MLB Top 15 Power Rankings Week 3: 04/15 - 04/21
Regardless, this week also brought about a shift in power, particularly in the National League Central, where the Pittsburgh Pirates assumed first place on Thursday and hold a 1 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers at the conclusion of play today. As we have learned in the past, never sleep on the Pirates and their relentless attitude to always find a way to contend or play spoiler, depending on the year. This year, one would have to think that Pittsburgh is more in the spoiler role, but with the way they've played as of late, who knows what might end up resulting.
With that being said, here is this week's report featuring 5 Top Key Moments/Takeaways from the past week, the Top 15 Power Rankings, along with a Summary of Thoughts about the rankings and Player Stats from all around the league.
Five Key Moments/Takeaways
- Yelichitis Overtakes Milwaukee and All of Baseball - Heading into this season, we all knew that Christian Yelich was an impactful power hitter and that he was last year's NL MVP winner. What we didn't know is that he would end up performing at the same level that, he left last year off of, and would once again show signs of potentially being named the NL MVP for another consecutive season. Yelich wasn't able to add another home run onto his hot start this afternoon against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he entered play tied with Ken Griffey Jr. and Luis Gonzalez for the most home runs before May 1st.
- Puig and Kershaw Square Off in La La Land - In his first at bat back in Los Angeles at Dodgers Stadium, Cincinnati Reds slugger, Yasiel Puig, ended up hitting a home run off of former teammate, Clayton Kershaw. The night was also a significant moment for Clayton Kershaw because he made his official 2019 regular season debut and was a welcome relief for a Dodgers team that was looking for an impactful reinforcement at that moment. Puig might be welcome to being friends with everyone, but Clayton Kershaw likely won't welcome the idea in return, meaning this is one friendship that is a one-way street.
- Hump Day = Streaks Buster Day - Wednesday night marked a few different streaks coming to an end. The first was the end of Tommy Pham's on-base streak which officially ended at 48 consecutive games. Pham has been a powerful force in the Rays lineup, dating back to last July when the team acquired him, and you can bet that he will start another hit streak in no time. While the night brought a disappointing end to Pham's hit streak, it also brought an end to the Seattle Mariners streak of hitting a home run. Seattle officially ended their streak of hitting a home run in 20 consecutive games Wednesday night.
- Blackmon Magic Overtakes The Mile High City - Friday night was likely one of the better nights in the life of Charlie Blackmon because not only was it his first home run of the season, it was also the first extra-inning home run that the Colorado Rockies hit, since the 2009 regular season, when Ryan Spilborghs did so against the San Francisco Giants. Blackmon, otherwise known as Chuck Nazty, went 77 consecutive at-bats, the longest streak among star players, before launching his home run Friday night. If you're not a Rockies fan, the moment might not hold significance, but if you ask us, it's a win for baseball and Charlie "Chuck Nazty" Blackmon.
- Kansas City Royals in Desperate Need of Offense - Not everything from this past week was peaches and cream especially for the Kansas City Royals. During their four-game series against the New York Yankees, the Royals struck out 53 times, the most over the span of a four-game series, breaking the previous record set last year against the Tampa Bay Rays of 44 strikeouts. Furthermore, yesterday afternoon alone, the Royals struck out 20 times which was a franchise record. To say that the bats for Kansas City right now are ice cold, would be a vast understatement, because they are as frozen as an icicle in the frozen tundra, at the moment.
Top 15 Power Rankings
1. Houston Astros (13-8) [Ranking Last Week: 1]
- Division Ranking: 2nd Place
- Winning Percentage: .619
- Win Streak: L 2 Games
- Run Differential: +20
- Team ERA: 3.58 Over 181.0 IP
- Team Batting Line: .276/.351/.487 over 710 At Bats (Best in MLB)
2. Los Angeles Dodgers (15-9) [Ranking Last Week: 3]
- Division Ranking: 1st Place
- Winning Percentage: .625
- Win Streak: W 1 Game
- Run Differential: +29
- Team ERA: 4.10 Over 215.0 IP
- Team Batting Line: .264/.357/.489 over 799 At Bats
3. Tampa Bay Rays (14-8) [Ranking Last Week: 2]
- Division Ranking: 1st Place
- Winning Percentage: .636
- Win Streak: L 4 Games
- Run Differential: +42
- Team ERA: 2.85 Over 202.0 IP
- Team Batting Line: .262/.339/.453 over 770 At Bats
4. Pittsburgh Pirates (12-7) [Ranking Last Week: 12]
- Division Ranking: 1st Place
- Winning Percentage: .632
- Win Streak: L 1 Game
- Run Differential: +9
- Team ERA: 2.54 Over 170.0 IP (Best in MLB)
- Team Batting Line: .229/.303/.366 over 628 At Bats
5. Minnesota Twins (12-7) [Ranking Last Week: 8]
- Division Ranking: 1st Place
- Winning Percentage: .632
- Win Streak: W 3 Games
- Run Differential: +20
- Team ERA: 4.47 Over 169.0 IP
- Team Batting Line: .274/.342/.508 over 653 At Bats
6. St. Louis Cardinals (12-9) [Ranking Last Week: 6]
- Division Ranking: 2nd Place
- Winning Percentage: .571
- Win Streak: W 2 Games
- Run Differential: +21
- Team ERA: 4.31 Over 186.0 IP
- Team Batting Line: .256/.336/.459 over 719 At Bats
7. New York Yankees (11-10) [Ranking Last Week: 10]
- Division Ranking: 2nd Place
- Winning Percentage: .524
- Win Streak: W 3 Games
- Run Differential: +27
- Team ERA: 3.71 Over 184.1 IP
- Team Batting Line: .257/.341/.465 over 688 At Bats
8. Chicago Cubs (10-10) [Ranking Last Week: N/A]
- Division Ranking: 4th Place
- Winning Percentage: .500
- Win Streak: W 1 Game
- Run Differential: +17
- Team ERA: 4.21 Over 173.1 IP
- Team Batting Line: .260/.354/.433 over 682 At Bats
9. Philadelphia Phillies (12-9) [Ranking Last Week: 4]
- Division Ranking: 1st Place
- Winning Percentage: .571
- Win Streak: L 1 Game
- Run Differential: +12
- Team ERA: 4.46 Over 195.2 IP
- Team Batting Line: .257/.350/.439 over 748 At Bats
10. Seattle Mariners (16-9) [Ranking Last Week: 7]
- Division Ranking: 1st Place
- Winning Percentage: .640
- Win Streak: L 1 Game
- Run Differential: +32
- Team ERA: 4.44 Over 227.0 IP
- Team Batting Line: .264/.343/.516 over 883 At Bats
11. Milwaukee Brewers (13-10) [Ranking Last Week: 5]
12. Cleveland Indians (12-9) [Ranking Last Week: 14]
13. New York Mets (11-10) [Ranking Last Week: 10]
14. Atlanta Braves (11-10) [Ranking Last Week: 9]
15. Texas Rangers (12-8) [Ranking Last Week: N/A]
Summary of Thoughts
As was the case last week, the Houston Astros remain the best team in baseball and it's hard to argue that. Houston has great pitching and a lineup that includes the best 1-5 hitters in the entire game of baseball. The lineup that the Astros roll out on a daily basis is one that can beat the opponent and you can't go wrong with a pitching staff that has started to really find it's groove over the past two weeks either. Outside of Houston, the Los Angeles Dodgers moved up a spot, as the second best team in the league, while the Tampa Bay Rays moved down a spot to third. The Rays are amid a 4-game losing streak, which was the reasoning behind the tick down, but it's no knock to their overall performance this season and the surprise that they have been.
Moving out of the Top 3 now, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins round out the Top 5 spots. Pittsburgh has been on fire as of late and continue to be a nice surprise amid the National League overall. Granted, they play in an extremely competitive division so it will be difficult for them to hold their reign over that division, but who knows what will happen especially if the starting rotation continues to perform the way it has. On the other side of the coin, the Minnesota Twins have found their own groove as of late, going 6-4 over their last 10 contests. For Minnesota, the offense has been the difference maker, while the pitching has kept the team in games, but continues to put up league average numbers. That is something that will need to be addressed at the trade deadline, depending on how the team is performing at that time, while the offense is something that Pittsburgh will need to upgrade - of course, assuming that they stay in contention between now and then.
Outside of the Top 5, the Chicago Cubs are a brand new team that has entered the Top 15 Power Rankings list this year. Chicago has played much better baseball overall as of late, putting up a 7-3 record over their last 10 games, and their starting rotation is starting to show signs that they could be rounding into shape. This has to be a welcome sight for Cubs fans, who have been anticipating the team to take that next big step forward, all season long. Chicago might currently sit in fourth place amid the National League Central, but they could be very dangerous here soon if everything gets clicking at the same time.
Furthermore, the biggest drop overall within the Top 10 would be the Philadelphia Phillies, who dropped from the 4th spot, down to the 9th spot overall. Over the last 10 days, the Phillies have been playing 500 baseball and while they sit a top the National League East, they haven't necessarily ran away with the division or shown enough to say that they will definitively win that division yet. Regardless, the NL East was always expected to be a competitive division and that's exactly what has happened thus far. Have no fear though because every team goes through it's ups and downs over a 162-game season and the Phillies will likely end up being just fine, at the end of the day, as long as their defense doesn't repeat last year's performance.
Finally, focusing on the team with the biggest drop overall this week, the Milwaukee Brewers, went from the 5th spot down to the 11th spot. Milwaukee still hasn't put up anything spectacular on the pitching side of things and have a run differential of -2 on the season. If the Brewers want to be taken seriously, they are going to have to do something to address their pitching staff, which will hopefully happen at this year's July 31st Trade Deadline, something that didn't happen last year even though many people around the game were expecting it to. Rounding out the rankings are the Texas Rangers, who surprisingly sit in third place amid the American League West, with a 12-8 record or a .600 win percentage. What's promising about the Rangers is that they have a run differential of +9, but it's still hard to gauge whether to take them seriously or not because this was suppose to be another year of rebuilding for them.
Player Stats
Top 5 Starting Pitchers:
- Luis Castillo (Cincinnati Reds) = 1.47 ERA over 30.2 IP w/ 41 Strikeouts
- German Marquez (Colorado Rockies) = 2.25 ERA over 32.0 IP w/ a 0.97 WHIP
- Trevor Bauer (Cleveland Indians) = 2.20 ERA over 32.2 IP w/ a .167 OBAA
- Jon Gray (Colorado Rockies) = 2.78 ERA over 32.1 IP w/ 30 Strikeouts
- Jose Berrios (Minnesota Twins) = 2.97 ERA over 33.1 IP w/ a .193 OBAA
Top 5 Relief Pitchers:
- John Gant (St. Louis Cardinals) = 0.60 ERA over 15.0 IP w/ a .070 OBAA
- Sam Gaviglio (Toronto Blue Jays) = 1.20 ERA over 15.0 IP w/ 16 Strikeouts
- Brandon Brennan (Seattle Mariners) = 1.29 ERA over 14.0 IP w/ a 0.79 WHIP
- Liam Hendriks (Oakland Athletics) = 2.03 ERA over 13.1 IP w/ 13 Strikeouts
- Robert Gsellman (New York Mets) = 2.57 ERA over 14.0 IP w/ 14 Strikeouts
Top 5 Batters:
- Mitch Haniger (Seattle Mariners) = .262/.316/.583 over 103 At Bats
- Jonathan Villar (Baltimore Orioles) = .274/.337/.432 over 95 At Bats
- Whit Merrifield (Kansas City Royals) = .298/.323/.479 over 94 At Bats
- Domingo Santana (Seattle Mariners) = .317/.384/.515 over 101 At Bats
- David Peralta (Arizona Diamondbacks) = .337/.378/.543 over 92 At Bats
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