The Dodgers are not the best team in baseball!

All right... this is slightly OT, but I just have to post a mini-rant. I am getting so tired of seeing the Dodgers atop the ESPN Power Rankings or highly touted by the commentators on Baseball Tonight or even sometimes the MLB Network. Dodgers vs. the NL West: 30-12 (18 games about .500) Dodgers vs. everybody else: 22-18 (4 games above .500) Sigh.

4 months ago hmlee 14 comments 0 recs |

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You are what your record says you are.

The Dodgers are VERY good and in a bad division.

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. -George Halas

by Allie on Jul 6, 2009 10:09 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

But...

Their record says they are barely above .500 against the vast majority of baseball teams. And the ones they have a better record against are basically “a notch above horrific” this season. There’s no doubt that they’re a good team. I wouldn’t dispute that. But the best team in baseball? Not even close.

by hmlee on Jul 6, 2009 11:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I disagree

Even if they aren’t the best team… it is VERY close.

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. -George Halas

by Allie on Jul 6, 2009 11:15 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd say...

The Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers beat them any day of the week and twice on Sunday. So, maybe, 4th best team in baseball. Detroit might leapfrog them too, so then they’d be 5th.

by hmlee on Jul 6, 2009 11:30 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd say maybe BoSox

are better overall… but I don’t agree on the others.

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. -George Halas

by Allie on Jul 6, 2009 11:33 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wah wah wah whine whine whine

There is no such thing as an ugly female breast

by Worf on Jul 7, 2009 9:16 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The overall record says more than the splits

There’s also the fact that the Dodgers lead the NL in a number of offensive and pitching categories and they’re in the top five for many offensive categories. That’s what makes them the best team right now. Of course, this isn’t like the bad old days when the team that led the league in wins automatically won the pennant. One thing that’s true about the Dodgers is what was true about the Cubs last season. If you’re number one, people will be gunning for you. Nobody wants to be a doormat on your way to the pennant (especially true of the Cubs because nobody wants to be the team that let the Cubs into the World Series).

The real question is who looks great right now. That would have to be the Dodgers. They’re still in a bad division, but being in a good division and leading that division doesn’t necessarily make you better than a team leading a bad division. Take Albert Pujols out of the St. Louis lineup and you realize why the guy is always in MVP discussion. Take Manny Ramirez out of the Los Angeles lineup and they do fine. Their pitching is getting the job done, the offense is getting the job done and they’ve got one of the best managers in the game in the dugout. It’s not a matter of ESPN over ranking the Dodgers. They’re just that good right now. Now if they don’t play well outside their division, that may not bode well in October. It’s still far too soon to start talking October.

And the eighth and final rule: if this is your first time at Fight Club, you have to fight.

by Ace Venom on Jul 7, 2009 9:59 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

You can make an argument

That they are the best team in the NL. I’m not sure I would necessarily agree, but I don’t think that there is a clear alternative given how poorly the Phillies have been playing at home. I just don’t think that you can make the argument that they are the best team in baseball because they lead the NL in certain categories or because they have a great record in their own (horrid) division. I normally am as much an N.L. booster as anyone, but I really think that the teams I mentioned above in the A.L. are far and away better than the Dodgers – and their records (in splits) – show it.

by hmlee on Jul 7, 2009 11:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Dose it make any difference?

Many times, in weekly polls/rankings last year the Cubs were rated the best in baseball. All that matters is who’s left standing by Halloween.

by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Jul 7, 2009 10:50 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

This isn't the BCS....

….standings on who the “best team” is doesn’t matter. It’s who’s hosting the trophy in October.

Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team

by carmen_fanzone on Jul 7, 2009 11:51 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

or "hoisting"....

Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team

by carmen_fanzone on Jul 7, 2009 11:51 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well that's true

and I’m very glad we don’t have a screwy BCS computer system telling us who should go to the playoffs in October. That would be… not fun. The reason it bothers me isn’t because it matters – because, as you pointed out, it doesn’t – but because it hews to that over-simplification of baseball by commentators. Like evaluating pitchers based on their win-loss record. Or hitters only on their BA. Similarly, by declaring a team the best in baseball solely based on their win-loss record (and ignoring the fact that a significant majority of those wins came against horrible teams) just makes it too simple…

by hmlee on Jul 7, 2009 12:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

we had the best record last year

padded also by wins against a not very good NL west…. does that mean the “experts” were wrong last year?

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. -George Halas

by Allie on Jul 7, 2009 2:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Perhaps

But it isn’t about whether or not you play against bad divisions – every team in the NL plays against the NL west at some point, just as every team in the AL takes on the AL Central at some point. It’s about where the majority of your wins come from. The point I was trying to make was that due to the division the Dodgers happen to be in, 30 of their 52 wins come from the NL west, while only 12 of their 30 losses come from there. 22 other wins come from outside the division, along with 18 loses. Because they are in the NL west, they play those teams far more than other NL teams do.

by hmlee on Jul 7, 2009 4:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs