MLB Power Rankings: San Francisco Giants climbing ladder
The San Francisco Giants are climbing the ladder of the Call to the Pen weekly MLB Power Rankings, and a lot of that has to do with them winning five games this past week, along with taking a nice advantage at the top of the NL West standings.
Since last Monday, the San Francisco Giants have won five games while losing just once, sweeping the San Diego Padres and winning two of three against the Colorado Rockies. Before this week’s schedule begins, the Giants are 8-2 in their past 10 games as well.
There are others on this list that are moving as well, but in the wrong direction, as the Atlanta Braves are back to having the lowest number of wins in baseball, and the Chicago White Sox are out of the Top 10 for the first time all season as the implosion that is known as their bullpen has helped them fall out of the top spot in the AL Central standings as well.
This past week also saw the Cincinnati Reds break an 11-game losing streak and the Kansas City Royals start heating up as they are now the top team in the AL Central, but that division will be wide-open all season.
A lot went down this past week, and in these rankings, all but four teams either moved up or down on the list due to their play (or lack thereof).
With that said, let’s dive into the rankings and see where every team stands as this week begins with a couple days left in May and we already begin the month of June.
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team. 17. The Atlanta Braves have returned to the bottom of the baseball standings, losing four of their past six games, having fewer than 15 wins entering this week and are already 15 games back of the division lead in the NL East. With just four home wins in ’16 thus far, the Braves seem to still just be going through the motions.. (14-35). Previous: . Atlanta Braves. 30
(15-34). Previous: . Minnesota Twins. 29. team. 2. Minnesota is basically the 29th ranked team in the majors by default, but that might not be the case for long, as they are a part of a group of three teams who still have fewer than 20 wins on the season, with the Twins being 12 games back of the top team in the AL Central. The Twins have won four consecutive games with a win over the Kansas City Royals, followed by a three-game sweep over the Seattle Mariners, a series where the Twins scored no less than five runs in each win.
(16-34). Previous: . Cincinnati Reds. 28. team. 61. A case can be made for the Cincinnati Reds that they are playing the worst overall baseball right now, and the ways things are going, they could easily be sitting at the bottom of these MLB Power Rankings soon. The Reds did break an 11-game losing streak this past week with a Saturday win over the Milwaukee Brewers, but overall they are still a bad baseball team thus far in ’16.
San Diego Padres. 27. team. 127. The Padres didn’t have the easiest of schedules to start this past week, as they were swept by the San Francisco Giants and then won one of three against the Arizona Diamondbacks. San Diego played all last week on the road, though their lone win was on Friday night by a 10-3 score.. (20-31). Previous:
(23-27). Previous: . Milwaukee Brewers. 26. team. 76. The Brew Crew did win two of three against the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend, but at times they helped keep the Reds in the game. Overall, though, with games against the aforementioned Reds and Braves, the Brewers took advantage of the situation by winning five of six games last week.
Next: MLB Power Rankings: 25-21
96. The A’s are tied with the Astros in the AL West standings, but their week wasn’t that great, losing two of three to Seattle. They rallied to salvage the week with a series win over the Detroit Tigers, winning on both Saturday and Sunday. Oakland has been a bit of an up-and-down team this season, but a couple more solid weekends and they could be back even closer to the .500 mark.. (22-29). Previous: . Oakland Athletics. 25. team
Houston Astros. 24. team. 135. Houston this past week swept the Baltimore Orioles in three straight games, winning all three of their games by no more than two runs, and kept most of that momentum by defeating the Los Angeles Angels in two of their three games over this past weekend. Overall, this season has been a bit of a slowish start, but more weeks like they just had and Houston won’t have a problem anymore.. (22-29). Previous:
102. The payroll of the Angels just doesn’t match up with the product on the field, as they lost consecutive series last week to the Texas Rangers and the Astros, and for those losses, they sit back seven games in the AL West as this week begins. They have just as many wins as the Astros and A’s at the start of this upcoming week, but thus far, the Angels are a disappointment.. (22-28). Previous: . Los Angeles Angels. 23. team
21. Tampa Bay won twice in seven games last week, with series losses to the Miami Marlins and the New York Yankees, as all of their games against Miami had a one-run differential. Against the Yankees, their win was Saturday by a 9-5 score, but they also had a three-run loss and a one-run loss. The Rays lost three games this past week by a single run.. (22-26). Previous: . Tampa Bay Rays. 22. team
(23-29). Previous: . Arizona Diamondbacks. 21. team. 8. The Diamondbacks enter this week six games under .500, nine games back of the AL West lead. They’ve won their past two games and have a winning road record, even though they lost three straight at Pittsburgh to start last week. Arizona ended up losing four straight games to start last week but ended the week with two consecutive wins at home against the Padres.
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(23-26). Previous: . Colorado Rockies. 20. team. 108. Colorado was 2-5 over the past seven days, losing three of four to a very good Boston Red Sox team and lost two of three to another very good team in the San Francisco Giants. They did win on Thursday and Friday with an 8-2 win over Boston and a 5-2 win over the Giants. This week, they will have a lighter schedule to start the week off against the Reds.
63. Detroit is three games back of the AL Central lead and one game under the .500 mark, going 6-4 in their past 10 games and 3-3 in the last week. Detroit is a decent mover in these MLB Power Rankings, and the rest of their division might want to keep tabs if they start to improve their play on a more consistent level.. (24-25). Previous: . Detroit Tigers. 19. team
82. Losing two games to the Braves usually would push a team back in the rankings, but the Marlins get a pass this week as they went 4-3 last week, including winning a four-game series over the Rays (three wins) and then winning a game on Sunday. Miami is a unique team, to say the least, and maybe they will keep over the .500 mark, though they begin this week with a tough Pirates team.. (26-24). Previous: . Miami Marlins. 18. team
New York Yankees. 17. team. 43. The Yankees went 3-3 last week, winning a series over the weekend against the Rays with 4-1 and 2-1 wins, but lost a series to the Blue Jays. The Yankees sometimes look like they are really going to challenge in the AL East, then they come back and don’t play very consistent baseball. Going forward, the month of June could be important to not get too far behind the Red Sox or Orioles.. (24-25). Previous:
Toronto Blue Jays. 16. team. 39. Toronto had a nice week with series wins over both the Yankees and the Red Sox, winning four straight during that span from Wednesday through Saturday. Toronto will be a very good team once this season really heats up, and they began to show that this past week by showing their AL East counterparts they are still a contender entering the month of June.. (26-26). Previous:
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team. 71. The Dodgers went 5-1 over the span of six games last week and currently have the best pitcher in baseball in <a href=. (27-24). Previous: . Los Angeles Dodgers. 15
128. The White Sox have the ability to be one of the better teams in baseball, but the month of May has been a disaster for the White Sox, and this past week they went from first to third in the standings, though they enter Monday down by just one game and have a winning record. The White Sox have lost 14 of their past 18 games, losing in a variety of ways, and blew two late-inning leads to the Royals over the weekend.. (27-24). Previous: . Chicago White Sox. 14. team
13. team. 6. Philadelphia lost five of six games last week, knocking them out of the Top 10 of the MLB Power Rankings as they lost to the Tigers two of three games and were swept by the Cubs over the weekend where they were outscored, 17-5. The Phillies are starting to slow down a bit but are still playing better than expected when the season started.. (26-24). Previous: . Philadelphia Phillies
The Cardinals will make the NL Central very interesting as they stayed over the the .500 mark, but are still 9.5 games back of the Cubs in the division standings. St. Louis isn’t the same team we are accustomed to seeing as they have a losing record at Busch Stadium. With that said, the Cardinals will be a team to watch all season long.. (26-25). Previous: . St. Louis Cardinals. 11. team. 33
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(27-22). Previous: . Kansas City Royals. 10. team. 7. Watch out, American League, because the Royals are back atop the AL Central standings, and they are starting to play solid winning baseball, winning seven of their past 10 games, including a 16-7 mark at home. KC went 5-1 last week and swept the White Sox in three straight games from Friday through Sunday, knocking off the White Sox from the top spot. They won those games by a combined four runs with a combined score of 20-16, including an amazing comeback on Saturday, then another comeback win on Sunday when they faced <a href=
4. Though the Pirates lost the last two games of the weekend, they did begin last week by winning five straight games with wins over the Rockies, Diamondbacks and the Rangers. The Pirates are one of the better teams in baseball, and with 28 wins, they are showing they belong in the conversation as one of the top teams in the NL. They enter this week 6.5 games back of the Cubs in the NL Central.. (28-21). Previous: . Pittsburgh Pirates. 9. team
(28-21). Previous: . Seattle Mariners. 8. team. 62. Seattle enters this week one-half game back of the AL West lead, and they lost that lead by somehow losing a series to the lowly Twins, being swept by Minnesota in three games over the weekend, but they began the week by winning two of three against the A’s. Seattle fell in the MLB Power Rankings because it is tough to lose a series by being swept by the Twins by a combined score of 18-11. That just can’t happen.
126. The Rangers went 4-2 during their past six games with two wins over the Angels and two over the Pirates on Saturday and Sunday. They won those games against a good Pirates team by scores of 5-2 and 6-2, and it seems like they and Seattle could be in for a season-long battle for the lead spot in the AL West.. (29-21). Previous: . Texas Rangers. 7. team
New York Mets. 6. team. 3. The Mets went .500 this past week with a series win over the Nationals, but lost a series to the Dodgers, winning their lone game of that series Saturday. To start last week, the Mets won two-of-three over the Nationals, but they also saw the continued downward spiral of <a href=. (28-21). Previous:
Next: MLB Power Rankings: The Top 5
team. 11. Baltimore didn’t have the best of weeks with a 2-4 week with a three-game series loss to the Astros, but won a series against the Indians over this past weekend. Baltimore is better than their play that began last week, showed by winning a series against an Indians team that isn’t that bad.. (28-20). Previous: . Baltimore Orioles. 5
The Nationals lost a three-game series to the Mets and split a four-game series with the Cardinals, but still remain a top contender in all of baseball, being just one of three teams in the majors entering this week with at least 30 wins. The Nationals should have played a little better against the Mets, but it happens sometimes. It will be interesting to see how the Nationals rebound from their 3-4 week this upcoming week.. (30-21). Previous: . Washington Nationals. 4. team. 90
Previous: . San Francisco Giants. 3. team. 40. This Giants are at it again by going 5-1 last week, getting their job done very well, winning a three-game series over the Padres and two of three over the Rockies. <a href=. (32-30)
The Red Sox stay pat at the second spot in these MLB Power Rankings, even with their week they just completed with a series win over the Rockies, but losing two of three to the Blue Jays. The Red Sox are still tinkering with their starting rotation, and once that gets repaired, they should get back to trying to catch the Cubs as the best team in baseball.. (30-20). Previous: . Boston Red Sox. 2. team. 14
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Chicago Cubs. 1. team. 9. Again, the Cubs are at the top of the power rankings, and they had a very successful week with a 5-1 record by taking two of three at St. Louis and sweeping the Phillies at Wrigley Field. The Cubs regained some of the momentum they recently lost, and if they can win series against two pretty good teams in the Cardinals and Phillies, that shows they are still the team to beat. Chicago opens this week with a series against the Dodgers.. (34-14). Previous: