ESPN.com
Heading into Week 3 of the season, the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers have arguably been the best teams in their respective leagues. The St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, riding hot streaks, are in the discussion as well in the NL. And don't forget about the Kansas City Royals in the AL.This week's voters were Jim Bowden of ESPN Insider, Eric Karabell of ESPN Fantasy, Tim Kurkjian of ESPN, 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.
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| 2015 Power Rankings: April 20 | |||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | ||
| 1 |
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Last Week: 1 | The Tigers are sitting pretty with an American League-best 10-2 record. The bullpen remains perhaps the only real thorn in the side of Tigers fans, despite Joakim Soria looking fantastic in what most are convinced will be a temporary stint at closer. And that's a whole other story. -- Ryan Callery (@adsal44), Walkoff Woodward | |||
| 2 |
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Last Week: 2 | That was one intense series against the A's. Brett Lawrie's takeout slide against Alcides Escobar led to the Royals throwing out Lawrie on Saturday and Sunday, with Scott Kazmir hitting Lorenzo Cain in between. With Greg Holland on the 15-day DL, Wade Davis picked up the save on Sunday. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 3 | 5 Last Week: 8 | The Dodgers have won seven in a row and one key has been rookie Joc Pederson. Minus the fanfare Kris Bryant has received, Pederson is hitting .289/.438/.553. He's striking out a lot (17), but also has 10 walks in 12 games. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 4 | 1 Last Week: 3 | After a dominant Opening Day and a record-setting failure, Clay Buchholz split the difference in his third start, gutting out a quality start despite allowing 11 hits in six innings. The Red Sox offense has gone mostly quiet in the last week as balls in play haven't found holes -- other than the one Hanley Ramirez put in the outfield wall in batting practice. -- Ryan P. Morrison (@ryanpmorrison), Inside the 'Zona | |||
| 5 | 1 Last Week: 4 | The Cardinals swept Reds to wrap up their first 11 games -- all against National League Central opponents -- with a division-leading 8-3 record. On-base machines Matt Holliday (.467 OBP, fifth in NL) and Matt Carpenter (.449, seventh) lead the way. -- Matt Philip (@fungoes), Fungoes | |||
| 6 | 12 Last Week: 18 | The Mets begin the week with the best record in the National League, riding a pitching staff that has issued the fewest walks in the majors and the hot bat of Lucas Duda, who's hitting .347 with a .947 OPS. -- Joe Janish (@metstoday), Mets Today | |||
| 7 | 9 Last Week: 16 | The early returns on the outfield defense: -4 defensive runs saved, 27th in the majors. Wil Myers is already -4 in center field and Matt Kemp is -2 in right field, while Justin Upton is at 0 in left field with Will Venable picking up some at +2 in limited action. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 8 | 3 Last Week: 11 | The Rockies won their first six games away from Coors Field. Nolan Arenado stole the show in San Francisco, summoning the ghost of Derek Jeter with a running catch in foul territory on Tuesday, and provided all the offense the Rockies needed with a three-run home run on Wednesday. -- Jough Brasch (@JoughBrasch), Rockies Zingers | |||
| 9 | 3 Last Week: 6 | Aided by a .455 BABIP, Caleb Joseph has done a more than adequate job of filling in for Matt Wieters. So far, he's collected at least one hit in eight of the 10 games in which he's played. -- Matt Kremnitzer (@mattkremnitzer), Camden Depot | |||
| 10 | 5 Last Week: 5 | The first homestand of the season wasn't kind to the Blue Jays, as they dropped three of four to the Rays. The pitching woes continue and a Jose Reyes DL stint looks inevitable. Not all is lost, however, as Russell Martin broke out of his slump and Josh Donaldson is on fire. -- Chris Sherwin (@CWSherwin), Blue Jays Plus | |||
| 11 | 2 Last Week: 13 | Through their first 13 games, Oakland hasn't won or lost more than two games in a row. Credit for the winning half of things goes in large part to Stephen Vogt, who is third in the American League in OPS (1.165) despite an appearance reminiscent of the old beer league A's of the late '90s. -- Jason Wojciechowski (@jlwoj), Beaneball | |||
| 12 | 2 Last Week: 10 | The uncomfortable situation between Josh Hamilton and Angels ownership isn't anywhere close to a resolution and could get worse before it gets better -- if it gets better. In the meantime, we have Mike Trout dingers to distract us. Trout's two-homer game on Friday gives him 101 for his career, making him the youngest 100 HR/100 SB player ever. -- Nathan Aderhold (@AdrastusPerkins), Halos Daily | |||
| 13 | 4 Last Week: 9 | For three starts at least, Max Scherzer has been all the Nats paid for. He's allowed a mere 18 baserunners in 21 2/3 innings, while striking out 25. -- Harper Gordek (@harpergordek), Nationals Baseball | |||
| 14 | 8 Last Week: 22 | Despite a slight hiccup on Saturday, the Cubs' pen has been one of the primary reasons for an above-.500 record after two weeks, posting a 2.65 ERA in 37 1/3 innings of work. -- Joe Aiello (@VFTB), View from the Bleachers | |||
| 15 | 4 Last Week: 19 | OK, so they're 5-1 against the hapless Brewers and 1-5 against the Reds and Tigers. Considering Francisco Cervelli is the only regular hitting above .261 and the team has a .222 average and .281 OBP, 6-6 isn't so bad. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 16 | 2 Last Week: 14 | The Braves have the fewest errors in the majors (one), and lead all teams in double plays turned (21). Their defense is backing solid pitching and timely hitting. The fourth and fifth spots in the rotation, occupied by Trevor Cahill and Eric Stults, have performed poorly. It's only a matter of time before the rising tide of pitching prospects acquired this offseason supplant one or both of them. -- Martin Gandy (@gondeee), Chop County | |||
| 17 | 10 Last Week: 7 | After a 4-0 start, Cincinnati has lost seven of its past eight games. A silver lining has been the play of a finally healthy Joey Votto. Through 12 games, Votto has hit .364/.481/.727 with four homers. -- Chad Dotson (@dotsonc), Redleg Nation | |||
| 18 | 6 Last Week: 12 | A midweek sweep by the Dodgers, including two one-run losses, overshadowed some strong individual performances. Nelson Cruz has arguably been baseball's best hitter over the last week, hitting eight home runs in eight games, while King Felix struck out 12 over seven innings in Saturday's win over Texas. -- Jeff Wiser (@outfieldgrass24), Inside the 'Zona | |||
| 19 | 2 Last Week: 17 | While they've had some great pitching performances so far, the injury-plagued Indians have really sputtered on offense. As a team, they're hitting just .221/.278/.326. Coupled with their defensive stats, which already have them pegged as one of the worst fielding teams in baseball yet again, it's easy to see why the first two weeks of the season have been subpar. -- Stephanie Liscio (@stephanieliscio), It's Pronounced "Lajaway" | |||
| 20 | 6 Last Week: 26 | After losing their first three series of the season, the Yankees recovered to sweep the Rays in Tampa for the first time since September 2005 and improve their record to 6-6. Things are slowly coming together overall and the offense has finally stepped it up. -- Stacey Gotsulias (@StaceGots), It's About the Money | |||
| 21 | 7 Last Week: 28 | After taking three of four from the Jays, the Rays squandered away the good vibes when they were swept at home over the weekend by the Yankees. Their rotation is basically three deep and the bullpen is perhaps even thinner. Grant Balfour was designated for assignment as the club looks for viable options other than Kevin Jepsen and Brad Boxberger. -- Tommy Rancel (@trancel), The Process Report | |||
| 22 | 1 Last Week: 21 | The D-backs have remained competitive, thanks in part to some surprisingly strong starts to 2015 from Ender Inciarte, Jake Lamb and Archie Bradley. A call-up of the unimpressive Yasmany Tomas, to come off the bench no less, ruffled some feathers, while Paul Goldschmidt has hit in eight straight games, smacking three home runs in that span. -- Jeff Wiser (@outfieldgrass24), Inside the 'Zona | |||
| 23 | 1 Last Week: 24 | Chris Sale has looked sharp in two starts -- 2-0, 2.25 ERA, two walks and 14 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 24 | 3 Last Week: 27 | Rotation issues and health are already beginning to become a concern in a season that is still young but finds Texas struggling to remain competitive on a daily basis. -- Brandon Land (@one_strike_away), One Strike Away | |||
| 25 |
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Last Week: 25 | The Astros are hitting .202 as a team, lead the American League in strikeouts (9.5 per game) and have scored the fewest runs (34) in the AL. But they're at .500 as Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh have picked up from last season, going a combined 4-0 in five starts with a 1.14 ERA. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 26 | 11 Last Week: 15 | Receiving their World Series rings has been the only bright spot for the defending champions in losing nine of their last 10 games. Jake Peavy is the fifth Giants player to go on the disabled list, and the team is going to utilize an off day on Monday to use four starters this week. -- Connor Grossman (@connorgrossman), West Coast Bias | |||
| 27 | 4 Last Week: 23 | Giancarlo Stanton hit his first two home runs of the season on Thursday and Friday, but the Marlins got swept by the Mets in a four-game series and rank last in the National League in ERA and strikeouts. Their next 15 games are against the Phillies, Nationals and Mets, so it's time to turn things around. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 28 | 2 Last Week: 30 | The Twins rebounded from a nightmarish start to win their first two series at Target Field, taking two of three from both the Royals and Indians. It's Minnesota's first time winning consecutive series since early July of last season. -- Nick Nelson (@nnelson9), Twins Daily | |||
| 29 |
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Last Week: 29 | A well-fought 5-4 victory against the Cardinals on April 13 hinted that the Brewers might quickly turn around their opening-week woes. Unfortunately, the bats continued to stay cold, yielding only seven runs in their past four games, as spark plug Carlos Gomez hit the disabled list. -- Nicholas Zettel (@spectivewax), Disciples of Uecker | |||
| 30 | 10 Last Week: 20 | Chase Utley hit two homers in a game against the Mets, including one off Matt Harvey, but those are his only extra-base hits of the season and he's hitting .116. Meanwhile, Cole Hamels is 0-3 and has allowed seven home runs in 18 innings. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
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