We’ve finally reached September baseball.
The final push for the playoffs began a little over a week ago, as tired players on contending teams now see the light at the end of the tunnel that is a spot in the playoffs.
The reality has already set in for teams out of the playoff race, indicative in several teams’ poor play since the last Power Rankings.
As baseball now competes with America’s new favorite pastime, let’s take a look at the first Power Rankings for September. 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 (10)
4. New York Mets (7) – Bryce Harper may not have cared what the Mets were doing a month ago, but it’s getting real now.
5. Toronto Blue Jays (8) – The midsummer moves have paid off well and have the Blue Jays in contention for their first playoff appearance since winning the World Series in 1993.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates (3)
7. Houston Astros (4) – Seven of Houston’s final 25 games come against the Rangers, so the AL West will largely be decided by head-to-head competition.
8. New York Yankees (6)
9. Chicago Cubs (5)
10. Washington Nationals (14) – The Nationals are on another one of their hot streaks, but it may be a little too late this time. Washington is in the middle of its final series against New York, so the club will only be able to do so much on its own to close the current five game gap in the NL East.
11. Texas Rangers (9)
12. San Francisco Giants (12) – The window of opportunity for 2015 is closing fast on San Francisco. Now both the division race and Wild Card race are slipping away.
13. Minnesota Twins (11)
14. Los Angeles Angels (13)
15. Cleveland Indians (23) – The hottest team in baseball over the past three weeks is now just 4.5 back in the AL Wild Card race. Unfortunately, half of Cleveland is probably unaware as Browns football begins in less than a week.
16. Tampa Bay Rays (16)
17. Seattle Mariners (20)
18. San Diego Padres (17) – The risky offseason can now be considered a failure. It’s back to the drawing board for San Diego.
19. Boston Red Sox (22)
20. Chicago White Sox (21)
21. Arizona Diamondbacks (15) – In a matter of two weeks, Arizona has gone from fringe playoff contender to also-ran.
22. Baltimore Orioles (18)
23. Milwaukee Brewers (24)
24. Detroit Tigers (19) – Detroit’s pitching staff, always a relative weakness even when the Tigers were a consistent playoff contender, is in need of an overhaul.
25. Oakland Athletics (26)
26. Miami Marlins (27)
27. Cincinnati Reds (28)
28. Colorado Rockies (30)
29. Atlanta Braves (25) – Oh how Atlanta has tanked. The Braves are rapidly falling to the level of fellow NL East bottom dweller Philadelphia with regards to winning percentage.
30. Philadelphia Phillies (29)
