THE POWER RANK

  • About
    • About The Power Rank
    • Start Here
    • Contact
  • Predictions
    • Games
    • March Madness
  • Content
    • Must Read
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • March Madness Book
  • Rankings
    • College Basketball
    • NFL
    • College Football
    • MLB
    • Cluster Luck
    • CFB yards per play
    • World Soccer/Football
  • Members
    • My Account
    • Login
    • Become a member
    • COVID-19 Policy
  • Log in

Major League Baseball, Second Half Forecast

By Dr. Ed Feng 4 Comments

With the conclusion of the All Star break, the Power Rank offers a weather forecast for the second half of the season. Let’s start in the AL East, the division in which Major League Baseball still begins and ends. The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays have traded the top position in the Power Rank back and forth all season while the Boston Red Sox have consistently been a distant third (see rankings at the bottom of the post). Boston will have a tough time catching either New York or Tampa Bay. Since the Power Rank rates the Yankees and Rays as equal, one has to look at the remaining schedule to see who has the advantage. Fortunately for Tampa Bay, they have 12 games remaining with the lowly Baltimore Orioles while the Yankees only have 6. Advantage Rays. Clearly, the second place team in the division gets the AL Wild Card.

The most interesting forecast comes from the AL Central, a division in which the Chicago White Sox hold a slim lead over the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins. Detroit is screwed. Not only are they the lowest team in the Power Rank but they have a significant number of games against AL East teams while Minnesota and Chicago play Oakland and Seattle. The Twins and White Sox seems to have similar schedules; the White Sox may have a slight edge with 7 games against the Baltimore Orioles while the Twins have 4. The Power Rank puts the Twins ahead of the Sox, but will this be enough to make up the 3.5 game lead in the standings?

As for the remaining divisions, the NL Central has the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals racing neck and neck for the division. The Cardinals are a significantly better team, and they hold the ultimate trump card: 12 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates to 6 for the Reds. It must be wonderful playing in a division with so many games against the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and the Pirates. Bring up your prospects, throw them out their against division rivals. But the Power Rank has both the Cardinals and Reds quite low, as the algorithm expects more wins (and big wins) from the leaders of weak divisions. As for the other three divisions, expect San Diego, Atlanta and Texas to comfortably win their respective divisions, with the NL Wild Card going to the Colorado Rockies.

1. NY Yankees, 56-32, 1.26
2. Tampa Bay, 54-34, 1.19
3. Boston, 51-37, 0.89
4. San Diego, 51-37, 0.77
5. NY Mets, 48-40, 0.64
6. Atlanta, 52-36, 0.60
7. Colorado, 49-39, 0.58
8. Philadelphia, 47-40, 0.51
9. Minnesota, 46-42, 0.50
10. Florida, 42-46, 0.46
11. Texas, 50-38, 0.41
12. St. Louis, 47-41, 0.41
13. San Francisco, 47-41, 0.38
14. Chicago White Sox, 49-38, 0.22
15. Toronto, 44-45, 0.19
16. LA Dodgers, 49-39, 0.19
17. Cincinnati, 49-41, 0.04
18. Detroit, 48-38, 0.04
19. LA Angels, 47-44, -0.12
20. Oakland, 43-46, -0.14
21. Kansas City, 39-49, -0.41
22. Washington, 39-50, -0.46
23. Cleveland, 34-54, -0.58
24. Seattle, 35-53, -0.65
25. Arizona, 34-55, -0.79
26. Chicago Cubs, 39-50, -0.82
27. Milwaukee, 40-49, -0.82
28. Baltimore, 29-59, -1.10
29. Houston, 36-53, -1.23
30. Pittsburgh, 30-58, -2.17

Check out the site for a full explanation of these rankings and the numbers next to each team.

Filed Under: Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Major League Baseball, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays

Comments

  1. Hockey Forum says

    October 20, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    This a truly great post and may be one that you should followed up to see how things go

    A neighbor e-mailed this link the other day and I will be desperately anticipating your next put up. Carry on on the world-class work.

    Reply
  2. Hockey says

    October 20, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    This a truly great post and may be one that can be followed up to see what are the results

    A chum sent this link the other day and I am eagerly looking your next piece of writing. Continue on the first-class work.

    Reply
    • Ed Feng says

      October 20, 2010 at 11:18 pm

      Thanks for stopping by and the kind words. Some predictions worked out, some didn’t. There’s a short summary in the Major League Baseball postseason preview.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Baseball Playoff Preview says:
    October 5, 2010 at 11:34 pm

    […] the Power Rank offers a playoff forecast, let’s review our post All-Star break forecast. While we picked 4 of 4 playoff teams in the AL as Minnesota overtook the lower ranked Chicago […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Predictions from Ed Feng

I use my Stanford Ph.D. in applied math to make football and March Madness predictions.

To get a sample of my best American football predictions and March Madness cheat sheet, sign up for my free email newsletter.

Enter your email and click on "Sign up now!"

Popular Articles

  • How to win your NCAA tournament pool
  • The ultimate guide to predictive college basketball analytics
  • How to predict interceptions in the NFL
  • Accurate football predictions with linear regression
  • The surprising truth about passing and rushing in the NFL
  • Football analytics resource guide
  • The Reason You Can’t Avoid The Curse of Small Sample Size
  • The essential guide to predictive CFB rankings
  • How computer rankings make you smarter about sports
  • How to win your college football bowl pool
  • Do you make these 3 mistakes with college football statistics?
  • The Top 10 Things to Know About The Power Rank’s Methods
  • 5 insights from academic research on predicting world soccer/football matches

Recent Articles

  • Members: The NFL Draft, Part 1
  • Podcast: Julian Packer on modeling and betting props
  • Podcast: Colin Davy on analytics for The Masters and Jeopardy
  • Podcast: Jordan Sperber on College Basketball Analytics and Strategy
  • Member: Final Four analysis

© 2021 The Power Rank Inc., All rights reserved.

About, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy

Get a sample of my best football predictions

While I usually save my best predictions for paying members of the site, I offer a sample in my weekly email newsletter.


To get this service, sign up for my free email newsletter.


Enter your email and click on "Sign up now!"

No thanks, I'll make predictions without data and analytics.

{"cookieName":"wBounce","isAggressive":false,"isSitewide":true,"hesitation":"","openAnimation":false,"exitAnimation":false,"timer":"","sensitivity":"","cookieExpire":"","cookieDomain":"","autoFire":"","isAnalyticsEnabled":true}
  • About
    • About The Power Rank
    • Start Here
    • Contact
  • Predictions
    • Games
    • March Madness
  • Content
    • Must Read
    • Blog
    • Podcast
    • March Madness Book
  • Rankings
    • College Basketball
    • NFL
    • College Football
    • MLB
    • Cluster Luck
    • CFB yards per play
    • World Soccer/Football
  • Members
    • My Account
    • Login
    • Become a member
    • COVID-19 Policy