6/1 MLB Power Rankings; Giants climb to top spot
By Joe Meehan
The MLB Power Rankings were assembled by BoSox Injection writers Joe Meehan, Michele Pettis, and Drew Peabody.
(Last week’s ranking in parentheses.)
1.(3) San Francisco Giants (36-20) – Hot hot hot! Can they maintain .643 ball all season? Probably not, but it will be fun to watch them try. – Michele
2.(1) Oakland Athletics (34-22) – Oakland has alternated wins and losses for their last six games, so they treaded water this week. Brandon Moss (46) and Josh Donaldson (45) are fourth and fifth in the AL in RBI and Donaldson is tied for third in the league with 15 homers. – Drew
3.(8) Toronto Blue Jays (33-24) – Riding the tidal wave that is Edwin Encarnacion right now. How long can it last? – Michele
4.(2) Detroit Tigers (31-21) – The Tigers had an up-and-down week against the AL West, and things don’t get any easier as they head to Toronto on Tuesday for what should be an exciting three-game series. – Joe
5.(5) Milwaukee Brewers (33-23) – If the Brewers can get hot, they have a fairly easy schedule ahead, all the way up until about mid-June. – Joe
6.(4) LA Angels (30-25) – The Angels, like the A’s, have alternated wins and losses this week and beyond; over their last eight games in this case. Mike Trout leads the team in BA (.294), RBI (38) and OPS (.929). – Drew
7.(6) St. Louis Cardinals (30-26) – A strong team with farm-system depth; Oscar Taveras homered in his first MLB game. – Michele
8.(11) New York Yankees (29-25) – Masahiro Tanaka is 8-1 and Jacoby Ellsbury seems to have come out of his slump. Dellin Betances is a pleasant surprise in the setup role. – Michele
9.(7) Atlanta Braves (30-25) – Atlanta has lost five of eight, including four to the suddenly resurgent Red Sox. Julio Teheran has a 1.83 ERA in his twelve outings, including 11 quality starts. – Drew
10.(10) LA Dodgers (30-27) – Hyun-Jin Ryu almost followed in Josh Beckett‘s footsteps and fell just six outs short of a no-no. – Michele
11.(13) Miami Marlins (28-27) – Miami has lost their last two, but still remain over .500. Though Reed Johnson is hitting .313/.338/.522 for the season, he has not started a game since May 16. – Drew
12.(9) Colorado Rockies (28-27) – Just one game over .500 and having some struggles on the road. Temporary setback or sign of bad things to come? – Michele
13.(21) Texas Rangers (28-28) – Texas has lost three of five. Shin-Soo Choo leads the team with six HR, a remarkably low number considering the launching pad where they play their home games. By comparison, Nelson Cruz just hit his 20th HR on Saturday. – Drew
14.(12) Baltimore Orioles (27-27) – Nelson Cruz is proving to be a valuable addition to a team that is resting comfortably in the middle of the AL East. Can they advance to the top of the heap or will the improving Red Sox take their place? – Michele
15.(26) Boston Red Sox (26-29) – Following up a ten-game losing streak with a six-game (and counting?) winning streak isn’t a bad way to rebound. They are still three games below .500 with a nine-game road trip up next. They have their work cut out for them. – Michele
16.(15) Washington Nationals (27-27) – Washington has won three of their last five. Adam LaRoche is raking at a .321/.414/.522 clip. – Drew
17.(18) Chicago White Sox (28-29) – Offense is hard to come by lately in Chicago, so the return of Jose Abreu will be a welcome sight. – Joe
18.(16) Seattle Mariners (27-28) – Seattle has lost five of seven. Robinson Cano is hitting an impressive .327, but his other numbers are down. His two homers project to only six for the season and his .790 OPS is 67 points beneath his career average. – Drew
19.(19) Kansas City Royals (26-29) – The Royals were swept by the Astros early in the week, but have since won two against the Blue Jays. Baseball is funny. – Joe
20.(14) Minnesota Twins (25-28) – The Twins are sliding as they’ve hit a difficult stretch in the schedule. I think things are only going to get worse in Minnesota. – Joe
21.(23) New York Mets (26-29) – The Mets have won four of their last five, splitting back-to-back 14 inning marathons. Closer Jenrry Mejia, who started seven games earlier this season, picked up three saves this week and has a season K/9 of 9.44. – Drew
22.(22) Pittsburgh Pirates (25-30) – The Pirates are showing signs of improvement, but they’re going to need to pick it up a little bit if they’re going to keep pace with Milwaukee and St. Louis. – Joe
23.(17) Cincinnati Reds (25-29) – If they can play Arizona every game they’ll be all set. – Joe
24.(24) San Diego Padres (26- 30) – They have a long way to go to gain ground in their division. The upside is they don’t have as many troubles as Arizona. – Michele
25.(20) Cleveland Indians (26-30) – Wanted: A starting pitcher with an ERA under 5.00. Corey Kluber has been a bright spot at least. – Joe
26.(30) Houston Astros (24-33) – Houston had won seven straight before losing their last game. Over the last seven days, rookie phenom George Springer has six HR, 14 RBI and a .357 BA. – Drew
27.(27) Philadelphia Phillies (24-29) – Philadelphia has alternated wins and losses for the last eight games. Though he hasn’t had a ton of leads to protect, Mike Adams is sporting a 2.16 ERA with 19 K in 16.2 innings pitched. – Drew
28.(25) Tampa Bay Rays (23-33) – A five-game losing streak has sunk them to the bottom of the division. – Michele
29.(29) Arizona Diamondbacks (23-35) – Even winning five out of seven games can’t improve their place in the standings very much. Going to be a long season for the fans unless something drastically changes soon. – Michele
30.(28) Chicago Cubs (20-33) – Jeff Samardzija finally got a win! – Joe
Biggest Jump: Red Sox (+11)
Biggest Drop: Twins, Reds (-6)