Week In Review/Top 15 Power Rankings: Week 11 (06/11 - 06/17)

Time for another Week In Review/Top 15 Power Rankings report! Hard to believe that it's already mid-June and we are a little less than one month away from the All-Star Break already. Before you know it, it will be here and the Trade Deadline will have come and gone. Let's recap the highlights from this past week:

Week In Review

• Mike Trout Hits the 20 Home Run Benchmark - On Monday evening against the red-hot Seattle Mariners, Mike Trout jacked his 20th home run of the season. Fast forward to now and Trout still leads the league in home runs with 23. 
• Cookies for Everyone - Carlos Carrasco of the Cleveland Indians had himself quite a night, as he tossed 7 innings of shutout baseball with 11 strikeouts, against the Chicago White Sox on Monday. Unfortunately, Carrasco's next start (Saturday afternoon) didn't fare well for him after he was hit in the arm with a comebacker which forced him to leave the game and ultimately land on the DL. 
• Astros Blast Off All Week - The Astros win streak continued this week and they have now won 11 games in a row. Don't discount this team even with the surging red-hot Seattle Mariners in the AL West or the always powerful and dominant New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Funny how all 4 powerhouse teams at the moment reside in the American League! 
• Nola, Nola - Aaron Nola recorded 10 strikeouts and allowed 1 run while getting the win on Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies. Nola also had a similar game on May 8th of this season against the San Francisco Giants, in which he recorded 12 strikeouts, making him the first pitcher in Phillies history since, Curt Schilling in 1997, with two such games. 
• Big Sexy 2,500th Strikeout - Here we are in a new week and a week that features another Big Sexy milestone. Bartolo recorded his 2,500th strikeout on Tuesday night against the Dodgers. Big Bart didn't help lead the Rangers to a win, however, as Texas fell to the Dodgers, 12-5. 
• Brew Crew First NL Team to 40 Wins - Following Tuesday night's victory, the Milwaukee Brewers became the first NL team to reach the 40 wins benchmark. Quite impressive given the layout of the rest of the National League and further proof as to why Milwaukee is no longer a sleeper team in the NL Central. 
• deGrominator Swiped - Jacob deGrom has been one of the best starting pitchers in the NL all season long, which should be absolutely no surprise. What is a surprise is how the Mets fail to score runs when he is on the mound. Following Wednesday's game, deGrom became the first pitcher in all of baseball, since Randy Johnson in 1999 with the Dbacks, to record 5 consecutive starts, going at least 7 innings and giving up 2 or fewer earned runs, yet be handed the loss. Hopefully that changes soon! 
• Juan Soto Captures New York - Juan Soto became the youngest player to hit a home run at Yankee Stadium since Ken Griffey Jr did so in 1989. The best part? Not only did Soto hit one home run on Wednesday night, he hit two! 
• Jose Abreu Becomes Jose "Double" Abreu - If this season could be summed up in one word for Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox, it would be doubles. On Wednesday, Abreu recorded his 26th double of the season which was the most by a White Sox player, during the first 66 games of the season, since Bibb Falk in 1926. 
• The Future HOF'er Keeps Getting Better - On Wednesday night, Adrian Beltre recorded a double which was the 3,090th hit of his career. That was amazing because Beltre now has the most hits of any player born outside the United States. 
• Jonathan Loaisiga MLB Debut - Jonathan Loaisiga, a 23-year old right-hander, made his official MLB debut on Friday evening for the New York Yankees. Loaisiga pitched 5 innings, while allowing 3 hits, 4 walks, and recorded 6 strikeouts. Maybe this is the answer to the Yankees current starting rotation question mark. 
• Seattle Mariners Comeback Win - A very big series started on Thursday night for the Seattle Mariners as the Boston Red Sox rolled into town and boy did it feel like a true playoff like atmosphere. Seattle started the series off with a bang by coming back to win, 7-6. Thanks to Denard Span for the exciting finish! 
• Wade LeBlanc Dominates - Wade LeBlanc has certainly had his struggles during his big league career, but the Mariners received a stellar performance out of him on Saturday. LeBlanc pitched 7 and 2/3 innings, while giving up 2 hits and recorded 9 strikeouts. LeBlanc now has a 2.63 ERA over 61.2 IP on the year. 
• Marcell Bombzuna - It was quite the week for Marcell "Bombzuna" who launched 4 home runs and was easily the best hitter in the National League. The Cardinals got Ozuna from the Marlins over this past winter for exactly this reason and he seems to be delivering just fine. 
• Fathers Day - Yesterday afternoon was memorable for many players around the league as they shared photos from their childhood on social media playing baseball with their Dad in their backyard and celebrated their life hero. It's always a special moment when players are able to honor their family members. 
• Blue Jays/Tigers Sweeps - Refreshing news happened for Blue Jays fans yesterday as the team swept the Washington Nationals, while the Tigers won their fifth straight game and completed the sweep against the Chicago White Sox. Amazingly enough, the Tigers are only 2 and 1/2 games back of first place in the AL Central! 

Top 15 Power Rankings 

1. Houston Astros (48-25) [Ranking Last Week: 2] 

2. Boston Red Sox (49-24) [Ranking Last Week: 3] 

3. New York Yankees (46-21) [Ranking Last Week: 1] 

4. Seattle Mariners (46-26) [Ranking Last Week: 5] 

5. Chicago Cubs (40-28)  [Ranking Last Week: 4] 

6. Atlanta Braves (42-29) [Ranking Last Week: 10] 

7. Arizona Diamondbacks (39-32) [Ranking Last Week: 7] 

8. Los Angeles Dodgers (37-33) [Ranking Last Week: 13] 

9. Cleveland Indians (37-33) [Ranking Last Week: 9] 

10. Milwaukee Brewers (42-29) [Ranking Last Week: 8] 

11. Washington Nationals (37-32) [Ranking Last Week: 6] 

12. St. Louis Cardinals (37-32) [Ranking Last Week: 11] 

13. Philadelphia Phillies (37-32) [Ranking Last Week: 14] 

14. Los Angeles Angels (38-34) [Ranking Last Week: 12] 

15. Detroit Tigers (36-37) [Ranking Last Week: N/A] 

Summary of Thoughts

As is the case every week, the three teams up at the top of the rankings are easy to identify, but the order seems to continue to change from week-to-week. This week, the Astros are up on top simply because of their 11-game win streak which shouldn't go unnoticed and deserves a ton of recognition. For a team to have a perfect road trip, is a miraculous thing and sure doesn't seem to happen a lot. The Boston Red Sox come in ahead of the New York Yankees simply because Boston has a better winning percentage, but that doesn't take anything away from the Yankees and the talent that they continue to have on the field everyday. When you're comparing both teams on paper, you'd probably favor the Yankees when it comes to the bullpen, while you like the Red Sox starting rotation better and both are about equal when it comes to offense. 

The Mariners jumped up another spot over the Chicago Cubs from last week and the roll they have been on as of late should be illustrative as to why. Seattle split the four-game series over the weekend with the Boston Red Sox, but at least they didn't get swept and were able to hang around during the entire series. Furthermore, the Cubs continue to prove why they are the best team in the National League and why they shouldn't be a sleeper when it comes to conversation about who will make it to the postseason and play deep into October. In fact, a Houston Astros-Chicago Cubs series sounds fascinating right about now should it play out that way and both teams stay healthy enough to make it that far!

Beyond that, the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers both had the biggest gains this week, while the Washington Nationals continue to fall in the rankings. Both the Braves and Dodgers have played very good baseball as of late, while the Nationals have sort of returned to the way they were playing at the beginning of the season. Finally, the Detroit Tigers come in ahead of the Oakland Athletics for the final spot due to the way they have played. As mentioned before, Detroit has won 5 games in a row and are 2 and 1/2 games back from first place. None of us truly know if they are capable of performing at that level for the remainder of the regular season, but it deserves recognition nonetheless and it's a nice change to talk about a team that many of us thought were going to be buried right out of the get-go.

MVPs of the Week

American League: 

1. Evan Gattis (Houston Astros): 10-for-24 with 2 doubles, 4 home runs, 15 RBI, 1 walk, a .417 batting average, and a .423 on-base percentage 

2. Ryon Healy (Seattle Mariners): 10-for-24 with 1 double, 4 home runs, 6 RBI, 1 walk, a .400 batting average, and a .423 on-base percentage 

3. Steven Wright (Boston Red Sox): 0.66 ERA over 13.2 IP w/ a .184 Opponent Batting Average Against 

4. Dylan Bundy (Baltimore Orioles): 2.57 ERA over 14 IP w/ 12 strikeouts and a 0.86 WHIP 

National League: 

1. Marcell Ozuna (St. Lous Cardinals): 10-for-26 with 4 home runs, 9 RBI, a .385 batting average, and a .407 on-base percentage 

2. Rhys Hoskins (Philadelphia Phillies): 8-for-23 with 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 6 RBI, 4 walks, a .348 batting average, and a .444 on-base percentage 

3. Chris Stratton (San Francisco Giants): 2.08 ERA over 13.0 IP w/ a 0.85 WHIP 

4. Jack Flaherty (St. Louis Cardinals): 0.79 ERA over 11.1 IP w/ 13 strikeouts and a .077 Opponent Batting Average Against