Week In Review/Top 15 Power Rankings: Week 13 (06/25 - 07/01)

Here we are already in July! Hard to believe and what's even more hard to believe is that the All-Star Break is right around the corner already. It's amazing how fast time flies once the season actually starts and continues to just keep on rolling by week-by-week. With that being said, we are pretty much at a point where teams know definitively whether or not they will be buyers or sellers coming up at the trade deadline. We've already seen three trades last month and are waiting around for the next one to come down the pipeline, but we shouldn't have to wait much longer given the aggressiveness of teams in the game today.

While the Trade Deadline is coming up, there is other business to focus on and that involves what happened this past week as well as who the hottest teams in baseball are right now and who the MVP's in both leagues were from this past week. All of that will be discussed below.

Week In Review

• Yankees Finish June with the Best Bullpen, Rockies the Worst - It should come as no surprise given the immense talent, but the New York Yankees finished with the best bullpen ERA in all of baseball (1.32 over 88.2 IP) for the month of June. On the other hand, the Rockies had the worst bullpen ERA (7.78 over 83.1 IP). 
• Nationals Tie Marlins for Worst Starting Rotation in June - In what is a huge surprise considering the names that make up the rotation, the Nationals finished the month of June, tied with the Miami Marlins, for the worst ERA (5.54 over 126.2 P) in June. The Nationals need to have their starting rotation turn things around quickly if they want to have any chance of winning the NL East this year with the surging Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. 
• Edwin Jackson Bonanza - On Monday, Edwin Jackson got the nod for the Oakland Athletics which marked the 13th team that he started for over his big league career. In case you are wondering, that was a new MLB record. 
• Snellzilla Monday - Also on Monday, Tampa Bay Rays starter, Blake Snell, threw 6 and 1/3 no-hit innings against the Washington Nationals. The game ended with a blowout score of 11-0 for Tampa Bay. 
• Markakis 1st to 100 Hits - Nick Markakis officially became the first NL player to reach the 100 hit plateau this past Monday. What a great season Markakis has had overall. When looking at the league, there's an argument to be made that he has been one of the best under-the-radar guys. Markakis would later become the first Braves player, with 100 hits or more and at least 50 RBI prior to the end of June, since Hank Aaron in 1959. 
• Duane Underwood Jr. Makes Cubs Debut - Duane Underwood Jr. was called upon on Monday to start for the Chicago Cubs and did a good enough job to keep the Cubs in the game. Underwood, who is 23 years old, pitched 4 innings, while recording 1 earned run, giving up 3 walks along with a home run, and locking down 3 strikeouts on 77 pitches. 
• Shelby Miller Returns from Tommy John - The Dbacks officially activated Shelby Miller from the Disabled List prior to Monday night's game against the Marlins. It was the first time Miller pitched since May 2017. On Wednesday, another vital piece of the Dbacks starting rotation returned in Robbie Ray. Ray missed almost two months with a strained oblique. 
• Home Run Palooza - After all of the games on Tuesday, there were 7 players in baseball that all had at least 20 home runs on the year. What's even more shocking is that none of the 7 played for a National League team. 
• Javy Puts on a Show - During Tuesday's matchup against the Dodgers, Javier Baez went 4-for-5 with 2 home runs including a Grand Slam and 5 RBI. We've seen some offensive outbursts by Javier Baez before, but this had to be one of the best! 
• Bregman Gifts the Stros - Thanks to Alex Bregman, the Astros were able to walk away with the series win against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon. That Bregman guy isn't the most well known player on the Astros roster due to all of the incredible talent, but when he comes through, he certainly comes through! 
• MadBum Reaches 1500 Strikeouts - On Wednesday evening, Madison Bumgarner recorded his 1,500th career strikeout. Who got the honor of being MadBum's 1500th strikeout, you might ask? None other than DJ LeMahieu of the Colorado Rockies. 
• Zack Attack Rakes and Steals Bases - Thursday afternoon, at Marlins Park, Zack Greinke helped himself by recording his 7th career stolen base along with 2 hits, 1 RBI, and pitched 7 innings of shutout baseball. 
• Manny Machado Joins 20 Home Run Club - After Tuesday's schedule, there were 7 players with at least 20 home runs in the game, all of them being in the AL. Well, Manny Machado didn't want to be left out of the conversation so he decided to join the club on Thursday notching his 20th home run of the season and becoming the 8th member of the club. 
• Fenway Park Gives Us the Best Baseball Sky of the Year - If you didn't happen to see the photos on Twitter or the cover photo in the group the following day, take a look at what I'm talking about by clicking the following link: https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/1012499323869855744. Incredible, marvelous, stunning, spectacular, are all valid words to describe that baseball sky. 
• Shin-Soo Choo New On-Base Streak Leader - Following the game on Thursday, Shin-Soo Choo recorded a new on-base streak of 41 consecutive games for this season. As they say down in Arlington, Ah-Choo! 
• Nationals Offensive Explosion and Juan Soto - Juan Soto had himself quite a night on Friday when he finished the night 4-for-6 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI. In total, the entire Nationals lineup scored 7 home runs and ended up beating the Phillies, 17-7. 
• Marco Gonzales Dazzles - Besides the impressive offensive outburst by the Nationals, Marco Gonzales put together a complete game gem against the Royals. Gonzales recorded 7 strikeouts, while giving up 1 run and 6 hits. 
• Michael Lor"yard"zen - Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher, Michael Lorenzen (Lor"yard"zen) was the first starting pitcher since 2001 to hit a home run in 3 consecutive at bats. I guess Michael Lorenzen has officially taken the phase, "Pitchers who rake" to a whole new level! 
• Sale Strikeout Party - None of us know if we need to start giving Chris Sale the nickname, Salenator or Saleizer, but Chris Sale knows how to dominate against the division rival, New York Yankees, as he displayed on Saturday night. Sale became the first pitcher ever to record at least 10 strikeouts and give up one hit or less in multiple games following his outing Saturday. 
• Turn Ahead the Clock - Saturday night gave us quite a uniform sight during the game between the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals. Both teams uniforms were spot on and it was a nice change from the usual. 
• Lesterific Home Run - Here's another one to file in the, Pitchers Who Rake, file. On Sunday, Jon Lester became the oldest Cubs starting pitcher to hit a home run since Greg Maddux on June 10th, 2005. After yesterday's game, Lester has 2 home runs over his 13-year big league career. The other happened last season against the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 22nd. 
• Weekend Sweeps - The Cubs completed the sweep of the Minnesota Twins, while the Atlanta Braves swept the St. Louis Cardinals. That was a big momentum game for the Braves and the Cubs sweeping of the Twins almost puts the Twins entire chances of making the postseason, out of the question. 
• Aaron Hick's Home Run Derby - Aaron Hicks put on quite a show under the spotlight last night against the division rival, Boston Red Sox, as he launched three-home runs over the course of the game. If you enjoy home runs, then that must have made your night. 

Top 15 Power Rankings

1. New York Yankees (54-27) [Ranking Last Week: 2] 

2. Houston Astros (55-31) [Ranking Last Week: 1] 

3. Boston Red Sox (56-29) [Ranking Last Week: 3] 

4. Cleveland Indians (45-37) [Ranking Last Week: 4] 

5. Seattle Mariners (54-31) [Ranking Last Week: 10] 

6. Chicago Cubs (47-35) [Ranking Last Week: 12] 

7. Philadelphia Phillies (45-37) [Ranking Last Week: 7] 

8. Atlanta Braves (48-34) [Ranking Last Week: 6] 

9. Milwaukee Brewers (48-35) [Ranking Last Week: 9] 

10. Arizona Diamondbacks (47-37) [Ranking Last Week: 5] 

11. Oakland Athletics (46-39) [Ranking Last Week: 14] 

12. San Francisco Giants (45-40) [Ranking Last Week: 11] 

13. Los Angeles Dodgers (44-39) [Ranking Last Week: 8] 

14. Washington Nationals (42-40) [Ranking Last Week: N/A] 

15. St. Louis Cardinals (42-40) [Ranking Last Week: 13] 

Summary of Thoughts

Once again, the Top 3 teams are the same as they have been ever since the start of the season and rightfully so. So much of the discussion about Power Rankings revolves around those three teams and it's easy to see why that is. Beyond that, the Cleveland Indians have certainly played their way into the discussion and are currently the 4th best team in baseball. If they continue playing like they have, then it wouldn't be a shock to see them potentially boot out one of the other three mainstays from the Top 3 spots in the rankings. Over the last 10 games, the Mariners have once again come back to life and have an 8-2 record and are going for their 8th win tomorrow against the Los Angeles Angels. Seattle received great pitching from both Marco Gonzales and James Paxton this past week which has certainly helped give them a boost and keep them relevant in the race for contention. 

After those 5 teams, the next best team is the Chicago Cubs who have really been doing well as of late once again. Each week it seems as though we see the Cubs come back to relevance and then they end up sliding out of relevance once again the following week. Chicago just can't seem to quite catch a stride, but it looks as though that could be coming as they currently sit only a 1/2 game back of the division leading Milwaukee Brewers. Furthermore, both the Braves and Phillies belong in their respective rankings as they have played similarly to how they performed last week and have both continued to be great surprises. I don't think anyone could have expected this type of performance from either team especially at this point in the season. 

Finally, the Oakland Athletics have quietly been playing really well out near the Bay with little to no fanfare and definitely deserve to be ranked where they are. It's hard to know what to expect from the team moving forward because of their young core, but if they are able to continue playing like this, they should have no problem staying relevant and in contention until the very end. It's hard to put the A's ahead of the other Top 10 teams at this moment, but that could always change if they put together another nice week of games and continue to prove to the rest of baseball who they really are. 

MVPs of the Week

American League: 

1. Alex Bregman (Houston Astros): 13-for-28 with 5 doubles, 5 home runs, 10 RBI, 3 walks, a .464 batting average, and a .516 on-base percentage 

2. Nick Castellanos (Detroit Tigers): 11-for-28 with 3 doubles, 4 home runs, 12 RBI, 3 walks, a .393 batting average, and a .452 on-base percentage 

3. Brad Keller (Kansas City Royals): 0.60 ERA over 15.0 IP with 9 Strikeouts and a .157 Opponent Batting Average Against 

4. James Paxton (Seattle Mariners): 1.20 ERA over 15.0 IP with 21 Strikeouts and a 0.73 WHIP 

National League: 

1. Jesus Aguilar (Milwaukee Brewers): 8-for-19 with 1 double, 3 home runs, 4 RBI, 2 walks, a .421 batting average, and a .476 on-base percentage 

2. Javier Baez (Chicago Cubs): 14-for-29 with 6 doubles, 2 home runs, 11 RBI, a .483 batting average, and a .467 on-base percentage 

3. Kenta Maeda (Los Angeles Dodgers): 1.29 ERA over 14.0 IP with 18 Strikeouts and a 0.79 WHIP 

4. Matt Harvey (Cincinnati Reds): 0.73 ERA over 12.1 IP with 8 Strikeouts and a .186 Opponent Batting Average Against