The trade deadline is just around the corner, which means that in the next Power Rankings, we will no longer have to speculate about which teams are serious about making a push for the playoffs. While this week’s Power Rankings aren’t completely irrelevant, be warned that some teams could plunge or shoot up in the next set of rankings depending on how things sort out after the deadline. Just don’t tell Pittsburgh that these Power Rankings don’t matter.
Here is this week’s Power Rankings. The number in parenthesis after the team name is where the team was ranked in the previous Power Rankings.
1. Philadelphia Phillies (1)
2. Boston Red Sox (4)
3. Texas Rangers (9)- You don’t win twelve straight games and not get rewarded for it.
4. San Francisco Giants (5)
5. New York Yankees (3)
6. Atlanta Braves (2)- The Braves are still on pace to be one of the best teams to not win their division title.
7. Los Angeles Angels (10)
8. Milwaukee Brewers (16)- At the beginning of the season, Milwaukee had to figure that there would be at least one, and probably two, other teams vying for the NL Central lead with them. However, no one told them that a third team would be involved, and that they’d be wearing black and gold.
9. Detroit Tigers (12)
10. Pittsburgh Pirates (13)- When ESPN hops on board, you know it’s for real. I was less than a year old the last time the Pirates had a winning season, and now after 18 years of futility, the Bucs are back and look to be in it for the long haul in 2011.
11. Arizona Diamondbacks (14)
12. Toronto Blue Jays (21)
13. Cleveland Indians (8)- Outfielder Grady Sizemore is on the DL for 4-6 weeks…what else is new?
14. Tampa Bay Rays (6)
15. St. Louis Cardinals (7)- The upcoming series with Pittsburgh is extremely important for the Cards. They have to take advantage of games against division rivals if they want to stay in ultra-competitive NL Central race.
16. New York Mets (11)- Carlos Beltran may be on his way out of New York, but the Mets actually have something to look forward to for the future. Assuming that they deal Beltran and get some prospects in return, this .500 ballclub could surprise people in a few years.
17. Colorado Rockies (23)
18. Minnesota Twins (17)
19. Cincinnati Reds (18)
20. Chicago White Sox (19)- Carlos Guillen has about had it with his team’s underwhelming performance this season. At least some of his players feel the same way about their individual performance…
21. Washington Nationals (15)
22. Los Angeles Dodgers (29)- The Dodgers may not be that exciting to watch, but Clayton Kershaw sure is.
23. Florida Marlins (24)
24. San Diego Padres (22)
25. Oakland Athletics (25)
26. Kansas City Royals (26)
27. Baltimore Orioles (27)
28. Chicago Cubs (28)
29. Houston Astros (30)
30. Seattle Mariners (20)- You don’t lose twelve straight games and not get punished for it.
– K. Becks
Best Record in baseball your team, your town, your philadelphia phillies magic number is 55! I was there when the lost there 10,000 game!