Last Power Rankings I slipped to publishing on Monday night. This time, it’s already Tuesday before a fresh set of rankings are up.
Frankly, I’m proud of myself for still going strong despite football season being just around the corner.
Let’s take a look at the last Power Rankings before the playoff push in September. Surprisingly, there has been a decent amount of movement from top to bottom compared with the last set. As always, the number in parentheses is where the club was ranked two weeks ago.
1. St Louis Cardinals (1) – In a division with three of the best teams in all of baseball, it’s simply amazing the stranglehold St. Louis has been able to have on the top spot.
2. Kansas City Royals (2)
3. Pittsburgh Pirates (4)
4. Houston Astros (11) – There are likely still a few (very) late adopters that do not want to accept that Houston can win the AL West in 2015, but the Astros have been able to bounce back from rough stretches all season like a veteran squad.
5. Chicago Cubs (12) – Excitement is high in the Windy City, and why shouldn’t it be? The Cubs have been playing their best baseball as of late and putting distance between themselves and San Francisco for the second Wild Card spot.
6. New York Yankees (8)
7. New York Mets (7) – I talked to an old friend this weekend that happens to be a Mets fan, and he expressed real confidence that this team could make a run in the playoffs. That didn’t happen once throughout high school.
8. Toronto Blue Jays (5)
9. Texas Rangers (13)
10. Los Angeles Dodgers (3) – Five straight losses, Joc Pederson being benched recently for poor performance and an obvious weakness on the road have Dodger fans thinking twice about all the money that has been spent to bolster a supposed playoff run.
11. Minnesota Twins (16)
12. San Francisco Giants (6)
13. Los Angeles Angels (9)
14. Washington Nationals (10) – Most people wondered when the inconsistency of the Nationals would finally come back to bite them. It’s happening now.
15. Arizona Diamondbacks (15)
16. Tampa Bay Rays (17)
17. San Diego Padres (21)
18. Baltimore Orioles (14) – Just two and a half games out of the Wild Card lead and playing .500 baseball, Baltimore is the poster child for the disparity between the American League and National League this season.
19. Detroit Tigers (20)
20. Seattle Mariners (18) – It may be time for Seattle to reevaluate the effectiveness of its front office personnel.
21. Chicago White Sox (22)
22. Boston Red Sox (25)
23. Cleveland Indians (24)
24. Milwaukee Brewers (28)
25. Atlanta Braves (19) – It’s been awhile since the Braves have been this bad. Atlanta is on pace for its worst season since 1990, which consequently was the same year Bobby Cox started his second stint as manager with the club.
26. Oakland Athletics (23)
27. Miami Marlins (30)
28. Cincinnati Reds (26)
29. Philadelphia Phillies (29)
30. Colorado Rockies (27) – For the second consecutive rankings, we see a new bottom dweller. Worse yet for Colorado, it’s the only team already out of what could be a very exciting NL West title race.
