankings stayed the same. We apologize. If you don't like it, well, fuck you then and your NBA team sucks.

Let's get ready to rumble!

(hit the ridiculously repetitive/annoying techno music).
The Red Sox and Rays threw down this week. The Rays are sick and tired of being pushed around and not respected and Coco says "ditto". From punches to back handed slaps the MLB has had a pretty eventful week and we're going to take a look at some of the winners and losers and probably poke fun at them all.

Ahh June …You get summer, sun, drinks with umbrellas, bikinis, and baseball in full swing ... well unless you live in Kansas City, then you get the summer wheat harvest. It’s going to be an even hotter summer in Chi-town this year, as the Cubbies are sizzling and the town is a buzz of World Series anticipation. I guess we won’t tell them that Ted Lilly or Ryan Dempster will be starting their first playoff road game … we’ll let them have their dreams.
Other things to watch this week:
- The Amatuer Player Draft!!! Who will be the next foreign 19-year old going on 28 or domestic born drug addled teen to lift your team to a new high (pun intended!)?!?!?
- Joba starts!!! Oh my god Joba ruuuuuuuules … watch his 6 IP of dominance this week you won’t regret it, but you probably will because Steve Phillips will most likely be talking in between pitches. And who the hell is going to pitch the 8th to get to Mo if it's close?!?!?

After yet another big week from the Floridian teams, we at SportsHubris.com can deny them no longer. The Rays made the jump all the way to number 2 as they have made it to Memorial Day as the AL East's 1st place team. The Marlins made the biggest jump, going from 14 up to 7 as we finally show a little respect to the 2-time world champions, who seem like they have a nice little formula down there.

On the flip side, the underperforming Mets & Indians both took dives in the rankings because of their continued uninspiring play. And the Royals and Mariners found a way to each go winless. To the fans in New York, Cleveland, Kansas City and Seattle, I am so sorry for the suckitude that encased your teams over the past week (or more).

1.
Arizona Diamondbacks 30-20 (1)
-(2-4) The 1-2 pitching duo of Brandon Webb and Danny Haren came crashing back to earth, losing back-to-back games with them on the hill for the first time this year (obviously, since it was Webb’s 1st lost after a perfect 9-0 start). The offense took a snooze in Florida but bounced back in a big way in Atlanta with two blowout wins.

2.
Tampa Bay Rays 30-20 (6)
-(5-1) Since May 8th, the Rays have gone 13-4. Wow. These are not your older brother’s Tampa Bay baseball club. Oh no, these aren’t the Devil Rays. These are the Rays. And this team looks like it may have some staying power, because they have a great pitching staff and a good offense. Scott Kazmir has been absolutely filthy since his return from the DL, and is looking like a potential Cy Young candidate.

Who were we to knock the Diamondbacks out of the top spot for one week? Obviously The Big-Unit found out and rallied the troops in Arizona for a 5-1 week. I knew we shouldn't have messed with that bowler's mullet. Anyway, the D-Backs are have regained the #1 spot in our rankings.

Did anyone notice that the Rays no longer have a triple A team? The Rays are sitting pretty atop the AL East while the New York Yankees are struggling at the bottom. I think we've just entered the twilight zone: Rays on top! Yankees on bottom! Anyone want to bet me that this will be a bit different come September?