With over half of the 2008 MLB season in the books I thought it was appropriate to figure out which teams have the easiest time of it as they proceed through the next couple of months trying to make the playoffs…

I took the current MLB Power Rankings and then tied that to each team’s remaining schedule of games to come up with a Strength of Schedule (SOS) ranking similar to what is used in football.

 

Here was the situation through the games played on the Fourth of July…

 

Power     American League                Record                   Remains

Rank                East                              W – L                     H – A

1              Tampa Bay Rays                53-32                       34-43

5              Boston Red Sox                  52-37                       40-33

16           Baltimore Orioles                 44-41                       42-34

10           New York Yankees              45-42                       36-39

13           Toronto Blue Jays               41-46                       40-35

 

9.0          Division Rank-1                 235-198                  

 

Rank                Central                         W – L                     H – A

2              Chicago White Sox              49-37                     40-35

4              Minnesota Twins                 48-38                     30-46

14           Detroit Tigers                         43-43                     42-34

22           Kansas City Royals              39-48                      38-37

27           Cleveland Indians                 37-49                      40-36

 

13.8        Division Rank-3                 216-215

 

Rank                West                             W – L                     H – A

3              Los Angeles Angels             52-34                     37-39

7              Oakland Athletics                  47-39                     33-43

12           Texas Rangers                         44-43                     36-39

26           Seattle Mariners                      34-52                     37-39

 

9.6          Division Rank-2                  177-168

 

 * * * * *

 

Now for a look at each team’s SOS… These were determined by using the opponent’s Power Rank and multiplying by the number of games played against each opponent, with one variation. One point in the rankings was subtracted from the home team’s Power Rank to weight the results in favor of the home team, just as in reality the home team has a certain advantage. Hopefully this will yield more realistic results to these findings. Finally the results were then tallied and divided by the number of remaining games to be played…

 

Here is the Strength of Schedule determined by this method: (the easiest schedules are listed first)

 

Power                                            
                                         Current

Rank      Team                                     SOS        Rank      Standing        Games Out   

4              Minnesota Twins               13.92            1          2nd-Cent.                1

2              Chicago White Sox            13.11            2          1st-Cent.                  -

1              Tampa Bay Rays                12.84            3          1st-East                    -

14           Detroit Tigers                      12.58            4          3rd-Cent.                  6

3              Los Angeles Angels         12.28            5          1st-West                  -

7              Oakland Athletics              11.49            6          2nd-West                 5

27           Cleveland Indians               10.68            7          5th-Cent.                12

5              Boston Red Sox                 10.58            8          2nd-East                    3

22           Kansas City Royals           10.39            9          4th-Cent.                 11

16           Baltimore Orioles                10.34            10       3rd-East                   10

12           Texas Rangers                    10.05            11       3rd-West                   8

26           Seattle Mariners                   9.46            12       4th-West                 18

13           Toronto Blue Jays                8.93            13       5th-East                  13

10           New York Yankees               8.49            14       4th-East                  10

 

Here is how it appears, and always with the injury disclaimer, if these teams play as they have and considering the quality of their competition:

 

In the East, the strongest division in baseball, Tampa Bay has the inside track towards winning the AL East. Let’s face it, if the Rays just play .500 ball the rest of the season, they will end up with over 90 wins. With their pitching and defense coupled with an awakening offense, this team will not play at or below .500. This is a young, low paid team that now knows it is a force to deal with and they are playing with confidence. The Red Sox are going to have to hustle to make it into the playoffs as a Wild Card and I expect to see them doing whatever they can as they open their wallet to once again shore up their chances. Competition will come from the AL Central for the Wild Card berths. Like it or not, the Yankees chances are slim and none…

 

The West division is actually considered the second strongest in baseball and it is shaping up to be a race to the finish. Here is another example of a young, low salary team challenging the established team with a big salary and older players. Can the Angels stay healthy and withstand the Athletics as they attempt to force the issue? The Rangers have been playing better ball lately as well, but they face a tougher schedule. The Rangers will have something to say about who eventually wins this division. I look for the Angels to end up winning this race with no candidate here for the Wild Card…

 

The Central division rounds out the top three of the six divisions in baseball coming in third in the divisional Power Rankings. I look for a real shootout here as the White Sox, Twins and Tigers will go toe to toe through the final three months of the season.  In this case, the Minnesota Twins represent the youthful, lower salary team trying to take the division from two older, much more well healed teams from Chicago and Detroit.  What in the world happened to the Indians? When it’s all said and done, I look for the Twins to come out on top and the White Sox to be a strong Wild Card team out of a division that was all but handed to the Tigers at the start of the year…

 

Yes, the three strongest divisions all reside in the American League. Wonder who will win the All-Star Game???

 

Tomorrow, look for a similar rendition of the Senior Circuit.

Would you believe that Jose Canseco would resort to extortion to secure funds for a movie project he's promoting? It doesn't really surprise me, given this guy's means of income over the past 5 years. It's like any good business person, you find a system that creates a revenue flow and then you do it over and over.

Detroit Tiger star outfielder, Magglio Ordonez was evidently approached by a Canseco associate with a proposition. In so many words it went like this: "You join Jose in financing a movie based upon his book 'Juiced' and he won't name you in his third expose' on performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball, "Vindicated", that is due out in March. Ordonez told Tigers president Dave Dombrowski what was going on and Dombrowski got in touch with MLB. The league then approached the FBI.

Ordonez, who put a stop to the investigation, was quoted as saying, "I didn't want to press charges against him. I don't want any problems. He is probably desperate for money. I don't understand why he is trying to put people down."

The New York Times reported last night that an employee of Scott Boras, Ordonez' agent, was also approached by a Canseco associate who said Ordonez would be "clear" if the outfielder invested in Canseco's movie project.

 Canseco and Ordonez on the White Sox.

Ordonez, a teammate with Canseco on the 2001 Chicago White Sox, has not been implicated by anyone to date as using PHDs. It will be very interesting if Magglio is named in the latest Canseco publication...

Resource:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/01/24/ap4
568548.html

The first significant trade of the MLB Winter Meetings just came off the sportswire.

The Florida Marlins have traded their two biggest stars to the Detroit Tigers for six young players, two of whom had been advertised as untouchable.

 

The Tigers Get:                                              
            

Dontrelle Willis  Left-handed starter. 68-54 in 160 career starts and a career ERA of 3.80 with 748 K's in 1012 innings pitched.

Miguel Cabrera  Third basemen Right-handed power hitter. Miguel's career batting numbers : .313 BA, 138 ZHRs, and 523 RBIs in a five years. Cabrera is also a very versatile in the field starting at several positions for the Marlins. 

 

The Marlins Get:

Outfielder Cameron Maybin  Consistently ranked as the Tigers' top minor league prospect

Left-hander Andrew Miller  6'6" and is one of the top up and coming youngsters in the nation.

Catcher Mike Rabelo   2007 marked his first Major League experience.

plus three minor league prospects...

 

I hoped to see Dontrelle go a different direction, he signed a one year contract last January with the Marlins so part of the deal for the Tigers will be to get a long-term contract on him. Willis was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and I hoped he would find a home with the Giants...

I think this transaction vastly improves a very strong Tigers team. I've felt for a long time that Dontrelle would blossom in a winners environment. Adding Cabrera to the heart of the Tigers lineup makes a formidable offense even stronger. Cabrera is big time and I believe he too will prosper playing with the likes of Ivan Rodriquez and Magglio Ordonez.

The Tigers have made a move toward returning to the playoffs and hopefully Jim Leyland can lead them back to the Series...