Here are the latest power rankings after the MLB’s 22nd week. Criticisms and questions are always appreciated.
Rank(Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1(1) |  |
88-51 | Chris Carpenter became the MLB’s first 20-game winner in style with a complete game two hitter against the Astros. |
| 2(2) |  |
86-51 | Joe Crede is expected to return next week from a fractured middle finger. Chicago has won six straight, but unfortunately they can’t play the likes of Detroit and Kansas City every week. |
| 3(3) |  |
81-56 | David Ortiz has proved again how clutch he is while Boston has gone 8-2 in their last 10 games. |
| 4(7) |  |
80-59 | Tim Hudson allowed a career high amount of hits (13) to the Reds last Friday but still picked up the win. |
| 5(4) |  |
77-60 | Jason Giambi donated $20,000 to his former coach and current A’s third base coach Ron Washington after Washington’s home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. For a proven steroid user, he’s awfully easy to cheer for. |
| 6(5) |  |
77-61 | Bob Wickman has earned a Comeback Player of the Year nomination for his AL leading 36 saves. |
| 7(8) |  |
77-60 | Anaheim pitchers had a 3.56 ERA in August and their ERA hasn’t surpassed 4.00 in any month to this point. |
| 8(13) |  |
74-64 | Morgan Ensberg and Andy Pettitte each had to leave Monday’s game against Philadelphia. Ensberg didn’t play yesterday either, but Pettitte is not expected to miss his next start. |
| 9(8) |  |
76-62 | Rich Harden could start as soon as Sunday, but he would have to be pain free by tomorrow to return against Texas. |
| 10(12) |  |
73-65 | Florida is second to St. Louis in complete games (13 to 14), but they lead the MLB in CG shutouts with eight. |
| 11(11) |  |
72-66 | The Twins look to have given up on this year, calling up pitching prospect Francisco Liriano. He gave up a homer and struck out two in a one inning relief appearance. |
| 12(14) |  |
72-67 | Ryan Zimmerman’s journey to the MLB was finally completed last week. Frank Robinson doesn’t want to affect team chemistry by inserting him into the lineup too soon, but if Cristian Guzman isn’t benched for good then the Nationals don’t have a great chance at the playoffs. |
| 13(9) |  |
73-66 | The Phillies are having contract trouble with Billy Wagner and he’ll be a free agent at the end of the year if they don’t get him resigned. The good news is that it hasn’t affected his performance this year. |
| 14(19) |  |
69-70 | Michael Young leads the league in batting average at .326 and needs just 11 hits for his third consecutive 200 hit season. |
| 15(10) |  |
70-68 | The Mets lead the league in steals and are the only team to have six players with ten or more steals. |
| 16(15) |  |
68-69 | Rookie outfielder Ben Johnson homered in three straight games last week. |
| 17(16) |  |
68-70 | Gustavo Chacin went all of August without a win, but picked one up Monday against the Orioles. |
| 18(18) |  |
68-71 | Chris Capuano’s 15 wins are the most by a Brewers pitcher since Milwaukee moved to the NL. |
| 19(23) |  |
67-71 | The Cubs have called up Sergio Mitre, who struggled in his previous stints with the club. Dusty Baker has said that he’ll be used as a reliever but Mitre will likely start closer to the end of the month. |
| 20(25) |  |
63-74 | The Giants are close enough to first in the NL West make an interesting story down the stretch as Barry Bonds returns, but it’s still quite a bit of ground to make up and Bonds won’t be great right away. |
| 21(24) |  |
65-73 | Daniel Cabrera is returned yesterday against the Blue Jays, allowing four hits and no runs in seven innings. |
| 22(18) |  |
64-74 | The Reds fell away from the .500 plateau in the last week, going 2-5. |
| 23(20) |  |
63-73 | Detroit is on a six game losing streak, and have been outscored 37-7 over that time. |
| 24(21) |  |
62-76 | In his last three starts, Derek Lowe has posted a .75 ERA with a 20:3 K:BB ratio. |
| 25(22) |  |
62-77 | Shawn Estes is reportedly coming off the DL to start Friday against the Rockies. He wasn’t very good earlier this year, but at least he was on pace to improve on his 5.84 ERA from last season. |
| 26(27) |  |
60-78 | Felix Hernandez has a 5:1 K:BB ratio in his seven career starts, but the rare thing about him is that he’s a strikeout pitcher who gets mostly groundball outs, which certainly helps keep the home run totals down. In short, he’s real good. |
| 27(26) |  |
58-81 | Even with the abundance of youth in Tampa’s lineup they have a top ten offense. Now they just need some major league pitching. |
| 28(29) |  |
56-81 | Clint Barmes returned to the Colorado lineup, collecting three hits and three runs in his first four games back. |
| 29(28) |  |
55-77 | The Pirates finally fired Lloyd McClendon. He had an average of 91 losses a year for the previous four and piled up 81 this year without even getting to manage the last month. To be fair, McClendon never had a team that could really compete and division opponents Chicago, Houston and St. Louis each had a significant edge in payroll. |
| 30(30) |  |
44-92 | Angel Berroa had no walks all of August, and he was the only MLB player to do so with more than 70 at bats. |