INDEPENDENT METRIC

In this case, I'm referring to the recently-released list of USA Today Sports Weekly All-Stars in baseball. This is 'independent' of what I think, of course, and (if you are determined to be non-metric...shame on you!) a valid 'yardstick' to ponder about your club's star power and, perhaps, overall talent level. The last time I did this, it was the Darwin Finches that had the most mentions in 'reality'. Well...things have changed. If you're scoring at home, the first number is a combination of the total number of All-Stars per team X 2, plus an additional point for having one of your own named as a starter (these folk are highlighted).

WORCESTER (19, 5 starters, 7 total): Jason Bay, Heath Bell, Derek Jeter, Joe Mauer, Hanley Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, Adam Wainwright

FROSTBITE FALLS (18, 2-8): Felix Hernandez, Tim Lincecum, Adam Lind, Evan Longoria, Victor Martinez, Joe Nathan, Albert Pujols, Michael Young

BROOKLYN (16, 2-7): Miguel Cabrera, Ryan Howard, Brian McCann, Andrew McCutcheon, Jon Lester, Troy Tulowitzki, Chase Utley

TEXAS (14, 2-6): Andrew Bailey, Andre Ethier, Aaron Hill, Alex Rodriguez, Ichiro Suzuki, Javier Vasquez

YUMA (13, 1-6): Ryan Braun, Francisco Cordero, Roy Halladay, C.C. Sabathia, Ryan Zimmerman

MADTOWN (11, 1-5): David Aardsma, Prince Fielder, Jason Kubel, Mariano Rivera, Pablo Sandoval

BLACK MESA (10, 0-5): Adam Dunn, Raul Ibanez, Ted Lilly, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis

FRESNO (10, 0-5): Josh Beckett, Dan Haren, Carlos Lee, Miguel Montero, David Wright

CASSELTON (10, 2-4): John Danks, Torii Hunter, Justin Upton, Kendry Morales

POTTSYLVANIA (8, 2-3): Jonathan Broxton, Chris Carpenter, Matt Kemp

ST. FRANCIS (8, 0-4): Shin Soo-Choo, Felipe Lopez, Justin Verlander, Ben Zobrist

DARWIN (3, 1-2): Zack Greinke, Josh Johnson

LOS ANGELES: none

Of course, there's more to any club than just having All-Stars. If you've got the Top 5 HR hitters in the majors, but no pitching, or if your staff of strikeout artists has no offensive support, the overall winning percentage won't be there. But it is instructive: the Eliminators really are getting lots of mileage out of having the top talent healthy and dominant, and (despite having one of the league's best records) the Finches (last year's leader in this sort of voting) really are having trouble scoring runs and winning ballgames.

By the way, the league is four weeks ahead of last year, and the regular season will come to an end before the MLB playoffs start. We'll be having a playoff gathering on the Bullard campus on a November date, probably a Saturday. Please sound off by letting me know your likely availability during that month. I'd like to have the playoffs completed before Thanksgiving, and the Series before Dec. 15th, so I can have all the rosters etc. updated with 2010 salaries prior to the New Year.

****UPDATE*****

An earlier version of this post showed Justin Upton and Kendry Morales on the wrong teams. I apologize for my brain cramp.