MLB Power Rankings: Week 5

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By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

 MLB Power Rankings Week 5

The month of April is over, and some things are starting to shape up in the majors, as teams head into the important month of May. 

1.) Texas Rangers (20-11) - The Rangers have taken the top spot in the Power Rankings, as their pitching has been fantastic. They have given up the least amount of runs in the majors, and that is a major reason they are tied for the best record in baseball.

2.) St Louis Cardinals (20-11) - The Cardinals might be the hottest team in baseball, winning six straight games, and now sitting atop the NL Central. They have played 19 road games already, and are an impressive (13-6).

3.) Boston Red Sox (20-11) - The Red Sox are rolling still behind great pitching from Clay Buchholz, who has six wins already, and the return of David Ortiz has given the lineup a big boost.



4.) Detroit Tigers (19-11) - The Tigers are rolling right now going (9-1) in their last 10 games. Miguel Cabrera coming off an MVP season and Prince Fielder are both raking, as they have combined for 68 RBIs a little over a month into the season.

5.) Kansas City Royals (17-10) - The Royals are only a half a game back of the Tigers in the AL Central, and a (4-1) week, which included Jeremy Guthrie’s first career shutout has the Royals looking like a serious contender in the AL.

6.) San Francisco Giants (19-12) - The Giants are back on top of the NL West, as the defending champions are playing well on their six game winning streak, which included a sweep of their rival the Dodgers.

7.) New York Yankees (18-12) - The Yankees finished up a 10 game home-stand on a bit of a sour note losing two out of three to the Athletics, but finished it going (7-3). They will however be heading on the road next week, with the injuries still piling up.

8.) Baltimore Orioles (19-13) - Baltimore finished up an extremely difficult West Coast trip, which was 11 games. The Orioles performed very well winning seven of the 11 games, with the only blunder losing the series to the Mariners.

9.) Atlanta Braves (18-12) - The last 10 games for the Braves hasn’t been great, but they were able to start the week splitting the series against the Nationals at home. They will be getting All-Star Catcher Brian McCann back next week, which will help the offense.

10.) Cincinnati Reds (18-14) - The Reds are emerging as one of the best home teams in baseball with a (12-4) record. Their pitching has been very good, and Shin-Soo Choo is having a great season in the leadoff spot with his new team.

11.) Oakland Athletics (18-14) - The Athletics started the week with a thrilling 19 inning win over the Angels, and finished the week taking two out of three against the Yankees on the East Coast. Surprisingly the A’s are first in runs scored in all of the majors, but their young pitching hasn’t been pitching like they did last season.

12.) Colorado Rockies (18-13) - The Rockies lineup got even better this week with the call up of Third Base prospect Nolan Arenado, and the rookie seemed to enjoy his first week hitting three homeruns. Colorado will score runs this season there’s no doubt about that, but they’ll need the pitching to hang in there.

13.) Washington Nationals (17-15) - The Nationals pitching has been good overall, but they are getting no run support, which for Washington will hopefully be changing soon with the return of Ryan Zimmerman.

14.) Pittsburgh Pirates (17-14) - The Pirates had a disappointing week going only (2-4) losing both series to the Brewers and Nationals. Andrew McCutchen is struggling only batting .250, and if the Pirates want to bounce back from a tough week they will need him to get going.

15.) Arizona Diamondbacks (16-15) - The Diamondbacks had a very tough week going (1-5) with the only win coming from Patrick Corbin. Stats wise Arizona is right around the middle of the pack in hitting and pitching, which makes their record make a lot of sense.

16.) Cleveland Indians (14-14) - The Indians had their best week of the season going (5-1) with their only loss coming on Sunday, which snapped their six game winning streak. The pitching and hitting both clicked this week, as they scored six or more runs in each win.

17.) Tampa Bay Rays (14-16) - Tampa Bay is being led by the young arms of Matt Moore and Alex Cobb, but their ace David Price has looked far from it, as he currently has an ERA over six. If the Rays want to get over .500 they need Price to figure it out.

18.) Seattle Mariners (15-18) - Seattle is getting their moneys worth out of Felix Hernandez, who is (4-2) with an ERA of just 1.60. A (4-2) record for the Mariners this week has them closing in on the .500 mark.

19.) Minnesota Twins (13-14) - Minnesota was able to avoid being swept in both of their series this week, but a (2-4) week is still not very good. The hitting and pitching for the Twins are both sub-par, and it would be surprising to not see them over .500 for the rest of the season.

20.) Milwaukee Brewers (14-16) - A nice start to the week for the Brewers ended quickly, as they lost five straight, which included a four-game sweep at the hands of the Cardinals, and knocked the Brew Crew back under .500

21.) San Diego Padres (13-18) - The Padres after an awful start to the season have been on a roll lately winning eight of their last 11 games, as the rookie Jedd Gyorko is having a good rookie campaign, which is helping the Padres win games.

22.) Philadelphia Phillies (14-18) - Roy Halladay was shelled by the Marlins this week, and now concerns about his health are coming up. The offense has been non-existent for the Phillies as well ranking in the bottom have of the league in most categories.

23.) Los Angeles Dodgers (13-17) - The Dodgers don’t seem to have a problem getting players on base, but getting them home is a whole different story. They rank last in batting average with runners in scoring position hitting just .222, which has resulted in them being 28th in runs scored.

24.) New York Mets (12-16) - A good start to the season has disappeared for the Mets, as they now only have one reliable starter in Matt Harvey with the struggles on Jon Niese lately. They are second in the majors in runs per game at almost five, but the pitching besides Harvey has been a disaster.

25.) Chicago White Sox (12-17) - The White Sox are getting no production from their lineup, which is 29th in runs scored, and have amazingly not recorded a quality start this season. It seems like its going to be a long season for Chicago.

26.) Los Angeles Angels (11-20) - After another off-season of bringing in a major name in Josh Hamilton, the Angels have struggled to start the season again. Hamilton is barely hitting over .200, and has only nine RBIs.

27.) Chicago Cubs (11-20) - The starting rotation has been pretty good for the Cubs, but closing games is where the problems have arisen for the Cubs. In 16 save chances the Cubs have only converted eight of them, and their bullpen overall has an ERA over 4.71.

28.) Miami Marlins (10-22) - The Marlins had a winning week, which is something that some people may not have thought would happen all season. Giancarlo Stanton is back on the DL with a hamstring pull however, so the week ahead may not be so kind to the Marlins.

29.) Toronto Blue Jays (11-21) - In what has to be the biggest disappointment of the season so far the Blue Jays are 10 games under .500 already, and in a tough division if they want to make the playoffs they better turn it around quick.

30.) Houston Astros (8-24) - Houston started the week strong blowing out the Yankees, but after that they went back to their bad baseball ways finishing the week on a six game losing streak.