ESPN.com
The Oakland Athletics,
who have the best record in the majors at 51-30, are in the top spot in
the ESPN.com power rankings for the second consecutive week.At 51-33, the Milwaukee Brewers remain in the No. 2 spot for the second straight week. This week's biggest riser is the Seattle Mariners, who are up four spots to No. 10 after winning seven of their past nine games.
This week's voters were Jim Bowden of ESPN Insider, Tim Kurkjian of ESPN The Magazine, David Schoenfield of the SweetSpot Blog Network/ESPN.com and Jayson Stark of ESPN.com. Most of the team comments come courtesy of the bloggers on the SweetSpot Blog Network. How do you rank all 30 teams? Go ahead and rank them yourself.
Tell us what you think about the Power Rankings. Use the hashtag #ESPNMLBPOWER.
| 2014 Power Rankings: June 30 | |||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | ||
| 1 |
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Last Week: 1 | Yoenis Cespedes is riding a 13-game hitting streak, during which time he's batting a whopping .352. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 2 |
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Last Week: 2 | The Brewers went 18-10 in June thanks in large part to an offense that averaged 5.43 runs per game in the month. They possess the best record in the National League and the second-best run differential (plus-40) behind the Dodgers. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy inserted himself into the MVP discussion with a 1.029 OPS in June. -- Ryan Topp (@RDTopp), Disciples of Uecker | |||
| 3 | 2 Last Week: 5 | Garrett Richards continues to shine, going 4-0 with a 1.05 ERA in five starts in June. He has a .161 batting average against in that stretch. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 4 | 3 Last Week: 7 | Detroit either leads or is in the top three in six major hitting categories in the AL. Bats are not the issue, if that term is even relevant for a team with the AL's second-best winning percentage, despite losing two of three to Houston to end its road trip. A rough staff ERA of 4.37 in June has taken a positive turn at 3.03 in the past seven days, good for third in the AL during that period. -- Ryan Callery, Walkoff Woodward | |||
| 5 | 2 Last Week: 3 | The Giants' 9½-game lead in the NL West has dissolved entirely. Their misfortunes go beyond the losses of Angel Pagan and Brandon Belt to injury. They hit 15 fewer home runs as a team in June than they did in May, and have won only four of their past 19 games. -- Connor Grossman (@GiantsBaseball) West Coast Bias | |||
| 6 | 2 Last Week: 8 | Three weeks ago, Los Angeles was 33-31 and 9½ games behind the Giants. When they wake up today, the Dodgers will have won 14 of 20 to tie the stumbling Giants, who have lost 15 of 19. Clayton Kershaw tossed another seven shutout innings Sunday, improving his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 28. During June, Kershaw struck out 61 and walked only four. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 7 | 3 Last Week: 4 | Mark Buehrle is winless in his past five starts after starting the season 10-1 in his first 12 starts. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 8 | 2 Last Week: 6 | The Cardinals dropped into a second-place tie in the National League Central after getting caught in the Clayton Kershaw buzzsaw. The Cards are also still seeking long-term help in their rotation after losing Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia. -- Matt Philip (@fungoes), Fungoes | |||
| 9 | 2 Last Week: 11 | By scoring seven runs in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader, the Nats broke a streak of scoring four or fewer runs in their past 10 games. -- Harper Gordek (@harpergordek), Nationals Baseball | |||
| 10 | 4 Last Week: 14 | Felix Hernandez could be in line to start the All-Star Game: He's 10-2 with a 2.10 ERA, including a 1.30 ERA in his past nine starts after allowing one hit in eight scoreless innings Sunday. His final start before the break would come on July 10, giving him plenty of time off. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 11 | 1 Last Week: 12 | The Braves picked a good time to complete their first four-game sweep of the Phillies in Philadelphia since 1964. They have an extremely favorable schedule between now and the All-Star break (two series against the Mets, one against both the Cubs and D-backs). They must take advantage of these weaker teams to increase their lead in the NL East. -- Martin Gandy (@gondeee), Chop County | |||
| 12 | 3 Last Week: 15 | Break up the Redlegs! All of a sudden, the Reds find themselves in second place in the NL Central. Cincinnati has won five in a row, eight of nine and 14 of their past 18 games -- including the first four-game sweep of the Giants at AT&T Park. -- Chad Dotson (@dotsonc), Redleg Nation | |||
| 13 |
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Last Week: 13 | The Orioles keep stumbling through their schedule and failing to put away weaker opposition. Still, they find themselves only 1½ games out of first place in the American League East. This club has the makings of a major run in the second half. -- Jon Shepherd (@CamdenDepot), Camden Depot | |||
| 14 | 5 Last Week: 9 | Last week was a microcosm of the whole season for the Yankees. They played mediocre to poor baseball, but did not lose much ground in the AL East. Chase Whitley was awful in two starts, allowing 13 runs in 7.1 innings. Whitley falling back to earth may force the Yankees to trade for a starter sooner rather than later. -- Matt Bove (@RAYROBERT9), It's About the Money | |||
| 15 | 3 Last Week: 18 | After having a rough May (allowing seven home runs while compiling a 5.67 ERA in five starts), Edinson Volquez rebounded in June (giving up just one homer while having a 3.67 ERA in six starts). -- ESPN.com | |||
| 16 | 6 Last Week: 10 | Fifteen of their next 19 games are on the road, and their home series in that span is against the Tigers. The good news: All five road opponents currently have losing records, and the Royals have a better record on the road. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 17 | 1 Last Week: 16 | With their 7-6, 14-inning loss to the A's Saturday, Miami became the first team in history to lose five or more 13-plus inning games in a calendar month. The A's completed a three-game sweep in Miami Sunday, and the Marlins have lost 14 of their past 19 at home. Andrew Heaney's first three starts: 17 innings pitched, 16 hits, 3 walks, 12 strikeouts. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 18 | 1 Last Week: 17 | The Indians finally had a couple of days off this week and the results were mediocre unless your name is Josh Tomlin. The team was 2-3, splitting a mini-series with the D-backs and losing a series with the Mariners. The highlight of the week was Tomlin's 11-strikeout, one-hit shutout against the Mariners. -- Susan Petrone (@SusanPetrone), It's Pronounced "Lajaway" | |||
| 19 | 3 Last Week: 22 | It wasn't pretty, but the Red Sox took two of three from their archrivals in the Bronx, putting them just six games behind Toronto for the AL East lead. The outfield has drastically improved, now ranking 20th in baseball in WAR with a cumulative 2.1 mark after being dead last just a month ago. With Mookie Betts in the fold, Boston looks to have a fighting chance to return to the playoffs. -- Brett Cowett (@BACowett), Fire Brand of the AL | |||
| 20 | 4 Last Week: 24 | Sunday was both the White Sox's first shutout of the season, and the first game of scoreless work by their bullpen in a week. Since Ronald Belisario was removed as closer, the Sox have turned to Zach Putnam and Jake Petricka for saves. Neither was on the Opening Day roster, yet they've already combined for 74.2 innings pitched. It's not a good bullpen here. -- James Fegan (@TheCatbird_Seat), The Catbird Seat | |||
| 21 | 4 Last Week: 25 | The Mets are 11-16 in June and eight games below .500 through 82 games, but don't blame the bullpen. Mets relievers have posted a 1.67 ERA in their past 43 innings and have stranded 80 percent of inherited runners this year (77 of 96). -- Joe Janish (@metstoday), Mets Today | |||
| 22 | 2 Last Week: 20 | The Twins dropped five of six on an ugly road trip to fall six games below .500. If they can't put together a little run heading into the All-Star break, they'll need to start looking at what parts they have to sell off at the deadline. -- Nick Nelson (@nnelson9), Twins Daily | |||
| 23 | 4 Last Week: 19 | Yu Darvish recovered nicely from two rough outings. His eight-inning, 10-strikeout performance on Saturday was good for a game score of 83, his third-best mark of the season at only the halfway mark. -- Brandon Land (@one_strike_away), One Strike Away | |||
| 24 | 3 Last Week: 21 | The Rockies will be glad to see the calendar flip to July. Not only do they get to say goodbye to an 8-19 June in which their starting pitchers put up a 7.13 ERA, but starting pitchers Brett Anderson and Jordan Lyles, as well as Gold Glove-winner Nolan Arenado, all out due to broken-hand-related maladies, should return soon. Adam Peterson (@PlayerTBNL), Rockies Zingers | |||
| 25 | 2 Last Week: 23 | After losing four in a row at home to the Braves, the Phillies are now 10 games under and can officially kiss goodbye to 2014. The race for the worst record in baseball is on. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 26 |
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Last Week: 26 | Anthony Rizzo ranks second in the NL in WAR among first basemen and is making his case for an All-Star nod. -- Joe Aiello (@VFTB), View from the Bleachers | |||
| 27 |
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Last Week: 27 | On Sunday, Jose Altuve became only the third player in major league history to have multiple steals in four straight games, the previous being the Cleveland Naps' Ray Chapman in 1917. Altuve is hitting .424 in June. His 36 steals are more than what seven teams have. A 3-3 week brings Houston within two games of fourth-place Texas in the AL West. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 28 | 2 Last Week: 30 | The Rays took three of four from the Orioles in Baltimore, dropping only the nightcap of a day/night doubleheader on Friday. Despite owning the worst record in the American League, they no longer look like the worst team, and a 10-game deficit in the East no longer looks insurmountable. -- Tommy Rancel (@TRancel), The Process Report | |||
| 29 | 1 Last Week: 28 | Odrisamer Despaigne salvaged the final game of the series for the Padres against Arizona on Sunday and the Cuban has now allowed one run in his two starts. Seems unlikely it will last, however, as he has just three K's in 13.2 innings. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 30 | 1 Last Week: 29 | The D-backs finally caught up from their early start in Australia by playing only five games this week, going 3-2 as they split a pair with the Indians and took two of three from the Padres. Trade assets Brandon McCarthy, Brad Ziegler and Oliver Perez all pitched well while Aaron Hill and Martin Prado fizzled at the plate. The rebuild looms. Jeff Wiser (@outfieldgrass24), Inside the 'Zona | |||
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