Symptom: Uneven Play; Disease: Unbalanced Club

Our illuminating new Balance Ranking measures how much teams rely on certain parts of the season. If homestands or away series are the primary cause of a team's record, they fall in this ranking. In the same manner, if divisional play or out-of-division play figures too highly in what makes a squad tick, then we penalize them. The highest-rated teams are those who have perfect balance between home and away records, and in-division and out-of-division records.

The Balance Rankings are no measure of success, as the Kansas City Royals (#1 in the list) can tell you. Yet playing the #2 White Sox or #3 Athletics will become much more scary, knowing that they can win anytime, anywhere. On the other hand, a non AL-Central team playing Minnesota in the Twin Cities can take heart.

Below we detail the symptoms of each team's "unbalance disease." And kudos to the Royals, who apparently figured out a way to lose to everyone everywhere, making them the most balanced team today.

Balance Rankings
1 - KAN
2 - CHW
3 - OAK
4 - SEA
5 - HOU
6 - SDG
7 - CLE - too dependent on homestands
8 - TOR
9 - LAD - too dependent on own division
10 - ARI - too dependent on own division
11 - COL
12 - PIT - not good enough at home
13 - BAL - not good enough in own division
14 - PHI - too dependent on homestands
15 - NYY - not good enough in own division
16 - MIL - too dependent on homestands - too dependent on own division
17 - NYM - not good enough in own division
18 - TEX - too dependent on own division
19 - TAM - too dependent on homestands - too dependent on own division
20 - CIN - too dependent on homestands
21 - LAA - not good enough at home
22 - ATL - too dependent on homestands
23 - DET - not good enough in own division
24 - FLA - not good enough at home - too dependent on own division
25 - SFO - not good enough at home - too dependent on own division
26 - CHC - too dependent on homestands - not good enough in own division
27 - BOS - too dependent on homestands
28 - WAS - not good enough at home - not good enough in own division
29 - STL - not good enough at home - not good enough in own division
30 - MIN - not good enough at home - too dependent on own division