'25 Mid-Season Power Rankings

By CCL & WCC Reporter Ethan Ignatovsky

As the summer rages on, so does the CCL. The league wrapped up its sixth week of play and will now take a quick break for All-Star festivities. The break couldn’t come at a better time for some teams, while others will be rueing its existence and hoping that it doesn’t kill their momentum. 

One of the teams that’ll be trying to carry their winning ways through the break is the Orange County Riptide. The team has had a nearly perfect July, fighting hard and beating the teams it’s supposed to beat, resulting in the biggest jump a team has had in the power rankings so far this year.

On the flip side, for teams like the Walnut Creek Crawdads and the Sonoma Stompers, the upcoming break represents an opportunity to reset as the charge for the playoffs continues. Both teams have shown great things at points this year, but will need to be more consistent to pose a real threat to some of the teams in the CCL South. 

For teams at the top and bottom of the rankings, week six was more or less business as usual. 

With all that being said, here are the latest CCL Power Rankings:

1. Santa Barbara Foresters 20-9 ��

It’s been a couple of weeks since the Foresters have shown out-and-out dominance, but the team still keeps getting the job done, and there’s absolutely no reason to kick them out of the No. 1 spot in the power rankings. 

Santa Barbara started the week off by splitting a home and away set against the San Luis Obispo Blues. Getting a win against the Blues was big, but not as big as getting a walk-off 7-6 win over the No. 2 Conejo Oaks on Friday, July 11. That win, more than any other win, helped the team stay in first place. 

The Foresters carried that momentum through a win against the Academy Barons, but inexplicably lost to the CCL-affiliated San Diego Bombers -- who are 5-11 in CCL play -- to close out the week. 

Despite the bad loss, the 3-2 week was still a successful one, and the victory over the Oaks was a major reason why. If the Foresters had lost that game, they would very likely have a downward arrow next to their name, but luckily for them, they were able to prevail in the end. 

2. Conejo Oaks 19-9 ��

The Oaks are playing amazing baseball. The team is 7-3 since the start of July and was unfair competition to most of their opponents this week, winning four games and posting a +18 run differential in those wins. 

They beat the Barons to start the week, dismantled the San Francisco Seagulls 16-6 and capped off the week by beating the Arroyo Seco Saints in a home-and-away set. Any time you can pick up four wins in a week it means you’re playing well. Unfortunately for the Oaks, as previously mentioned, they also dropped a game to the Foresters, losing in walk-off fashion. 

The team improved from last week in the sense that they beat all the teams they’re supposed to beat, but they couldn’t get the big win to put them ahead of Santa Barbara in the power rankings and standings. 

The Oaks have beaten the Foresters twice this year, but have come up short the last two times and trail the season series 3-2. It seems like they’ll have to flip the script on that in order to do it all and repeat as CCL Champions.  

3. Orange County Riptide 18-11 ⬆️3

The Riptide are in the midst of a seven-game winning streak that stretches back to July 5, and a 9-1 stretch since the start of the month that includes a win over the Foresters. They were a team that seemed poised to move up the power rankings last week, but were jumped by a Blues team that went undefeated. Now, after an undefeated week of their own, and the inconsistencies from the other teams in this area of the rankings, the Riptide jump three spots to No. 3. 

The Riptides' five wins this week weren’t against extremely impressive opponents, but in sports, you have to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat, which isn’t something that every team at the north end of the power rankings has done. The team picked up wins against the Philippines Baseball Group, San Diego Waves and Bombers, all CCL-affiliates. They also picked up two wins against the Academy Barons.

Orange County will have to continue to prove itself against the tougher competition of its upcoming schedule. Still, no team in the CCL is as hot as the Riptide. 

4. Sonoma Stompers 20-13 ⬇️1

The Stompers' season has been wild from the start and that isn’t stopping now. For the second week in a row, the team went 3-2, and for the second week in a row, it happened in strange fashion. 

The Stompers fell to the Walnut Creek Crawdads twice in a home and away series. The Crawdads are a team that’s falling down the rankings as their good start to the season has faded away and the losses are starting to mount. Luckily, the Stompers picked up two wins against the Alameda Merchants, who have been an extremely good CCL-affiliated team this summer. The Stompers' only other win was a high-scoring affair against the Menlo Park Legends, where they prevailed 17-13.

The Stompers week was far from bad, but with the Riptide playing such good baseball and the team losing two games to a team in a rut, they fall to No. 4. 

5. San Luis Obispo Blues 17-13 ��

The Blues flew into the No. 5 spot in the power rankings last week after a 5-0 week, which saw them beat the Saints and Crawdads. While this week wasn’t quite good enough to continue their rise up the power rankings, the Blues played good baseball and ended the week 3-2, holding their place. 

The Blues, as previously mentioned, split a two-game series with the Foresters. Winning one game against the best team in the league was massive for the squad, not only because it continued to prove they can hang against the best, but also because they dropped a game to the Seagulls later in the week. 

The loss to San Francisco was a cavernous low point on the week for San Luis Obispo, but the team bounced back strongly, winning the three-game set and outscoring San Francisco 13-1 in those two victories.

The Blues started the season extremely inconsistently, but since then have emerged as a winning team and a true threat in the CCL North. They’ve jumped the Crawdads in the power rankings, tied them in the standings, and sit 1.5 games back from the first-place Stompers. 

6. Walnut Creek Crawdads 16-12 ⬇️2

The Crawdads' sudden and steep fall down the power rankings continues after another losing week. A 1-3 week dropped them from No. 2 to No. 4 in the last power rankings, and a 2-3 week has dropped them all the way to No. 6 after the teams around them continued their winning ways. 

As previously mentioned, the Crawdads were able to pick up two wins against the Stompers, but aside from that, the week didn’t go to plan. They suffered a frustrating, but understandable loss to the Merchants on Saturday, July 12, but their other two losses were a little more head-scratching. 

Walnut Creek started and ended the week with two losses to the 13-17 Menlo Park Legends. Menlo Park controlled both of those games from start to end, and even if the final scores -- 6-5 and 10-6 -- didn’t necessarily show it. Surprisingly, that’s just how it’s gone when these two teams have met up this summer, as Walnut Creek is winless in four chances. 

The Crawdads will face the Legends three more times this year and will need to figure out a way to beat them if they want to get back on track and resume their early-season form. 

7. Arroyo Seco Saints 13-14 ��

Two weeks ago, the Saints were 10-6 and one of the hottest teams in the CCL. Since then, they’ve cooled off considerably, going 2-8, with both wins coming this week.  

The victories came against the Seagulls and the Bombers, the worst-ranked full-fledged CCL member and an affiliate team. They barely beat the Seagulls, too, allowing a seven-run eighth inning to make it a one-run game.  

Two of the team's losses were understandable; they played the Oaks twice and dropped both games. While they would’ve surely liked to have picked up at least one, those are losses you can live with if you beat the teams you’re supposed to beat. Unfortunately, before the Oaks series, the Saints were defeated by the Waves, 11-7. 

The Saints need the All-Star break as bad as anyone else, and will try to use it as a tool to regroup and come back stronger than ever.

8. Menlo Park Legends 13-17 ��

The Legends produced a winning week for the third time this season, but it’s just not enough to move up in the power rankings. The team has shown that it’s capable of good wins, but not sustained success. 

As previously mentioned, they continued their winning ways against the Crawdads, outscoring the Walnut Creek team 16-11 in those two impressive victories. If they can continue their winning ways against a team that’s seemingly better than them, that’ll go a long way to help them finally move up the power rankings. Still, it’ll take more than just a few good wins. 

The Legends beat the Merchants to account for their third win of the week, but fell to them once and fell to the Stompers as well. If the Legends want to be a serious threat in the CCL North, they’ll have to start beating teams of that caliber on a more consistent basis.

9. Academy Barons 8-18 ��

The Barons ended last week with a loss, and the negative momentum carried over into this week, where the team was held winless. The Barons are now 1-9 in their last 10 games and are at risk of falling to the No. 10 spot in the power rankings. 

The losses weren’t pretty; The Barons' offense only scored five runs all week and the pitching staff allowed 25 runs to cross the plate. They were beaten by one by the Oaks and Foresters, and twice by the rising Riptide. All of those teams are playing good baseball, and losing to them is understandable. However, you still need to be able to eke out wins over the course of the season, especially against teams you should beat, and the Barons couldn’t even do that, falling to the Bombers as well. 

The Barons will host the CCL All-Star game at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton, California, on Wednesday, July 16, at 7:00 p.m. They’ll hope -- like so many other teams in the bottom half of the power rankings -- that they can come out on the other side of the game better than before. 

10. San Francisco Seagulls 8-23 ��

The Seagulls didn’t go winless like the Barons, but they didn’t do much better. As previously mentioned, the team picked up a victory over the Blues but then lost two to them. They also lost to the Saints and Oaks at the start of the week, giving them four losses. 

The Seagulls' first season as an official member of the CCL hasn’t gone to plan in any way, shape or form. Still, they’re playing hard, individual players are fighting to get better and they’ll try to play spoiler as the summer continues.

Affiliate Team Roundup 

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

The Alameda Merchants (15-11) are still far and away the most successful affiliate team. They had a busy week and went 3-3. The two San Diego teams, the Waves (4-6) and the Bombers (5-11), had .500 weeks with the Waves going 1-1 and the Bombers going 2-2. The Philippines Baseball Group (3-13) only played one game this week, which they lost. to secure its second and third wins of the season this week. PBG beat the Barons and Oaks once but fell to the Riptide and allowed the Oaks to get revenge with a victory for a .500 week.

Full Standings

1. Santa Barbara Foresters: (League Record: 20-9, League Record This Week: 3-2)
2. Conejo Oaks: (League Record: 19-9, League Record This Week: 4-1)
3. Orange County Riptide: League Record: 18-11, League Record This Week: 5-0)
4. Sonoma Stompers: (League Record 20-13; League Record This Week: 3-2)
5. San Luis Obispo Blues: (League Record: 17-13, League Record This Week: 3-2)
6. Walnut Creek Crawdads: (League Record: 16-12, League Record This Week: 2-3)
7. Arroyo Seco Saints: (League Record: 13-14, League Record This Week: 2-3)
8. Menlo Park Legends: (League Record: 13-17, League Record This Week: 3-2)
9. Academy Barons: (League Record: 8-18, League Record This Week: 0-5)
10. San Francisco Seagulls: (League Record: 8-23, League Record This Week: 1-4)

Tune in next week to see how our Power Rankings change after the Showcase break!