MLB Power Rankings: Washington Nationals close in on Cubs

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The Chicago Cubs are the lone team in baseball with 40 or more wins, but there are others who will most likely surpass that mark this upcoming week, including two teams who are one win away from reaching the 40-win mark as well.

All of MLB, including the Chicago Cubs, better watch out for the Texas Rangers and the Washington Nationals, who are one win away each from having 40 wins. Each have a 39-24 record entering this week, and each are at least 4.5 games in front of the second-place team in the AL West and the NL East, respectively.

This week, the Nationals can prove how good they can be or if they are in the same discussion as the Cubs because starting Monday, the two teams will square off in a three-game series at the home of the Nationals, giving us a chance to see how these two teams stand amongst each other.

There is also the fact the San Francisco Giants now have a five-game lead in the NL West over the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Cleveland Indians now are the leaders of the AL Central. A lot has happened this past week, and as the weeks continue, things will only get more intense as this is the second full week of June and teams are beginning to show their flaws or their positives.

As with each week, things should be interesting, but especially with the aforementioned series with the Cubs visiting the Nationals, that really makes this week a little more special.

Here are the MLB Power Rankings for the week.

Next: MLB Power Rankings: 30-26

30. team. 17. The Atlanta Braves still are one of two teams with under 20 wins this season, as they are 2-8 in their past 10 games, lost their past two games (though they played the Chicago Cubs) and haven’t been a threat to any of their opponents thus far in ’16, and it doesn’t look like they will be anytime soon this season.. (18-44). Previous: . Atlanta Braves

(19-43). Previous: . Minnesota Twins. 29. team. 2. The Minnesota Twins are still ahead of the Atlanta Braves in this MLB Power Rankings, but they aren’t much to brag about, either with their 19 wins. One plus of the Twins is <a href=

Previous: . Cincinnati Reds. 28. team. 61. The Queen City’s team drops one spot this week due to the fact they have just 24 wins this season, and they just aren’t that exciting of a team to watch overall. There are some bright spots on their roster, but overall the Reds aren’t going anywhere this year and will be near or at the bottom of the NL Central standings for the rest of the season.. (24-39)

27. team. 96. “Moneyball” isn’t doing much for the Oakland Athletics lately with their 26 wins on the season, falling one spot in the rankings this week. The Athletics are 3-7 in their past 10 games, and before Sunday’s win they were on a seven-game losing streak. Like the Reds, they are in a rebuild mode with young players, and right now that rebuild will keep them down in the standings.. (26-36). Previous: . Oakland Athletics

127. San Diego moves up two spots this week as they were 5-5 in their past 10 games, but they have lost their past two games. Over the week that was, they won a series against the Atlanta Braves and won once against the Colorado Rockies, leaving them 12 games under the .500 mark for the season.. (26-38). Previous: . San Diego Padres. 26. team

Next: MLB Power Rankings: 25-21

25. team. 102. The Los Angeles Angels aren’t flying high or much at all this season as they are just one loss away from being down in last place in the AL West with the Oakland Athletics. It doesn’t help them that <a href=. (27-36). Previous: . Los Angeles Angels

6. For the Philadelphia Phillies, they sit in fourth place in the NL East, but five games back of the second-place spot. They haven’t helped their cause much lately with three victories and seven defeats in their past 10 games, and they are 1-5 this past week with the win against the Chicago Cubs and then three straight losses this past weekend to the Washington Nationals… not the easiest schedule to have in a seven-day span, but maybe they were ranked a little too high in the MLB Power Rankings last week as well.. (29-34). Previous: . Philadelphia Phillies. 24. team

8. The Arizona Diamondbacks went 3-3 this past week, including winning a weekend series against the Miami Marlins where they won on Saturday and Sunday, but losing a series to the Tampa Bay Rays. That said, they still move up a spot this week as the series win against the Marlins is a solid achievement as it was the first series they’ve won this month, and their first series win since May 27-29 against the San Diego Padres.. (28-37). Previous: . Arizona Diamondbacks. 23. team

21. It was a good week for the Tampa Bay Rays with two series wins coming against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Houston Astros, including topping the Astros on Sunday by a 5-0 score, but they are still in last place in the AL East. That said, their overall record is three games under .500, but they are 7-3 in their past 10 games, so maybe the Rays are starting to hit their stride in June as they are 7-4 this month.. (29-32). Previous: . Tampa Bay Rays. 22. team

135. Over their past week, the Houston Astros impressed by winning on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers, but they also lost the series with three losses in four days to one of the better teams in the majors right now. Then over the weekend, they lost two-of-three to the Tampa Bay Rays, so for the good they had with the win early in the week, it just wasn’t that great of a week overall for the Astros.. (30-35). Previous: . Houston Astros. 21. team

Next: MLB Power Rankings: 20-16

Milwaukee Brewers. 20. team. 76. The “Brew Crew” won four times last week, with a two-game series victory over the Oakland Athletics, then splitting a series with the New York Mets, a team who is in the Top 10 again this week in the MLB Power Rankings. Milwaukee won’t be challenging for a spot in the postseason anytime this season, but they are just two games back of the Pittsburgh Pirates for third place in the NL Central, so that’s a next step type of goal for this ball club.. (30-33). Previous:

team. 108. It was an interesting week for the Colorado Rockies to say the least by winning a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning a makeup game vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates and winning a series against the San Diego Padres with two weekend wins on Saturday and Sunday. Even after the solid week of play, they are still three games under .500 and seven games back of the AL West lead entering this week.. (30-33). Previous: . Colorado Rockies. 19

128. The Chicago White Sox continued to fall in the standings this week with series losses to the Washington Nationals and the Kansas City Royals, as they allowed the Royals to snap what was an eight-game losing streak on Saturday. The <a href=. (31-32). Previous: . Chicago White Sox. 18. team

Previous: . New York Yankees. 17. team. 43. It is still disappointing to see the New York Yankees fall to where they are because with the very good back end of their bullpen, it is a shame they are fourth place in the AL East, and even worse, one game under .500 entering the second full week of play in June. That said, this past week wasn’t terrible for the “Bronx Bombers” with four straight wins over the Los Angeles Angels and a win over the Detroit Tigers, which at the time gave them a five-game winning streak. Again, they ended the week on a sour note with two straight losses, leaving this Yankees team still a bit more inconsistent than what they should be.. (31-32)

team. 82. The Marlins lost a series to the Minnesota Twins this past week, then came back to lose yet another series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Since sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates from May 31-June 2, Miami has lost three consecutive series. It would make sense to say things could be easier to start this week for Miami with a three-game series at San Diego, but that’s not guaranteed since they lost the aforementioned series to the Twins. Miami is an interesting team for sure, but they are one game over the .500 mark for the season, which is a positive for them.. (32-31). Previous: . Miami Marlins. 16

Next: MLB Power Rankings: 15-11

15. team. 7. Kansas City let their losing streak build to eight games before they finally won on Saturday, then won their second game in a row on Sunday to win their three-game series against the Chicago White Sox. The Royals are tied for second place in the AL Central, three games back of the Cleveland Indians, but this past week did see the reigning World Series champions go 2-4, and for the month of June, they are 3-8. They next begin a seven-game homestand this week with three against the Indians and four vs. the Tigers.. (32-30). Previous: . Kansas City Royals

team. 63. The Tigers begin a week where they will play seven straight games within their division, starting off with a three-game series with the Chicago White Sox, followed by four games against the Kansas City Royals. Detroit has already swept the White Sox earlier this month, and this past week they won two series in defeating the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees. Maybe the Tigers are starting to become a more consistent team, even with them being two games over .500 before Monday’s game.. (32-30). Previous: . Detroit Tigers. 14

Seattle Mariners. 13. team. 62. Seattle is in a bit of a tough spot right now as more should be expected of them, but they lost <a href=. (34-29). Previous:

12. team. 4. The Pittsburgh Pirates began this past week with a doubleheader win on Tuesday against the New York Mets, but since those two victories, they’ve lost five straight games, including losing a weekend series to rival St. Louis, a series where they were outscored, 22-7, allowing the Cardinals to score no less than five runs in any of the three games played. With an off day on Monday, the Pirates will begin play this week with a three-game series at the same New York Mets, then have a weekend series in Chicago against the Cubs. This will be a week to see just how good Pittsburgh can play against two of the better teams in the majors.. (32-31). Previous: . Pittsburgh Pirates

Los Angeles went 2-4 in their six games this past week, losing their past two games by a combined two runs against the San Francisco Giants. On Saturday, LA lost 5-4, and on Sunday, it was a 2-1 loss. The one-run differential was a theme in their series with the Giants because LA won on Friday by a 3-2 score. In fact, the past five games for the Dodgers have been decided by one run, winning a game on Tuesday by a 4-3 score against the Colorado Rockies, and the next day falling to the same Rockies by a 1-0 score. It doesn’t help some injuries are starting to hurt the Dodgers as well.. (33-31). Previous: . Los Angeles Dodgers. 11. team. 71

Next: MLB Power Rankings: 10-6

team. 3. New York lost two series this past week, starting by falling to the Pittsburgh Pirates in two of three games and then doing the same thing against the Milwaukee Brewers, with all of the games being away from the Big Apple. The Mets are still a quality team, but they dropped three spots in the MLB Power Rankings because of the tough week they just encountered. This week, they’ll face the Pirates and the Atlanta Braves, beginning Tuesday with a three-game set vs. Pittsburgh.. (34-28). Previous: . New York Mets. 10

39. Winning four games this week was a tough task for the Toronto Blue Jays, and even though they lost a three-game series to the Detroit Tigers to begin last week, they rallied back in their four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles to win three straight and four of their past five games. They have a chance to have a solid week this week as well with four straight against the Philadelphia Phillies, then three more against the Orioles for the second consecutive weekend as two of their wins in that previous series were by one run each.. (35-30). Previous: . Toronto Blue Jays. 9. team

33. Another big mover in the MLB Power Rankings this week is the Cardinals because they’ve worked themselves up to the second-place spot in the NL Central (they trail the Chicago Cubs by nine games), including five straight wins entering games this week. They won two-of-three against the Cincinnati Reds, then swept the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend. This week, however, the Cardinals will be messing with Texas, playing two against the Houston Astros, followed by a three-game set at the Rangers.. (35-28). Previous: . St. Louis Cardinals. 7. team

(36-26). Previous: . Baltimore Orioles. 6. team. 11. The Baltimore Orioles had a strange week, sweeping the Kansas City Royals in four games, but following that up with a three-game losing streak to the Toronto Blue Jays, a series where they allowed 25 runs and scored 18. The O’s will not only play the Boston Red Sox this week, but they will have a second consecutive weekend series with the Blue Jays as well, which should be interesting to see if they can overcome what happened to them this past weekend.

Next: MLB Power Rankings: The Top 5

14. The Boston Red Sox continue to stay even with the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, with both teams having 36 wins and 26 losses headed into this week, but a three-game series beginning Tuesday will change that as Boston hosts the Orioles with first place on the line. In five games last week, the Red Sox went 3-2 splitting a two-game set with the San Francisco Giants, then taking two of three at the Minnesota Twins. The reason for the drop in the rankings for the Red Sox is more of just a placement issue of other teams, rather than their overall play.. (36-26). Previous: . Boston Red Sox. 5. team

40. From second through fourth place in these MLB Power Rankings, you can take the three teams, put their names into a hat and pick the order, but this week it is the Giants who are in fourth following a week where they split with the Boston Red Sox and won two of three against the Los Angeles Dodgers, adding to their AL West lead, which stands at five games. Their fall in the rankings isn’t based on their overall play, but this week a couple teams just happened to jump ahead of them. This week, the Giants host the Milwaukee Brewers for three games, then travel to Florida to face the Tampa Bay Rays.. (38-26). Previous: . San Francisco Giants. 4. team

Texas Rangers. 3. team. 126. The Texas Rangers are the highest rated American League team this week, and for good reason, as they lead the AL in wins with 39, plus they went 5-2 this past week, winning series against the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners, both solid series wins within the division. They lead the AL West by five games now and have won eight of their past 10 games.. (39-24). Previous:

Next: 5 Potential Landing Spots for Jonathan Lucroy

(39-24). Previous: . Washington Nationals. 2. team. 90. The Washington Nationals have won five games in a row headed into this week and also have 39 wins, the second-most in the majors and in the National League. For Washington, they won two-of-three against the Chicago White Sox and then swept the Philadelphia Phillies for their successful week that was. They have a very big series starting Monday against the Chicago Cubs, as that is the lone team they trail in the MLB standings, and that will be a must-watch series for sure.

Previous: . Chicago Cubs. 1. team. 9. There is no question the Chicago Cubs stay in the top spot yet again this week, having a week where they were 4-2 with series wins against the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves. This week, they travel to take on the Washington Nationals in an important series, then host the Pittsburgh Pirates. Though they have the best record in the majors with 43 wins and just 18 losses, no week is ever easy, but this upcoming week, that especially rings true.. (43-18)

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