Baltimore Orioles: Power Rankings and the Way to the Top

May 13, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Miguel Gonzalez (50) is removed from the game by manager Buck Showalter (left) in the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Here on the FanSided Sports Network, this Baltimore Wire site is a part of the Locals Division – covering an array of professional, college and other pertinent sports in a geographical region. There are also specific sports sites for each professional team and major colleges as well. In addition, there are general sites for the professional sports.

Our general interest baseball site publishes a weekly power rankings with summaries of the ups and downs of each team. Baltimore Orioles fans may not like the current edition. It is difficult to argue that the top team should not be the St. Louis Cardinals, due to their great start, with the Royals second. Having the Dodgers third might be debatable. But having been walloped pretty good by the Mets and Yankees, we in Baltimore can sadly see why they would (at least for now) get noticed and be fourth and fifth.

The Orioles come in at 19^th in this rankings systems. Wow. Just barely out of the bottom third. But before we get as offended as we were by offseason writers who predicted the O’s to have a definitive losing record, let’s be honest enough to understand that their 15-17 record projects to a final total of 76-86.

So where would we honestly expect to see the Orioles ranked, based upon how they’ve played so far? To be truthful, 19^th is about right. However, we all know that they are a much better team than what the record indicates. We have reasonable confidence that they are going to play much better and be far more often “in the WIN column” … as we hear on O’s radio. But right now, they are not.

Another sort of rankings system that grades teams with a more complicated formula than win/loss records is seen on the great baseball-reference.com web site. I say “complicated” … though it is not really so by sabermetric standards, and is called the “simple rating system.” You can see it in the far right column of the standings.

The system gives a score to the number of runs a team is better or worse than the average team, taking into account run differentials and strength of schedule. The Orioles are currently at a positive 1.0, while the Yankees are the best in baseball at 1.5. If you click on the heading, it will sort the teams in each league in order, placing the Orioles at fifth in the AL. And only the Dodgers in the NL have a higher number than the Birds. In fact, the 24-11 St. Louis Cardinals are worse than the Orioles at 0.9, while of course the Phillies are dead last with a negative 1.9 number.

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