ESPN.com
The Oakland Athletics
opened up their lead in the AL West and continued to maintain their
grip on the top spot in ESPN's MLB Power Rankings for the eighth
straight week.Going 5-2 for the week, the A's padded their lead to four games over the No. 2 Los Angeles Angels, who've lost five of their past six games. This week's biggest riser is the Kansas City Royals, who are up five spots to No. 10. The Royals, winners of seven straight games, are now a half-game behind the No. 4 Detroit Tigers in the AL Central and open a four-game series against the A's beginning Monday night in Kansas City.
This week's voters: 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: August 11 | |||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | ||
| 1 |
--
Last Week: 1 | Jason Hammel may be rounding into the form the A's hoped for when they acquired him in the Jeff Samardzija trade. Hammel has allowed just one run over 12 innings in his past two starts. -- Jason Wojciechowski (@jlwoj), Beaneball | |||
| 2 |
--
Last Week: 2 | Despite having the second-best record in the majors, the Angels have lost five of their past six games, and their .223 batting average since the All-Star break is the American League's worst. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 3 |
--
Last Week: 3 | Hanley Ramirez, who landed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a strained right oblique muscle, has been out of the starting lineup in 25 games for the Dodgers, who now have a season-high 4.5-game lead in the NL West after salvaging the finale of a three-game series in Milwaukee. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 4 |
--
Last Week: 4 | The Tigers' offense crashed on their road trip to New York and Toronto, wasting some great pitching by scoring six runs in four games at Yankee Stadium. It all culminated in a 19-inning marathon in Toronto on Sunday in which the Detroit offense was held scoreless for the final 15 innings. -- Grey Papke, (@walkoffwoodward), Walkoff Woodward | |||
| 5 |
--
Last Week: 5 | Rookie catcher Caleb Joseph's five-game home run streak was snapped Sunday, but he's still 9-for-22 (.409) over his past six games. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 6 | 1 Last Week: 7 | While the Braves have slumped since the All-Star break, the Nats have not been able to capitalize, going a middling 12-11. One reason is an offense that has posted a mediocre .698 OPS over the past three-plus weeks. -- Harper Gordek (@harpergordek), Nationals Baseball | |||
| 7 | 1 Last Week: 6 | Over the past 30 days Brewers starting pitchers have allowed a 3.06 ERA, the fourth-best mark in the majors. If that success is to continue, they'll have to hope that Mike Fiers is capable of more performances like his eight innings of one-run ball against the Dodgers on Saturday, because Matt Garza appears headed to the shelf for longer than just 15 days. -- Ryan Topp (@RDTopp), Disciples of Uecker | |||
| 8 | 1 Last Week: 9 | Russell Martin is quietly having an excellent season, hitting .290/.417/.391 with 44 RBIs. He doesn't have enough plate appearances to qualify, but his .417 OBP would rank second in the majors to Troy Tulowitzki. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 9 | 1 Last Week: 8 | After getting tagged for six runs in 3 1/3 innings Sunday, Tim Lincecum has a 10.59 ERA in his past four starts and is winless since July 11. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 10 | 5 Last Week: 15 | Break up the Royals! Kansas City has won seven straight, holding its opponents to just 15 runs in that stretch. The Royals have hit .300 in those seven games -- best in the majors -- and they stole seven bases on Sunday. They can't match Detroit's power or ace pitching, but they run the bases better, play better defense and have the better pen. It's a race. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 11 |
--
Last Week: 11 | The Cardinals avenged their World Series loss by taking two of three from Boston, but the Orioles lit up newcomers Justin Masterson and John Lackey as the Cardinals failed to gain ground on the Brewers. Meanwhile, Kolten Wong (1.4 WAR) continues a quiet campaign for NL Rookie of the Year. -- Matt Philip (@fungoes), Fungoes | |||
| 12 | 2 Last Week: 14 | The Yankees were on top of the world headed into Saturday, taking three of four from the mighty Tigers and putting a 10-spot on the Indians. Then came the hangover. Brian McCann was hit in the mask by a foul tip and placed on the seven-day DL, the offense went through a 20-inning scoreless drought, and they managed to make Carlos Carrasco look like a Cy Young candidate Sunday. -- Kenny Ducey (@kennyducey), It's About the Money | |||
| 13 |
--
Last Week: 13 | The Mariners took three of four from the White Sox while holding them to eight runs and lowering the team ERA to 2.99. The last teams with an ERA under 3.00 were the Dodgers (2.96) and Mets (2.91) in 1988. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 14 | 4 Last Week: 10 | Melky Cabrera, who reached base eight times during Sunday's 19-inning win over Detroit, is hitting .388 with a .488 OBP over his past 17 games. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 15 | 3 Last Week: 12 | The ESPN "Sunday Night Baseball" audience got to see just how good Braves lefty Alex Wood really is. Atlanta is still waiting for its other left-handed starter, Mike Minor, to emerge from his funk. The Braves are now 9-4 against the Nationals this season, but they'll need to display more of that Nat-itude when the Dodgers and A's come to town this week. -- Martin Gandy (@gondeee), Chop County | |||
| 16 |
--
Last Week: 16 | If you are wondering how the roller-coaster Reds have remained in contention, look no further than catcher Devin Mesoraco. On Sunday, Mesoraco hit two homers, including his third grand slam of the season, and drove in six runs. The young All-Star backstop is hitting .293/.366/.580, and leads all MLB catchers in home runs (20). -- Chad Dotson (@dotsonc), Redleg Nation | |||
| 17 |
--
Last Week: 17 | The Rays continue to play well, taking two out of three in Wrigley Field; however, the teams ahead of them continue to play as well or even better. The club is in an idle state as a playoff berth seems unlikely and the team they are fielding will look much like next year's team, leaving little room to look ahead to the future by playing younger players or experimenting. -- Tommy Rancel (@TRancel), The Process Report | |||
| 18 | 1 Last Week: 19 | The Indians might have lost the Ohio Cup to the Cincinnati Reds in interleague play, but they won a three-game series against the Yankees behind a 10-strikeout start from Corey Kluber, who is second in the majors in strikeouts, and a surprisingly strong start from Carlos Carrasco, who has been pitching from the bullpen since April. -- Susan Petrone (@SusanPetrone), It's Pronounced "Lajaway" | |||
| 19 | 1 Last Week: 18 | A 3-3 week leaves the Marlins five games out of the second wild card. Meanwhile, they lead MLB in batter strikeouts (1,056) and are on pace to set a new record (surpassing the 1,428 by the 2013 Tigers). -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 20 | 1 Last Week: 21 | Daniel Murphy leads the NL in hits, is second in multihit games, third in doubles, third in batting average on the road and fourth in daytime batting average. -- Joe Janish (@metstoday), Mets Today | |||
| 21 | 1 Last Week: 20 | White Sox closer Matt Lindstrom is set to return Tuesday after nearly three full months on the disabled list with a dislocated tendon in his right ankle. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 22 |
--
Last Week: 22 | They've allowed 3.36 runs per game, best in the NL, and easily a club record if they maintain it. The previous low was 3.59 in 2010. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 23 | 1 Last Week: 24 | The Twins traded veteran Kevin Correia over the weekend and have added young hurlers Trevor May and Tommy Milone to the rotation, making a necessary shift toward evaluating future pieces. -- Nick Nelson (@nnelson9), Twins Daily | |||
| 24 | 1 Last Week: 23 | Nineteen grueling innings aside, the Red Sox's plan to have their young guys audition for the starting rotation is starting to pay off, with five quality starts over the past six games. Meanwhile, the offense showed some signs of life, as Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli and Yoenis Cespedes were involved in every run the Sox scored in Anaheim. The 2015 season looks better by the day. -- Brett Cowett (@firebrand), Fire Brand of the AL | |||
| 25 | 1 Last Week: 26 | Playing beside rookie Javier Baez has brought out the best in shortstop Starlin Castro at the plate. Castro is hitting .405 during a nine-game hitting streak. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 26 | 1 Last Week: 27 | On Sunday, for the second time in a week, Ryan Howard drove in the winning run after Chase Utley had been intentionally walked. The Phillies had trailed 5-0 in the game to the Mets, and they're a respectable 10-7 over their past 17 games. So we'll save the piling on for later! -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 27 | 2 Last Week: 25 | Since losing their best offensive player, Paul Goldschmidt, for the season on Aug. 1, the D-backs have gone 3-5 and have averaged 3.1 runs per game. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 28 | 1 Last Week: 29 | Injured outfielder Dexter Fowler, out since June 27 with a strained right intercostal muscle, may be back with the team Monday. Later in the week, the Astros, who have lost 17 of their past 23 games on the road, head out on a 10-game trip to Boston, New York and Cleveland. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 29 | 1 Last Week: 30 | All eyes in Texas are clearly shifted toward the 2015 season. One potential piece of the 2015 puzzle, Colby Lewis, has been much improved lately, with an ERA of 2.30 in four starts since July 19. -- Brandon Land (@one_strike_away), One Strike Away | |||
| 30 | 2 Last Week: 28 | The Rockies, who own an MLB-worst 18-41 road record, haven't won consecutive away games since sweeping the Giants from June 13 to 15. --ESPN.com | |||
No comments:
Post a Comment