ESPN.com
In Week 23 of our rankings, the St. Louis Cardinals own the top spot for the 15th consecutive week. The Toronto Blue Jays (at No. 4) and Los Angeles Dodgers (at No. 5), two of baseball's hottest teams, take up the final two spots in our top five.
This week's voters are 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. 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.
| 2015 Power Rankings: September 7 | |||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | ||
| 1 |
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Last Week: 1 | The Cardinals are getting healthier -- outfielders Jon Jay and Randal Grichuk recently returned from the disabled list -- and Jaime Garcia helped lower the team ERA to an MLB-best 2.73, nearly a half run better than the next-best team. -- Matt Philip (@fungoes), Fungoes | |||
| 2 |
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Last Week: 2 | Johnny Cueto has now had four bad outings in a row, with 37 hits allowed and 22 runs over his last 20 innings pitched. Yordano Ventura, however, has finally started looking like the Ventura of 2014 with a 1.13 ERA in his past five starts and back-to-back 11-strikeout games. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 3 |
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Last Week: 3 | J.A. Happ lost his first start for the Pirates, but since then he has allowed two runs in 30 innings over five outings. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 4 |
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Last Week: 4 | The red-hot Blue Jays continue to steamroll through the majors, and with the impending return of Marcus Stroman this coming weekend, that optimism isn't going away north of the border. -- Ewan Ross (@Mentoch), Blue Jays Plus | |||
| 5 | 3 Last Week: 8 | Yasmani Grandal was hitless over his last 10 games (0-for-30) entering play Saturday night. The Dodgers' five home runs Friday night were the most they hit in a single game since they went deep six times against Arizona on Sept. 9, 2013. Friday also marked the first time Los Angeles has ever hit five home runs in a game in San Diego. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 6 | 1 Last Week: 5 | Cubs rookies have 29 game-winning RBIs this season, which is the most by any group of rookies in the majors. The Phillies are second with 16. -- Joe Aiello (@VFTB), View from the Bleachers | |||
| 7 | 2 Last Week: 9 | Didi Gregorius and Stephen Drew are currently the Yankees' best hitters. In order to keep pace with Toronto and possibly take over the AL East lead, guys like Alex Rodriguez, Brett Gardner, Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury will also need to step it up down the stretch. -- Stacey Gotsulias (@StaceGots), It's About the Money | |||
| 8 | 2 Last Week: 6 | The Mets lead the majors in runs scored (234), home runs (67), RBIs (225) and slugging percentage (.489) since July 25, and they're averaging six runs per game during that span. -- Joe Janish (@metstoday), Mets Today | |||
| 9 | 2 Last Week: 7 | The Astros begin the week with a three-game lead over the Rangers, but head out on a 10-game road trip to Oakland, Anaheim and Texas. The Astros are 48-24 at home (while Dallas Keuchel is now 13-0 with a 1.49 ERA at Minute Maid), but just 27-38 on the road (where Keuchel is 4-6, 3.35). -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 10 | 1 Last Week: 11 | Texas is two games behind Houston in the loss column and looks like it will have a three-headed monster with Yu Darvish, Cole Hamels and Derek Holland to front the rotation for years to come. -- Brandon Land (@one_strike_away), One Strike Away | |||
| 11 | 2 Last Week: 13 | In the past two weeks, Ryan Zimmerman drove in an incredible 24 runs. How? Well, Bryce Harper having a .600+ OBP over that time helps a lot. -- Harper Gordek (@harpergordek), Nationals Baseball | |||
| 12 | 2 Last Week: 10 | A seven-game losing streak punctuated by a Dodgers sweep has nearly put the Giants out of contention. San Francisco has three weeks to make up ground and ensure the four-game series against L.A. in the season's final week is a meaningful one. -- Connor Grossman (@connorgrossman), West Coast Bias | |||
| 13 | 1 Last Week: 14 | Rookie Miguel Sano has shown incredible power (15 home runs in 55 games), but he has also struck out a lot (86 times in 192 at-bats). ESPN.com | |||
| 14 | 2 Last Week: 12 | Mike Trout finally homered on Sunday, ending a 27-game homerless drought in which he'd hit .258 with just five RBIs, a stretch in which the Angels went 10-17. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 15 | 2 Last Week: 17 | The Rays, last in the American League in runs scored, are on the fringe of the race for the second AL wild-card spot, but in all likelihood are going to miss the playoffs for a second straight season. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 16 | 2 Last Week: 18 | After spending much of the season on the disabled list, Josh Tomlin has been on a tear since his return on Aug. 15. This past week against the Tigers, he pitched a complete game, allowing just one earned run on four hits. In his five major league starts in 2015, he's had a WHIP of .708 and an ERA of 2.55. -- Stephanie Liscio (@stephanieliscio), It's Pronounced "Lajaway" | |||
| 17 | 2 Last Week: 15 | Chris Davis has topped 40 home runs for the second time in three years, and over that span he has 21 more homers than anyone else. Davis will be a free agent after this season, and he's going to make a lot of money. -- Matt Kremnitzer (@mattkremnitzer), Camden Depot | |||
| 18 | 1 Last Week: 19 | Matt Kemp's two-run homer in the first inning Friday marked the 200th home run of his career. It was one of a Petco Park record-tying eight combined homers for the game. James Shields yielded two more homers, giving him 28 allowed on the season, of which 23 have been solo shots. Andrew Cashner and Ian Kennedy are a combined 13-26. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 19 | 3 Last Week: 16 | The D-backs were without Paul Goldschmidt for a few games, but Jake Lamb, Chris Owings, David Peralta and A.J. Pollock picked up the slack. Chris Owings' offensive outburst is particularly interesting as he's had a poor sophomore season and Arizona faces a crunch in the middle infield with Owings, Nick Ahmed, Brandon Drury, Phil Gosselin and Aaron Hill all slated to return in 2016. -- Jeff Wiser (@OutfieldGrass24), Inside the 'Zona | |||
| 20 | 3 Last Week: 23 | It's been a comparatively difficult season for Felix Hernandez, yet he earned his 16th win on Saturday. The durable ace has seen his strikeouts drop and his walks rise, and he's allowed more HRs this year than he has since 2007. He'll turn 30 in '16, and one has to wonder whether this is a bump in the road for the King or the start of his decline. -- Jeff Wiser (@OutfieldGrass24), Inside the 'Zona | |||
| 21 | 1 Last Week: 20 | The White Sox entered last week without a single victory in Kauffman Stadium and one of two AL teams averaging fewer than four runs per game. They finished the week with 37 runs in six games and a road sweep of the division-leading Royals. It's too little, too late, but it's nice to see. -- James Fegan (@TheCatbird_Seat), The Catbird Seat | |||
| 22 | 1 Last Week: 21 | To say that Rick Porcello's inaugural season with the Red Sox has been a disappointment would be an understatement. Yet, in his last two starts, he's shown the results that earned him the four-year, $82.5 million deal that he signed last winter. A return to his ideal arm slot has yielded 10 hits, only one earned run, one walk and 18 strikeouts over his last 15 innings. -- Ryan P. Morrison (@ryanpmorrison), Inside the 'Zona | |||
| 23 | 1 Last Week: 22 | Injuries and a bad team continue to detract from one of the best seasons Miguel Cabrera has had in a Tigers uniform. Though his slugging is down a bit from his peak seasons, his .353 average and .452 OBP would both be career highs for him. -- Grey Papke (@walkoffwoodward), Walkoff Woodward | |||
| 24 | 2 Last Week: 26 | Two months after their first undefeated week of the season, the Brewers posted another six-game winning streak, this one against NL Central rivals. This time around, a gang of youngsters and depth players produced the wins, from Ariel Pena's and Zach Davies' first appearances on the mound, to Elian Herrera's, Domingo Santana's and Shane Peterson's performances at the plate. -- Nicholas Zettel (@spectivewax), Disciples of Uecker | |||
| 25 | 1 Last Week: 24 | The A's are so far winless in September, having lost five games in a row. They also have the worst record in the American League. -- ESPN.com | |||
| 26 | 2 Last Week: 28 | Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez are having a Maris-Mantle type of home run race. Each has taken over the NL home run lead from the other in the past week. The last team to have two players hit 40 HRs in a season was the 2006 White Sox with Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye. Besides that, the Rockies are still bad. -- Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious), Rockies Zingers | |||
| 27 | 3 Last Week: 30 | There are strong indications Dan Jennings will return as general manager at the end of the season. Brad Hand's last two starts combined: 6⅓ innings, 14 hits, 12 earned runs, four walks, seven strikeouts, four homers allowed. -- Diane Firstman (@dianagram), Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 28 | 1 Last Week: 27 | The Reds were 8-21 in August, and they didn't win a single series. At what point does Cincinnati just drop out of these rankings entirely? -- Chad Dotson (@dotsonc), Redleg Nation | |||
| 29 |
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Last Week: 29 | Well, the race for the first overall pick is on as the Braves' 12-game losing streak has cut the Phillies' "lead" down to one game. -- David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield), SweetSpot | |||
| 30 | 5 Last Week: 25 | "A lot of room in right-center; if he hits one there we can dance in the streets. The 2-1 ... swung, line drive left field. One run is in, here comes Bream. Here's the throw to the plate. He is ... safe! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!" -- Skip Caray. Yeah, those were the days. -- Martin Gandy (@gondeee), Chop County | |||
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