We’re half way through season 9 and I probably speak for most when I say that season 9 had many surprises so far. Teams like Baltimore, Santa Fe, Huntington and Texas are all enjoying fine seasons much improved from last season. Teams like Augusta, Charlotte, Louisville and Burlington are playing at a lesser level than last season but still have 81 games to go. Some major changes occurred to many teams in the off-season resulting in major changes to the power rankings, Hunter is finally seeing some shifting of power as younger teams are starting to show some teeth.
1. San Francisco Night Demons (56-25) – Still #1 and it
doesn’t look like anyone has gained any ground in the AL. Hunters best pitching staff is having another amazing season, they’re #1 in every single pitching stat except for HR given up (3rd). It’s pretty simple, if you can’t score 1 run how are you going to win?
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2. New York Metropolitans (56-24) – Best record in Hunter through the first 81 games, at one point of the season there was a 26 game stretch where this team went 22-4 with a 9 game winning streak.
Metropolitans are the only team in Hunter ranked in the top 3 in all 3 team categories. They have the 2
nd best pitching staff (3.59 ERA), 2
nd best offense (524 RS) and 3rd best defense (.983
FPct) in the world…..
nuff said.
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3. San Juan TCB (50-31) – In a very tough
NL south
TCB are looking to capture their 2
nd straight division title. San Juan is another very good overall team that’s powered by their 3rd ranked offense in Hunter. With 508 runs scored, 867 hits, .290 team BA and .852 team OPS any pitching staff facing this line up will give up runs sooner or later (excluding SF :-).
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4. Washington D.C. Generals (48-32) – With a less than impressive start the Generals have picked it up a bit going 16-1 in their last 17 games. Now that they have an 8.5 games lead on 2
nd place Rochester it looks like Washington is heading for their 9
th straight postseason.
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5. Santa Fe Flyers (49-31) – Out of nowhere the
Flyers are challenging San Juan for the
NL South, with the addition of Derek O’Keefe and a top 5 line up in Hunter this team may actually stay around for a while. Not on the previous power rankings Santa Fe made some huge strides in season 9 so far.
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6. Colorado Blasters (46-35) – The Blasters had another rough start but with this power line up they
wouldn’t stay down for long. Yet again this offense is putting up magical stats, through 81 games Colorado has 697 runs scored, 919 hits, 277 HR and 1.021 team OPS, all best in Hunter.
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7. Texas Beefeaters (48-32) – The
Beefeaters have been on a clime for the past 3 seasons posting 84 wins in S7 and 86 wins in S8 and are looking even stronger in S9. Not on the power ranking after S8 this is definitely one of the young surprise teams looking to make history in S9.
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8. Salt Lake City Mormons (47-34) – Will we see a new division champ in the
NL West? Salt Lake is another team that was not on the power ranking last time around, and they’re doing it with total team effort. Mormons pitching staff, line up and defense have been hovering around the 10
th place all season long proving the Mormons deserve to be in the top 10.
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9. Huntington Head Hunters (48-32) – Head Hunters made lots of changes with the new ownership, signing many free agents and trading for other players resulted in a first place tie in the very tough AL South. Huntington mostly depends on their offense to provide the spark, as their pitching staff
hasn’t been as impressive. First time in the top 10 means they’re doing something right.
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10. Pittsburgh Studdabubbas (48-32) – Pittsburgh leads the tough
NL North by 7.5 games, did anyone thought that would happen?
Studdabubbas line up scored 465 runs in 80 games so far and is the strength of this team, if the defense and pitching staff pick it up a bit this could be a very dangerous team to face in the playoffs.
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- Notable - New Britain Yorkies (45-35) and Baltimore BayDogs (45-35) are on their way up.
- There were 4 major changes as WS Champs Scottsdale Aces and NL Champs Augusta Caesars, Charlotte and Louisville all considered power teams in Hunter did not make the top 10 this time around. There’s talent on all 4 of those teams but you are what your record says you are.
- Next power rankings update will come at the end of season 9.
- Please post in comments if you think teams are not ranked properly, please include why we should make the changes and what you’re basing your opinion on.
