Here are the power rankings as we move into the last month of regular season baseball. Questions and comments are appreciated as always.
Rank(Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1(1) |  |
84-49 | The Cardinals are the only team in the NL to have a winning record on the road. |
| 2(2) |  |
80-50 | Scott Podsednik has returned from the DL and perhaps he can incite the White Sox to put the brakes on this slide with his high-energy play. |
| 3(3) |  |
76-54 | The Red Sox picked up Chad Harville from the Astros off waivers. He has virtually the same numbers in the NL as Mike Remlinger, so good luck with that Boston. |
| 4(6) |  |
74-57 | New York acquired Matt Lawton from the Cubs, Lawton’s third team this year. He’s a good leadoff type hitter with the ability to draw walks and an average amount of power. His fielding however is horrible. He’s fast enough to get to the ball, but has problems with the next couple steps, catching and throwing. It’s a nice depth pickup for next to nothing by New York though. |
| 5(10) |  |
75-56 | Oakland has reversed the minor slide they experienced a couple weeks ago, winning every game in the past week. |
| 6(5) |  |
74-58 | The Indians have won an impressive 14 of their last 17 road contests. |
| 7(7) |  |
74-57 | The Braves acquired Todd Hollandsworth from the Cubs for minor leaguers of little consequence, which is a nice cheap depth trade for Atlanta. |
| 8(4) |  |
73-58 | When Ervin Santana left in the fourth inning of the Angels’ game against the D-Rays he ended a streak of 17 consecutive games in which the Angels’ starters have pitched into the sixth inning. |
| 9(9) |  |
70-62 | Philadelphia is 8-1 in Brett Myers’ last nine starts dating back to July 14. Myers himself has posted a 5-1 record over that span. |
| 10(13) |  |
69-62 | Steve Trachsel has been removed from the Mets rotation, despite last Friday’s performance against the Giants which included eight innings of shutout ball. Coming out the bullpen for Trachsel is not an option; he has said that he takes around a half-hour to warm up. |
| 11(8) |  |
70-62 | Over their last seven games, Minnesota’s two through five hitters have a combined .132 average. |
| 12(11) |  |
70-62 | The last Marlin to hit a home run other than Carlos Delgado or Miguel Cabrera was Alex Gonzalez on August 5. |
| 13(12) |  |
69-62 | Craig Biggio’s last home run, the 252nd of his career, tied him for sixth on the all-time list of the most HRs by a 2B with Brett Boone. |
| 14(14) |  |
68-63 | You can’t help but remember Livan Hernandez’s complaints about playing injured after he posted a 7.48 ERA in five August starts. |
| 15(17) |  |
65-66 | The Padres have installed Xavier Nady as their everyday 1B, somewhat surprising considering that the move relegates Mark Sweeney and his .416 OBP (in 184 at bats) in favor of Nady’s .315 OBP (in 276 at bats). |
| 16(16) |  |
65-65 | It’s the right move to shut down Roy Halladay at this point in the season, especially considering how his recovery and rehab has gone more slowly than originally anticipated. |
| 17(18) |  |
64-68 | Ben Sheets is injured for the second time this season. This injury could be traced to the fact that Sheets had pitched nine innings in four of his last five starts before leaving in the eighth inning last Friday. |
| 18(21) |  |
62-69 | The Reds have played very well recently, good enough to pass the Cubs and close on the Brewers for 3rd in the division, and perhaps more importantly .500. |
| 19(23) |  |
63-69 | The Rangers have eight players with 15 home runs or more, which ties a major league record that seven other teams also hold a share of. If Rod Barajas can hit two more HRs, they’ll be the sole owners of the record. |
| 20(15) |  |
62-67 | The Tigers are having some trouble signing their first round draft choice, Cameron Maybin. The problem is arising from the fact that Maybin was widely rated as the third best player in the draft, and would like to be compensated as such instead of as the 10th overall pick, which is where he was actually drafted. |
| 21(22) |  |
60-72 | Milton Bradley has been well behaved on the field this year, but now reports have come out that police have responded to reports of domestic violence at the outfielder’s home on three occasions this summer. It’s a shame this guy can’t get himself under control, he has some real talent. |
| 22(25) |  |
61-73 | Arizona was swept in a four game series at home for the first time this year against the Mets. During the series they hit .183 and were outscored 39-7. |
| 23(20) |  |
63-69 | The Cubs wisely decided to have Kerry Wood undergo season ending surgery. This gives Wood plenty of time to rehab and hopefully play a full season next year. |
| 24(19) |  |
61-70 | As if Sidney Ponson wasn’t having a bad enough year he was arrested for drunk driving and reportedly won’t pitch again this year due to a torn ligament in his thumb. |
| 25(25) |  |
58-73 | Noah Lowry was lights out this past month, finishing August 5-0 with a 0.69 ERA, due in large part to him suddenly finding a ridiculously good curveball. |
| 26(28) |  |
55-78 | Tampa Bay is actually 10 games over .500 since the All-Star break (27-17). |
| 27(27) |  |
56-75 | Ichiro just got his average back to .300 this Monday. Hopefully he can regain his hitting form next year, but I have trouble believing he’ll ever be considered as someone who could hit .400 after this season. |
| 28(26) |  |
55-77 | Pittsburgh has been playing horribly since losing Jose Castillo for the season, and Oliver Perez has done poor work during his rehab assignment. Don’t blame Jason Bay though, he’s been doing everything possible to help the Pirates win, including 16 stolen bases (four times his total last year) without getting caught once. |
| 29(29) |  |
52-80 | The Rockies might be able to improve their record a bit in the last part of the year. They don’t play outside the NL West again until September 25. |
| 30(30) |  |
42-88 | With Mike Sweeney and David Dejesus out of the lineup Monday, the Royals line up had a total of 37 HRs this year between them all. |