FanHouse GrantBalfour

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

We had to break the trend. Sure, the Dodgers might have a better record than everyone else -- but competition has to count for something, doesn't it? The Dodgers have mutilated the mediocre-at-best NL West to the tune of 26-9. This means they are 14-11 against everyone else. Is that a top-two team in baseball? Hardly, I'll take the heated-rivals: Yankees (who have overcome a slow start to go 19-7 since May 12) and Red Sox (18-8 against the best division in baseball) as the top two.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Tampa Bay Rays.

Although they ended up falling short at the end, 2008 was the year of the Rays. After being the butt of jokes for the first 10 years of its existence, Tampa Bay turned an impressive collection of baseball talent into an impressive team, finally assembling a competent bullpen, and utilizing some position shifts to put a much improved defense on the field. With the pieces in place, everything came together, and the Rays increased their win total by 31 games on their way to winning both the AL East and AL pennant.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Best team in baseball. Yes, they are still better than the Yankees and Red Sox. Lost in all the joy of last season were the facts that two key players were injured down the stretch and another had an absolutely dreadful offensive season. Throw in the addition of Pat Burrell, and the continued growth of the young pitching staff, and you have a team who can take on the big-spending Yankees and venerable Red Sox.

So, you're in the waning rounds of your fantasy baseball draft and you have two bench spots to fill. You could go the route of a late round starting pitcher and another reserve outfielder, but let's look at some of the names you'll see. You'll be looking at drafting guys like Joe Blanton, Bronson Arroyo, Jeff Francoeur and Michael Cuddyer. These guys are serviceable bench players, but what if you had a better option for those last two picks?

What if I told you that taking two middle relievers would be a better option for your fantasy team? Let's first look at Blanton's 5x5 stats from last season. He had nine wins, 111 strikeouts, a 4.69 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.

Now, let's look at a few middle relievers who should also be available in those late rounds. J.P. Howell and Matt Thornton both have average draft positions well above 300. If you were to use your final two selections on them and combine their stats here's what you'd get. You have a pitcher with 11 wins, 169 strikeouts, a 2.41 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP in 156.2 innings of work.

When drafting in fantasy baseball, I often find rankings are a lot less useful than using the tier system. Simply group guys together with others who will perform similarly, and you won't focus on single players. Being frazzled when that single player is taken immediately before your pick is a good way to ruin your draft.

We're definitely not proponents of drafting closers high, but getting the last member of a tier at good value could work in the right situations.

Troy Percival, the Rays' closer for much of 2008, underwent back surgery on December 3 to remove herniated discs and repair some other damage. Conventional wisdom this offseason has been that Percival won't be ready to take on his old role for a bit in the upcoming regular season. If he's ready, it won't be a gigantic blow to the Rays, because they already have Dan Wheeler, Grant Balfour, and J.P. Howell at the back-end of the bullpen.

Percival, though, is now feeling like he's going to be ready to go when the season begins. In fact, he wants to work a handful of Spring Training games just to be sure.

Two days ago, we prepared for Game 5 of the World Series by wondering if the Rays could step up in the face of two ugly losses and find a way to beat the best pitcher in the post-season to keep their World Series hopes alive. Today, we're still wondering about Game 5, but the complexity of the game has changed entirely. The score is tied at two, we're 5 1/2 innings in, and neither team has played for two days.

In the Playoff Pulse series, our MLB editor takes on a hot October topic.

The Rays pulled out all the stops in Game 2 of the World Series to get even with the Phillies. They scratched out a victory on the offensive side, scoring three of their four runs on a pair of ground ball outs and a safety squeeze.

Much will probably be made of manager Joe Maddon's willingness to play small ball in a critical postseason game because, hey, let's face it, the mainstream media and baseball old-timers love it when the little things play a big factor in crucial postseason games.

But that might be missing the forest for the trees. The Rays are headed to Philadelphia knotted at 1-all in the World Series and ready to go on a roll similar to the one they went on in the ALCS. And the reason they look poised to reel off a few wins, and maybe just run off with the World Series trophy in the process, is because of their almost surreal pitching depth.

Look, Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton are terrific young players. Whatever is brewing in Tampa Bay -- whether it's a dynasty or an annual contender in the AL East -- both are going to be a big part of something special. But neither has done much so far in this series. Longoria is hitless, Upton grounded into two key double plays in Game 1 and their partner in the middle of the order, Carlos Pena, is also 0-for-the-Fall-Classic.

With the World Series finally upon us, MLB FanHouse "sat down" for yet another roundtable discussion to discuss a few of the storylines and issues in the series, as well as predict the winner. Hint: Phillies fans won't be happy.

Matt Snyder: So we're finally to the Fall Classic. Almost no one predicted both of these teams to make it to the series, but it's not individually shocking that either one made it. The Phillies were always in the top three of NL teams throughout the season, and hit their stride in September. The only team arguably hotter than them entering the postseason was the Dodgers, of whom the Phillies dispatched quite easily. The Rays have been struggling to be taken seriously in the national media all season, and now have finally taken the spotlight after Game 7 of the ALCS ... which even prompted me to want to remind people there are two teams playing in the World Series. Who would have ever thought the Rays would be hogging baseball headlines when the word "futility" was not involved.

In the Playoff Pulse series, our MLB editor takes on a hot October topic.

Baseball is a humbling game. Walk into any major league clubhouse and talk to anyone -- a manager, a superstar or a utility infielder -- long enough and they will all preach that message. It turns out baseball can even humble writers. Two days ago, I made the (very stupid) mistake of pronouncing the Red Sox finished in the ALCS.

Boston may not win this series. James Shields at Tropicana Field is a terrifying prospect for a team that can be eliminated with just one loss.

But I (and maybe the Rays too in the latter innings of Game 5) forgot the one thing that makes baseball so much better than all the other games out there. There is no running out the clock. There is no 30-second timeout or two-minute warning. There is no place to hide. You have to get 27 outs to beat a team. There's no way around it. The Rays were reminded of that in excruciating fashion Thursday night.