MLB Rankings - 20 Apr

Baseball is one of the most unpredictable sports, especially early in the season, which has caused some extreme movement in the rankings this week. The longest winning streak in the entire league right now is just 3 games, so there are a lot of candidates to take the top spot. This week's rankings include team name, weekly record, overall record, offensive ranking, defensive ranking, and previous overall ranking.

Rank - Team - Week - Overall - Off - Def - Prev

1. Cleveland (4-2) (12-5) (2) (1) (10)

2. LA Angels (5-1) (11-6) (1) (3) (11)

3. Texas (2-4) (11-6) (4) (2) (1)

4. Kansas City (5-2) (11-6) (5) (4) (15)

5. Saint Louis (4-1) (8-8) (6) (6) (22)

6. Cincinnati (1-5) (9-8) (3) (11) (2)

7. San Francisco (5-1) (10-7) (8) (7) (21)

8. NY Yankees (4-2) (9-6) (7) (12) (20)

9. Milwaukee (4-3) (9-8) (14) (5) (16)

10. Chi Sox (0-6) (7-10) (13) (8) (5)

11. Atlanta (3-4) (8-10) (9) (18) (8)

12. Washington (3-2) (8-7) (10) (20) (13)

13. Boston (3-2) (5-11) (12) (23) (30)

14. Tampa Bay (5-1) (8-9) (16) (13) (18)

15. Baltimore (1-6) (7-9) (19) (10) (17)

16. Philadelphia (3-3) (10-6) (17) (16) (7)

17. Colorado (5-3) (12-5) (18) (14) (3)

18. Arizona (2-3) (7-8) (22) (9) (6)

19. Seattle (2-5) (6-12) (11) (26) (14)

20. Pittsburgh (3-4) (8-9) (21) (21) (12)

21. San Diego (3-3) (7-9) (23) (17) (27)

22. Florida (4-1) (9-6) (20) (22) (28)

23. Oakland (4-2) (9-8) (24) (15) (9)

24. Toronto (3-3) (8-9) (26) (19) (4)

25. Chi Cubs (3-2) (8-8) (15) (27) (26)

26. Houston (3-3) (6-11) (25) (25) (29)

27. Detroit (4-3) (8-10) (28) (24) (25)

28. LA Dodgers (2-5) (8-10) (27) (28) (23)

29. Minnesota (2-5) (6-11) (29) (30) (19)

30. NY Mets (1-6) (5-12) (30) (29) (24)

Hot

The Boston Red Sox entered this week as the worst team in the league, and they had to face a very good Toronto team in a 4-game series over the weekend, so things didn't look good for them, but they won three straight over the Jays while giving up only one run in each of them, and they are now looking like an average team.

The St. Louis Cardinals won their first 4 games of the past week in blowout fashion, averaging 11 runs in those wins while giving up only 3.5 runs per game. This week they play Washington, Cincinnati, and Houston, none of which has been playing well lately.

San Francisco's only loss of the week came in 12 innings in Arizona on Sunday evening, and their last two wins were especially impressive, as they beat up on the division leading Colorado Rockies on consecutive nights to prove that they are still the class of the NL West.

Cold

The Toronto Blue Jays were took the fallout from Boston's hot week, losing 3 straight games in which they only scored one run, then they opened their series with the Yankees by blowing a lead in the 9th inning and losing in the 10th. The result was a huge drop in the rankings.

The Colorado Rockies won 4 of their first 5 games this week, but the teams involved were the Mets and the Cubs, both of which are ranked in the bottom 6 teams currently, and two of the victories over New York were by just one run. A horrible start to their series with the Giants showed that many have overrated them so far.

Arizona lost the final game of their series with St. Louis by 10 runs last week, then managed only one win over the Giants in their weekend series at home. They certainly didn't look like a team that was ranked in the top 10 last week.

NBA Player of the Day

Carmelo Anthony - NYK - 42 pts, 17 reb, 6 ast, 2 blk, 14-30 FG, 4-8 3P, 10-11 FT

His team may not have won last night, but the Knicks were without two of their best three players, and Carmelo shouldered the extra load very well, keeping New York in the game clear up until the end, and if Jared Jeffries hadn't lost the ball underneath with 4 seconds left, everyone would have been celebrating Carmelo's game-winning assist rather than questioning his judgment on that final play.

Predictions - 20 Apr

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Nuggets at Thunder - Thunder by 2

Grizzlies at Spurs - Spurs by 5

Hornets at Lakers - Lakers by 7

MLB

Brewers at Phillies - Brewers by 0.1

Nationals at Cardinals - Nats by 0.1

Padres at Cubs - Padres by 0.4

Giants at Rockies - Giants by 2.6

Red Sox at Athletics - A's by 0.8

Tigers at Mariners - Mariners by 1.7

White Sox at Rays - Sox by 2.5

Twins at Orioles - Orioles by 2.7

Padres at Cubs - Padres by 6.0

Yankees at Blue Jays - Yanks by 1.3

Diamondbacks at Reds - Reds by 1.8

Astros at Mets - Mets by 0.9

Pirates at Marlins - Pirates by 1.6

Angels at Rangers - Rangers by 1.7

Indians at Royals - Indians by 1.8

Nationals at Cardinals - Cards by 3.0

Braves at Dodgers - Braves by 4.5

Prediction Results - 19 Apr

NBA Playoffs: 3-0 (1.000) 11-3 overall (.786)

MLB: 8-5 (.615) 60-54 overall (.526)

Upsets: 4-1 (.800) 188-128 overall (.595)