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MLB Power Rankings

It’s officially June as of this weekend, and it’s roughly the 1/3 mark of the MLB season. Kind of crazy to think about. So much has happened since April. We’ve seen teams we expected to drown flourish, and expected division winners fighting to avoid being the bottom team in the division. It’s been a couple weeks since our last MLB Power Rankings, and enough has changed to do them again so here they are.

*Stats valid through Monday Night.

[table class=”table_dark_gray” shadow=”false”]

Rank Team Record Run Diff Last 10 Streak
1 Oakland A’s 35-24 +40 9-1 Won 4
2 St. Louis Cardinals 38-19 +90 7-3 Won 1
3 Texas Rangers 35-21 +59 6-4 Won 1
4 Boston Red Sox 35-23 +60 7-3 Won 2
5 Atlanta Braves 35-22 +58 6-4 Won 3
6 Pittsburgh Pirates 35-23 +17 6-4 Lost 1
7 Cincinnati Reds 36-22 +71 6-4 Won 1
8 Arizona Diamondbacks 32-25 +23 6-4 Lost 1
9 Baltimore Orioles 32-25 +18 7-3 Won 1
10 Tampa Bay Rays 31-25 +30 7-3 Won 1
11 Detroit Tigers 30-25 +66 4-6 Lost 1
12 Minnesota Twins 25-29 -15 7-3 Won 2
13 San Francisco Giants 30-27 -14 4-6 Won 1
14 San Diego Padres 26-31 -29 5-5 Lost 2
15 Colorado Rockies 30-28 +28 3-7 Lost 1
16 New York Yankees 32-25 +8 3-7 Won 1
17 Cleveland Indians 30-27 +15 3-7 Lost 2
18 Philadelphia Phillies 28-30 -44 5-5 Won 2
19 Washington Nationals 28-29 -26 4-6 Lost 2
20 Chicago Cubs 23-32 -1 5-5 Lost 2
21 Toronto Blue Jays 24-33 -40 4-6 Won 1
22 Seattle Mariners 24-33 -45 4-6 Lost 2
23 Houston Astros 21-37 -88 7-3 Won 6
24 Los Angeles Angels 25-33 -15 4-6 Lost 4
25 Los Angeles Dodgers 24-32 -40 5-5 Won 1
26 New York Mets 22-32 -49 5-5 Lost 3
27 Chicago White Sox 24-30 -35 3-7 Lost 6
28 Kansas City Royals 23-31 -9 2-8 Lost 1
29 Miami Marlins 16-41 -74 3-7 Lost 1
30 Milwaukee Brewers 21-34 -46 3-7 Lost 1

[/table]

1. Oakland A’s

It’s perhaps a little bit of a stretch to grant the A’s the top position over the Cardinals, but when you’ve won 9 of your last 10 and gone 15-2 in your last 17 games, it’s hard to deny what’s rightfully yours. The A’s haven’t lost two games in a row since May 15th. Straight beast mode right now. They’re winning close games, blow outs, and shutouts. These guys are doing a little bit of everything as of right now. If Texas wasn’t playing as well as they are, I’d say this team is a lock to win the division, but it’s actually going to be a quality fight again this season. They currently trail the Rangers by just 1.5 games but have the next six games against teams with sub .500 records. Nearly every guy you face in this lineup has the potential to cause trouble. Josh Donaldson leads the team with his 34 RBIs, 8 HRs and he is batting .319. Bartolo Colon has looked like the ace the organization always prays he’ll be. With a 6-2 record, Colon has an ERA of 3.33 42 strikeouts, and has two complete game shutouts. Not a team you want to see upcoming on your schedule right now.

2. St. Louis Cardinals

You know a team has to be hot to knock the team with the best record in baseball out of the top spot in power rankings. Don’t take things too personally St. Louis fans, your team is still smoking hot right now. It seems every guy who picks up a bat is gonna do some damage as of late. They ended May having gone 20-7 and outscoring opponents 133-85. Sure this team has played the horrible Brewers 10 times so far this season, but that shouldn’t take a single thing away from what they’ve been doing. Pitching has been healthy to say the least. The staff has shutout out 9 different games and leads the MLB with a 2.99 team ERA. Yikes, good luck getting a hold of these guys. The Cards are looking good, and only one team has gotten the better of them in a series so far, and that’s the Pirates. The Cards currently have a 2.5 game lead over both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati as the NL Central is looking to be a hot race this season.

3. Texas Rangers

The only thing that I would say is bad about the Rangers right now is that they hosted a cow milking contest before a game against the Royals the other day. And as if the act alone wasn’t embarrassing enough, they lost at their own event. That aside, this team has played well and where we all kind of expected them to struggle with big names departing, the Rangers haven’t slowed up one bit this season. They’ve outscored foes by 59 runs so far this year. They’re trying to hold off a flaming hot Oakland team that has a chance to close the 2 game lead the Rangers cling on to so dearly. As far as stroylines go for this team you can’t help but to talk about Yu Darvish and how he’s pretty much dominated in every game he’s thrown in. He’s pitched 12 games with a 7-2 record and leads the MLB with 111 strikeouts. As a team they have the 5th overall ERA with a 3.38.

4. Boston Red Sox

It seemed as though May would be the undoing of the great start for the Red Sox as they found themselves trailing in the AL East, and Red Sox Nation was in an uproar. How dare they put faith in their team only for them to start to suck again? Well they then flipped another 180 here in the last two weeks, and took two of three from the Yankees in New York again and have won 7 of the last 10 games. It’s been obvious that despite how well this team has had the bats working at times, this team goes as the pitching goes. None two being more important than Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. The two pitchers have a combined record of 14-2. Buchholz leads the MLB with an ERA of 1.62. While Lester who’s still been great, has had a couple rough outings, and ERA has dropped to 3.53. Nonetheless, this team has always revolved around the success of their pitching staff and it’s appearing to remain so. If the Sox really want to solidify their postseason chances they still need that reliable third pitcher in the rotation.

5. Atlanta Braves

Let’s first get the fact that BJ Upton has been nothing short of a bust for Atlanta. He’s batting just .156 and there were even talks of sending him down to the minors. Not too often you see a guy making $13,050,000 get sent down. Jason Heyward has also had his struggles batting just .142, and injuries have limited him to 31 games played. That being said, the Braves are still winning games and they’re actually still leading a struggling NL East. They’re actually the only team currently over .500 in the division. Where brother BJ has struggled, Justin has thrived. Justin is batting .259 with 29 RBI and 14 HR (leads team). They’ve also had some quality pitching from Paul Maholm and Mike Minor. Not to mention closer Craig Kimbrel is getting things done late again.

6. Pittsburgh Pirates

Well it’s still early on, but the Pirates are currently 12 games over .500, and while there is a silly amount of baseball remaining, we’re all rooting for the Pirates, even if just ever so slightly. Who doesn’t like the loveable loser, and that’s who the Pirates have become. Everybody’s on their side, hoping that they finally break .500 come the end of the season. For those not keeping track, they haven’t done so since 1992. Everybody knew Andrew McCutchen would be a big deal this season, and while his .284 average with 28 RBI and 7 HR is nice, the pitching has stolen the show in the City of Steel. The pitching staff of the Pirates has the 2nd best ERA in the majors with a team average of 3.16. Not to mention, when in a tight pinch, they’ve got Jason Grilli who’s been the best closer in baseball. Leading the league with 22 saves and a 1.05 ERA. The Pirates aren’t gonna sit down quietly this season and they should not be taken lightly.

7. Cincinnati Reds

The Reds were the first to put up a fight to the long reign that has been St. Louis’ control over the NL Central, and now they’ve got additional competition in the form on Pitt. Huge praises go out to Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto who have assumed the backbone of this team. Votto, with his .336 avg, 28 RBI, and 10 HR, and Phillips’ .296 avg, 45 RBI, and 9 HR. They’re excited to have Johnny Cueto come back from injury and he should have no problems sliding back into the starting rotation. He returned May 20th after over a month away due to injury and has since pitched in three games with a record of 2-0. This Reds team relies on a healthy balance of a quality pitching rotation and active bats, if they wanna keep this division close, they need to remain healthy.

8. Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona has been a pleasant surprise this season. A lot of people thought they were screwed after dealing Justin Upton for what felt like nothing in return, yet they’ve hung around. Sure, they could potentially have been even better with Justin, but at least they’ve freed up a chunk of money that they can use to fill more void than just the outfield. What’s made this team good has been their pitching. Staff ERA of 3.58, 1.24 WHIP, and .247 BAA. Patrick Corbin has been an absolute stud so far. He was the first pitcher to eight wins, and has a 2.06 ERA to go with it. As far as batting has gone, Paul Goldschmidt has continued to swing a hot bat with his .337 average, 46 RBI, and 13 HR. It’s hard to tell how long this team will have success, but for now they’re leading the NL West by two games, and have won 6 of their last 10.

9. Baltimore Orioles

There may be only one team in the league that is more offensively explosive than this Baltimore roster. They’ve driven in 287 runs (2nd in league), have a .275 batting average (2nd in league), a .330 on base percentage (9th), and .464 slugging percent (1st). With guys like Chris Davis, who’s actually the only person in the league beating Miguel Cabrera in a batting statistic. Davis has 20 home runs thus far in this season -Miggy trails by 3 with 17- and without Miguel in the league, Davis could make a push for a triple crown of his own. With his .357 batting average (2nd), 20 HR (1st), and 52 RBI(2nd). His output has translated into wins for the most part, but there is one big thing holding this team back. Pitching has been an abomination in this town for a couple years now, and things aren’t much improved this season. Sadly for them the difference in getting a round or two of golf in in October and playing ball, is pitching. Before anything big happens, some new big faces need to make their way into Camden Park, and donning the Halloween like colors.

10. Tampa Bay Rays

I’ve got to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised as to how well the entire majority of the AL East has played. Four of the five teams are here in the top 10 of the power rankings. While the Rays are standing fast, they haven’t had a moment to truly shine yet this season. Part of that could be blamed with the loss of a couple big names and big time starters like 2012 AL Cy Young winner David Price struggling before going out on the DL. Looking at the Tropicana field where quality tickets range from $5-$15, you wouldn’t think this team is over .500 and has been for the last six seasons. Still the Rays are playing quality ball with a couple new faces emerging as key players like Kelly Johnson who’s got a .280 average, 35 RBI, and 10 HR. The Rays are still a young team even though we’ve said this for a couple of years now. And the loss of BJ and his insane contract has actually paid off for them as he continues to implode. Competition is hot in the AL East and it’s gonna be one of those seasons where heartbreak for multiple teams occur on the final day of the season.

11. Detroit Tigers

Detroit has had a couple issues arise over the last week and a half, but should look to turn things around at home. They’ve got two, three-game series at home before they head on the road again. Of course, there is little to no problems offensively and the biggest concern for the Tigers has been pitching, but even that hasn’t been bad. They have three go to starters in Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Anibal Snachez. Of course, they’ve also got Mr. Triple Crown himself who’s looking to make a quality run for a repeat triple crown to become the third player in history with multiple, and first to repeat in consecutive years. Their run in the Central won’t come untested though, as they actually recently had to work hard to reclaim the division lead from the Cleveland Indians, but as the Indians have gone on a skid, the Tigers have capitalized. Not a wide margin though, one game separates the two teams.

12. Minnesota Twins

The bottom three teams in the AL Central have all played a little hop scotch changing positions over the last week. The latest to work their way in the right direction is the Minnesota Twins. Winners of 7 of their last 10 games, and two in a row currently. They’ve had a kind schedule over the last week though, and after a series with a struggling Kansas City team, the Twins have got three potentially tasking series in a row against Washington, Philadelphia, then Detroit. We’ll see if their record over the last week is something to get used to, or just a fluke due to quality of teams played. I couldn’t move them up too far, but they did need some additional kudos.

13. San Francisco Giants

The defending champions have had some rough patches in the early part of their campaign to a repeat. I don’t think anybody could have expected the pitching staff this team displays would be struggling like they have been. The team ERA is a 4.21 which is 18th in the league. Guys like Matt Cain, and you know what the entire rest of the starting rotation have had struggles getting into a groove of things. Based off how they pitchers have played -if you’ve watched them- you should honestly be surprised by the amount of wins this team walks away with to this point. Luckily between their bullpen and late game heroics, the Giants have won a decent amount of close games. 11 of 18 actually. They’ve also gone to nine extra inning games, and won five of them. Unless pitching turns around vastly over the next couple months, this team isn’t going to be going anywhere in October.

14. San Diego Padres

I don’t know what to think about this Padres team. I watch them one game and think they could get hot and do really well, but then the next game they come out and absolutely just lay an egg. If there is one thing this team lacks, it’s consistency. Something that is vital . And already 6 games out from the NL West leader, the Padres either start clicking on a nightly basis or that games behind will only grow. Their batters spread the attack pretty evenly through the lineup, which is a good thing they can really build around. There are three players with 20+ RBI, and eight with 15+ RBI. No one player has more than 29, and while yes they aren’t the highest scoring team, they are at least breaking up what they’re getting around to everybody.

15. Colorado Rockies

The Rockies are finally starting to show the face we expected to see from them all season, which is full of defeat. The Rockies has lost 7 of their last 10 games. Pitching is beginning to deteriorate, and Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez can’t carry them all year without a little help. Troy is contributing 43 RBI, and Gonzalez 36. They’re gonna be without their closer Rafael Betancourt until at least the 16th, but could be longer. The only decent starter they have right now is Jorge De La Rosa who’s got 7 wins and a 3.10 ERA. Without these handful of guys this team would be in serious trouble. They’re managements failure to bring any new faces in is finally becoming evident as they’re in a slump.

16. New York Yankees

The injury bug seems to have taken up a permanent residence in the Yankees locker room as they cannot seem to remain healthy. As they were finally getting guys back, they were only continuing to lose more. Poor Curtis Granderson. Their will to win seems to be diminishing as time goes on. After a rough series against the Mets, they looked as though they might give the Red Sox trouble while home in the Bronx, but after taking game one, the Yankees were blown out and then cut short. So unfortunately they’re still looking to end this skid. They did beat the Indians last night 7-4, but the Indians are on a downhill roll more so than the Yanks, and the way it works for the most part is one team had to win the game.

17. Cleveland Indians

Which leads us right into the Tribe. First off hats off to what Terry Francona has done with this team so far, and while it’s obvious it’s early in the season and this team could easily be last in the division, you still can’t give him credit for what they’ve done so far. Up until this last week and a half the Indians were looking great, even at one point leading the AL Central. Now they’re struggling, winners of just three of the last ten games. The most outstanding player for the Indians to this point has to be Justin Masterson who has just come out and nearly dominated in every game he’s pitched. He’s tied for the most amount of AL wins with 8. He has a record of 8-4 with an ERA of 3.57. Also Mark Reynolds has been batting well as of late, he’s got a .246 average, 41 RBI, and 13 HR. The Indians have this series with New York and then have to face Detroit, Texas, Washington, Kansas City, then Baltimore before really getting a break with the White Sox.

18. Philadelphia Phillies

Two words, Dominic Brown. Brown currently leads the NL with 17 home runs, but he’s batting .519 in the last seven days with 7 HR and 13 RBI. Guy is on a tear and making the veteran “savvy” guys doing jack shit look like a bunch of assholes. The Phillies have some issues outside of Brown though as they’re really struggled on offense and defense. It doesn’t help when a guy like Roy Halladay gets injured, but he was throwing the worst we’d ever seen before that anyways. The Phillies are seven games back in the NL East, and have won two in a row and five of their last ten, but just watching them you get a sense that their simply in survival mode. They’re gonna get their fare share of wins, but as far as thriving goes, they’re like a single mother living paycheck to paycheck.

19. Washington Nationals

The innings cap for Strasburg finally gets pulled but he gets hurt anyways. Which causes me to ask the question, will we ever see Stephen pitch a full healthy season in his career? I know that’s a lot to ask for in an extremely long 162 game season, but if there are positional players that play every day that can do it, there is no way a pitcher can’t, and there are plenty that do. It’s not even like he’s been dominant when he’s played, 3-5 record with a 2.54 ERA and 73 strikeouts. The biggest problem for him is getting run support. Which at moments have been hard to come by for this team, they’ve only brought 209 runs across home plate this season, which is 26th in the league. Everybody was expecting this team to run away with the division, but sitting seven games back currently we’d be lucky to see this team make the wild card.

20. Chicago Cubs

The saga of suck looks to continue yet again for this poor team and its fans. Although it’s not like this team is unwatchable. They’ve got a couple quality players speckled in this roster. Guys like Anthony Rizzo who poses a bright speck in the murky future of this organization. And Travis Wood has been a decent starter, the only worthy one. None the less the Cubbies find themselves struggling in a very competitive NL Central with three contending teams in front of them. When things aren’t going your way, sometimes all it takes is knowing there are worse off teams in the league to bring a smile to your face.

21. Toronto Blue Jays

They ought to rename this club to the Toronto “Bust” because this roster who so many, including myself, praised would win the AL East, are lucky teams like Miami exist to avoid the major fear of having the worst record in baseball, because they’re that bad. They don’t have a pitcher who’s over .500 and RA Dickey has to be the biggest bust of them all. From NL Cy Young winner to 4-7 with a 5.18 ERA. They’ve won four of the last ten games though, and while things look gloom across the border, there are some patches of distant light shining through the ground they buried themselves in. It’s not like they’re completely inept at scoring, they’ve brought in 254 runs, but consider all these stars who never shined on horrible teams, really could be better. The season is not a complete bust the further we go without any sign of major change sooner than later it’ll be too late.

22. Seattle Mariners

There isn’t a whole lot to talk about when it comes to this team, they’re kinda just coasting along like that quiet awkward person. King Felix should be feeling the heat and his atrocious contract as Hisashi Iwakuma is putting the heat on him with his 6-1 record and 2.13 ERA. Not that Hernandez is playing bad with his 6-4 record, 2.38 ERA and 87 strikeouts, but when you’re making the money this guy is, you should be the best player on the team or at least that of your position. The Mariners still have a long way to go until they welcome the winning days back into town.

23. Houston Astros

First off, let’s all congratulate the Astros and how they haven’t been the worst team this season. Also, let it be known that they’ve won six straight games. Coming off a sweep of the Angels this weekend, the Astros are putting runs on the boards, and if they had anything worthy of a starting rotation they might contend to no be the worst of the AL. Unless they really are sitting on a gold mine of prospects like their organization seems to think, they have to make a move to improve this team this offseason. They’ve got Baltimore at home for three games, and as fun as it’s been, you’d have to think this little winning streak ends tonight.

24. Los Angeles Angels

This team probably deserves to be the very last team in this ranking after getting swept by the Astros this weekend, but I thought it’d be almost more entertaining to see the Astros placed directly on top of them, because that’s what they’ve done to them all year, just sat on top of them like a big bully. The Angels have a 3-7 record against the Astros so far this season. If there is a team that’s more of a bust than the Blue Jays it’s this team. Instead of a rounded up pack of losers expected to win, the Angels have spent big money on big name guys who have played on winning teams, and what do they have to show for it? I’d have to think they weren’t expected to be wearing the dunce cap of a 25-33 record to this point. They’ve got a two game series with the Cubs before they face the Red Sox, and Orioles on the road before hosting the Yankees.

25. Los Angeles Dodgers

What happened to LA this year? Did their loud mouthed fans finally bring enough of a jinx upon every one of their organizations? The Dodgers should have been really good this year, but they’re not, not even close. Adrian Gonzalez is carrying this team in every statistical category he could. He’s batting .326 with 8 HR, 42 RBI, and a .383 OBP. Another team that was expected to win their division but are on the bottom looking up. Sure they’re a mere 7.5 games out and we’ve seen bigger comebacks than this with way less time remaining in the year. They’re 5-5 in their last 10 games, but two of those wins were against the Angels so what does that account for? Unless you’re the Astros, that’s not a build deal right now.

26. New York Mets

The Mets should have been way up this list after whooping up on the Yankees just last week at home. But they dropped the ball getting swept by Miami over the weekend. In fact they should probably be lower than just 26. There have been a couple of fun guys to watch on this team though. Daniel Murphy, and David Wright have had good years. And the best storyline has to be Matt Harvey who’s gone 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA and 89 strikeouts. Harvey has been a blast to watch this season, and any time he’s pitching you can expect ticket sales to raise for that day. Can’t be too upset about this season so far if you’re a Mets fan though, because you really couldn’t have expected much else.

27. Chicago White Sox

I knew this team was gonna be rough around the edges, but I didn’t think they’d be this bad. They’re currently riding a seven game losing streak, but luckily they’ve got a patch of schedule where they could kill that off sooner rather than later. They have two more games with the Mariners before they have to play red hot Oakland for four games, but then have Houston before they face Minnesota. Not a fantastic chance to kill it, but we’d certainly hope this team isn’t that bad that this losing streak extends into double digits.

28. Kansas City Royals

How fast can a team go from winning to bottom of the division? Ask Kansas City, they started the month of May winning the Central division, and ended it in last place. They went just 8-20 in May. Ouch! This team has actually played better on the road this season though, where they have a .433 win percent compared to their .417 at home. They’re pitching has been quality, with a 3.77 team ERA and 1.30 WHIP, but their bats have been doing absolutely nothing to contribute to winnings ways. They’re just 2-8 in their last 10 and if they don’t want to get left behind they have to turn things around just as fast as the last 180 that wound them up here.

29. Miami Marlins

There is a concession prize for the Marlins and their horrible season. Sure they’ve got the worst record with 16-42 but they just got done sweeping the Mets. Sure that isn’t saying much to the testament of their abilities, but there is one worse off team in the league. For the Marlins though, there is only one bright star on this roster and that is Giancarlo Stanton, but unfortunately he’s been dealing with some injuries this season and has just played in 20 games. When he gets healthy I don’t doubt at all that Marlins can’t resist trading him away for a handful of “quality” players. We all know how capable the management of this team is.

30. Milwaukee Brewers

It actually paid off that I had this team placed here for today’s news. Today news broke that Ryan Braun and over 20 other players are likely to be facing suspension after the Biogenesis of America clinic owner finally had enough of playing games with the MLB investigators, and has apparently handed over enough evidence to suspend all players if they so choose. Braun leads the team with 35 RBI and is 2nd with 9 HR. Take that out of the lineup and how much worse could a team that’s already last in the NL Central with a 21-35 record get? We probably will find out soon enough.

Well that’s this edition of the MLB power rankings, thanks for reading, and don’t forget to check out all the other articles we’ve got here. Also would love to hear some comments about your opinions on the power rankings. I’m always up for a healthy debate.

 

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Author: Tyler Arnold

My name is Tyler Arnold, I am the founder, co-owner, and editor-in-chief of The Runner Sports. Sports have been my life since I was young, so here I am doing the only sensible thing, making a career of it. I love it all, and will watch any and every game I possibly can. Thanks for your readership.

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