ESPN.com
The Los Angeles Angels stay atop our rankings for the third straight week after recently having a 10-game winning streak.The Baltimore Orioles, who have the biggest lead (11½ games) among all division leaders, remain in the No. 2 spot for the second straight week, while the Washington Nationals, who own the National League's best record at 85-63, also stay in the No. 3 spot for the second week in a row.
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: September 15 | |||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | ||
| 1 |
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Last Week: 1 | The Angels couldn't have picked a better time for a double-digit winning streak, exploding for 86 runs in 10 games and pushing their division lead to 10. In case there's any lingering doubt about their best-team-in-baseball credentials: Since June 6, a span of 90 games, the Angels have played .689 baseball. -- Nathan Aderhold (@AdrastusPerkins), Halos Daily | |||
| 2 |
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Last Week: 2 | Week in and week out, the Orioles are presenting themselves as a team. Be it Matt Wieters, Manny Machado or Chris Davis falling out of the lineup, someone always rises to fill the space. -- Jon Shepherd (@CamdenDepot), Camden Depot | |||
| 3 |
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Last Week: 3 | Taking the weekend series three games to one continues a season-long beating of the Mets, with the Nats winning 13 of 16 so far. To do it at Citi Field is only natural, as the Nats have gone a crushing 28-5 in the Mets' home park since the last series of 2011. -- Harper Gordek (@harpergordek), Nationals Baseball | |||
| 4 |
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Last Week: 4 | Took two of three from the Giants during the weekend to push their division lead up to three games. Saturday's 17-0 drubbing of San Francisco was the Dodgers' largest margin of victory and most one-sided shutout against the Giants since the teams moved west in 1958. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 5 | 3 Last Week: 8 | After losing two of three games to the Dodgers over the weekend, the Giants now will try to make up a three-game deficit in the NL West in 13 games. The Giants will be looking for help from the Rockies and Cubs to beat the Dodgers. Three games loom next week (Sept. 22-24) between S.F. and L.A. that likely will decide the division. -- Connor Grossman (@GiantsBaseball), West Coast Bias | |||
| 6 | 1 Last Week: 7 | The Cardinals won three games from the Rockies over the weekend and reduced their magic number to 10. Matt Holliday is now up to a season-high .456 slugging percentage. Meanwhile, health questions about rotation horses Michael Wacha and John Lackey have surfaced. -- Matt Philip (@fungoes), Fungoes | |||
| 7 | 2 Last Week: 5 | The A's hadn't won consecutive games since Aug. 22-23, but picked a good time for it over the weekend, gaining a game over their wild-card rival in Seattle. Their remaining schedule is soft, but the lead is too fragile for them to be able to relax. -- Jason Wojciechowski (@jlwoj), Beaneball | |||
| 8 | 2 Last Week: 10 | After a 5-1 homestand against the Royals and Indians, the Tigers have regained the AL Central lead over Kansas City. Detroit is 8-2 against other AL Central teams in September. The Tigers will look to maintain that recent dominance when they go on the road this week, facing the Twins before a key weekend showdown with the Royals. -- Erin Saelzler, (@walkoffwoodward), Walkoff Woodward | |||
| 9 | 3 Last Week: 6 | Ned Yost has the best trio of relievers in the majors and took a 4-3 lead into the sixth on Sunday -- and yet managed to blow the game without using Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis or Greg Holland. If you have a strength, use it. Danny Duffy is scheduled to go Tuesday against the White Sox after throwing a successful side session on Sunday. The Royals draw Chris Sale on Wednesday. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 10 | 1 Last Week: 9 | Seattle heads out on a road trip -- Angels, Astros and Blue Jays (and then back to Seattle for the season-ending series against the Angels, without a day off in there). Maybe they can score some runs for King Felix: He has had six no-decisions when he has allowed no runs or one run (plus one loss) and two no-decisions and two losses when allowing two runs. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 11 | 2 Last Week: 13 | Since Aug. 5, Starling Marte has hit .359/.427/.594, although he didn't start any games this past weekend while recovering from a sore elbow after getting plunked by A.J. Burnett. With a big final homestand against the Red Sox and Brewers this week, they can all but lock up the second wild card. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 12 | 1 Last Week: 11 | The Indians had a chance to gain some ground this past weekend, but instead were swept by the Tigers. The bullpen, one of the team's strongest features for much of the season, could not hold leads on Saturday and Sunday. While the Indians are still technically in the race, it's tough to see a way they can make the postseason at this point. -- Stephanie Liscio (@stephanieliscio), It's Pronounced "Lajaway" | |||
| 13 | 3 Last Week: 16 | The Jays are only four games back of the second AL wild-card spot. They'll likely need to win out, as well as receive a little help along the way. They have a tough week coming up, visiting both the Orioles and Yankees. -- Matthias Koster, Mop-Up Duty | |||
| 14 | 1 Last Week: 15 | Since their nightmare loss to the Marlins last Tuesday, the Brewers have won four of five but have not picked up any ground on the second wild card. On tap this week are two massive series in St. Louis and Pittsburgh. -- Ryan Topp (@RDTopp), Disciples of Uecker | |||
| 15 | 1 Last Week: 14 | The Yankees were 3-4 during a week in which they needed to be much better in order to keep any playoff hopes -- however minuscule -- alive. They had their usual issues with a lack of big hits and the inability to score in key situations, and they could not hold late leads in two of their four games against Baltimore. -- Stacey Gotsulias (@StaceGots), It's About the Money | |||
| 16 | 4 Last Week: 12 | It was an unkind road trip (2-7) for the Braves, who return home to face the Nats and Mets for three games each, then the Pirates -- one of the teams in front of them in the wild-card race -- for four games. If the Braves can somehow win those three series, then they still have a shot at a wild-card spot. That's a big "if," though. -- Martin Gandy (@gondeee), Chop County | |||
| 17 | 1 Last Week: 18 | Even with the trade of David Price, the Rays continue to boast an impressive collection of major-league ready pitching. On Friday, they recalled Nate Karns, who tossed seven shutout innings versus Toronto. Alex Colome will start on Monday against the Yankees. Going into 2015, the starters' depth chart is at least eight deep. -- Tommy Rancel (@TRancel), The Process Report | |||
| 18 | 2 Last Week: 20 | Jacob deGrom has not allowed an earned run in his past 22 innings, and he has seven starts this year in which he hasn't allowed an earned run, the most by a pitcher in his first 20 career starts since 1914. His 2.62 ERA through his first 20 starts is the lowest by any Mets rookie. Since June 21, only Clayton Kershaw and Corey Kluber have a lower ERA than deGrom's 1.77. -- Joe Janish (@metstoday), Mets Today | |||
| 19 | 2 Last Week: 17 | A 3-4 week and the loss of Giancarlo Stanton to facial fractures ended any semblance of wild-card possibilities for Miami. At 72-76, and with eight of their last 14 games against the Nationals, finishing with a .500 campaign is highly unlikely. Stanton's 37 homers will most likely lead the National League, as the injured Anthony Rizzo is second with 30. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 20 | 1 Last Week: 21 | Just 12 games remain, all against division rivals, and there are a few questions left to be answered. Among those: Will Johnny Cueto (18-8) win 20 games? Will Devin Mesoraco become the third Reds catcher ever to reach 5.0 WAR? Will manager Bryan Price ever again allow Aroldis Chapman to pitch in a high-leverage situation? -- Chad Dotson (@dotsonc), Redleg Nation | |||
| 21 | 2 Last Week: 19 | Jedd Gyorko leads the Padres with 50 RBIs. Wonder what the record for fewest RBIs while leading his team is? The 1969 Padres scored even fewer runs than this group, but Nate Colbert still knocked in 66 and, remarkably, knocked in 111 for the '72 team that scored just 488 (they've scored 481 so far this season). -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 22 |
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Last Week: 22 | Things to watch for in the final two weeks: Ryan Howard is eight RBIs from 100; Ben Revere is eight points behind in the batting title race; Jonathan Papelbon's performance art show at the Philadelphia Art Museum. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 23 | 2 Last Week: 25 | Jose Abreu ended an 18-game homerless streak by smacking his 34th and 35th this past weekend. He hit .415/.493/.538 during the "drought." -- James Fegan (@TheCatbird_Seat), The Catbird Seat | |||
| 24 | 3 Last Week: 27 | A 3-3 week ended with Dallas Keuchel taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the hot-hitting Angels on Sunday. Jose Altuve has a major league-leading 206 hits as he chases Craig Biggio's 1998 single-season Astros record of 210. Chris Carter still leads all batters with 17 homers and 45 RBIs since the All-Star break. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 25 | 2 Last Week: 23 | A recent losing spell may have fans a little down, but 2015 and beyond still look very bright. -- Joe Aiello (@VFTB), View from the Bleachers | |||
| 26 | 2 Last Week: 24 | From the good news department: Xander Bogaerts hitting .377/.391/.656 with four homers and five doubles in his past 15 games. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 27 | 1 Last Week: 26 | The Twins need to go 5-8 or better in their final 13 games in order to avoid a fourth straight 95-loss season. Considering their recent play (they've lost 15 of their past 20), that might be a tall order. -- Nick Nelson (@nnelson9), Twins Daily | |||
| 28 |
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Last Week: 28 | After rattling off a seven-game losing streak, the D-backs haven't won a game this month against any team other than the Padres. Should the team go 3-10 or worse in the season's final games, it will have put up the worst season in franchise history. -- Ryan P. Morrison (InsidetheZona), Inside the 'Zona | |||
| 29 |
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Last Week: 29 | The only thing standing in the way of the first 100-loss season in team history is the final six home games. The Rockies are coming off back-to-back road sweeps where they scored just eight runs and are now 20-55 away from Denver. It's not a new story, but it is more depressing than before. -- Eric Garcia McKinley (@garcia_mckinley), Rockies Zingers | |||
| 30 |
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Last Week: 30 | This past weekend, Texas achieved its first three-game winning streak since mid-June and its first series sweep since mid-April. Interim manager Tim Bogar may make the decision fairly easy for the Rangers to remove "interim" from his title. -- Brandon Land (@one_strike_away), One Strike Away | |||
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