Updated Standings

It's approaching midnight here, and I've decided something about these standings. I can post the real MLB all-games-played standings and actually have some meaningful discussion. The 'true' divisional standings will mean relatively little for quite a while yet. For instance, the Cubs have played only one series against another Premiership team this year -- the opening series against Atlanta. Furthermore, the Cubs won't see another top-tier team until the Marlins come to town on May 10th, three weeks hence.

With this is mind, the true divisional standings will become a monthly rather than a weekly effort for the present. It will be more like a treat to see who's faring poorly in the MLB standings but doing quite well against their division. I also think it may reveal a high-flying Premiership team propelled to the top by facing mostly Championship teams, ripe for an early postseason exit.

PREMIERSHIP STANDINGS (ALL MLB):

POSITION	TEAM	GAMES PLAYED	WINS	LOSSES	RUNS SCORED	RUNS ALLOWED	RUN DIFF
#1	Tampa Bay Rays	18	13	5	107	63	44
#2	New York Yankees	17	12	5	92	59	33
#2	Philadelphia Phillies	17	11	6	98	65	33
#4	Minnesota Twins	18	13	5	98	66	32
#5	San Francisco Giants	17	10	7	79	51	28
#6	St. Louis Cardinals	17	10	7	76	59	17
#7	Colorado Rockies	18	9	9	85	68	17
#8	Florida Marlins	18	10	8	87	84	3
#9	Toronto Blue Jays	18	10	8	81	80	1
#10	Los Angeles Dodgers	17	8	9	103	103	0
#11	Chicago Cubs	18	8	10	77	78	-1
#12	Texas Rangers	17	7	10	71	73	-2
#13	Atlanta Braves	17	8	9	70	75	-5
#14	Boston Red Sox	18	8	10	76	94	-18
#15	Los Angeles Angels	19	9	10	74	94	-20

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (ALL MLB):

POSITION	TEAM	GAMES PLAYED	WINS	LOSSES	RUNS SCORED	RUNS ALLOWED	RUN DIFF
#1	San Diego Padres	17	11	6	79	57	22
#2	Oakland Athletics	19	11	8	81	65	16
#3	New York Mets	18	9	9	74	64	10
#4	Milwaukee Brewers	17	8	9	99	89	10
#5	Seattle Mariners	18	9	9	70	66	4
#6	Arizona Diamondbacks	17	7	10	90	90	0
#7	Detroit Tigers	18	10	8	84	85	-1
#8	Cleveland Indians	17	8	9	60	73	-13
#9	Chicago White Sox	18	7	11	71	88	-17
#10	Washington Nationals	18	9	9	83	100	-17
#11	Kansas City Royals	17	6	11	81	103	-22
#12	Houston Astros	17	7	10	50	76	-26
#13	Cincinnati Reds	18	7	11	82	112	-30
#14	Baltimore Orioles	18	2	16	55	92	-37
#15	Pittsburgh Pirates	17	7	10	59	120	-61

PREMIERSHIP STANDINGS (VS. PREMIERSHIP TEAMS):

POSITION	TEAM	GAMES PLAYED	WINS	LOSSES	RUNS SCORED	RUNS ALLOWED	RUN DIFF
#1	New York Yankees	14	10	4	80	51	29
#2	Minnesota Twins	7	5	2	38	20	18
#3	San Francisco Giants	8	5	3	37	27	10
#4	Tampa Bay Rays	7	5	2	36	29	7
#5	Atlanta Braves	12	6	6	53	47	6
#6	Florida Marlins	7	5	2	33	28	5
#7	Philadelphia Phillies	6	3	3	22	20	2
#8	Los Angeles Dodgers	6	3	3	30	34	-4
#9	Colorado Rockies	4	1	3	13	17	-4
#10	St. Louis Cardinals	2	0	2	1	6	-5
#11	Toronto Blue Jays	8	3	5	32	40	-8
#12	Chicago Cubs	3	1	2	9	19	-10
#13	Los Angeles Angels	12	6	6	47	58	-11
#14	Texas Rangers	9	2	7	32	46	-14
#15	Boston Red Sox	13	4	9	46	72	-26

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (VS. CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS):

POSITION	TEAM	GAMES PLAYED	WINS	LOSSES	RUNS SCORED	RUNS ALLOWED	RUN DIFF
#1	Milwaukee Brewers	6	4	2	50	21	29
#2	San Diego Padres	8	6	2	43	24	19
#3	Seattle Mariners	15	8	7	62	48	14
#4	Oakland Athletics	13	8	5	51	41	10
#5	Arizona Diamondbacks	9	4	5	47	41	6
#6	Washington Nationals	6	4	2	31	27	4
#7	Houston Astros	2	2	0	9	5	4
#8	New York Mets	3	1	2	13	11	2
#9	Kansas City Royals	6	3	3	32	31	1
#10	Detroit Tigers	12	7	5	58	61	-3
#11	Chicago White Sox	8	3	5	32	36	-4
#12	Cleveland Indians	11	6	5	44	49	-5
#13	Baltimore Orioles	7	1	6	19	32	-13
#14	Cincinnati Reds	5	0	5	14	29	-15
#15	Pittsburgh Pirates	11	4	7	33	82	-49

As you can see, it is not the season to be a Pirates fan. That is not a typo above. They really have allowed 61 more runs than they have driven in. Their disastrous series against the Brewers, in which they were outscored 36-1 did not help matters. This series, incidentally, also propelled Los Cervezeros to the top of the true Championship division this week. We'll see how they are in a month or so.

Running the risk of making judgments from a small sample size, one of the starkest contrasts between the two Premiership standings is the Rays. Though they sit atop the MLB board with +44 RD, their performance against Prem clubs has yielded a paltry +7 RD. On the other hand, the Braves seem to have the opposite problem: a +6 RD against the top tier teams, but -11 vs. the Championship.

That's all for now, kids. I'll catch you next Saturday if I don't give an op-ed piece before.