Another month in the MLB has flown by, here are the power rankings after the month of May. Feedback of any variety is appreciated.
Rank(Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1(4) |  |
33-19 | San Diego has been very good lately, winning their last six and beginning to pull away from the rest of the NL West. |
| 2(1) |  |
33-18 | Jason Isringhausen doesn’t have a blown save all year, which has turned out to be quite an accomplishment this year. I hate to speculate about steroids, but you have to suspect that as much as sluggers benefited from steroids, late relief pitchers were right behind them in usage. |
| 3(2) |  |
35-17 | Frank Thomas returned and was promptly injured again, although he says this hip flexor isn’t serious. Podsednik’s steal pace took a big hit last week, all the way down to 81. The White Sox are coming back down to the league, they’re just 5-5 in their last 10 games. |
| 4(12) |  |
25-20 | They still haven’t lost since the massive beatdown of the Astros, winning their last nine straight. Somehow Mark Teixeira is only fourth in All-Star voting for first baseman, which is hopefully corrected by the time the teams are selected. |
| 5(5) |  |
31-20 | The O’s have suffered a sizable rash of injuries lately, but have still maintained a decent lead in the AL East. Brian Roberts leads all the AL players in All-Star balloting, and deservedly so. |
| 6(8) |  |
29-21 | Reliever Jesse Crain is 5-0, with five wins in extra innings. He’s earned runs in only one appearance. |
| 7(9) |  |
30-22 | They finally came to term with their number one draft pick, SS Stephen Drew. This definitely won’t stop Arizona from drafting SS Justin Upton with the first pick this year. |
| 8(10) |  |
30-22 | The Angels have been fairly mediocre lately, but so has the rest of the AL West. Now the Angels head out on a 14 day road trip. |
| 9(7) |  |
28-23 | The Braves are making all sorts of smart moves, first ousting Kolb, now designating Mondesi for assignment. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him end up somewhere else, even though he’s been bad. |
| 10(3) |  |
27-22 | For some reason, the Marlins can’t beat the Pirates. They really need to beat these types of teams if they want to beat the Braves this year. |
| 11(6) |  |
28-23 | There’s still no timetable for Curt Schilling’s return, but its not expected before the All-Star break. |
| 12(11) |  |
27-24 | Reports have the Yankees demoting Wang when Wright returns, which wouldn’t be a good move. The team would be better served by the Yankees demoting Quantrill rather than Wang. |
| 13(13) |  |
28-24 | Roy Halladay could win the Cy Young if he pitches like he has been for the rest of the season. He has a 17 inning scoreless streak going right now. |
| 14(19) |  |
26-24 | Wow, the bad luck train just keeps chugging along for the Cubs with Prior’s elbow injury. At least they got rid of Latroy Hawkins, which may be a part of their 8-2 record in their last ten games. |
| 15(15) |  |
27-25 | Marlon Byrd is batting .371 since being traded even though he’s just platooning. Certainly an upgrade over Endy Chavez. |
| 16(14) |  |
26-25 | Their all-time series with the Cubs is even, 930-930 with the tiebreaker tonight. |
| 17(21) |  |
25-25 | So much for the return of Juan Gonzalez (he got injured again in his first at-bat back), maybe he should just retire before he ruins himself anymore. The Indians got back to .500, going 8-2 in their most recent 10 game stretch. |
| 18(17) |  |
26-26 | Kaz Matsui has continued to be a big bust, he’s hitting just .243 with three homeruns. |
| 19(22) |  |
25-27 | Thome finally hit his second homerun of the year, and Corey Lidle continued his good season allowing one run to the Braves last week. |
| 20(20) |  |
23-26 | Carlos Pena is normally a streaky player, but this year he’s been pretty consistent. The problem is, he’s been consistently bad. |
| 21(18) |  |
24-27 | Ben Sheets looked good in his return, allowing just one run in five innings. Unfortunately, the Brewers have lost their last four. |
| 22(23) |  |
23-27 | The Pirates are in the midst of a 14 game homestand, not necessarily a good thing since they’ve been better on the road this year. |
| 23(16) |  |
23-27 | I’m not sure why they traded for Latroy Hawkins, he’s not the answer in their messy bullpen. They gave up David Aardsma, who I’ve heard referred to as San Fransisco’s “closer of the future.” Apparently not. They’ve also lost five straight. |
| 24(24) |  |
21-30 | Jamie Moyer is only three wins away from 200 on the career. |
| 25(26) |  |
21-31 | The Reds had their first shutout of the season Monday, not that big of an accomplishment against the Astros who have been shut out a league leading nine times. |
| 26(28) |  |
19-32 | By winning Tuesday, they avoided the team record for fewest wins in a month. |
| 27(25) |  |
19-32 | Jason Kendall still can’t throw anyone out; he’s gotten only one of the last 36 attempts out. |
| 28(27) |  |
19-34 | Chad Orvella, the D-Ray’s future closer, got called up this week. He’s in his third year as a pro, and so far has 150 strikeouts in 111 innings with only 17 innings. I’m pretty excited to see this kid pitch. |
| 29(29) |  |
15-35 | Byung-Hung Kim has moved into the rotation, and has been disastrous so far. However, he’s better than any of the Rockies’ other options. |
| 30(30) |  |
14-37 | Well they hired Buddy Bell, which is sure to solve approximately zero percent of their problems. |