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By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)
MLB Power Rankings Week 3
1.) Atlanta Braves (13-5) - The Braves hot start to the season was cooled off a bit at the hands of the Pirates, by losing three out of four games, but they are still tied for the best record in baseball.
2.) Oakland Athletics (12-7) - The Athletics had a strong start to the week, sweeping the Astros, but the beginning to their East Coast road-trip did not start very well, as the Rays swept them, and only scored four runs in three games.
3.) Colorado Rockies (13-5) - The Rockies have established themselves as one of the best home teams in baseball with a (8-1) record, but the Diamondbacks snapped their eight game winning streak on Sunday.
4.) Boston Red Sox (12-6) - The Red Sox despite having what was a horrible week for the city of Boston won their first five games of the week before losing both games of the double-header to the Royals on Sunday.
5.) Texas Rangers (12-6) - Yu Darvish is leading a good Rangers rotation thus far this season, and the Rangers finished week three strong by sweeping the Mariners, in which they only allowed three runs in three games, and two of them the Rangers had shutouts.
6.) San Francisco Giants (12-7) - The Giants started the week being swept by the Brewers on the final three games of their road-trip, but as the Giants returned home, they were able to sweep the Padres to finish off the week with shutouts on Saturday and Sunday.
7.) Kansas City Royals (10-7) - The young Royals proved this week that they can beat good teams on the road, as they split a two game series with the Braves, and then went up to Boston, and took two out of three games.
8.) New York Yankees (10-7) - The Yankees are getting great play from their new additions this season, as Kevin Youkilis, Vernon Wells, and Travis Hafner are all playing well, and the Yankees have won four straight series.
9.) Cincinnati Reds (11-8) - The Red have been great at home, but the road has been unkind to Cincinnati, as they are just (1-5), and they will have a big four game series coming up in week four against the Nationals in Washington.
10.) Pittsburgh Pirates (10-8) - The pirates pitching staff led them to a big series win over the hottest team in baseball in the Braves, as the Pirates pitching is now best in baseball in batting average against at just .212.
11.) Baltimore Orioles (10-8) - The Orioles had a nice week winning both of their series against the Rays and Dodgers, and are being led by one of the better overall offenses in baseball, but their pitching does need to sure up in the coming weeks.
12.) Arizona Diamondbacks (10-8) - The Diamondbacks had a tough week losing both series they played against the Yankees and Rockies, but a bright spot is Didi Gregorius has been hitting the ball well since being called up from the minors to play Shortstop, as he is hitting .545 with two homeruns in his first three games.
13.) St Louis Cardinals (10-8) - The Cardinals had a mediocre week going (3-3), which caused them to lose their spot in first place in the Central Division. The Cardinals do lead the major leagues in quality starts, which is a good sign moving forward.
14.) Washington Nationals (10-8) - The Nationals have been surprisingly mediocre this season, as they are not hitting great, fielding well, or pitching well. The defense has been the worst in the majors led by Ian Desmond, who has seven errors already this season.
15.) Milwaukee Brewers (9-8) - After a dreadful (2-8) start the Brewers have ripped off seven straight wins, which included sweeps at home against the Giants and Cubs. The big question with the Brewers is the bullpen, which had a much better week combining for an ERA under two this week.
16.) New York Mets (9-8) - The Mets are being led by their two young Starting Pitchers in Jon Niese and Matt Harvey, who are both off to great starts. Harvey might be the most impressive Pitcher in all of baseball, as he is the first Pitcher since 1900 to start the season (4-0), and give up a combined 10 hits or less.
17.) Minnesota Twins (8-7) - The Twins only played four games this week due to bad weather, but they did win them all, and have ended the week on a four game winning streak with the Marlins coming to town the Twins might be able to extend that in the upcoming week.
18.) Detroit Tigers (9-9) - The Tigers West Coast road-trip did not end very well, as they lost four straight, which included being swept by the Angels, as the offense struggled during the losing streak only scoring four runs in four games.
19.) Tampa Bay Rays (8-10) - The Rays are probably the team that is most dependent on one player in Evan Longoria. Luckily for the Rays Longoria has reached base in every game, and has four homeruns this season.
20.) Toronto Blue Jays (8-11) - Things seem to be turning around a bit for the Blue Jays, as last years Cy Young Award winner in the NL R.A. Dickey has had two good starts in a row, and Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie have both returned from injuries.
21.) Los Angeles Dodgers (8-10) - The Dodgers are struggling to score runs, as they are 29th in the majors in runs scored, which resulted in them getting swept by the Padres, and then losing two out of three to the Orioles.
22.) Los Angeles Angels (7-10) - The Angels tough start to the season may be coming to and end, as they were able to sweep the Tigers thanks to a Mark Trumbo walk-off on Sunday, but Albert Pujols foot seems to be bothering him a lot, which is a cause for concern.
23.) Philadelphia Phillies (8-11) - The Phillies had a tough start to the week by being swept against the Reds, but they were able to split a four game series with the Cardinals, and Roy Halladay has won his last two starts.
24.) Cleveland Indians (7-10) - Home has not been very kind to the Indians yet this season, and that was apparent this week with them being swept at home by the Red Sox. The Indians did explode for 19 runs on Saturday against the Astros.
25.) Chicago White Sox (7-11) - The White Sox don’t seem to be a team that needs to be feared in the AL Central, as their hitting has been awful this season led by the struggling Adam Dunn, who is batting .108 with 26 strikeouts already.
26.) Seattle Mariners (7-13) - The Mariners tried to sure up their lineup this season, but this week was a disaster, as they only scored six runs in six games, and were shutout two games in a row during the end of the week.
27.) Chicago Cubs (5-12) - The Cubs only won one game this week, but the pitching has been good so far this season, and with news that Matt Garza is coming back it should only get better for the Cubs, but they will need to find a way to score some runs.
28.) San Diego Padres (5-13) - The Padres started the week with a surprising sweep of the Dodgers, but reality set back in at the end of the week, as they were swept by the Giants and shutout on Saturday and Sunday.
29.) Houston Astros (5-13) - The Astros are the worst pitching team in baseball, and that was shown in a 19-6 loss to the Indians on Saturday. The offense is in the middle of the road stat wise for the Astros, which is something an awful team can look at as a positive.
30. Miami Marlins (4-15) - The Marlins are the worst team offensively in baseball in terms of runs scores, and in order to win games you have to score more runs than you opponent, which is something the Marlins have only done four times this season.
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