'25 Week 3 Power Rankings

By CCL & WCC Reporter Ethan Ignatovsky

The third week of CCL play brought changes to the top of the power rankings, while no team in the bottom half of the league did enough to differentiate itself from the pack. 

The Walnut Creek Crawdads lost their place as the No. 1 team in the league after a week to forget, allowing the still-hot Santa Barbara Foresters to take the top spot. The Sonoma Stompers and the Conejo Oaks also switched places as the former is on the rise and the latter needs to find its groove again. 

There’s still plenty of baseball to be played throughout the summer, and teams are still finding their identity, but the next stretch of games can start to create real separation between teams. Everyone will need to be on top of their game to try to improve their positions in the CCL power rankings. 

Until then, check out the second power rankings of the year.

1. Santa Barbara Foresters (10-2) ⬆️1

As previously mentioned, Santa Barbara managed to stay hot through the third week of CCL play. The team managed to carry its three-game winning streak from the second week of the season throughout nearly all of week three. The Foresters won seven straight before finally dropping one to the San Luis Obispo Blues.  

The Foresters nearly blew their first game of the week against the Orange County Riptide, but managed to sneak out with a walk-off victory. From there, they dominated. The Foresters took advantage of weaker competition in the San Diego Waves and the San Diego Bombers, beating the pair of CCL affiliate teams with a combined score of 26-6 across the three games. 

Santa Barbara’s success is driven by its dominance on both sides of the ball. Its 8.9 runs per game puts it in a close second to the Crawdads' league-leading 9.1 mark. On the pitching side, its 2.78 ERA is one of the best marks in the league. While its defense has allowed errors that have come back to bite the team, the defense hasn’t done anywhere near enough damage to destroy the dominant offense and pitching. 

It’s early in the season, and a lot can change, but as things stand, the Foresters look like the team to beat.

2. Walnut Creek Crawdads (8-5) ⬇️1

The Crawdads were on top of the CCL world at the end of the second week of games. They carried a six-game win streak to the top of the power rankings, but since then have gone 2-4. 

Walnut Creek started the week with its winning ways continuing. It beat the San Francisco Seagulls for the second time this year, 7-1. After that, however, the Crawdads would drop games to the Menlo Park Legends, the CCL-affiliated Alameda Merchants, the Arroyo Seco Saints and the Sonoma Stompers. The only win they were able to pick up in the back half of the week came against the CCL-affiliated Philippines Baseball Group, who only have one win to date.

The Crawdads' 118 runs are still first in the CCL, but the run production hasn’t been the same as of late. The Crawdads have floundered against starting pitching recently and have been held to four runs or less in their last three losses. The inconsistent pitching staff's command issues have also hurt them multiple times now, and an increasing number of defensive errors haven’t helped.

The Crawdads have all the pieces to be good, and we’ve already seen a dominant stretch out of them, but the only reason they’re not lower in the power rankings is because they started so strong. 

3. Sonoma Stompers (11-7) ⬆️1

The Stompers are the perfect example of a team on the rise. After starting the season a respectable 7-5, they’re putting pressure on the Crawdads to become the top non-affiliated team in the CCL North. 

After splitting a set against the Blues, Sonoma beat PBG, lost a 1-0 game to the Saints, bounced back against Legends -- holding them to two hits and winning 9-0 -- and then faced its toughest challenge yet in the Crawdads. As previously mentioned, the Stompers would win that game, but not only did they win, they dominated, winning 10-4. Sonoma plays two more games against the Crawdads after the Monday break. If they win those two games, it's very likely that they’ll be ahead of the Walnut Creek squad this time next week. 

The Stompers have the advantage of having a lineup that scores, on average, more than six runs a game, but the real star of the show is the pitching staff. The staff has dominated its opponents with a league-best 2.57 ERA, and in the league’s largest sample size, too. 

4. Conejo Oaks (8-5) ⬇️1

The reigning CCL champions didn’t have a horrible week, but it wasn’t a good one either. The Oaks dropped a game to the Saints after beating them to end the second week of action and also dropped a one-off game against the Riptide. The Oaks' two wins and third loss all came against the Academy Barons. 

Conejo won the first game against the Barons handily, before sneaking out a win in the second game and getting walked off in the third to end the week with a 2-3 record. Still, the team isn’t in a bad spot, and its strong start keeps it from falling further down the power rankings. 

The Oaks offense -- which averages 6.5 runs per game -- is strong enough to keep them in games on most days. However, in order to put a stop to the slide and truly put themselves in a position to repeat as champions, the pitching will need to improve. Even when they were in third last week, their 4.21 ERA was a slight concern; since then, it's jumped to a 4.68 mark. They have strong pitchers, but need to be more consistent as a unit. 

5. San Luis Obispo Blues (8-7) ��

The Blues had an interesting week, to say the least. It started out normal enough, and ended with a three-day span where they lost 20-4 to the Barons before handing the Foresters just their second loss of the season. The Blues definitely felt the rollercoaster that a baseball season is this past week. 

Apart from the loss against the Barons, the pitching staff was fairly solid. It gave up more than five runs just one other time and held the Stompers, the Saints and the Riptide to three runs or less in three victories. The offense struggled some throughout the week, scoring more than four runs on just two occasions.

When the pitching struggled, the offense seemed to wake up some, but not enough, and when the pitching was good, the offense barely did enough to secure wins, and sometimes, couldn’t take advantage at all. The Blues will need to take advantage of opportunities at a higher rate to jump these power rankings. 

6. Arroyo Seco Saints (7-4) ��

The Saints had a very nice 3-1 week, and arguably should be higher than sixth on the power rankings. They destroyed the Oaks 8-1 and the Crawdads 16-4 after eeking out a win against the Stompers. It should’ve been a week on the rise for them, but then they lost to the team right ahead of them, the Blues. 

If the Saints didn’t drop that game -- A 3-0 loss where they got two-hit by a trifecta of Blues arms -- they’d certainly have moved up, but alas, they didn’t. The Saints have shown promise this year, with the three impressive wins in week three of the season and their hot start out of the gate. If they can become more consistent, they can be a real threat as the season continues. 

Arroyo Seco’s lineup has the potential to be extremely dangerous; they have quality DI hitters, have exploded for high-scoring affairs and altogether average 7.5 runs per game. Like most teams in the CCL, it’s their pitching -- 4.03 ERA -- that holds them back at times. If the Pasadena-based team can be more consistent, the league will need to watch out.

7. Orange County Riptide (7-6) ��

The Riptide seemed to be starting the week pretty well. They fought hard against the Foresters in what ultimately was a loss and beat the Oaks 13-4. After the win, they won another game, albeit in much less impressive fashion, against the Blues and dropped one to the Bombers. All-in-all, it ended up being a pretty average week for the Riptide, leading them to not fall, but not rise, especially with the Saints right ahead of them. 

Orange County also stood still in categories that extended beyond its record. Its ERA rose slightly from 4.14 at this time last week to 4.26 and its runs per game stayed at 6.8, which, in all fairness, is an impressive mark. Still, without showing much improvement, if any at all, the team remains seventh. 

8. Menlo Park Legends (6-8) ��

The Legends were another team that appeared to be on the rise at the start of the week. After three straight wins against the Merchants, Crawdads and Seagulls, the Legends managed to get back to .500. Then came Sonoma, who stomped the Legends back to reality,

Menlo Park lost to Sonoma 9-0 and carried the downward momentum through a 5-3 loss against the Seagulls in the two teams' second meeting of the week. The 3-2 week was still productive, but it ended poorly, and even with beating three teams, not quite enough was done in the first half of the week to excuse the latter two performances. 

The pitching staff was able to start chipping away at its 6.19 ERA, getting it down to below six, but the run prevention, especially from the bullpen, isn’t where the team wants it to be. The Legends have good pieces, but better consistency as a team is required. 

9. Academy Barons (4-8) ��

Credit where credit’s due, the Barons picked up two huge wins against the Blues and the Oaks. Unfortunately for them, they also lost to the Oaks twice and the Bombers once, dropping their season record from 2-5 to 4-8. It was a week to forget in a season that’s quickly becoming a summer to forget for the MLB Academy team. 

The team has increased its runs per game from 4.4 last week to 5.75 and has also dropped its ERA from 6.90 to 5.75, but it hasn’t been enough to start stacking wins. 

10. San Francisco Seagulls (4-12) ��

After a horrid 1-9 start, the Seagulls managed to go .500 on the week, and if they can continue to do so, they could rise up the power rankings. For now, though, their start holds them back. 

The Seagulls split a set against the Legends, the Merchants narrowly defeated PBG and fell to the Crawdads to wind up at 3-3 on the week. The offense continued to show that they can score runs in bunches at times, and the pitching even had a few solid days, but all in all, the team showed that it has a long way to go.  

Affiliate Team Roundup

Affiliate teams aren’t included in the power rankings, but still impact the CCL. 

The Alameda Merchants went 2-2 in the third week of CCL play, putting them at 10-5 and just ahead of the Crawdads at the top of the CCL North. If the Merchants were ranked, they’d have a strong argument to be the No. 2 team in the league. 

The other three teams, the San Diego Bombers, San Diego Waves and Philippines Baseball Group, have all had much less success. The Bombers' 1-2 week dropped them to 2-6 on the season, the Waves' two losses to the Foresters put them at 1-3 and PBG’s 0-3 Northern California road trip puts them at 1-8.

Full Standings

1. Santa Barbara Foresters: (League Record: 10-2, League Record This Week: 4-1)
2. Walnut Creek Crawdads: (League Record: 8-5, League Record This Week: 2-4)
3. Sonoma Stompers: (League Record 11-7; League Record This Week: 4-2)
4. Conejo Oaks: (League Record: 8-5, League Record This Week: 2-3)
5. San Luis Obispo Blues: (League Record: 8-7, League Record This Week: 4-2)
6. Arroyo Seco Saints: (League Record: 7-4, League Record This Week: 3-1)
7. Orange County Riptide: League Record: 7-6, League Record This Week: 2-2)
8. Menlo Park Legends: (League Record: 6-8, League Record This Week: 3-2)
9. Academy Barons: (League Record: 4-8, League Record This Week: 2-3)
10. San Francisco Seagulls: (League Record: 4-12, League Record This Week: 3-3)

Tune in next week to see how our Power Rankings change after Week 4!