'25 Week 5 Power Rankings

y CCL & WCC Reporter Ethan Ignatovsky

The fireworks during the first week of July weren’t held to the night sky. California Collegiate League action raged on at ground level across the state and one of the wildest weeks of the season ensued. 

The San Luis Obispo Blues are heating up with the summer weather and rattled off a five-game winning streak to jump up a couple of spots. At the top of the standings and rankings, the Santa Barbara Foresters did just enough to stay in first place, but the Conejo Oaks have positioned themselves right on their tail. 

It wasn’t all sunshine for every team. The Walnut Creek Crawdads' up-and-down season continued with a 1-3 week and the Arroyo Seco Saints lost five straight just as they seemed to be heating up. None of the teams at the bottom of the rankings did enough to jump up to a more respectable spot. 

The week also saw the conclusion of the June 10 matchup between the Saints and the Foresters. The game resumed in the eighth inning and the Saints managed to hold on for a 12-11 victory.

Without further ado, here are the latest CCL Power Rankings

1. Santa Barbara Foresters 17-7 ��

Not including the loss in the resumed game from June 10, the Foresters had a very respectable, but possibly not up to standard, 4-2 week. 

Santa Barbara kicked off the week by beating the Orange County Riptide and following it up with a 4-2 victory over the Oaks, an important win not only for the power rankings but the standings as well. The team capped off the week with a walkoff victory over the Saints to finish a two-game sweep. In between those four wins, the team ran into struggles. 

The Foresters dropped a game to the Riptide 7-3. Losses happen, even big losses to teams that you shouldn’t lose to, but the loss wasn’t the worst of the week for the Foresters. The next day, they dropped a game 3-0 to the Academy Barons, who finished the week with an 8-13 record. The loss was arguably the most embarrassing of the season for the CCL’s No. 1 team. 

Despite that, they bounced back strong against the Saints and started the week off hot. They’ll need to continue to play well and beat the teams they need to beat next week to continue fending off second place. 

2. Conejo Oaks 15-8  ⬆️1

The Oaks had far from a perfect week; as previously mentioned, they lost to the Foresters in their first game of the week. A win could’ve set them on a path to snatch the No. 1 spot in the rankings, but that loss, coupled with their Friday loss, limited how much the week could be considered a success. 

On Friday, the Oaks lost to the CCL-affiliated Philippines Baseball Group, which entered the day with a 2-12 record. The loss came after a bounce-back win against the CCL-affiliated San Diego Bombers, and they bounced back from the PBG loss with another win against a different CCL-affiliated San Diego team: the San Diego Waves.

Conejo wrapped up its week by getting its revenge against PBG in an 8-1 victory, but the losses ruined their chance at the top spot, for this week at least.  

The 3-2 week -- combined with the Crawdads' struggles -- was still enough to jump them into second place and behind the Foresters, but in order to pass them, they’ll need to beat the teams they’re supposed to beat the first time around, not just the second. 

3. Sonoma Stompers 17-11 ⬆️1

The Stompers' week was a rollercoaster; it started off with a win before two rough losses. The team would then rise again, capping the week off with two emphatic victories. In the end of it all, the Stompers were another team that jumped up one spot thanks to the killer combo of a 3-2 week and the Crawdads’ struggles. 

Sonoma beat the Menlo Park Legends 2-0 before running into the extremely talented CCL-affiliated Alameda Merchants. The next loss would sting even more. The Stompers fell to the lowly San Francisco Seagulls 6-4. 

The loss seemed to light a fire underneath the team. The offense exploded for 27 runs over the next two days and the pitching staff and defense only allowed four runs, beating the Merchants 9-2 and the Seagulls 18-2. 

Losses happen in baseball; it’s all about how you bounce back. The Stompers not only bounced back strong, but also bounced ahead with an overall solid week. 

4. Walnut Creek Crawdads 14-9 ⬇️2

The Crawdads, once again, had a week to forget. Instead of carrying the positive momentum from last week into a challenge for the No. 1 spot, an embarrassing 1-3 week drops them to the No. 4 spot. 

Walnut Creek started the week off on the right foot by beating the Seagulls, but then dropped one to the Legends and two to the Blues. The two losses to San Luis Obispo stung the most. 

After beating the Blues two times at home earlier in the summer, the Crawdads took a four-hour bus ride down Route 101 to get the favor returned to them. The Blues had the antidote for the Crawdads' usually potent offense, holding the group scoreless for 16 straight innings and allowing just three runs in the second game of the series. Both the Blues and the Legends took advantage of the yo-yo that is the Crawdads' bullpen, scoring 14 runs off the group. That helped skew the Crawdads’ run differential for the week to -5. 

The Crawdads have shown time and time again that they’re capable of winning, and in some cases dominating. However, they’ve also demonstrated that they’re one of the most inconsistent teams in the CCL. In some ways, the fall was a long time coming. Still, that doesn’t mean the team can’t be counted out. If anything, their upcoming opponents should be expecting a strong bounce-back that could propel the Crawdads back to where they were a week ago. 

5. San Luis Obispo Blues 14-11⬆️2

This time last week, the Blues had fallen from the fifth spot to the seventh spot after a week in which they lost four games to the Foresters. Despite the Foresters being the No. 1 in the league, four losses was too much to overlook. The Blues needed to prove themselves to rise up the rankings again. It didn’t take long for that to happen. 

The Blues went undefeated in the first week of July, racking up five wins. The first three came against a Saints team that was red hot, riding a three-game winning streak. The Blues won the first game by walking off the Saints 10-9, they then shut down the opposing offense in a 4-1 victory, and secured the sweep with a 9-5 win. 

The winning didn’t stop there. As previously mentioned, the Blues completely tore apart the Crawdads to finish the week 5-0. 

While I couldn’t quite justify putting them past the Crawdads due to Walnut Creek team coming into the week as the No. 2 team and the Blues the No. 7 team, the series did have a major impact on them being back-to-back in this week's rankings. Winning is hard, and winning multiple games in a row is even harder, but if the Blues keep this up they’ll continue to climb in the right direction. 

6. Orange County Riptide 13-11 ��

The Riptide had an overall very good week, but unfortunately for them, they weren’t able to move up the power rankings due to the Blues' otherworldly week. 

As previously mentioned, the Riptide lost their first game of the week to the Foresters, they also suffered an embarrassing loss to the Bombers, but apart from that, they were money. The team rattled off four wins, including a huge 7-3 win against the Foresters to get some revenge. They also beat the Bombers once, the Barons once and PBG once to round out a nice 4-2 week.

There seems to be something of a gap between the top five teams and the bottom five teams in the CCL, but if the Riptide can keep stacking weeks like this, that gap can disappear.

7. Arroyo Seco Saints 11-11 ⬇️2

For the second week in a row, the Saints swapped places with the Blues. The team came into the week riding a three-game win streak, but allowed themselves to be the Blues' launching pad back into the top half of the rankings, and things only got worse after that series. 

The Saints finished off the week by dropping two games to the Foresters. If you ignore their win in the suspended June 10 game -- which is credited to June 10 as that’s the day the game started -- the Saints ended the week winless and with five losses. 

The competition that the Saints faced wasn’t easy, but five losses are still five losses. Like many other teams, the Saints will try to find the right kind of consistency as July rages on. 

8. Menlo Park Legends 11-15 ��

The Legends' season has been rather repetitive. Some good wins here and there but more losses than wins in the end. That trend continued to start July.

The Legends picked up two wins during the week, one against the Crawdads, 5-4, after a late surge. They also beat the Merchants in a high-scoring 11-8 affair. In the end, though, they lost four games. 

The first loss was the previously mentioned 2-0 game against the Stompers. They then lost two games to the Merchants and one to the Seagulls, their third loss to the San Bruno-based team this season. 

The Legends have shown that they can win on their day, but the team needs their day to come around more often. 

9. Academy Barons 8-13 ��

The highlight of the Barons' season occurred on Thursday, July 3. The MLB Academy team has had a season to forget, but on that day, they had a game to remember. The Compton-based squad traveled to Santa Barbara and shutout the No. 1 Foresters in a 3-0 win.

The victory was one of, if not the biggest, CCL upsets this season. Unfortunately for the Barons, it was the only win they had all week. Before the victory, they had dropped games to the Waves and PBG and, as previously mentioned, they lost to the Riptide as well. 

Although the victory over the Foresters was a great moment, the team surely isn’t satisfied with their week -- or season -- overall.  

10. San Francisco Seagulls 7-19 ��

All things considered, the Seagulls had a week to be proud of.

The team has struggled mightily, but they secured two big wins and had a .500 week to start July. The Seagulls lost to the Crawdads -- the loss secured the season sweep for the Walnut Creek team -- and the Stompers in blowout fashion, but also beat the Stompers once and the Legends once. 

The season appears to be a lost one for the San Francisco team, but they can still win individual days, as shown by this week. 

Affiliate Team Roundup  

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

The Alameda Merchants (14-7) have been the best affiliate team this season and kept the good vibes going with a 3-2 week. The Merchants picked up wins over the Legends and Stompers and fell to each of those teams once as well.  

The two San Diego teams, the Bombers (3-9) and the Waves (3-5), played limited schedules this week. The Bombers split two games with the Riptide and lost to the Oaks. The Waves beat the Barons and lost to the Oaks as well. 

The Philippines Baseball Group (3-12) was able 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: 17-7, League Record This Week: 4-2)
2. Conejo Oaks: (League Record: 15-8, League Record This Week: 3-2)
3. Sonoma Stompers: (League Record 17-11; League Record This Week: 3-2)
4. Walnut Creek Crawdads: (League Record: 14-9, League Record This Week: 1-3)
5. San Luis Obispo Blues: (League Record: 14-11, League Record This Week: 5-0)
6. Orange County Riptide: League Record: 13-11, League Record This Week: 4-2)
7. Arroyo Seco Saints: (League Record: 11-11, League Record This Week: 0-5)
8. Menlo Park Legends: (League Record: 11-15, League Record This Week: 2-4)
9. Academy Barons: (League Record: 8-13, League Record This Week: 1-3)
10. San Francisco Seagulls: (League Record: 7-19, League Record This Week: 2-2)

Tune in next week to see how our Power Rankings change after Week 6!