5/25 MLB Power Rankings, Oakland Athletics take top spot

The Power Rankings were assembled by BoSox Injection writers Joe Meehan, Michele Pettis, and Drew Peabody.

(Last week’s ranking in parentheses.)

1.(2) Oakland Athletics (30-19) – The A’s have lost their last three, but won five in a row before that. Brandon Moss leads the team in BA, OBP, HR and RBI. Closer Sean Doolittle notched two saves this week. – Drew

2.(1) Detroit Tigers (28-17) – After last week’s dominating sweep of the Red Sox, the Tigers have been swept by the Indians and are currently struggling in a series against the Rangers. – Joe

3.(3) San Francisco Giants (31-18) – The Giants continue to play really well. They may not be scoring a high number of runs, but they’re scoring enough and the defense is stepping up and getting it done. – Michele

4.(6) LA Angels (27-21) – The Angels are rolling, winning eight of their last ten. Starters Jered Weaver, Garret Richards and C.J. Wilson all sport ERAs of 3.00 or below. – Drew

5.(4) Milwaukee Brewers (29-21) – The Brewers have lost six of their last eight and could really use a fully healthy Ryan Braun in the lineup. – Joe

6.(9) St. Louis Cardinals (27-22) – The Cardinals are starting to round into form thanks to some dominating starting pitching. The rest of the division should be very afraid. – Joe

7.(10) Atlanta Braves (27-21) – Atlanta has won five of seven games. You know about their great pitching (still first in the majors), but they also have a couple hitters. Justin Upton leads the team with 12 HR and a .947 OPS. Freddie Freeman leads the team with a .306 BA. – Drew

8.(13) Toronto Blue Jays (28-22) – The Jays have won their last five games in a row including two wins against the hot A’s. They’ve earned their spot at the top of the division. – Michele

9.(5) Colorado Rockies (27-22) – After stumbling a little (winning only four of their last ten games) the Rockies got back on track behind Juan Nicasio‘s improved performance. – Michele

10.(8) LA Dodgers (26-24) – Still treading water at the middle of the pack in the division. Mattingly’s outfield rotation changes could catch on and provide the needed spark. – Michele

11.(11) New York Yankees (25-23) – Hot bats are leading the Yanks charge up the AL East standings. If the Sox had half the heat that their offense does at the moment, things would be much better in Boston. – Michele

12.(7) Baltimore Orioles (24-23) – With Matt Weiters on the DL and Manny Machado day-to-day the O’s could have their work cut out for them this week going against an Indians team that’s heating up. – Michele

13.(14) Miami Marlins (26-24) – Miami has won three of four, continuing to stay above .500 despite the loss of Jose Fernandez. Closer Steve Cishek has converted 10 of 11 save chances and sports a 1.83 ERA. – Drew

14.(15) Minnesota Twins (23-23) – Right where we last left them: hanging on to that .500 record. – Joe

15.(12) Washington Nationals (24-25) – Washington has lost five of their last six games. Doug Fister picked up his first win in his third start of the season this week, lowering his season ERA to 3.93 after three starts. – Drew

16.(17) Seattle Mariners (24-24) – Seattle has won four of their last five games. Hisashi Iwakuma has been outstanding since his May 3 season debut. Since his first start he has 24 IP and 2 ER (0.75 ERA). He has a 1.76 ERA for the season. – Drew

17.(16) Cincinnati Reds (22-25) – Homer Bailey looked much better in his start this week and the Reds are surely hoping he can avoid another regression. – Joe

18.(20) Chicago White Sox (25-26) – The White Sox sent Jose Abreu to the DL, but they got Chris Sale back and were able to take four of six this week from the Royals and Yankees. – Joe

19.(18) Kansas City Royals (24-24) – I don’t want to say that the Royals read our Power Rankings, but last week I asked if we could give up on Mike Moustakas yet and this week he was sent down. So the Royals definitely read our Power Rankings. – Joe

20.(24) Cleveland Indians (24-26) – A sweep of the Tigers and a couple of wins against the Orioles have the Indians in a much better position in the standings than they were last Sunday. – Joe

21.(22) Texas Rangers (24-25) – Texas has won four of six, but has been decimated by injuries. Prince Fielder was lost for the year due to a neck injury and Jurickson Profar is probably gone for a while. They knocked around the Tigers’ Rick Porcello (8 ER) this week, who had won his last six starts. – Drew

22.(25) Pittsburgh Pirates (22-26) – The Pirates are trending upwards as they will look to complete a four game sweep of the Nationals with a win today. – Joe

23.(23) New York Mets (21-26) – The Mets have lost four of five and 12 of 17. Curtis Granderson is starting to get hot, going nine for his last 18 with five extra base hits, though is still only hitting .222 with a .709 OPS. – Drew

24.(21) San Diego Padres (22-28) – As if their bullpen wasn’t already good enough, the Padres added left-handed reliever Troy Patton in a trade with the O’s. Will the addition be enough to get them over the .500 hurdle? – Michele

25.(26) Tampa Bay Rays (22-28) – The Rays are improving, though the fact that their last two wins have come against the struggling Red Sox shouldn’t be overestimated. – Michele

26.(19) Boston Red Sox (20-28) – When the offense shows up the defense doesn’t. When the defense shows up the bats are nowhere to be found. How to fix this? Not an easy answer but one that needs to be addressed ASAP. – Michele

27.(28) Philadelphia Phillies (21-25) – The Phillies have lost three of their last four games. Cole Hamels is starting to earn his contract, pitching to a 2.14 ERA in his last three outings, though only earning one win for his trouble. – Drew

28.(30) Chicago Cubs (18-29) – Jeff Samardzija had another scoreless outing that ended with a Cubs loss. This guy would be a way too early Cy Young favorite if he was on any other team. – Joe

29.(27) Arizona Diamondbacks (19-31) – Having the worst fielding percentage in the major leagues has plagued the D-backs. But now that first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has publicly made a commitment to improve, maybe the rest of the team will follow. – Michele

30.(29) Houston Astros (18-32) – The Astros have lost four straight, but have only two fewer wins than the Red Sox. If you’re looking for a positive, Dallas Keuchel is a name you should get to know. He has won his last three starts, twirling 25.1 IP, allowing only four ER (1.42 ERA) and has a 2.92 ERA for the season. – Drew

Biggest Jump: Blue Jays (+5)

Biggest Drop: Red Sox (-7)