Final Regular Season MLB Power Rankings - October 4, 2012

By Chris Carelli | @Chris_Carelli

The road to the World Series begins on October 5 with the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals set to face off against the team they caught from behind last season to reach the 2011 playoffs, the Atlanta Braves in the afternoon play-in game. In the night game the Texas Rangers meet the Baltimore Orioles after each team succumbed to their division competitors in the final days of the regular season.

The division series this year will run in a 2-3 format, with the lower seed hosting the first two games of the series and then the final three games will be played in the higher seed's park.

The winner of each one game playoff mentioned earlier will determine who gets to welcome the Washington Nationals and New York Yankees to their respective ballparks. In the other matchups, the San Francisco Giants will host the Cincinnati Reds, and the Oakland Athletics will travel to Detroit to face the Tigers.

As for the rest of the league this is a time to evaluate the year and begin to shape rosters for the 2013 season. So, here are the final regular season rankings. Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

MLB Power Rankings - September 24, 2012

By Chris Carelli | @Chris_Carelli

Since last week's rankings went up three National League teams earned postseason berths with the Cincinnati Reds winning the NL Central, the San Francisco Giants winning the NL West and the Washington Nationals who are closing in on the NL East title, securing at least a wild card bid.

The Atlanta Braves are inching closer to a playoff appearance which alluded them in 2011 after a massive collapse. The St. Louis Cardinals, who overtook the Braves last season are being pursued closest by division rival Milwaukee Brewers after the Crew has staged a magnificent two month blitz and the Los Angeles Dodgers who haven't played all that well since May.

In the American League all spots are very much up in the air. In the AL East, New York and Baltimore are separated by one game with the Rays holding on. The same differential holds true in the AL Central between Chicago and Detroit. The Texas Rangers have had a hard time closing the Oakland A's and Los Angeles Angels out of the AL West race but still have a fairly big lead (4 games) with ten games remaining. The Yankees, Orioles, Rays, A's and Angels are all contenders for the wild card spots after the division races filter out.

So, here are the power rankings for this week. Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

MLB Power Rankings - September 18, 2012

The wild card race in the National League got very interesting over the last week as the Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies have positioned themselves for a late run. 

Both teams should be commended for continuing to go out and play hard despite being written off by many fans. The Brewers could be up in the race had they had more success in the holding leads this season. The Phillies have gotten healthier and have a three-headed monster in the rotation consisting of Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee who could give any National League team a fit in a short series. 

This is exactly what MLB had in mind with the additional wild card team; a frenzied finish with as many teams left in the mix as possible. In the American League, there are eight teams vying for the five spots. In the National League, there are eleven teams within six games of the last spot (a stretch true, but a possibility) which has been made possible by recent swoons from the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Without further delay, let’s check out the rankings. As always please tell us what you think in the comments.

Aroldis Chapman: The Cuban Missile Crisis

By Stevo-sama | @yoshiki89

A great deal of attention has been focused upon Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman and his stunning performance during a concise time frame, unfortunately the attention after his performance in a loss against the Houston Astros on September 7^th has been focused on Chapman’s apparent shoulder fatigue and how the Reds are going to manage his workload just as they are on the cusp on breaking into the playoffs. 

This concern was underlined on Monday, September 10^th when Chapman entered the game against the Pirates and lasted only 0.2 (luckily) scoreless innings, facing 5 batters, walking 3 and striking out 1 in 22 pitches.  Only 7 of those pitches were thrown for strikes.

Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs eloquently examined Chapman’s drop in velocity in this article posted Tuesday.  Sullivan hints that there may be more than fatigue at hand in Chapman’s situation, and with the level of hype the Reds reliever has been subject to throughout his brief career with the organization, the level of concern amongst Reds fans and many baseball analysts is magnified greatly.

The drop in velocity could be a very telling sign of fatigue, and data presented in Sullivan’s article validates what the box score already tells us…his velocity as well as his pitch location are not what we’ve seen from Chapman this season.  The question remains, is fatigue truly a factor in what has happened during these two games?

The management of pitchers via innings limit has been a subject of morose controversy in light of the Strasburg shutdown; how has Aroldis Chapman’s innings workload this season compared to those in the past?

MLB Power Rankings - September 10, 2012

Joey Votto is back, Stephen Strasburg is done for the season and the Baltimore Orioles are indeed for real. There were plenty of story lines this past week which played a part in the rankings and the races for playoff berths in both leagues.

The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are streaking; winning five and six straight games respectively. The Braves' streak has them seven games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers who are right now the first team out of the National League wild card race.

The Angels have moved within one game of the Orioles for the last spot in the American League playoffs and only 2 1/2 games behind division rival Oakland who holds the top position.

With their excellent weeks both teams made moves up the charts while the Washington Nationals swap places with the Texas Rangers mostly due to Strasburg's departure from the field. Please let us know what you think about the rankings in the comments below.

MLB Power Rankings - September 3, 2012

By Chris Carelli | @Chris_Carelli

We're into the final month-plus of the season and just in the last week the landscape has begun to dramatically shift in the America League division races, while the National League seems to be settling into a race for the wild card spots.

The Baltimore Orioles won two of three from the New York Yankees, shaving the Bombers' lead in the AL East to two games.

The Detroit Tigers swept the Chicago White Sox to even up the AL Central.

In the AL West, the Oakland A's are on a nine-game winning streak putting pressure on the two-time defending American League Champion Texas Rangers.

The NL East is firmly in the grasp of the Washington Nationals despite going 4-6 in their last ten games.

The Cincinnati Reds are running away with the NL Central, doing so without their best player, Joey Votto. He is making rehab starts now and the Reds look to be a dangerous team heading toward the postseason.

In the NL West, the San Francisco Giants are taking advantage of the slumping play of the Los Angeles Dodgers and have opened up a five-game lead in the loss column.

The AL Wild Card race features the red-hot A's, the Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Angels, not to mention the division leaders who could easily be overtaken with almost a full month to play.

In the National League, the race for the last two playoff spots is headed by the Atlanta Braves at the moment, with the St. Louis Cardinals, Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates separated by just 1.5 games.

The Reds are now heading the power rankings and there was plenty of movement among the rest of the teams this past week. Please let us know what you think in the comments.

'On Deck' with Billy Hamilton (July Issue of Big Leagues Monthly | Magazine)

 

 

  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

By Mike Viso | @MikeViso

Billy Hamilton wasted no time giving those in attendance for the 2012 Carolina-California League All-Star Game what they wanted. After reaching first base on a bunt single, Hamilton promptly stole second on what he was told later by his Cal League teammates was a pitchout. He then stole third base before scoring on outfielder George Springer’s groundout to second base. Although that was his only hit

of the night and the lone run scored in a 9-1 loss to the Carolina League All-Stars, he was named the MVP of the California team. Hamilton seems to be resurrecting the memories of Vince Coleman and the days of the 100-plus stolen base season, especially given his recent surpassing of that mark for the Class A Advanced affiliate Bakersfield Blaze. After swiping 103 bases in the Midwest League last season, he recently stole his 100th base of 2012 against the Lake Elsinore Storm.

Big Leagues Monthly columnist and Lynchburg Hillcats broadcaster Mike Viso recently spoke with the Cincinnati Red’s top prospect at the Carolina-California League All-Star game.

Q: You're getting a lot of national recognition, what's it been like?

A: I mean, it's been good, man. People [have] been asking about my 80 stolen bases and stuff. I answer this question maybe a 100 times a day, so I'm getting used to it now. It's getting on base that's the main key to those stolen bases. Relaxing and having fun out here. Being confident that I can steal a base every time helps me out a little bit.

Q:You're hitting .322 on the season, what's your approach to hitting? Are you trying to drive the ball or do you find you're getting more slap and infield hits?

A: I mean, it’s different situations...I look at the shortstop to see where they're playing at or I slap the ball in the hole. More this year, I've been driving the ball in the gap, hitting line drives and stuff. I get just as many infield hits and I'm mixing those in. That's the main thing, mixing those infield hits in.