One of the things baseball fans are great at is overanalyzing the start of a given season. "Power rankings" are used within the first couple weeks of the year and teams that were given no chance are looked at as sudden postseason contenders. Which is absolutely hypocritical as these are the same people who refused to go against the grain of baseball prospectus and MLB.com after they released the projected 2013 finishes. However, one of the things that separate baseball from any other sport is the fact that even the worst teams can have great days, stretches and sometimes weeks and months. The best teams will go into slumps, simply because of the length of the season. Rather than rank the best to the worst teams right now strictly based on record, I will preview a ficticious postseason that would exist if the season ended last night, May 3rd.
In the American League, AL division title banners are going up in Detroit, Texas and Boston. Boston becomes the biggest story as they would have gone from worst to first in the AL East. No surprise that the Tigers are back in, pound for pound the best all around team in the AL. The Rangers are back after having to play the Wild Card game last season, which they lost to the Orioles. Based on games played, the Red Sox (20-9) and Rangers (18-11) have played 29 with the Tigers (17-11) playing 1 less at 28. In this story though, the season is still over. The Rangers are getting ready to host the ALDS against the Tigers, while the Red Sox are waiting out the winner of the AL Wild Card game.
The AL Wild Card game features a battle of the old guard and the new one. The Yankees (17-11) have managed to make it back to the postseason without the services of Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez. They also enter the postseason without starting catcher Francisco Cervelli and 3B Kevin Youkilis in addition to other injuries. This adds to the story. The Kansas City Royals (15-10) make their first postseason since 1985 and enjoy their first winning season since 2003 under then manager Tony Pena. The Yankees host this game with a winning percentage advantage of .607-.600. Teams like Baltimore and Oakland are upset because they miss out despite playing 5 more games than the Royals (both are 17-13).
The NL welcomes its two 2012 Wild Card winners, Atlanta and St Louis, back to the postseason as division champions. The Braves (17-12) win the East and the Cardinals have home field throughout the NL playoffs with their 18-11 finish. The defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants have to play a tiebreaking game with the..... Colorado Rockies? Yes, the Rockies have the same record as the Giants, Braves and the other wild card winning team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates celebrate their first winning season since 1992 and await the loser of the Giants/ Rockies clash.
If anything, this shows that games this early mean very little. Teams like Toronto and both Los Angeles teams are off to not so good starts, but have not quit yet. The Cincinnati Reds are 16-14 and Washington Nationals are at 15-15. It does not mean either team cannot take their respective divison. Rather than rate teams based on overall talent or just a record they happen to have at the moment, putting it this way should prove there is too much baseball left.
In the American League, AL division title banners are going up in Detroit, Texas and Boston. Boston becomes the biggest story as they would have gone from worst to first in the AL East. No surprise that the Tigers are back in, pound for pound the best all around team in the AL. The Rangers are back after having to play the Wild Card game last season, which they lost to the Orioles. Based on games played, the Red Sox (20-9) and Rangers (18-11) have played 29 with the Tigers (17-11) playing 1 less at 28. In this story though, the season is still over. The Rangers are getting ready to host the ALDS against the Tigers, while the Red Sox are waiting out the winner of the AL Wild Card game.
The AL Wild Card game features a battle of the old guard and the new one. The Yankees (17-11) have managed to make it back to the postseason without the services of Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez. They also enter the postseason without starting catcher Francisco Cervelli and 3B Kevin Youkilis in addition to other injuries. This adds to the story. The Kansas City Royals (15-10) make their first postseason since 1985 and enjoy their first winning season since 2003 under then manager Tony Pena. The Yankees host this game with a winning percentage advantage of .607-.600. Teams like Baltimore and Oakland are upset because they miss out despite playing 5 more games than the Royals (both are 17-13).
The NL welcomes its two 2012 Wild Card winners, Atlanta and St Louis, back to the postseason as division champions. The Braves (17-12) win the East and the Cardinals have home field throughout the NL playoffs with their 18-11 finish. The defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants have to play a tiebreaking game with the..... Colorado Rockies? Yes, the Rockies have the same record as the Giants, Braves and the other wild card winning team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates celebrate their first winning season since 1992 and await the loser of the Giants/ Rockies clash.
If anything, this shows that games this early mean very little. Teams like Toronto and both Los Angeles teams are off to not so good starts, but have not quit yet. The Cincinnati Reds are 16-14 and Washington Nationals are at 15-15. It does not mean either team cannot take their respective divison. Rather than rate teams based on overall talent or just a record they happen to have at the moment, putting it this way should prove there is too much baseball left.
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