The trade deadline has come and gone, and we are now quickly approaching the “push” stage of the 2015 MLB season.
It is always interesting to me that the sport doesn’t receive more attention at this point in the season. Football has not yet begun (at least, the meaningful games) and teams have explicitly separated themselves as contenders for a playoff spot by way of either position in the standings or roster moves made on or near July 31.
Regardless, it’s time to really start paying attention. We’ve reached the most difficult point of the year for the players.
Now that I’m finished preaching, let’s take a look at the first set of rankings for the second half of the season. As always, the number in parentheses is where the club was ranked two weeks ago.
1. St. Louis Cardinals (1)
2. Kansas City Royals (2)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (6) – The Dodgers may be primed for a deep run in October, but they’ll absolutely be paying the price for it.
4. Pittsburgh Pirates (3)
5. Toronto Blue Jays (12) – The hottest team in baseball (again) made me eat my words about them in the last Power Rankings. Price, Tulo & Co. are absolutely pickups worth writing about.
6. San Francisco Giants (8)
7. New York Mets (13) – The little train that could just keeps on chugging. It’s too late in the season to call the Mets a “nice story” now.
8. New York Yankees (4) – Meanwhile, in the Bronx, the Yankees are holding onto the AL East lead despite being older than Mount Rushmore. Once again, no longer just a “nice story” in New York.
9. Los Angeles Angels (5)
10. Washington Nationals (10)
11. Houston Astros (7) – Of all the surprising teams that jumped out of the gate to a hot start, Houston was the team that many pundits believed could sustain the success. But the AL West has become very competitive over the past month and a half, so it won’t be easy.
12. Chicago Cubs (11)
13. Texas Rangers (14) – The Rangers made their trade deadline moves (welcome, Cole Hamels) and got lucky that no one in the AL West has gone on a tear lately. Consider Texas a contender now.
14. Baltimore Orioles (15)
15. Arizona Diamondbacks (20)
16. Minnesota Twins (9) – The Twins are the only second place team in the league that can say it is focusing more on the Wild Card than the division lead.
17. Tampa Bay Rays (18)
18. Seattle Mariners (22)
19. Atlanta Braves (19)
20. Detroit Tigers (17)
21. San Diego Padres (16) – For a long time it looked like San Diego was going to hold on to the tiniest of hope that a strong run at some point would propel them back into the playoff conversation, but in the midst of a six game losing streak it appears that time has run out on A.J. Preller’s project for 2015.
22. Chicago White Sox (21)
23. Oakland Athletics (24)
24. Cleveland Indians (23) – Trading away Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn for Chris Johnson is a salary dump if I’ve ever seen one, but I’m not sure many in Cleveland even noticed. Football season is just around the corner, of course…
25. Boston Red Sox (27)
26. Cincinnati Reds (25)
27. Colorado Rockies (26)
28. Milwaukee Brewers (29)
29. Philadelphia Phillies (30) – Philadelphia is no longer the worst team in baseball and picked up pieces at the trade deadline to add to its rebuilding project. Things are looking up for the Phillies.
30. Miami Marlins (28)
