Here are my latest MLB power rankings.
1. Philadelphia Phillies (73-51, No. 4 last week): The Phillies just finished up a 4-2 week against the Marlins and Nationals at home. They had been 7-15 in their first 22 contests out of the All-Star break. The competition level ramps up now with series at Atlanta and Kansas City. Let’s see how they measure up.
2. Milwaukee Brewers (72-52, No. 5): A 10-3 mark in the past two weeks moves the Brewers up. Remarkably consistent all season long. Fans are asking, “Craig who?”
3. New York Yankees (73-52, No. 2): With Sunday night’s 3-2 loss to the Tigers in the Little League Classic, closer Clay Holmes has blown 10 saves. That, combined with injury to Jazz Chisholm Jr., really sets the Yankees back on their heels. Amazingly, the Pinstripers are 20-3 against the AL Central. That makes them pretty mediocre against the rest of MLB.
4. Baltimore Orioles (73-52, No. 1): The Orioles aren’t too sympathetic to the Yanks’ bullpen horrors. Manager Brandon Hyde’s circle of trust doesn’t have room for Craig Kimbrel or Gregory Soto. Hyde said in his postgame media scrum on Sunday that using the same three guys to lock down wins (Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez and Cionel Pérez) isn’t sustainable.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers (73-52, No. 3): It’s going to be fascinating to see if this Dodgers team with all the questions in their rotation can withstand two surging teams in the Padres and the D-Backs. Tyler Glasnow (elbow) will be on the IL for three or four weeks and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (triceps) is looking at another two or three weeks of ramping up. That leaves Clayton Kershaw, Jack Flaherty, Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone and Walker Buehler for now. That hardly seems to be enough.
6. Cleveland Guardians (72-52, No. 6): Like so many of the top teams in baseball, the Guardians are in the midst of an uninspiring stretch. (They’re 16-20 in their last 36 games.) They have an exceptional lockdown bullpen, and their overall staff ERA is 3.73, behind only the Mariners in the AL. However, the offensive woes continue to stunt their progress. They’re batting .238/.308/.396 as a team. Lane Thomas wasn’t enough at the deadline to perk up this club’s less-than-scary offense.
7. Minnesota Twins (70-54, No. 10): If their bullpen can be more consistent, the Twins can play with anyone, but they blew a late 4-0 lead on Sunday. After Pablo López shut out the Rangers for six innings, the usually reliable Jorge Alcala gave up five runs and two homers and got just two outs.
8. Kansas City Royals (69-55, No. 8): The Royals are showing a lot more pluck than we had reason to believe they possessed. Do you realize Bobby Witt Jr. is batting .350?!?! He’s amazing and being paid what he deserves.
9. San Diego Padres (70-55, No. 9): Mike Shildt’s boys are on one hell of a roll at 20-6 since the break. They’re now in second place in the NL West, just three games back of the Dodgers. Amazingly, they have done this without any help from Fernando Tatis Jr. or Yu Darvish. Club president A.J. Preller went all-in again, picking up former O’s power lefty Tanner Scott at the deadline to help out the bullpen.
10. Houston Astros (67-56, No. 11): On June 16, the Astros were 33-38 and trailed the Mariners by 8.5 games. Since then, the Astros have gone 35-18 and Mariners just 23-30. The M’s now trail the Astros by four games. The Astros should have Justin Verlander (neck stiffness) back from his long stint on the IL in the next 10 days.
11. Arizona Diamondbacks (69-56, No. 7)
12. Boston Red Sox (65-58, No. 12)
13. Atlanta Braves (66-58, No. 14)
14. New York Mets (64-60, No. 16)
15. Seattle Mariners (64-61, No. 13)
16. Tampa Bay Rays (62-61, No. 18)
17. San Francisco Giants (63-63, No. 17)
18. St. Louis Cardinals (61-63, No. 15)
19. Cincinnati Reds (60-64, No. 20)
20. Detroit Tigers (61-64, No. 22)
21. Chicago Cubs (61-64, No. 19)
22. Pittsburgh Pirates (58-65, No. 21)
23. Toronto Blue Jays (58-66, No. 24)
24. Texas Rangers (57-68, No. 23)
25. Washington Nationals (56-69, No. 25)
26. Los Angeles Angels (53-71, No. 26)
27. Oakland Athletics (53-71, No. 27)
28. Miami Marlins (46-78, No. 28)
29. Colorado Rockies (46-79, No. 29)
30. Chicago White Sox (30-95, No. 30)