Imaginary Diamond

The Baby ‘Backs sit atop our baseball team power rankings, as we make a belated debut to the 2008 season. Across the country, the upstart Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins have climbed to the top of the mighty AL and NL East divisions and into our ever-important top 10.

Underachievers are sprinkled throughout the bottom half of the rankings, with the 17th-ranked Milwaukee Brewers and 22nd-ranked Seattle Mariners heading the class. Kansas City and Pittsburgh again reside near the cellar, but are both showing signs of hope and improvement. The same can’t be said in Washington, where there is too little talent to dream of a sudden turnaround.

1. Arizona Diamondbacks - Reliable veteran pitching, exciting mix of offensive talent
2. Chicago Cubs - If Wood can do the job in the 9th, this team is a contender
3. Boston Red Sox - Offense a consistent juggernaut, pitching must come together
4. Los Angeles Angels - Must find relief help; rank 29th in MLB with 5.20 bullpen ERA
5. Tampa Bay Rays - Good, young pitching got better when Kazmir returned from DL
6. Houston Astros - Big Puma doing serious damage, ‘Stros have won 11 of last 13
7. Philadelphia Phillies - Know about offense, but Phils feature league’s top bullpen
8. Cleveland Indians - Hard to argue that Tribe has baseball’s best rotation
9. Florida Marlins - Followed 7-game win streak with 3-game losing streak
10. St. Louis Cardinals - Lot of unknowns making key contributions to staff, lineup
11. New York Yankees - Turnaround comes when A-Rod, Posada get healthy
12. New York Mets - Offense is name of game; need more of it from everyone
13. Oakland Athletics - Exotic mix of talent somehow keeping pace with Angels
14. Atlanta Braves - Missing three key arms in Hampton, Smoltz and Soriano
15. Los Angeles Dodgers - Young core going through its share of ups and downs
16. Minnesota Twins - Don’t have enough talent to win more than 85 games
17. Milwaukee Brewers - Underachieving, largely because of struggling bullpen
18. Chicago White Sox - Best pitching staff in AL, need bats to wake up
19. Toronto Blue Jays - Injuries a big factors; missing Accardo, Eckstein, Wells
20. Detroit Tigers - Struggling offense makes headlines, but pitching staff is BAD
21. Colorado Rockies - Pitching is shaky, and magic is lost from offense and defense
22. Seattle Mariners - Must shake things up to make playoff run
23. Baltimore Orioles - Summers usually bring horrific slumps for the O’s
24. Cincinnati Reds - Hard to win with Dunn and Griffey underperforming
25. Texas Rangers - Hamilton perfect addition to offense, but pitching still brutal
26. San Francisco Giants - Cain, Lincecum will keep them from losing 100 games
27. Kansas City Royals - Built around electric arms Bannister, Greinke and Soria
28. Pittsburgh Pirates - Have won 8 of 10 behind McLouth and improving offense
29. San Diego Padres - Not even Peavy and Young can overcome this offense
30. Washington Nationals - Things looking up; come off series win over the Mets

More rankings lists …
The Sports Flow checks in with its Week 6 rankings.

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune updates his power ranks.

Armchair GM’s Powerless Rankings go from worst to first.

Dustin Hockensmith is editor of ImaginaryDiamond.com. He can be contacted at dhockensmith[at]fantasysports101.net.