There have been many topics of conversation during these Major League Baseball Power Rankings. Yet, this week was difficult to pinpoint.
For starters, since we’re a Mets blog, the Amazins have really hit a rud and find themselves out of first place after losing 9-1 to the Pirates. From an MLB side, the real story has been the National League Central.
The Cardinals are hot yet again. They’re 7-3 in their last 10 games, 45-38 overall, and have inserted themselves back in the NL Central race. The Reds and Brewers are right there with them, and are all four of the Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, and Reds (in that order) are separated top to bottom by five wins.
Meanwhile, the American League continues to be straightforward. The Yankees — barring collapse — seem destined for the East, the Tigers keep winning at an elite pace leaving the faltering AL Central behind, and the Astros have pulled away from the Mariners.
David Richard-Imagn Images
1. Dodgers
It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why the Dodgers are at our top spot. Week 12 they earned a spot here for defeating their division rivals. This week, they’re here for demolishing some of the worst teams in the league.
The Dodgers got the pleasure of facing the Nationals and Rockies back to back, giving a top team an opportunity to create breathing room in a crowded NL West. The Dodgers finished the stretch 5-1, with the one loss due to the rising James Wood (this is a shameless plug vote for him to be an All-Star).
The dominant stretch allowed the club to expand their lead to six and half games over the Giants. Earlier in the year, and even a couple weeks ago, it looked like the Giants and Padres had a chance to catch the Dodgers. Looks like I was just being foolish.
2. Tigers
The last 10 games haven’t been spectacular for Detroit.
They’re 5-5, but mostly due to facing the Rays, who have suddenly become the toughest team in baseball. However, they bounced back and took a series from the Athletics, and now have a series with the dying Twins (which at the time of writing this, they’re up 6-2 Saturday).
There’s no need to drop them in the rankings after a tough stretch. Tarik Skubal and Co. are reliable as ever, Riley Greene is slugging .591 the last month, and AJ Hinch is one of the best managers in the game.
3. Yankees
Like the Tigers, the Yankees have also entered a middling 5-5 stretch.
The offense has struggled as of late, but it’s because Aaron Judge is hitting like Tony Gwynn anymore and has a .185/.302/.389 slashline in his last 15 games. The club needs production one through nine, and getting Jazz Chisholm Jr. back should help.
4. Astros
There’s hot, then there’s Houston hot.
The team is a ridiculous 18-6 in June, and it doens’t look like a fluke. The bullpen has the second-best ERA in baseball (3.28), the rotation is seventh in team ERA (3.49), and the offense is finally scoring runs.
Jeremy Peña especially was taking off before leaving Friday’s game with a rib injury. The shortstop showed greatness in the 2022 playoffs, but never took off until now. He was slashing .364/.408/.570 over his last 30 games and got to the 11 homer benchmark (career high is 22).
Hopefully Peña won’t miss much time and the hit by pitch just leads to soreness. But even if he does miss time, the Astros will be fine. They’ve won at an elite pace, and they haven’t gotten any production from Yordan Alvarez the entire season.
5. Cubs
The Cubbies are starting to taper off. And it’s coming at the wrong time.
First was the home series against the Mariners, where they got manhandled by Cal Raleigh and lost two of three. Then they went to St. Louis, where the Cardinals took two of four and pulled to within three and a half games of first place.
In total, they’re 4-6 in their last 10 games and finished 3-4 against a dwindling Mariners club and arch-rival Cardinals. The offense is still scoring runs, but it’s the rotation that has fully collapsed. Over the last seven games, Cubs’ pitching has allowed 46 runs — which includes two shutouts in the final two games.
6. Rays
The Rays faced a tough challenge last week: a series against the AL-best Tigers.
How did they fare? Well, they took two of three and scored 25 runs against a seriously tough pitching staff. They followed that series with a three-game sweep of the Royals, and now have a chance to get even with the Yankees at the top with a series against the Orioles.
Everyone will talk about the exciting Junior Caminero and his 20 bombs before the All-Star break, but more need to talk about the resurgence of Brandon Lowe. He’s finally healthy and has 17 homers before the end of June.
7. Phillies
The Phillies, like most teams in the NL East, are scuffling. They’re 5-5 in their last ten games and were swept by the Astros in a 2022 World Series rematch.
But, due to circumstances outside Philadelphia, the club remains at the top of the division. Their rotation has the third-best ERA (3.35) in the majors and the offense is getting by without Bryce Harper. It can’t be overstated how important it is that the club has stayed above the Mets and Braves without their best position player.
8. Giants
The Giants had a real shot to be within striking distance of the Dodgers. They traded for Rafael Devers, then had an upcoming schedule against the Guardians, Red Sox, and Marlins — teams they’re all better than.
Yet, they haven’t taken advantage of a lighter schedule and have fallen to six and a half games out of first place. The last two losses at home to the Marlins have been the exclamation point of their 4-6 stretch.
Where they go after the All-Star break will be intriguing. The rotation is built to play in the postseason, and the offense now needs a peripheral bat instead of a difference-maker. Hopefully by then they’re still in the division race.
9. Mets
Every week, I feel I am too negative with this team. But what else can you be?
The Mets salvaged their week by winning two consecutive games at home against the Braves to split a four-game series, but followed it up with a discouraging 9-1 loss to the Pirates — a game started by David Peterson against the worst OPS in the National League.
This is the kind of month you flush down the toilet — which is disappointing to say because Juan Soto has been the best player in baseball this month. He’s slashing .329/.491/.768 with 11 homers in June, yet the Mets are 12-13 this month.
10. Brewers
Milwaukee had hung around in the NL Central race this season, but they’ve recently exploded to be right behind the Cubs.
They completely dismantled the Twins, sweeping them in three games on the road by scoring 35 runs in the series. They then followed by taking a series from the Pirates and scoring 10 more runs Friday against the Rockies to secure a win.
The team is getting solid production from the whole lineup, and Christian Yelich‘s power is back. The former MVP has slugged 15 home runs in 77 games and is reminding everyone of his capabilities when his back is right. Freddy Peralta is also living up to his pedigree and has a 2.90 ERA in 17 games.
The Brewers are 8-2 in their last 10 games and only two games behind Chicago. This could be an exciting race all summer long.
Rest of Field
11. Blue Jays
12. Padres
13. Cardinals
14. Mariners
15. Reds
16. Braves
17. Diamondbacks
18. Guardians
19. Rangers
20. Angels
21. Twins
22. Royals
23. Red Sox
24. Orioles
25. Pirates
26. Athletics
27. Nationals
28. Marlins
29. White Sox
30. Rockies
