MLB Top 15 Power Rankings Week 4: 04/22 - 04/28

It's hard to believe that the season started a month ago already, yesterday, but it's fair to say that there has been plenty of excitement thus far. Excitement in the form of the amount of home runs being jacked every day, the number of players and teams exceeding expectations early on, and the emergence of some names that didn't look like they were capable of delivering to expectation, prior to the season starting.

Beyond all of that, the past week alone brought about some great moments including the tremendous barehanded catch by Toronto Blue Jays shortstop, Freddy Galvis, which could potentially be the best defensive play of the week, a home run trot that lasted 34 seconds and the continued greatness of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim slugger, Albert Pujols. All of those things are moments that stick out from the past week, but there were a handful of other exciting moments, some of which will be recapped below.

Five Key Moments/Takeaways

• Vlad Day - Easily the best moment from this past week was the long awaited debut of Toronto Blue Jays third baseman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The debut has been something that Blue Jays fans and baseball fans alike have been calling for since the middle of last season and Vlad Jr. has already established himself as an icon in Toronto. His official debut might not have included anything exciting offensively, but there is a lot of power inside that body and it's definitely going to show over time. 
• The Twins Can Mash! - Heading into this season, we all knew that the Minnesota Twins would do much better offensively than they did last year, but goodness have they really flexed their muscles as of late. In fact, during their three game series this past weekend against the Baltimore Orioles, the Twins lineup combined for 11 home runs. In total, the Twins have hit 23 home runs against the Orioles this season. Luckily for the Orioles and their fans, they won't have to face Minnesota again this year. 
• Mad Max Keeps Racking Up the K's - If anyone knows something about strikeouts and how you earn them, look no further than Washington Nationals ace, Max Scherzer. On Friday night, Scherzer notched his 2,500th career strikeout and became the third pitcher in MLB history to reach that milestone the fastest. The other two? That would be Randy Johnson, who accomplished the feat in 313 games, and Nolan Ryan, who did it over 338 contests. 
• Zack Attack Keeps on Raking - The month of April was tremendously kind for Zack Greinke, from an offensive perspective, as he racked up a single, 2 doubles, a triple and 2 home runs. If you're counting, yes that's enough to hit for the cycle and it just goes to show that some pitchers can still rake. In case you're wondering, Greinke became the first right-hander to hit for the cycle since Larry Christensen in June of 1979. 
• Washington Nationals Young Studs Come Through - For the first time since the 1908 regular season, the Washington Nationals young stud core consisting of: Juan Soto, Victor Robles, and Carter Kieboom all homered in the same game. The amazing thing is that all three of those players are under the age of 21 and each have a tremendous amount of potential. Who knows if the three of them will be able to all homer in the same game heading into the future, but if they do, that would only make things more awesome! 

Top 15 Power Rankings

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (19-11) [Ranking Last Week: 2] 

Division Ranking: 1st Place
Winning Percentage: .633
Win Streak: W 4 Games
Run Differential: +31
Team ERA: 3.98 Over 267.0 IP (10th in Baseball)
Team Batting Line: .258/.349/.467 Over 985 At Bats (10th) 

2. Tampa Bay Rays (18-9) [Ranking Last Week: 3] 

Division Ranking: 1st Place 

Winning Percentage: .667 

Win Streak: W 2 Games 

Run Differential: +44 

Team ERA: 2.95 Over 247.0 (1st) 

Team Batting Line: .255/.336/.444 Over 923 At Bats (13th) 

3. St. Louis Cardinals (17-10) [Ranking Last Week: 6] 

Division Ranking: 1st Place 

Winning Percentage: .630 

Win Streak: W 2 Games 

Run Differential: +28 

Team ERA: 4.35 Over 240.0 IP (15th) 

Team Batting Line: .269/.349/.460 Over 914 At Bats (2nd) 

4. Houston Astros (17-11) [Ranking Last Week: 1] 

Division Ranking: 1sr Place 

Winning Percentage: .607 

Win Streak: W 2 Games 

Run Differential: +28 

Team ERA: 3.56 Over 245.0 IP (6th) 

Team Batting Line: .271/.348/.474 Over 938 At Bats (1st) 

5. New York Yankees (17-11) [Ranking Last Week: 7] 

Division Ranking: 2nd Place 

Winning Percentage: .607 

Win Streak: W 3 Games 

Run Differential: +37 

Team ERA: 3.90 Over 251.1 IP (9th) 

Team Batting Line: .262/.345/.454 Over 952 At Bats (8th) 

6. Minnesota Twins (16-9) [Ranking Last Week: 5] 

Division Ranking: 1st Place 

Winning Percentage: .640 

Win Streak: W 3 Games 

Run Differential: +27 

Team ERA: 4.32 Over 221.0 IP (14th) 

Team Batting Line: .266/.333/.513 Over 852 At Bats (4th) 

7. Philadelphia Phillies (16-12) [Ranking Last Week: 9] 

Division Ranking: 1st Place 

Winning Percentage: .571 

Win Streak: W 3 Games 

Run Differential: +14 

Team ERA: 4.23 Over 257.2 IP (13th) 

Team Batting Line: .246/.339/.431 Over 970 At Bats (16th) 

8. Chicago Cubs (14-12) [Ranking Last Week: 8] 

Division Ranking: 2nd Place 

Winning Percentage: .538 

Win Streak: W 2 Games 

Run Differential: +26 

Team ERA: 4.07 Over 232.1 IP (11th) 

Team Batting Line: .257/.350/.446 Over 903 At Bats (12th) 

9. Seattle Mariners (18-13) [Ranking Last Week: 10] 

Division Ranking: 2nd Place 

Winning Percentage: .581 

Win Streak: L 2 Games 

Run Differential: +14 

Team ERA: 4.45 Over 281.0 IP (18th) 

Team Batting Line: .253/.337/.478 Over 1,077 At Bats (14th) 

10. Arizona Diamondbacks (16-13) [Ranking Last Week: N/A] 

Division Ranking: 3rd Place 

Winning Percentage: .552 

Win Streak: L 2 Games 

Run Differential: +20 

Team ERA: 4.36 Over 266.0 IP (17th) 

Team Batting Line: .266/.329/.465 Over 1,029 At Bats (5th) 

11. Cleveland Indians (15-12) [Ranking Last Week: 12] 

12. New York Mets (14-13) [Ranking Last Week: 13] 

13. Milwaukee Brewers (15-14) [Ranking Last Week: 11] 

14. San Diego Padres (16-12) [Ranking Last Week: N/A] 

15. Toronto Blue Jays (14-14) [Ranking Last Week: N/A] 

Summary of Thoughts

Biggest Jump: The biggest jump this week would belong to the St. Louis Cardinals who are extremely hot and playing a great brand of baseball right now. Over their last 10 games, the Cardinals have an 8-2 record and their lineup is currently the best in the National League. Lately, St. Louis has been getting great timely hitting from their hitters and the pitching has shown flashes of brilliance too. Congratulations to Adam Wainwright, aka Uncle Charlie, on notching down his 150th career win this past week also! 

Biggest Fall: It's going to sound strange, but when these rankings were shaken up, the Houston Astros ended up being the team with the biggest fall. Now, it wasn't necessarily that much of a fall because they went from being the best team in baseball to being ranked fourth, but that was the biggest fall of any of the other 14 teams. Regardless, it's not a knock on the Astros at all and Houston still has a very good baseball team. After all, there's a reason why Houston's lineup is the best in all of baseball and why their pitching staff is top notch too. 

New Entries: In term's of rankings, the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, and Toronto Blue Jays are the three new entries into the Top 15 derby. All three of those teams have been in the midst of hot flashes as of late and deserve to be ranked where they are. In fact, if the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers don't watch out, the San Diego Padres could climb ahead of them, depending on how they play this coming week. As for the Arizona Diamondbacks, they have a 6-4 record over their last 10 games and went into this last weekend with the best run differential in the National League. Finally, the Toronto Blue Jays are beginning to show how much trouble they could give some of the other teams in the American League. While it certainly won't lead to Toronto being a contender this season, it's good to see a rebuilding team like them be so competitive. 

Player Stats

Top Five Starting Pitchers: 

• Trevor Bauer (Cleveland Indians) = 1.99 ERA Over 40.2 IP w/ a .167 OBAA
• German Marquez (Colorado Rockies) = 2.54 ERA Over 39.0 IP w/ 37 Strikeouts  
• Marco Gonzales (Seattle Mariners) = 2.80 ERA Over 45.0 IP w/ 34 Strikeouts 
• Mike Minor (Texas Rangers) = 2.88 ERA Over 40.2 IP w/ 39 Strikeouts 
• Jose Berrios (Minnesota Twins) = 2.97 ERA Over 39.1 IP w/ a 0.97 WHIP 

Top Five Relievers: 

• John Gant (St. Louis Cardinals) = 0.96 ERA Over 18.2 IP w/ a .089 OBAA 
• Sam Gaviglio (Toronto Blue Jays) = 1.00 ERA Over 18.0 IP w/ a 0.61 WHIP 
• Brandon Brennan (Seattle Mariners) = 1.06 ERA Over 17.0 IP w/ 19 Strikeouts 
• Bryan Shaw (Colorado Rockies) = 1.06 ERA Over 17.0 IP w/ a .186 OBAA 
• Roenis Elias (Seattle Mariners) = 2.16 ERA Over 16.2 IP w/ 14 Strikeouts 

Top 5 Batters: 

• Cody Bellinger (Los Angeles Dodgers) = .427/.500/.913 Over 103 At Bats 
• Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox) = .385/.404/.604 Over 91 At Bats 
• Elvis Andrus (Texas Rangers) = .365/.426/.596 Over 104 At Bats 
• Anthony Rendon (Washington Nationals) = .356/.442/.740 Over 73 At Bats 
• Jeff McNeil (New York Mets) = .355/.434/.484 Over 93 At Bats