Kuzul

HR’s, RBI, Runs, Average, and SB’s    

The 5 pitching categories used:

Wins, Saves, WHIP, ERA, and K’s

1.(─) Texas Rangers (58-41): Texas’ offense just edged out the Yankees by one point to hold the title for the best offense. With 127 points, the Rangers finished the week in the top six in 4-of-5 offensive categories and 6-of-10 total categories.

With the addition of another stud pitcher (Cliff Lee), I for one am very excited to watch the Rangers in the pennant race .

2.(─) Tampa Bay Rays (59-38): The Rays are in the top 10 in all but two categories of the Fantasy Power Rankings .

Top prospect Jeremy Hellickson should be getting added to the Rays bullpen in the upcoming weeks. He has a 2.51 ERA with 12 wins and 119 K’s in 114.2 IP for the Durham Bulls.

This could be exactly what Tampa Bay needs to pull away from the rest of the AL in the wild-card race.

3.(─) New York Yankees (62-35): The Yankees are “losing out” in the trade market according to some.

I, however, feel that they are perfectly fine and know what they are doing. They have a three-game lead in the toughest division in baseball and they have the second  best offense and sixth best pitching according to these rankings .

4.(─) Cincinnati Reds (55-45): The Reds don’t seem to be going anywhere as they sit just a a half-game back of the division leading Cardinals. With that said, let’s be honest: St. Louis is the better team and Albert Pujols hasn’t even gotten into one of his grooves yet.

5.(─) San Diego Padres (58-39): With the pitching that the NL West presents, I believe this is the second best division in baseball.

The offense on the other hand, does not come even close to the AL East, as the leader has just 102 points (Colorado).

Between the four teams (not Arizona) who are real contenders in the NL West, I would put the Padres in fourth offensive wise. They scored just 61 offensive points this week.

6.(↑2) San Francisco Giants (56-43): See the Padres.

With the addition of Buster Posey to this lineup, the Giants have added a scary bat. Finally.

I know he is just a rookie, but to date he has a .371 avg., eight HR’s, and 33 RBI in JUST 48 games! Posey has 16 hits over his last nine games.

7.(↑ 3) Atlanta Braves (57-41): The Phillies better hope that Chase Utley comes back and is as hot as he was in the World Series last year. The Braves are the division leader by four-and-a-half games and scored 29 more total points this week than the second -place Phillies.

8.(↓1) Boston Red Sox (55-44): Victor Martinez could be coming back as soon as tonight, according to manager Terry Francona. As much as this is going to help, I just can’t see this being enough to help the third- place Red Sox catch the Rays, or Yankees for that matter.    

9.(↑2) St. Louis Cardinals (52-44): See the Reds.

The Cardinals obviously have a much better rotation than the Reds (outscored them 100-84 in pitching points). With Carpenter and Wainwright at the top of the rotation, the Reds will continue to fall behind more than the 16 points they currently are.

10.(↑3) Los Angeles Dodgers (53-46): To be blunt, the Dodgers don’t have enough.

Not enough pitching, hitting, or reasons to convince Joe Torre to stay past this year. Unfortunately, what they do have enough of, is publicity for the owners’ divorce that is going on.  

11.(↓2) Colorado Rockies (51-48): I don’t know what’s more surprising: the Rockies losing six straight or them only falling two spots.

12.(─) Los Angeles Angels (52-49): Dan Haren is certainly going to help get the Angels get closer to the Rangers, but is it too late?

13.(↑ 1) Minnesota Twins (53-46): Minnesota sits 1.0 game back of the White Sox, but is one position above them here.

14.(↓8) Chicago White Sox (53-44): After going nuts for almost two months, the White Sox have cooled off a bit, losing 6-of-10.

15.(↑ 5) Philadelphia Phillies (53-46): If you’re playing daily and weekly fantasy games , the Phillies are hot right now. So use them wisely.

16.(↓1) Toronto Blue Jays (50-49): The Blue Jays have a ton of useful fantasy players . Of course, this doesn’t translate into wins always.

17.(↓ 1) Florida Marlins (49-49): Florida has gone 7-3 over its last ten, but the Marlins are still six-and-a-half games back in the wild card.

18.(↑ 1) Milwaukee Brewers (47-53): The Brewers are one of the most exciting teams to watch—either because their offense is explosive or because their pitching allows a ton of men to reach base.

19.(↓ 2) Oakland Athletics (50-48): I had the pleasure of watching the A’s in the series against the White Sox.

I use “pleasure” loosely.

20.(↓2) New York Mets (50-49): 2-8 over their last ten─enough said!

21.(─) Chicago Cubs (45-54):   Is there any other team that could be 11 games back in their division and have people still talking about the playoffs?

22.(─) Detroit Tigers (51-46): The Tigers are the one exception in the Fantasy Power Rankings. I can’t seem to figure them out.

23.(↑ 1) Kansas City Royals (42-56): Any time Scott Podsednik hits two HR’s and has four RBI his team should win. It didn’t!

24.(↓ 1) Washington Nationals (42-57): 116 total points in the FPR isn’t terrible, but a 17-36 road record is!

25.(─) Arizona Diamondbacks (37-62): Arizona better hope it can get something going before Justin Upton requests a trade next year.

26.(─) Seattle Mariners (39-60): I would make the argument that Chone Figgins isn’t the only Mariner who has given up lately.

27.(─) Houston Astros (40-58): Is anyone willing to pay fantasy baseball stud Roy Oswalt?

28.(─) Cleveland Indians (41-57): Cleveland has been playing much better and has won seven of its last 10.

29.(↑1) Pittsburgh Pirates (34-64): When you finish in the bottom five in 8-of-10 categories, there really just isn’t any hope.

30.(↓1) Baltimore Orioles (29-62): With just nine total pitching points, it’s pretty obvious what’s wrong in Baltimore.

Best Offense: (127) Texas Rangers

Best Pitching: (144) San Diego Padres

Worst Offense: (25) Houston Astros

Worst Pitching: (9) Baltimore Orioles

For full standings please visit www.FantasyBaseballSportal.com

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