Kalens MLB Weekly Power Rankings

By Kalen Patrick

Here we go with another addition of my baseball power rankings, big changes all across the board at the top, while the bottom teams continue to struggle. Also have added a new section called Who's Hot and Who's Not. Lets do this.

Top 5
1 (2) Philadelphia Phillies (47-29) - Phillies have the best winning % in baseball at .618, the bats have been waking up as of late and their pitching has allowed the fewest runs in all of baseball. Hard to top that. NL's team to beat.

2 (1) - Boston Red Sox (44-30) - The Red Sox have the best hitter in Baseball (Adrian Gonzalez), the best pitcher (Josh Beckett), the best record in the AL and the best offense in Baseball. Any questions?

3 (5) - New York Yankees (43-30) - Yeesh I promise I don't work for ESPN and I promise I don't have any kind of East Coast bias, but even I can admit that these are the best 3 teams in Baseball. Yankees have the best run differential in the Majors (+92) and are right in line to fight the Red Sox for the AL East/Wild Card crown.

4 (NR) - Atlanta Braves (43-33) - One of the most underrated and forgotten teams in all of Baseball. The pitching has been outstanding, 2nd in ERA, 1st in WHIP and 1st in BAA. The Braves Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson are #1 and #2 respectively in ERA in the NL. While the offense has been struggling the return of Jayson Heyward should help and they look to be right in the thick of the playoff race.

BEST PITCHER IN THE NL IS........JAIR JURRJENS?

5 (NR) Arizona Diamondbacks (42-34) - I guess these D-Backs aren't going anywhere, with all the injuries the Giants have suffered, it really has opened up a great opportunity to make some noise and give them a realistic shot at playoffs. While I question whether they can maintain this level of play through the season, right now they are playing very well.

Bottom 5
26 (27) - San Diego Padres (32-44) - The Padres are tied for the fewest runs scored in Baseball and they somehow have an awful home record at 14-26. 3-7 in their last 10 games and thats including the 2 game win streak they are on now. Weird how things have gone so far south compared to last year.

27 (26) - Florida Marlins (33-42) - The Marlins are 1-9 in their last 10 games, Hanley Ramirez looks washed up (at 27?), the coaching change is a major hit or miss move and they suffer from having almost no fans show up to games. Pretty bleak.

PICTURE OF A RECORD SETTING ATTENDANCE AT A MARLINS GAME (JOKE)

28 (28) - Chicago Cubs (30-44) - This team is the highest paid bunch of losers I have ever seen. Prince Fielder said he would be open to signing with the Cubs in the offseason? Why? (oh yeah the insane money he will get). This is what I wrote last week and nothing has changed.


29 (NR) Kansas City Royals (31-44) - Fewest wins in the AL, 3-7 in their last 10 games, and while the Royals have some promising prospects coming up and playing respectably, this is a team that will be relevant come 2013.

30 (29) - Houston Astros (28-48) - The Astros are already 20 games below .500, have allowed the most runs in Baseball and have the worst run differential at -72. This team is in full rebuild mode, would trading Hunter Pence be the best way to get some promising prospects?

Who's Hot?
Teams that are deserving of honorable mentions here are the Washington Nationals who are 9-1 in their last 10 games and they have beaten some damn good teams lately. This team could be a force in a few years when Strasburg is back, Harper gets to the Majors and other prospects come up. The Oakland A's have stepped their game up, sweeping the Giants and getting a 6 game winning streak going. The Minnesota Twins are 8-2 in their last 10 games and have been just as hot as the Nationals.

Who's Not?
Besides for all the teams in the Bottom 5, the leading teams in the NL Central have been struggling, both the Cardinals (who are now minus Pujols until mid August) and Brewers are 3-7 in their last 10 and have allowed the Reds to get right back in the race despite only playing .500 ball lately.

Check back in next week for another edition of my Weekly Power Rankings and my new section of Who's Hot and Who's Not.

MLB Power Rankings - Top 5 & Bottom 5

Each week I plan to update the top 5 and the bottom 5 teams in Baseball. Doing all 30 teams is just too time consuming and do you really care who is 13th or 17th or 23rd? Thought not. So lets get this going and we shall start with the teams playing the best Baseball right now.

        Cleveland Indians are all smiles with how their 2011 season is going.

Top 5
1 - Cleveland Indians 30-16 - Cleveland needed this, they needed something, anything to root for. Lebron bolts for Miami, the Browns are well...the Browns. I'm glad for the city of Cleveland that the Indians are playing lights out Baseball. They have the best run differential in Baseball (+65), the only knock I can make on them is that they are 11-11 on the road, but even that is not bad considering the way they play at home.

2 - St. Louis Cardinals 30-20 - The hottest team in Baseball, scoring a bunch of runs, starting pitching has been excellent. They have been this good and take in to account that no doubt Pujols is gonna hit a lot better than .267 and they don't have Adam Wainwright. Question marks in the bullpen and closer but I expect them to make a serious play for Heath Bell at the trade deadline.

3 - Philadelphia Phillies 29-19 - They have had their struggles on the offensive front, however, getting Chase Utley back is huge, and they will soon be getting Shane Victorino back too. These 2 guys fuel the Phillies offense, we know Ryan Howard will hit, but Utley and Victorino get this team moving. Pitching on this team will carry them despite offensive struggles.

4 - San Francisco Giants 27-20 - I may have to switch up the Giants and Marlins after the series they are currently playing. However, the Giants have been racking up the W's lately, they are now 7 games above .500. Keep in mind this is without their best hitter in Pablo Sandoval and Aubrey Huff, Buster Posey, Miguel Tejada and Pat Burrell all underachieving so far at the plate. When they start to hit, watch out!

5 - Florida Marlins 27-19 - They have just been winning, and getting key hits when needed. They have an excellent road record so far (13-7). Will have to check back in on them in a week or two, with their ace and Cy Young candidate Josh Johnson on the DL. One thing to note is that Hanley Ramirez WILL hit better than he has been. This team will challenge Philly all through the season.


Bottom 5
26 - Washington Nationals 21-27 - They have lost 4 in a row and have lost 7 of their last 10 games. Big Money Free Agent Jayson Werth hasn't lived up to the money yet, .247 AVG 8 HR's with only 18 RBI. I do like the Nationals going forward though. Next year or so when they get Strasburg back, and Bryce Harper will be ready to take on Major League pitching. Harper, Zimmerman and Werth projects to be a nice trio of hitters.

27 - Kansas City Royals - 22-25 - As a whole their season hasn't been awful, but they are 2-8 in their last 10 games, Royals Pitcher Vin Mazzaro's 14 Earned Run performance has summed up how they've been playing lately. While the Home Record is solid, their road record of 5-12 leaves a lot to be desired. Royals do have a bright future with some stars moving through the Minor Leagues.

28 - San Diego Padres 19-30 - Was last year just an blip on the radar? Certainly looks like it, trading away Adrian Gonzalez and the pitching struggling this team has gone from borderline playoff team to bottom feeder. I hope Padre fans soaked in last year cause they won't be getting that close to playoffs for a while.

29 - Houston Astros 18-31 - This team just doesn't have much talent, they need to trade Hunter Pence and try and trade Carlos Lee, build through the farm system. Once they have some promising prospects, they have the money to spend in Free Agency. Honestly I don't expect much from this team in the next 3-5 years.

30 - Minnesota Twins 16-31 - Yikes, what happened? Worst run differential BY FAR (-85), just awful at home (5-12) and their star hitters Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer have a combined 2 HR's 17 RBI and just a pathetic .230 AVG and .288 OBP. They better turn it around.

 

Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has a lot to be upset about with how their season has gone

Check back next week while I update my Top 5 and Bottom 5 Teams in MLB. Lots of action today, my games to watch are:
AL - Red Sox @ Indians (Lester 6-1, 3.68 ERA vs Talbot 1-0, 1.46 ERA) 9:05AM Pacific Time
NL - Cardinals @ Padres (Carpenter 1-4, 4.88 ERA vs Latos 1-6, 4.60 ERA) 3:35PM Pacific Time


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