2019 NFL Week 4 power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Rankings from the start of the season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 New England (2-1-1)

2 Kansas City (3-3-2)

SECOND TIER

3 LA Rams (4-4-3)

4 Green Bay (6-5-4)

5 Dallas (11-11-7)

6 Baltimore (23-10-8)

7 Houston (12-17-14)

8 Minnesota (16-8-9)

9 New Orleans (13-6-19)

10 San Francisco (15-15-13)

11 Indianapolis (17-18-12)

12 Philadelphia (1-2-5)

13 Buffalo (29-22-18)

14 Detroit (24-27-20)

15 LA Chargers (8-7-11)

16 Seattle (14-12-6)

17 Atlanta (10-19-10)

18 Chicago (9-16-17)

19 Tennessee (18-9-15)

20 Cleveland (5-13-16)

THIRD TIER

21 Jacksonville (22-21-22)

22 Carolina (20-20-24)

23 Pittsburgh (7-14-21)

24 New York Giants (31-31-30)

25 Arizona (30-24-26)

26 Tampa Bay (25-25-23)

27 Denver (19-23-25)

FOURTH TIER

28 Oakland (28-28-28)

29 Washington (27-29-29)

30 Cincinnati (26-26-27)

31 New York Jets (21-30-31)

FIFTH TIER

32 Miami (32-32-32)

BIGGEST RISERS: New Orleans (10 spots), Houston (7 spots), Detroit and New York Giants (6 spots), Buffalo (5 spots), San Francisco (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Seattle (10 spots), Atlanta and Philadelphia (7 spots), LA Chargers, Tennessee and Cleveland (4 spots), Cincinnati and Tampa Bay (3 spots)

DIVISIONAL RANKINGS (the lower the number, the higher the ranking):

1 NFC NORTH 44

2 NFC WEST 54

3 AFC SOUTH 58

4 NFC EAST 70

5 AFC WEST 72

6 NFC SOUTH 74

7 AFC EAST 77

8 AFC NORTH 79

CONFERENCE RANKINGS:

1 NFC 242

2 AFC 276

2019 NFL Week 3 power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Rankings from the start of the season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 New England (2-1)

2 Kansas City (3-3)

SECOND TIER

3 LA Rams (4-4)

4 Green Bay (6-5)

5 Philadelphia (1-2)

6 Seattle (14-12)

7 Dallas (11-11)

8 Baltimore (23-10)

9 Minnesota (16-8)

10 Atlanta (10-19)

11 LA Chargers (8-7)

12 Indianapolis (17-18)

13 San Francisco (15-15)

14 Houston (12-17)

15 Tennessee (18-9)

16 Cleveland (5-13)

17 Chicago (9-16)

18 Buffalo (29-22)

19 New Orleans (13-6)

THIRD TIER

20 Detroit (24-27)

21 Pittsburgh (7-14)

22 Jacksonville (22-21)

23 Tampa Bay (25-25)

24 Carolina (20-20)

25 Denver (19-23)

26 Arizona (30-24)

FOURTH TIER

27 Cincinnati (26-26)

28 Oakland (28-28)

29 Washington (27-29)

FIFTH TIER

30 New York Giants (31-31)

31 New York Jets (21-30)

SEVENTH TIER

32 Miami (32-32)

BIGGEST RISERS: Atlanta (9 spots), Detroit (7 spots), Indianapolis and Seattle (6 spots), Buffalo and Dallas (4 spots), Houston (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: New Orleans (13 spots), Pittsburgh (7 spots), Tennessee (6 spots), Carolina and LA Chargers (4 spots), Cleveland and Philadelphia (3 spots)

DIVISIONAL RANKINGS (the lower the number, the higher the ranking):

1 NFC WEST 39

2 NFC NORTH 50

3 AFC SOUTH 63

4 AFC WEST 66

5 NFC EAST 71

6 AFC NORTH 72

7 NFC SOUTH 76

8 AFC EAST 82

CONFERENCE RANKINGS:

1 NFC 232

2 AFC 283

MLB power rankings for mid-September

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 LA Dodgers (2-1-1-1-1-1)

2 Houston (1-3-3-3-3-2)

3 NY Yankees (4-2-2-2-2-3)

 SECOND TIER

4 Tampa Bay (5-10-6-7-7-7)

5 Oakland (15-15-7-5-5-5)

6 Atlanta (10-5-5-6-6-6)

7 Minnesota (3-4-4-4-4-4)

8 Cleveland (18-18-8-8-8-12)

THIRD TIER

9 St. Louis (14-14-15-13-10-9)

10 Chicago Cubs (7-7-9-9-15-11)

11 Washington (23-23-13-16-9-8)

12 Milwaukee (8-8-10-11-11-15)

13 Boston (9-9-11-15-12-10)

14 NY Mets (20-20-21-17-14-13)

15 Philadelphia (6-6-14-12-13-14)

16 Arizona (17-17-19-18-18-16)

17 Texas (13-13-12-10-19-20)

FOURTH TIER

18 Cincinnati (19-19-22-20-20-17)

19 San Francisco (25-25-24-19-17-19)

20 San Diego (12-12-18-22-21-21)

21 LA Angels (16-16-16-14-16-18)

22 Chicago White Sox (22-22-23-23-22-24)

23 Pittsburgh (21-21-20-24-25-22)

24 Colorado (11-11-17-21-24-25)

25 Seattle (24-24-25-25-26-23)

26 Toronto (26-26-26-26-23-26)

FIFTH TIER

27 Kansas City (28-29-28-28-28-28)

28 Miami (30-30-27-27-27-27)

SIXTH TIER

29 Baltimore (29-29-30-29-29-29)

30 Detroit (27-27-29-30-30-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Cleveland (4 spots), Milwaukee, Tampa Bay and Texas (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Boston, LA Angels, Minnesota and Washington (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM

1 AL WEST 70

2 NL CENTRAL 72

3 NL EAST 74

4 AL EAST 75

5 NL WEST 80

6 AL CENTRAL 94

RANKINGS BY LEAGUE

1 NL 226

2 AL 239

2019 NFL Week 2 power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Last week’s rankings are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 New England (2)

2 Philadelphia (1)

3 Kansas City (3)

4 LA Rams (4)

5 Green Bay (6)

6 New Orleans (13)

7 LA Chargers (8)

8 Minnesota (16)

SECOND TIER

9 Tennessee (18)

10 Baltimore (23)

11 Dallas (11)

12 Seattle (14)

13 Cleveland (5)

14 Pittsburgh (7)

15 San Francisco (15)

16 Chicago (9)

17 Houston (12)

18 Indianapolis (17)

19 Atlanta (10)

THIRD TIER

20 Carolina (20)

21 Jacksonville (22)

FOURTH TIER

22 Buffalo (29)

23 Denver (19)

24 Arizona (30)

25 Tampa Bay (25)

26 Cincinnati (26)

27 Detroit (24)

28 Oakland (28)

29 Washington (27)

30 New York Jets (21)

31 New York Giants (31)

FIFTH TIER

32 Miami (32)

BIGGEST RISERS: Baltimore (13 spots), Tennessee (9 spots), Minnesota (8 spots), Buffalo and New Orleans (7 spots), Arizona (6 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Atlanta and New York Jets (9 spots), Cleveland (8 spots), Chicago and Pittsburgh (7 spots), Houston (5 spots), Denver (4 spots), Detroit (3 spots)

DIVISIONAL RANKINGS (the lower the number, the higher the ranking):

1 NFC NORTH 59

2 AFC WEST 61

3 AFC NORTH 63

4T AFC SOUTH 65

4T NFC WEST 65

6 NFC SOUTH 70

7 NFC EAST 73

8 AFC EAST 85

CONFERENCE RANKINGS:

 

1 NFC 263

2 AFC 274

2019 NFL preseason power rankings

By Rick Morris

TOP TIER

1 Philadelphia

2 New England

3 Kansas City

4 LA Rams

5 Cleveland

6 Green Bay

7 Pittsburgh

8 LA Chargers

9 Chicago

10 Atlanta

11 Dallas

12 Houston

13 New Orleans

14 Seattle

15 San Francisc

SECOND TIER

16 Minnesota

17 Indianapolis

18 Tennessee

19 Denver

20 Carolina

21 New York Jets

22 Jacksonville

23 Baltimore

24 Detroit

25 Tampa Bay

THIRD TIER

26 Cincinnati

27 Washington

28 Oakland

29 Buffalo

30 Arizona

31 New York Giants

32 Miami

MLB power rankings for start of September

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 LA Dodgers (2-1-1-1-1)

2 Houston (1-3-3-3-3)

3 NY Yankees (4-2-2-2-2)

 SECOND TIER

4 Minnesota (3-4-4-4-4)

5 Oakland (15-15-7-5-5)

6 Atlanta (10-5-5-6-6)

7 Tampa Bay (5-10-6-7-7)

8 Washington (23-23-13-16-9)

9 St. Louis (14-14-15-13-10)

10 Boston (9-9-11-15-12)

11 Chicago Cubs (7-7-9-9-15)

12 Cleveland (18-18-8-8-8)

THIRD TIER

13 NY Mets (20-20-21-17-14)

14 Philadelphia (6-6-14-12-13)

15 Milwaukee (8-8-10-11-11)

16 Arizona (17-17-19-18-18)

17 Cincinnati (19-19-22-20-20)

18 LA Angels (16-16-16-14-16)

19 San Francisco (25-25-24-19-17)

20 Texas (13-13-12-10-19)

21 San Diego (12-12-18-22-21)

FOURTH TIER

22 Pittsburgh (21-21-20-24-25)

23 Seattle (24-24-25-25-26)

24 Chicago White Sox (22-22-23-23-22)

25 Colorado (11-11-17-21-24)

26 Toronto (26-26-26-26-23)

FIFTH TIER

27 Miami (30-30-27-27-27)

28 Kansas City (28-29-28-28-28)

SIXTH TIER

29 Baltimore (29-29-30-29-29)

30 Detroit (27-27-29-30-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Chicago Cubs (4 spots), Cincinnati and Pittsburgh (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Cleveland and Milwaukee (4 spots), Toronto (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM

1T AL WEST 68

1T NL EAST 68

3 AL EAST 75

4 NL CENTRAL 77

5 NL WEST 82

6 AL CENTRAL 98

RANKINGS BY LEAGUE

1 NL 227

2 AL 241

Happy Labor Day

By Rick Morris

[NOTE: This is a column that we publish every Labor Day.]

In the world we live in today, Labor Day may seem like the most anachronistic of holidays today, certainly more so than Independence Day, Memorial Day or anything else that still seems completely relevant -- but there are still people left to remind us of the importance of the day.

As an example, I would cite my great-aunt Josephine – who passed away in September of 2017 just after turning 102! – someone who worked very hard at her job for decades and who helped unionize her workplace when abusive conditions became completely rampant. Now, I'm no fan at all of what many affiliates of the modern labor movement do to workers -- taking money out of their paychecks so that they can hand it to politicians who advance causes many workers oppose -- but that doesn't change at all the heroism of those who in an earlier day and age put their own well-being on the line to help build a more humane workplace and society.  Today, this column is all the more solemn to me because of severe health problems that Aunt Josie is going through, for which I would appreciate anyone’s prayers for the family.

To my great-aunt Josie and all of the other heroes who helped to build a better America, Happy Labor Day.