Another week of MLB action has gone by (or, if you’re a Royals fan, perhaps inaction is a better term). Here are the latest power rankings, and of course questions and comments are welcome.
Rank(Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1(2) |  |
75-44 | Larry Walker and Reggie Sanders have been taking BP, which is really good news for the Cardinals. They need those guys in the lineup to have a chance come October. In the meantime though, the Cards have moved into a virtual tie with the White Sox. |
| 2(1) |  |
74-43 | The White Sox have lost four straight games, and tonight Mark Buehrle will try to recover from his last outing against the Red Sox, in which he gave up the most hits (12) he had since July 3 against the A’s when he gave up 14. |
| 3(4) |  |
69-48 | Sure Curt Schilling had that blown save against the Tigers, but that’s Boston’s only loss between now and August 6. |
| 4(6) |  |
69-50 | After spending last month in the bottom third of team batting averages at .253, the Angels offense has bounced back to hit .291 so far in August, the fourth best in the ML this month. |
| 5(5) |  |
68-51 | The Braves just continue to get healthier with starters Mike Hampton and John Thomson returning from the DL, displacing Kyle Davies and McKay McBride to the minors. |
| 6(4) |  |
64-47 | The A’s lost their first series at home since May 13-15 against the Yankees over the weekend, this time against the Twins. |
| 7(8) |  |
65-53 | Alex Rodriguez homered Monday in a win over the Devil Rays, which gave him six home runs in his last nine games. He failed to homer, or even get a hit, yesterday though. |
| 8(7) |  |
64-55 | The Indians went 6-0 on their last road trip, which is really not all that surprising. Sure they were playing Detroit and Kansas City, but they also have the third best road record in the majors, trailing the Cards and the Sox. |
| 9(9) |  |
64-55 | Roger Clemens has continued to be nothing short of spectacular, giving up just two hits in eight innings to the Pirates in his last outing. |
| 10(14) |  |
63-55 | It’s no coincidence that the Nationals have begun to play well again while Jose Guillen and Nick Johnson have played well. They need those guys to produce to get into the playoffs and be successful. |
| 11(16) |  |
62-57 | The media has been proclaiming how Minnesota still has a good shot to make the playoffs, but they’re still the same number of games back (5) as the Blue Jays from the Wild Card leading A’s, and the A’s don’t exactly have a penchant for slumping in the second half either. |
| 12(10) |  |
63-56 | The Phillies are still very much within striking distance of the NL Wild Card, and the fans in Philadelphia definitely know it. Monday’s game against the Nationals (a loss) saw a walk-up crowd of over 7,600 fans, the largest in Citizens Bank Park’s short history. |
| 13(13) |  |
62-57 | Gustavo Chacin’s 11 wins are the most for a Blue Jays rookie ever. Meanwhile, Roy Halladay has regressed and now has no projected return date. |
| 14(11) |  |
61-57 | The Marlins played well enough last week with series wins against the Giants and Diamondbacks. |
| 15(12) |  |
60-58 | The Mike Cameron – Carlos Beltran collision, which put Cameron on the DL, most likely ended any real hope the Mets of getting the NL Wild Card. |
| 16(15) |  |
59-59 | The Padres are losing Khalil Greene for a couple weeks with a broken toe. His replacement will be Damian Jackson, whose OBP is about 30 points higher than Greene’s in ten less AB’s. |
| 17(22) |  |
59-60 | It’s too late for the O’s to make a run at the playoffs now, but at least they’re playing respectably again. Tonight, they go for the sweep against Oakland in the Alphabet Series. |
| 18(21) |  |
58-62 | Kerry Wood has looked good as a relief pitcher so far, giving up no runs and striking out 10 in six inning pitched. |
| 19(18) |  |
58-62 | Ben Sheets had been doing well, with three straight complete games, before Monday’s game against the Rockies. In it, Sheets gave up a whopping 10 earned runs in six innings of work. |
| 20(20) |  |
56-62 | The Tigers’ doubleheader sweep of the Royals was Detroit’s first since 1993 against the Orioles. |
| 21(24) |  |
54-64 | Scott Erickson, a 37 year old starter who was pretty miserable for the Dodgers earlier, hasn’t had much luck at AAA either, losing his third straight start Sunday. |
| 22(23) |  |
54-65 | Ken Griffey Jr. cleared waivers, and I’d love to see him go to a contender. Griffey playing in October at a decent level would definitely be a good thing for baseball as a whole, but his contract might be a little too ridiculous. John Allen, the Reds’ chief operating officer also denied the rumors that Griffey would be dealt. |
| 23(17) |  |
56-62 | The Rangers haven’t fared well against their current opponents from the AL East, losing eight in a row. |
| 24(19) |  |
56-64 | Arizona has lost both series so far on their current 12 game road trip, with two games against St. Louis and a series against the Reds still to go. |
| 25(25) |  |
52-66 | On Barry Bonds’ website (barrybonds.com) he says, “Two weeks ago things didn’t look too promising, but the past 10 days my rehab has taken a turn for the better…There is a good possibility that I could be back in September with the team, but, if not I will definitely be in the 2006 lineup.” For what it’s worth, he’s also passed either one or two drug tests this year depending on who you listen to. |
| 26(26) |  |
51-67 | Felix Hernandez has been very impressive in his first three starts, going 2-1 with a .86 ERA including eight shutout innings in a 1-0 win against the Twins. |
| 27(27) |  |
51-68 | Zach Duke stumbled a bit in his last start. He gave up four earned runs in just four innings against Houston, but still didn’t pick up his first loss. |
| 28(29) |  |
47-73 | Why isn’t anyone talking about Jonny Gomes as a Rookie of the Year Canidate? He’s hitting 20 points higher with an equal number of home runs in about 130 less at bats than Nick Swisher. |
| 29(28) |  |
45-75 | Todd Helton finally got his batting average back above .300 Monday, the first time that’s happened since May 22. |
| 30(30) |  |
38-80 | The Royals are bad, no doubt, but keep in mind it could be a lot worse. For example, the Royals current winning percentage of .322 is nearly 60 (I’m really good at math) points better than that of 2003’s Detroit Tigers team, which finished at .265. |
2 replies on “MLB Power Rankings August 17 2005”
Phils record walk-up crowd It’s hard to say whether we Philadelphians are actually rallying around the Phillies or interested in delicious ballpark franks – it was Dollar Dog Night at the CBP, which may have had a little something to do with it. Granted, I was also there to see a baseball game, but the dollar dogs certainly provided that extra bit of inspiration to get myself to the ballpark.
can you imagine if they had $1 beer night?
Oakland has $1 dogs every wed i think and still no one goes.