Here is the text in plain format:
It’s time for another round of the tested, trusted, completely objective, never-been-questioned, all-math, no-bias MLB franchise rankings.
First, a change: Rather than span the Wild-Card Era (1995 to present) as we have done previously, the franchise rankings will henceforth cover the past 25 years, a floating time frame that feels right to start this year — 25 for ’25. The scoring system we borrowed years ago from football writer Bob Sturm and tweaked to fit baseball postseason structure has not changed since last year’s edition.
Winning the World Series (WS): 9 points
Losing in the World Series (WSL): 6 points
Losing in the Championship Series (CS): 3 points
Losing in Division Series (DS): 2 points
Losing in Wild-Card Round (WC): 1 point
The scoring system also incentivizes division titles (+1 point) and penalizes prolonged losing cycles, docking teams (-1 point) each time they lose at least 90 games in consecutive seasons. Add up the point totals from 2000 to 2024 and you have the franchise rankings. It’s just simple math.
In the past, some readers have asked to inject a recency bias into the scoring system — to calculate, say, the 2024 World Series as more valuable than the 2014 or 2004 titles. But no! This exercise aims to measure sustained success (and ineptitude) over a 25-year period.
Below, we have included each team’s point total and ranking from the past decade.
Tiebreaker order: World Series wins, World Series losses, Championship Series appearances, Division Series appearances, division titles
New time frame or not, the Pirates are still in the negative. Pittsburgh has been to the playoffs just three times since 1992, and advanced to the Division Series only once. It remains a tough time to be a Bucco fan. We don’t need to belabor that point. With Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, and prospect Bubba Chandler, the Pirates’ rotation could keep them competitive in 2025. But a playoff run would require a series of breakouts and bouncebacks in a lineup that underwhelms on paper. This offseason, the Pirates brought back Andrew McCutchen and Adam Frazier, signed Tommy Pham, and traded for now-injured Spencer Horwitz. Fans had hoped for far more than that.
Total playoff years: 13DS, 14WC, 15WC
Consecutive 90-loss seasons: 8
Last decade: 0 points (MLB rank: t-26th)
Average: -0.16 points per season
…
And so on. Let me know if you’d like me to stop at any point!
Source link
