This is the time of year where baseball’s regular season takes a back seat to the excitement due to the start of both college and pro football. However, this is also one of the more crucial times of year for teams that are still fighting for playoff spots. No team wants to come into the playoffs struggling, and even if no division race is close, the Wild Card race is almost always tight at this point in the season.
Here is this week’s Power Rankings. The number in parenthesis after the team name is where that team was ranked in the previous Power Rankings.
1. Philadelphia Phillies (1)
2. New York Yankees (5)
3. Detroit Tigers (6)- The Tigers have been playing extremely well for the last month, pulling away from the competition in the AL Central. This is a team that looks good enough to win the AL pennant.
4. Arizona Diamondbacks (4)- The Diamondbacks are one of the biggest surprises of the season, and have shown that they have the pitching to make a deep run in the postseason.
5. Milwaukee Brewers (8)
6. Atlanta Braves (3)
7. Texas Rangers (7)
8. Boston Red Sox (2)- This is not an ideal time to start slumping. Boston is now in a Wild Card battle with division rival Tampa Bay thanks to a 2-8 stretch in their last ten games.
9. St. Louis Cardinals (10)
10. Tampa Bay Rays (15)- Seemingly left for dead less than three weeks ago, Tampa Bay has stormed back and found themselves in the battle for the AL Wild Card with Boston.
11. San Francisco Giants (11)
12. Los Angeles Angels (9)- The Angels are not done by any stretch. They have a three game series against Texas to close the season that may end up deciding the AL West.
13. Cincinnati Reds (17)
14. Los Angeles Dodgers (13)
15. Chicago White Sox (14)
16. Toronto Blue Jays (18)
17. Washington Nationals (29)- The Nationals are looking for their best division finish since the team relocated from Montreal in 2004. If it weren’t for Philadelphia having a firm grip on the AL East, optimism would probably be high in Washington in 2012.
18. Cleveland Indians (12)- The season started out so well for the young Indians, but offensive issues were never quite fixed and the Ubaldo Jimenez trade didn’t pan out as expected. Cleveland should be excited for next season, though.
19. Colorado Rockies (19)
20. New York Mets (16)
21. Pittsburgh Pirates (21)
22. Oakland Athletics (20)- Only one more week until Moneyball!
23. Chicago Cubs (24)
24. Kansas City Royals (25)- The Royals have a very talented offense and have the best outfield in the league from a defensive perspective. If they can develop some young pitchers, they may be a pretty good team in the future.
25. Florida Marlins (26)
26. San Diego Padres (28)
27. Baltimore Orioles (22)
28. Minnesota Twins (27)
29. Seattle Mariners (23)
30. Houston Astros (30)- Barring some sort of miracle, the Astros will lose more than 100 games this season. On the bright side, Houston fans can watch their former ace Roy Oswalt in the postseason and pretend that it’s 2005.
– K. Becks
