MLB Rankings - 11 May

Rank. Team (Wk) (Overall) Off/Def (Prev)

1. Atlanta (5-2) (20-17) 1/1 (5)

2. Saint Louis (4-2) (21-15) 2/2 (3)

3. Philadelphia (4-3) (23-12) 3/3 (4)

4. Florida (3-4) (21-14) 6/4 (6)

5. Cleveland (3-3) (23-11) 5/5 (1)

6. NY Yankees (3-3) (20-13) 4/8 (2)

7. Cincinnati (6-1) (20-16) 10/6 (14)

8. NY Mets (4-3) (16-20) 7/11 (15)

9. San Francisco (5-1) (19-16) 9/10 (21)

10. Colorado (2-5) (19-15) 13/7 (17)

11. Washington (3-3) (17-18) 8/12 (12)

12. LA Angels (5-2) (21-16) 12/15 (9)

13. Arizona (2-4) (15-19) 11/18 (19)

14. Kansas City (2-4) (18-17) 15/14 (11)

15. Texas (3-4) (19-18) 14/17 (7)

16. Milwaukee (3-5) (16-20) 17/13 (16)

17. Detroit (6-1) (19-18) 20/9 (25)

18. Tampa Bay (4-2) (20-15) 18/16 (18)

19. Pittsburgh (4-2) (18-18) 16/20 (23)

20. Oakland (4-3) (19-18) 19/19 (22)

21. Chi Sox (3-3) (14-23) 23/21 (29)

22. LA Dodgers (2-4) (17-20) 22/22 (27)

23. Boston (3-4) (17-19) 24/24 (8)

24. San Diego (2-4) (14-22) 26/23 (26)

25. Chi Cubs (2-3) (15-19) 25/25 (28)

26. Houston (1-6) (13-23) 21/28 (20)

27. Toronto (3-4) (16-20) 28/26 (10)

28. Seattle (2-4) (16-20) 27/27 (13)

29. Baltimore (2-4) (15-19) 29/29 (24)

30. Minnesota (2-4) (12-22) 30/30 (30)

Making their Mommas Proud

Atlanta started the week with 4 straight wins, including two shutouts, then lost a game to Philadelphia, the team with the best record in the National League. They ended up winning 2 of 3 over the Phillies and are now the best team in the league.

The Chicago White Sox made a huge improvement this week, reeling off three straight wins for the first time this season, and winning two of those games by shutout, and all three on the road. Their no-hit loss to last-place Minnesota a week ago was pretty embarrassing, but they rebounded nicely for a bad team.

The San Francisco Giants have won 4 straight games and 6 of their past 7, including a very impressive sweep of their weekend series over the division-leading Colorado Rockies. Their pitching staff gave up only 10 runs over 6 games this week, for a staff ERA of 1.67.

Only Their Mothers Could Love Them

Toronto was looking decent until this week, when Detroit outscored them 24-7 over the course of three games spanning Saturday to Monday. Luckily for them, they will be spending this weekend in Minnesota, the home of the worst team in the Major Leagues.

Seattle is now on a 3 game losing streak to teams that were ranked in last week's bottom 7. Prior to that, they had won 8 of 10, but those three inexcusable losses dropped them down into the territory of those teams.

Boston may have won 3 games this week, but all three of those wins came against Minnesota, who would lose to some Little League teams at this point. Before those three wins, they lost 11-0 to the Angels and 9-2 against those horrible Twins.

NBA Player of the Day

Derrick Rose - CHI - 33 pts, 2 reb, 9 ast, 11-24 FG, 1-5 3P, 10-13 FT

With Joakim Noah contributing almost nothing to the Bulls' cause, Derrick Rose raised the level of his game again to give Chicago a 3-2 lead and the inside edge for a spot in the Conference Finals. The MVP even shot well for the first time in the series, which would be a big help to a Chicago team that has struggled more than expected in the playoffs.

MLB Rankings - 4 May

Last week, the New York Yankees took the top spot by being ranked #1 in both offense and defense. It looked like they would probably hold their spot for a while, but another team improved enough in both aspects this week that they are now the best on both sides of the ball. What did it take to pass the Yankees? Only the first perfect week we've seen from a baseball team all season. So the team with the best overall record, longest winning streak, best offense, best defense, and the top overall spot in my rankings is...

Rank. Team (Wk) (Overall) Off/Def (Prev)

1. Cleveland (6-0) (20-8) 1/1 (3)

2. NY Yankees (5-2) (17-10) 2/6 (1)

3. Saint Louis (5-2) (17-13) 3/3 (8)

4. Philadelphia (4-1) (19-9) 6/2 (14)

5. Atlanta (3-2) (15-15) 4/4 (10)

6. Florida (3-3) (18-10) 7/5 (12)

7. Texas (2-5) (16-14) 5/8 (2)

8. Boston (4-3) (14-15) 14/7 (4)

9. LA Angels (2-4) (16-14) 11/11 (5)

10. Toronto (2-4) (13-16) 9/15 (6)

11. Kansas City (4-2) (16-13) 12/12 (7)

12. Washington (4-3) (14-15) 13/10 (21)

13. Seattle (5-1) (14-16) 10/18 (27)

14. Cincinnati (2-3) (14-15) 15/13 (11)

15. NY Mets (2-4) (12-17) 8/22 (20)

16. Milwaukee (1-4) (13-15) 16/14 (16)

17. Colorado (1-3) (17-10) 21/9 (13)

18. Tampa Bay (5-2) (16-13) 22/16 (15)

19. Arizona (3-3) (13-15) 18/20 (25)

20. Houston (3-3) (12-17) 17/24 (29)

21. San Francisco (3-4) (14-15) 19/23 (24)

22. Oakland (4-2) (15-15) 25/17 (17)

23. Pittsburgh (4-3) (14-16) 20/26 (26)

24. Baltimore (4-3) (13-15) 23/25 (19)

25. Detroit (1-6) (13-17) 24/21 (9)

26. San Diego (3-3) (12-18) 27/19 (28)

27. LA Dodgers (3-3) (15-16) 26/27 (23)

28. Chi Cubs (3-3) (13-16) 28/28 (30)

29. Chi Sox (1-6) (11-20) 29/29 (18)

30. Minnesota (1-6) (10-18) 30/30 (22)

April Showers

Minnesota took over the worst spot in both offense and defense this week, thank to a week where they were outscored 54-15 in 7 games. Their lone win came in Chicago last night, against the equally anemic White Sox, and it took a no-hitter from Francisco Liriano to win the game, which ended with a final score of 1-0. I don't think the pitching was that great, the offenses were just that bad.

Speaking of that embarrassing no-hitter last night, the Chicago White Sox were nearly as bad as Minnesota last week, also winning only once, over the Baltimore Orioles, which isn't as impressive as it would have been 3 weeks ago. Losing 1-0 to the worst team in the Major Leagues who were starting their worst pitcher is a sure sign that you are one of the worst teams around.

Rounding out the losers this week are the Texas Rangers, a team that was #1 just 3 weeks ago. While they haven't fallen nearly as far as the other losers (they're still a top 10 team), they've lost consecutive series to Toronto and Oakland, both of which are fairly average teams. They need to win the next two in Seattle to avoid losing their third series in a row.

May Flowers

The Houston Astros are still not a very good team, but they have won three straight games, including two blowouts to start the month of May, and they no longer have the worst record in the National League (that would be San Diego). We'll see if they can make it four in a row this afternoon against the Reds (I'm betting they can).

Philadelphia's only loss of the week came in 14 innings against the New York Mets in the game during which they announced the death of Osama Bin Laden. If the team from the city which houses the Liberty Bell had to lose to a team from any other city on that historic night, at least it was a team from the city that was attacked on that dreadful day 10 years ago.

San Diego may have the worst record in the National League today, but that doesn't mean they're not playing well. They've won three of their last 4, despite being underdogs in all of them, and they have a series coming up with Arizona this week. They may not be in last for long.

NBA Player of the Day

LeBron James - MIA - 35 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 14-25 FG, 2-4 3P, 5-8 FT

The Miami Heat have two stars that can take over a game, which has come in very handy during the playoffs. Either James or Wade has been named Player of the Day nearly every time the Heat have played lately, and although their combined success may hurt them in the quest for individual awards, it may end up helping them earn the ultimate team award, an NBA title.

Predictions - 4 May

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Hawks at Bulls - Bulls by 10

Mavericks at Lakers - Lakers by 4

MLB

Astros at Reds - Astros by 0.7

Twins at White Sox - White Sox by 1.1

Cubs at Dodgers - Cubs by 1.3

Brewers at Braves - Braves by 1.7

Pirates at Padres - Pirates by 1.1

Blue Jays at Rays - Jays by 1.9

Yankees at Tigers - Yankees by 1.0

Nationals at Phillies - Phillies by 2.7

Angels at Red Sox - Red Sox by 0.8

Giants at Mets - Mets by 0.9

Brewers at Braves - Braves by 1.0

Orioles at Royals - Orioles by 1.1

Marlins at Cardinals - Marlins by 0.3

Rockies at Diamondbacks - D-Backs by 1.0

Indians at Athletics - Indians by 1.9

Rangers at Mariners - Mariners by 0.4

Prediction Results - 3 May

NBA Playoffs: 2-0 (1.000) 36-14 overall (.720)

MLB: 7-7 (.500) 156-144 overall (.520)

Upsets: 3-1 (.750) 226-154 overall (.595)

MLB Rankings - 27 Apr

Of the five teams that lost only once this week, not one was ranked in last week's top 12, which means that none of them have done enough to take over the top spot yet. The majority of teams played .500 ball this week, meaning that the strength of their competition did most of the work in determining which teams moved up and which moved down.

Rank. Team (Week) (Overall) Off/Def (Prev)

1. NY Yankees (3-2) (12-8) 1/1 (8)

2. Texas (3-3) (14-9) 2/3 (3)

3. Cleveland (2-3) (14-8) 4/4 (1)

4. Boston (5-1) (10-12) 3/5 (13)

5. LA Angels (3-4) (14-10) 6/2 (2)

6. Toronto (2-3) (11-12) 7/6 (24)

7. Kansas City (1-5) (12-11) 5/11 (4)

8. Saint Louis (4-3) (12-11) 8/7 (5)

9. Detroit (4-1) (12-11) 12/8 (27)

10. Atlanta (4-3) (12-13) 9/10 (11)

11. Cincinnati (3-4) (12-12) 10/13 (6)

12. Florida (6-1) (15-7) 19/9 (22)

13. Colorado (4-2) (16-7) 16/12 (17)

14. Philadelphia (5-2) (15-8) 11/17 (16)

15. Tampa Bay (3-2) (11-11) 14/18 (14)

16. Milwaukee (3-3) (12-11) 15/16 (9)

17. Oakland (2-5) (11-13) 21/14 (23)

18. Chi Sox (3-4) (10-14) 13/21 (10)

19. Baltimore (2-3) (9-12) 22/19 (15)

20. NY Mets (5-1) (10-13) 24/20 (30)

21. Washington (2-5) (10-12) 18/24 (12)

22. Minnesota (3-1) (9-12) 27/15 (29)

23. LA Dodgers (4-3) (12-13) 17/26 (28)

24. San Francisco (1-4) (11-11) 25/22 (7)

25. Arizona (3-4) (10-12) 23/25 (18)

26. Pittsburgh (2-4) (10-13) 20/28 (20)

27. Seattle (3-3) (9-15) 26/23 (19)

28. San Diego (2-6) (9-15) 30/27 (21)

29. Houston (3-3) (9-14) 28/30 (26)

30. Chi Cubs (2-5) (10-13) 29/29 (25)

On Fire

The New York Mets jumped out of last place this week by winning five straight games, the best of which was an 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks and Armando Galarraga, dealing him his first loss of the season. The Mets had played tough against good teams before that, but they had lost 12 of 14, so this week's breakthrough helped out their ranking.

Detroit started this week with a 4-game winning streak before falling to Seattle last night, but their last two wins over the White Sox were especially impressive, with a combined score of 12-0 between the two. That performance lifted the Tigers from the bottom five into the top 10 in just one week, although movement in April is always more exaggerated.

Florida had an awesome week, sweeping the Pirates and beating the Dodgers twice, while taking their weekend series over Colorado 2-1, which is no small feat considering the Rockies have the league's best record. They have played 8 straight at home, which changes this week when they travel to Cincinnati and Saint Louis, but if they can keep up their hot streak, they could challenge for the top spot next week.

Ice Cold

San Francisco needed extra innings last night to win for the first time in a week against perennial basement-dweller Pittsburgh, and didn't come closer than 3 runs in their four losses. The losses did come to very good Atlanta and Colorado teams, but you'd expect more out of last year's World Series champions.

Cleveland lost the #1 ranking this week by losing three straight games over the weekend, including two embarrassing losses to the Minnesota Twins. They came back with a victory over Kansas City last night, and they've got a very tough series coming up against Detroit this weekend.

San Diego has an excuse for their performance this week, after playing 8 games in 7 days, 3 of which went into extra innings. They also had to play the last 6 games against Philadelphia and Atlanta, two of the favorites in the NL East, and they did manage to steal one from the Braves.

Predictions - 27 Apr

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

76ers at Heat - Heat by 10

Grizzlies at Spurs - Spurs by 5

Nuggets at Thunder - Thunder by 2

MLB

Dodgers at Marlins - Dodgers by 1.4

Reds at Brewers - Brewers by 0.5

Rockies at Cubs - Rockies by 1.9

Braves at Padres - Braves by 2.6

Phillies at Diamondbacks - Phillies by 1.2

Athletics at Angels - Angels by 3.9

Red Sox at Orioles - Red Sox by 3.1

Royals at Indians - Indians by 1.9

Mariners at Tigers - Tigers by 1.7

White Sox at Yankees - Yankees by 4.0

Mets at Nationals - Mets by 0.8

Giants at Pirates - Giants by 0.0

Blue Jays at Rangers - Rangers by 2.1

Cardinals at Astros - Cards by 5.2

Rays at Twins - Rays by 0.9

NBA Player of the Day

Luol Deng - CHI - 24 pts, 6 reb, 7 ast, 3 stl, 7-14 FG, 3-5 3P, 7-8 FT

Deng may not have scored as much as Rose last night, but he did hand out more assists than his point guard and hit a couple of very important 3-pointers for the Bulls as they finally played like a #1 seed in eliminating the Indiana Pacers in game 5 of their first round series. It was by far his best game of the postseason so far, and a good sign for the advancing Bulls.

Prediction Results - 26 Apr

NBA Playoffs: 3-0 (1.000) 28-9 overall (.757)

MLB: 9-5 (.643) 109-98 overall (.527)

Upsets: 3-0 (1.000) 211-139 (.603)

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)

MLB Rankings - 13 Apr

To go along with my first baseball predictions of the season yesterday, I'm debuting my Major League Baseball rankings today. I've split up the offensive and defensive ratings to create my formula, and averaged the two together to come up with the overall rankings below. Each team's name is followed by its overall record, offensive ranking, and defensive ranking.

1. Texas (9-2) (2) (4)

2. Cincinnati (8-3) (1) (9)

3. Colorado (7-2) (7) (1)

4. Toronto (5-6) (3) (6)

5. Chi Sox (7-4) (12) (2)

6. Arizona (5-5) (6) (7)

7. Philadelphia (7-3) (4) (13)

8. Atlanta (5-6) (14) (5)

9. Oakland (5-6) (9) (12)

10. Cleveland (8-3) (10) (10)

11. LA Angels (6-5) (18) (3)

12. Pittsburgh (5-5) (8) (20)

13. Washington (5-5) (5) (24)

14. Seattle (4-7) (17) (11)

15. Kansas City (6-4) (11) (18)

16. Milwaukee (5-5) (16) (15)

17. Baltimore (6-3) (19) (8)

18. Tampa Bay (3-8) (13) (28)

19. Minnesota (4-6) (22) (16)

20. NY Yankees (5-4) (15) (29)

21. San Francisco (5-6) (20) (26)

22. Saint Louis (4-7) (23) (23)

23. LA Dodgers (6-5) (21) (27)

24. NY Mets (4-6) (27) (14)

25. Detroit (4-7) (26) (21)

26. Chi Cubs (5-6) (25) (22)

27. San Diego (4-6) (28) (19)

28. Florida (5-5) (24) (30)

29. Houston (3-8) (30) (17)

30. Boston (2-9) (29) (25)

I'll have a bit more analysis of my rankings in next week's edition of the baseball rankings.

NBA Player of the Day

Pau Gasol - LAL - 17 pts, 17 reb, 5 ast, 7-12 FG, 3-4 FT

17 points may be the lowest output of any Player of the Day I've named all season, but adding 17 points to the mix and beating the top-seeded Spurs certainly make this a very strong performance from Gasol. They'll need more games like this in the playoffs, especially if Andrew Bynum ends up missing more time with his latest knee injury.

Predictions - 13 Apr

Upset picks are in italics.

Possible upsets are underlined.

NBA

Knicks at Celtics - Celtics by 7

Nets at Bulls - Bulls by 17

Wizards at Cavaliers - Cavs by 2

Hornets at Mavericks - Mavs by 6

Rockets at Timberwovles - Rockets by 6

Pacers at Magic - Magic by 9

Pistons at 76ers - 76ers by 8

Bucks at Thunder - Thunder by 9

Nuggets at Jazz - Nuggets by 5

Heat at Raptors - Heat by 10

Hawks at Bobcats - Hawks by 0

Trail Blazers at Warriors - Blazers by 2

Grizzlies at Clippers - Grizz by 3

Lakers at Kings - Lakers by 7

Spurs at Suns - Spurs by 4

MLB

Rangers at Tigers - Tigers by 1

Royals at Twins - Royals by 1

Athletics at White Sox - Athletics by 0

Blue Jays at Mariners - Blue Jays by 3

Reds at Padres - Reds by 3

Phillies at Nationals - Nats by 0

Brewers at Pirates - Pirates by 0

Indians at Angels - Indians by 2

Orioles at Yankees - Orioles by 0

Marlins at Braves - Braves by 5

Rockies at Mets - Rockies by 8

Rays at Red Sox - Rays by 2

Cubs at Astros - Cubs by 4

Cardinals at Diamondbacks - D-Backs by 9

Dodgers at Giants - Giants by 3

Prediction Results - 12 Apr

NBA: 3-0 (1.000) 725-308 overall (.702)

MLB: 5-7 (.417) 12-10 overall (.545)

Upsets: 4-1 (.800) 177-121 overall (.594)