ESPN.com
For the third straight week, the San Francisco Giants hold tight to the No. 1 position in our Power Rankings. The Oakland Athletics, meanwhile, also remain at No. 2 for the third week in a row.The National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers and American League East-leading Toronto Blue Jays flip-flop spots from a week ago with the Brewers rising up to No. 3 while the Blue Jays fall to No. 4. The Los Angeles Angels, in the fifth spot, round out the top five teams.
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 16 | |||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | ||
| 1 |
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Last Week: 1 | The Giants' streak of success came to a screeching halt last week, as they lost six of seven games to the Nationals and Rockies. Punctuating the losses to Colorado were three bullpen collapses, two by closer Sergio Romo. Romo, a free agent-to-be, will present a very interesting case for the Giants down the road. -- Connor Grossman (@GiantsBaseball), West Coast Bias | |||
| 2 |
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Last Week: 2 | The league BABIP this year is .295, but just three A's pitchers clock in above that. Two of them are Jim Johnson, who has been terrible, and Jeff Francis, who has thrown just 5 2/3 innings. This isn't about the pitchers, though: the Oakland defense has simply been that stellar. -- Jason Wojciechowski (@jlwoj), Beaneball | |||
| 3 | 1 Last Week: 4 | The Brewers kept treading water with a 3-3 week. Two of the losses belonged to Marco Estrada, who gave up five home runs and leads all of baseball with 23 round-trippers allowed. Meanwhile, Jimmy Nelson's dominance at Triple-A Nashville continued with another strong start. -- Ryan Topp (@RDTopp), Disciples of Uecker | |||
| 4 | 1 Last Week: 3 | The Blue Jays' bats went cold last week, resulting in a 3-4 record for the week. After two and a half months of relative good health, three Jays players caught the injury bug on the weekend: R.A. Dickey, Brett Cecil and Adam Lind. Birds of a feather flock together. -- Callum Hughson (@callumhughson), Mop-Up Duty | |||
| 5 | 1 Last Week: 6 | Garrett Richards has pitched great in each of his past three starts. During that span, he's compiled a 0.43 ERA while having 23 strikeouts and just three walks. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 6 | 1 Last Week: 5 | It was another week of mixed results for the Tigers, who lost two of three in Chicago and won two of three at home against Minnesota. The Twins series again magnified their bullpen issues as Joe Nathan's continued struggles cost them Friday night, and on Saturday a group of four relievers turned what should have been a blowout into a 12-9 slugfest. -- Grey Papke (@spacemnkymafia), Walkoff Woodward | |||
| 7 | 1 Last Week: 8 | The Cardinals' sweep of the Nationals drops the Nats' regular-season record against the Cardinals and Braves to 9-29 since the start of the 2013 season. -- Harper Gordek (@harpergordek), Nationals Baseball | |||
| 8 | 5 Last Week: 13 | Matt Adams hit a home run in each of his first three games back after coming off the disabled list, and Cardinals pitchers (and defense) conspired to throw their MLB-leading 14th team shutout. -- Matt Philip (@fungoes), Fungoes | |||
| 9 | 2 Last Week: 7 | New second baseman Tommy La Stella has hit safely in 13 of 16 games he's started, collecting 23 hits and a 0.8 OWAR. That's a big improvement over Dan Uggla, who collected just 20 hits in twice as many starts (32), while taking the life out of the Braves' lineup with a -0.7 OWAR. -- Martin Gandy (@gondeee), Chop County | |||
| 10 | 4 Last Week: 14 | The Yankees went 4-2 during the West Coast swing of their long road trip thanks to contributions from key players. Derek Jeter was 10-for-23 with two doubles in those six games, Masahiro Tanaka pitched a complete game in Seattle on Wednesday and David Phelps outlasted Sonny Gray in a Yanks win on Friday night. -- Stacey Gotsulias (@StaceGots), It's About the Money | |||
| 11 | 7 Last Week: 18 | They've hit .314/.367/.498 with nine home runs during their current seven-game winning streak. Eric Hosmer has three home runs in those seven games after hitting one in his first 61. Go figure. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 12 | 2 Last Week: 10 | Losing to the D-backs Sunday left the Dodgers with a 10-4 record against them in 2014. Unfortunately, they face them only five more times, and the Dodgers are 27-30 vs. everyone else. Injuries continue to mount/worsen, as Chone Figgins strained a quad, Carl Crawford isn't hitting well during his rehab assignment and Chad Billingsley's comeback may have hit a wall. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 13 | 1 Last Week: 12 | Baltimore came into its weekend series against the Blue Jays looking to gain ground on them. That did not happen, but the Orioles did not lose ground either. They now find themselves tied with the Yankees just outside of the second AL wild-card spot. -- Jon Shepherd (@CamdenDepot), Camden Depot | |||
| 14 | 5 Last Week: 19 | Welcome to the world, Gregory Polanco. The rookie outfielder finally got the call and is hitting .387 with a home run in six games, including a 5-for-7 game in Friday's 13-inning win over the Marlins. Unfortunately, the Pirates wasted Vance Worley's seven scoreless innings on Sunday as the bullpen blew a 2-0 lead. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 15 | 4 Last Week: 11 | Blanked for seven innings by Vance Worley (!), Miami needed a late rally to salvage the finale of its three-game series against the Pirates on Sunday. After starting 20-7 at home, the Marlins have lost six of their past nine there. Christian Yelich hits the disabled list with a low back strain. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 16 | 7 Last Week: 9 | Seattle hit a robust .230/.263/.309 with two home runs during a 2-5 week. Felix Hernandez lost 1-0 on Friday, giving up a run in the ninth on a ground-ball single, a bad throw on a steal, another steal and a fielder's choice that could have been turned for a double play. At least he's used to losing games like this. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 17 | 1 Last Week: 16 | Despite a relatively anemic offense over the past few games, the Indians still managed to complete their 10-game road trip with a 5-5 record after a split with the Red Sox in Boston this past weekend. Perhaps Lonnie Chisenhall's 5-for-5, nine-RBI, three-HR performance in Texas last Monday used up the rest of the week's offense. -- Stephanie Liscio (@stephanieliscio), It's Pronounced "Lajaway" | |||
| 18 | 2 Last Week: 20 | The Reds won four of five against L.A. and Milwaukee, but they've settled into fourth place in the NL Central. The question of how much longer the Reds can pretend to be a competitor in this race may depend on how long Jay Bruce continues to underperform; this team isn't going anywhere with Bruce hitting .215/.319/.362. He's showing some signs of life lately, hitting .267/.333/.489 this month. -- Chad Dotson (@dotsonc), Redleg Nation | |||
| 19 | 2 Last Week: 17 | Heading into road showdowns in Oakland and Anaheim, the Rangers are still hovering around .500 at 34-35. If they are to make any sort of run, it will have to be over the next six games against division opponents that currently reside above them in the standings. -- Brandon Land (@one_strike_away), One Strike Away | |||
| 20 | 3 Last Week: 23 | Phil Hughes has issued only eight walks in 13 starts as he continues to show that he may just be a top-of-the-rotation starter after all. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 21 |
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Last Week: 21 | Even with Mike Napoli back, the Red Sox's offense still sputtered, averaging less than three runs per game in a 3-4 week. Boston is sixth in the majors in OBP, but a .240 average w/RISP keeps the Sox from driving in runs. Despite all that, Xander Bogaerts has quietly become the best offensive shortstop in the American League as a rookie; his .366 OBP and .794 OPS lead all AL shortstops. -- Brett Cowett (@BACowett), Fire Brand of the AL | |||
| 22 | 7 Last Week: 15 | The White Sox have scored six runs in their past four games, which has been enough to lose all four games. In the up-and-down AL Central that's enough of a streak to give them sole possession of last place in the division, which is where their run differential suggests they should have been for a while. -- James Fegan (@TheCatbird_Seat), The Catbird Seat | |||
| 23 | 1 Last Week: 22 | On the 15th day of June, the Rockies somehow gave to me ... a five-game winning streak! Four starting pitchers injured, no Cargo, sore toe for Tulo and a Rutledge hitting quite sweet. All caroling aside, if the Rockies can tread water until the team gets healthy, it'll be a merry season indeed. -- Richard Bergstrom (@RockiesZingers), Rockies Zingers | |||
| 24 | 2 Last Week: 26 | Even after losing Sunday to the Rays, Houston's 17 wins at home are just seven less than they accrued all last season. Thirteen different pitchers have garnered a win already, led by Dallas Keuchel's eight. Jose Altuve is on pace to set personal highs in stolen bases, doubles, average, on-base percentage and slugging. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 25 | 1 Last Week: 24 | The Mets have scored 4.76 runs per game on the road, the most in the National League and the fourth most in the majors; 25 of their next 33 games will be played away from Citi Field. -- Joe Janish (@metstoday), Mets Today | |||
| 26 | 4 Last Week: 30 | Jimmy Rollins became the Phillies' all-time hits leader and now says he's open to a trade if the Phillies "blow everything up." He joins Derek Jeter and David Wright as active all-time hits leaders for their franchises. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 27 | 1 Last Week: 28 | The D-backs followed up a good week with a poor one, dropping three of four to the Astros and two of three to the Dodgers. Four of the five losses were by two runs or fewer, thanks in part to cold bats (83 wRC+) and some shaky bullpen performances (5.44 FIP). Paul Goldschmidt remains the team's bright spot, hitting .391/.517/.957 over the past seven days (#VoteGoldy). -- Jeff Wiser (@outfieldgrass24), Inside the 'Zona | |||
| 28 | 3 Last Week: 25 | The Padres were 21-23 on May 17, but have gone 8-17 since and have had one winning streak of more than two games all season, a four-game streak from May 9 to 13. They've scored 0 runs (11 times) or 1 run (10 times) in 30 percent of their games. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 29 | 2 Last Week: 27 | Rumors are heating up that both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel could be traded before the non-waiver deadline. -- Joe Aiello (@VFTB), View from the Bleachers | |||
| 30 | 1 Last Week: 29 | The Rays continue to hold the league's worst record even after winning three of four to close out the week. As the calendar moves toward July, trade rumors will intensify, but with nearly the entire team under control for next season Tampa Bay may not be so high on the list of sellers. -- Tommy Rancel (@TRancel), The Process Report | |||
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