Hello there! Here are my power rankings through the week of
5/25. I usually would have their rankings from last week and their rankings
according to ESPN, but since this is my first week doing this, I’ll just have
what ESPN ranked them.
1. Rangers-
31-17
ESPN Rank: 1
The Rangers have this amazing offense, filled with power,
contact, and speed. Yu Darvish has not been as good as how he started out last
year, but still posts a 2.84 ERA. Plus, they have little problem with the rest
of the West.
2. Cardinals-
31-16
ESPN Rank: 2
The Cardinals have been battling injuries with their
starting rotation, yet they still have the best pitching in the league. Shelby
Miller (1.74 ERA) leads the way with Lance Lynn and Adam Wainwright. Their
relieving is great too- Edward Mujica was a great pickup last season, and
Trevor Rosenthal may be the best set up man in the game.
3. Yankees-
29-18
ESPN Rank: 4
I give lots of props to the Yankees this year, who were
plagued by injuries at the start of the season. Robinson Cano is leading almost
every offensive stat, and Mariano Rivera has pitched the best in his career,
which I thought was not possible. Yet they are starting to rack of injuries
again. Granderson got hurt yesterday, and Kuroda might be out as well. With a
team that statistically is not the best, the Yankees could still fall.
4. Reds-
30-18
ESPN Rank: 3
Joey Votto and Shin-Soo Choo have the best OBP in the Major
Leagues. They also have one of the best pitching staffs right now. They don’t
even have Jonny Cueto or Sean Marshall. Yet, guys like Homer Bailey and Mat
Latos have made their pitching unstoppable.
5. Red
Sox- 29-20
ESPN Rank: 5
Clay Buchholz could easily win the Cy Young this year if he
keeps it up. The real reason why the Red Sox have improved so much is because
of two things: Coaching and Pickups. Bobby Valentine sucked as a coach, but now
they have John Farrell who knows how to coach. They also picked up guys like
Mike Napoli and Koji Uehara in the offseason, big acquisitions that have
attributed to their success.
6. Braves-
28-18
ESPN Rank: 9
Still on top of the East, and could very well be the best
all-around team in baseball. At 15-5, their record at home is outstanding.
Check out my blog from Thursday to see more on the Braves.
7. Pirates-
29-19
ESPN Rank: 12
Poor Pirates, they have one of the best records in baseball,
and they’re in 3rd place in their division. Why is the NL Central
the best division in baseball right now? It’s all about the pitching. The
Pirates too have one of the best pitching staffs in the game, giving up only an
amazing low .223 batting average against opponents. They also have a 3.22 team
ERA. They need more to their offense, but some guys are still strong. Andrew
McCutchen, as always, is killing, hitting over .400 in the past week. Watch out
for Starling Marte, he is young but has lots of talent, and may even be my
potential player next week. Find out more to see!
8. Indians-
27-20
ESPN Rank: 7
Terry Francona is bringing hope to a team that has the
second longest world series drought. They have a powerful, all around offense,
with Mark Reynolds being their big power man. He is still on and off, however,
striking out 49 times already. Want someone fun to watch? Look at their
catcher, Carlos Santana. He has an OPS of .960, and already has a WAR of 1.6.
Let’s see if they can stick up with the Tigers, though. My guess is no.
9. Tigers-
27-19
ESPN Rank: 6
I’m actually not surprised that Justin Verlander is not
pitching as well as he is, but does it really matter? They have Anibal Sanchez
with a 2.38 ERA, and a pretty decent bullpen crew to back up the pitchers. The
biggest category for them is offense. Miguel Cabrera is having a year better
than last year, which I didn’t think was possible. Having Torii Hunter brings a
new part of the offense that they didn’t really have before. They have the best
Batting Average, On Base Percentage, and have scored a league leading 251 runs.
They are my pick for winning the pennant.
10. Diamondbacks-
27-21
ESPN Rank: 8
Check out my blog from last Wednesday, and you’ll see why
first baseman Paul Goldschmidt could be the NL MVP. He has a WAR of 2.8 right
now, trailing only pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Matt Harvey. After having a
poor season before, Kurt Gibson is coaching the team to more success.
11. Rockies-
27-21
ESPN Rank: 15
They have great offense and some solid pitching. Troy
Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez are the leaders, with Tulowitzki having a 1.001
OPS and Gonzalez blasting 12 homers. Jorge De La Rosa and Jhoulys Chacin are
solid pitchers, but might burn out as the year goes on.
12. Nationals-
25-23
ESPN Rank: 10
The Nationals have the second worst offense this season, and
a pretty disappointing pitching staff. But their pitching staff has been
overhyped. Strasburg is still good, same with Gio Gonzalez, but their main
pitcher has been Jordan Zimmerman, going 8-1 with a 1.71 ERA. They’ll come
back, don’t worry Nats fans.
13. Giants-
26-22
ESPN Rank: 11
The Giants now have some competition with the D-Back and the
Rockies being hot, but they seem to have the best talent to stay strong
throughout the entire year. After getting murdered by Toronto and Colorado,
they came back to win some games. But things need to change on the road.
14. A’s- 26-23
ESPN Rank: 17
The A’s still have great talent, and with Billy Beane’s
Moneyball efforts, they get on base, which is all the team needs when they are
27th in batting average. They’re gonna need a burst of wins if they
want to catch the Rangers, though.
15. Orioles-
26-22
ESPN Rank: 13
After starting out really hot, the O’s have struggled
lately, going 3-7 in their last 10. They have an amazing offense with Chris
Davis and Adam Jones, but boy do they need pitching.
16. Rays-
24-23
ESPN Rank: 14
David Price is finally on the DL after having a 5.24 ERA.
Without him it’s gonna be tough catching up with the Yankees and the Red Sox.
How can they do it though? Have Matt Moore lead the way in pitching, and have
James Loney and Evan Longoria bat as well throughout the season. We’ll talk in
September.
17. Angels-
21-27
ESPN Rank: 26
The Angels have won 6 straight after having a very disappointing
start. They are very overhyped, I hope you know that. Nevertheless, I still
expected them to have an above .500 record. If Mike Trout keeps hitting cycles,
then they might have a chance to snag a wild card spot, but right now they’re
already 10 games behind a team that cannot stop winning.
18. Phillies- 23-25
ESPN Rank: 19
Poor Roy Halladay, the guy just can’t pitch as well as he
always have had. Luckily the Phills still have Cliff Lee, but their starting
pitching needs some improvement. Watch out for Domonic Brown: He has young
potential, and finally has a positive WAR number after 4 years of play.
19. White
Sox- 22-24
ESPN Rank: 20
The Sox have been hot lately after struggling much, but they’re
very inconsistent. After Jake Peavy walked in 2 batters in one inning, who
knows what the Sox have up their sleeves to entertain a crowd.
20. Royals- 21-24
ESPN Rank: 16
Slowly but surely, the Royals are falling out of contention
in the Central, just like they always do.
21. Blue
Jays- 20-28
ESPN Rank: 24
The Jays are starting to realize that baseball isn’t about
buying all of these franchise players and hoping that they work out. Look at
the Dodgers and the Marlins as an example. R.A. Dickey and Mark Buerhle are
certainly not living up to expectations, as they have the worst pitching staff
in baseball. Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion know how to swing the bat, but
that’s about it.
22. Padres-
21-26
ESPN Rank: 22
The Padres still have a great farm system after trading away
some of their top prospects in the past few years, but they still have plenty
of all around talent that can lead the way for them in the future. Right now,
though, they have nothing to get them to the top of the division, and it looks
like that’ll be the case for the rest of the year.
23. Mariners-
20-28
ESPN Rank: 18
Without Felix Hernandez, I don’t know where this organization
would be right now. Kyle Seager and Michael Morse have talent, but their
hitting is nothing compared to the Cy Young contender Hernandez.
24. Brewers- 19-27
ESPN Rank: 25
Jean Seguera and Norichika Aoki are two new guys that are
making a huge impact with the Brewers, so now they don’t have to rely on Ryan
Braun all day. They have terrible pitching though, and when you’re in the best
division with pitching, you’re gonna have a tough year.
25. Cubs-
18-29
ESPN Rank: 27
The Cubs actually have one of the best starting pitching
staffs in the major leagues, actually. When the Cubs have a quality start (they’ve
had 26 so far), their combined ERA is 1.93. Their problem is, they’ve only won
11 games out of those starts. With Matt Garza back, they could easily add more
to their strong pitching. BUT GOOD LORD THEIR RELIEVING CORE SUCKS.
26. Dodgers-
19-27
ESPN Rank: 23
The bullpen itself has 13 losses already, the most in the
majors. When they have the lead entering the 6th, they have had 7
losses. When they are trailing entering the 6th, they have 0 wins. And
I thought the Cubs had a bad bullpen.
27. Mets-
17-27
ESPN Rank: 28
Matt Harvey stays strong with a 1.93 ERA and tied with the
best WAR at 3.1. But that’s about it. Daniel Murphy and David Wright hopefully
can bring some wins into town, because guys like Ike Davis have nothing to
contribute.
28. Twins-
18-27
ESPN Rank: 21
Poor Twins, they’ve lost 10 in a row.
29. Astros-
14-34
ESPN Rank: 29
Even with the change in divisions, it’s going to be another
long year for the ‘stros. They have by far the worst pitching in the major
leagues, racking up a whopping team ERA of 5.39. They’ll be switching off the
29 and 30 spot with the Marlins this year.
30. Marlins-
13-35
ESPN Rank: 30
Honestly, if the Marlins win more than 50 games, they’ll
think it’s a successful season. That’s what you get for trading away all of
your players from last year. And now that Stanton is out, they have no hope. If
they ever move out of the 29 or 30 spot in the power rankings, I’ll give Mike Redmond a hearty handshake.
So that's my power rankings for this week. Thanks for reading this week, I'll be taking a day off tomorrow, but I'll be back Monday with a look through the week.
"Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he's losing; nobody wants you to quit when you're ahead." - Jackie Robinson
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