We’ve already reached the two month mark of the 2016 MLB season. While there is still plenty of baseball left, we are starting to get a first glimpse of the true identity of each team. Some of the slow starters are finally starting to wake up, while other teams that were playing over their heads appear to be finally coming back to Earth. Others have maintained excellence or anything but since day 1. So, how does each team fare heading in to the month of June? Let’s take a look in our Memorial Day edition of our MLB power rankings to find out.
30. Atlanta Braves (14-35, previously 29) – The Braves won as many home games this weekend as they had all season up to this point: two. Yikes.
29. Cincinnati Reds (16-34, previously 28) – Cincinnati is 3-17 in its last twenty games, which featured an abysmal 11 game losing streak that finally came to a halt with a win against Milwaukee on Saturday. The Reds have also now hit the -100 run differential. It’s not fair that this team has to play in the NL Central.
28. Minnesota Twins (15-34, previously 30) – Here’s something to smile about. The Twins are on a four game winning streak, completing a four game sweep against Seattle Mariners to knock the squad out of first place in the AL West. That doesn’t change the fact however that Minnesota has more than double as many losses as it has wins.
27. San Diego Padres (20-31, previously 24) – Tough past week for the Padres. They were swept by the NL West leading San Francisco Giants for the second straight week before losing two out of three to Arizona this weekend. At this rate, San Diego can hardly wait for All Star week to arrive, because it looks like it will be the only baseball highlight for America’s Finest City this year.
26. Oakland Athletics (22-29, previously 26) – Oakland took two out of three from Detroit this weekend, and now catches a break as they host the AL-worst Minnesota Twins this week in the East Bay. Could the Bay Area go 4-0 in professional sporting events this Memorial day?
25. Houston Astros (22-29, previously 27) – Houston took the last two games against the Angels in Anaheim this weekend, featuring a come from behind win in 13 innings Sunday afternoon at the Big-A. The ‘Stros are 5-5 in their last 10 games, and struggling pitcher Dallas Keuchel came back to life Saturday with a 4-2 win. Maybe things are finally starting to look better for the underwhelming Houston team.
24. Arizona Diamondbacks (23-29, previously 23) – Arizona was swept in Pittsburgh last week, and the pitching nightmares continue as Rubby De La Rosa and first-year Diamondback Shelby Miller has now been placed on the 15-day DL. Not a great time for Zack Greinke to be having an off-year by any means.
23. Milwaukee Brewers (23-27, previously 25) – It certainly helped that they were dealt a series with Cincinnati last week, but the Brewers have now gone 6-4 in their last ten games and now have a winning home record of 14-13. They may get to improve even more with a home-series against their division rival St. Louis Cardinals, who have been playing mediocre at best of late.
22. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (22-28, previously 21) – The Angels lost two of three to both Texas teams last week, first against the Rangers in Arlington and then against the Astros back home. On the bright side, Angel fans can now dismiss any rumors of all-star outfielder Mike Trout being traded this summer. Anyhow, maybe it’s time for Tim Lincecum to start throwing sooner than anticipated given the Angels pitching woes of late, which included 15 runs surrendered to Texas last Wednesday.
21. Tampa Bay Rays (23-26, previously 20) – Tampa is now 2-9 in their last 11 games dropping series against Detroit, Miami, and the New York Yankees in the process. Erasmo Ramirez’s ERA has now jumped to 2.37 with two consecutive losses on the mound. It won’t get any easier for Tampa as they now have to defending champion Kansas City Royals, who have really heated up within the last week.
20. Colorado Rockies (23-26, previously 16) – The bats of Trevor Story and Nolan Arenado continue to stay hot, but it appears that the Rockies may once again be in for a long road ahead after a promising start to the season. Colorado has now dropped seven of its last ten contests, which included an eighth inning bullpen disaster against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday. Nonetheless, the Rockies will get some relief as they host the ice-cold Cincinnati Reds this week at Coors Field.
19. New York Yankees (24-25, previously 17) – The Yankees just can’t seem to break away from the .500 range of late, once again sitting at one game under a week after they sat at 21-22. Nonetheless they’ve gone 7-3 in their last 10 games and are only 5.5 games out of first place. They will have the chance to make up some divisional ground this week with a critical series in Toronto against the Blue Jays beginning today.
18. Toronto Blue Jays (26-26, previously 22) – After falling all the way to the cellar of the AL East shortly after the Bautista-Odor incident, the Blue Jays have seemingly been on the uphill trend once again. They took three game series by the score of 2-1 against both New York and Boston last weekend, and will have to chance to get back above .500 for the first time in two weeks as they host the Yankees this week at the Rogers Centre. Joey Bats is now back for good for the time being after serving a one game suspension this weekend for his role in the fight, a suspension that saw him attend game six of the Eastern Conference Finals and even enter the PA booth to watch his Jays play.
17. Detroit Tigers (24-25, previously 17) – The Tigers lost two of three in Oakland this weekend but took two of three from Philadelphia last week in the Motor City, posting a 6-4 record in their last 10 games. The Tigers can also cheer that SP Jordan Zimmeran is expected to return to the rotation this week after missing after injuring himself during his start last Sunday. The ace is 7-2 this season with a team best 2.52 ERA. What’s more, Detroit only finds themselves a mere three games out of first place despite sitting a one game below .500.
16. St. Louis Cardinals (26-25, previously 13) – The underwhelming season for St. Louis continues, going 4-6 in their last 10 games. They split a four game series against the Nationals in Washington this weekend, but dropped two of three from Chicago at Busch Stadium, facing deficits of at least 6-0 by the 2nd inning in both of those losses to the Cubs. No starting pitcher has an ERA under three, as Jaime Garcia leads the Cardinals’ rotation with a 3.47 ERA. Pretty surprising when you have guys like Wainwright and Wacha on your pitching staff.
15. Miami Marlins (26-24, previously 15) – The Marlins really haven’t moved much since their hot streak that lasted from late April to early May. The one concerning stat is that Miami is 16-11 o the road while only 10-13 at home. They will have to be able to win more in South Florida if they intend to be a serious contender in the NL East.
14. Chicago White Sox (24-27, previously 7) – Where do we being here? The South Side is taking it’s name too seriously, as the White Sox have gone south in every possible way since early May. The Sox have lost six games in a row, all against division rivals in KC and Cleveland, and have gone 4-14 in their last 18 games Their once AL-best record of 23-10 has vanished. Their six game division lead has also vanished, now sitting in third place. What’s more, Chris Sale’s perfect 9-0 record was shattered last week in a 6-2 home loss to the Indians. It won’t get any easier as the squad heads to New York to face the Mets and their incredible pitching staff this week.
13. Philadelphia Phillies (24-26, previously 10) – After establishing themselves as the biggest surprise of the season by sitting in a virtual tie for first place in the NL-East less than two weeks ago, the Phillies are now only a mere two games above .500. They were swept by the Cubs this weekend along the shores of Lake Michigan and have now lost seven of their last 10 games. They are also only one of two winning teams with a negative run differential, sitting a -43 as it stands. Now they will have to face Bryce Harper and the Nationals at home this week.
12. Los Angeles Dodgers (24-27, previously 19) – Here come the Dodgers. They have now won six of their last seven games, including two against the Mets in Queens, and Clayton Kershaw has continued to be just brilliant for the squad. On Sunday he became the first pitcher in modern history to record 100 strikeouts at any point in the season while only sitting at a mere five walks, and LA is now 10-1 this season in games which he has started. Next up is a huge series against the MLB best Chicago Cubs at Wrigley starting tonight.
11. Cleveland Indians (26-22, previously 12) – The Tribe now finds itself sitting in 2nd place in the AL-Central, only half a game back of the Kansas City Royals. Cleveland was able to take three of four against the slumping White Sox in Chicago last week before dropping two out of three against Baltimore along the shores of Lake Erie this weekend. They now host the AL- West leading Rangers this week. SS Francisco Lindor continues his strong season, still batting .316 thus far.
10. Seattle Mariners (28-21, previously 6) – Seattle is still enjoying its best start in quite some time, but the squad took a dip this weekend, suffering a three game sweep at home at the hands of Minnesota to drop out of first place in the AL-West. While the Mariners are a remarkable 18-7 on the road, they are only 10-14 in the Pacific-Northwest his season.
9. New York Mets (28-21, previously 8) – The Mets ran into a bit of trouble with Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers this weekend as they dropped the final two contests of the series at home, but New York remains a force to be reckoned with. Yoenis Cespedes leads every batting category for the team with 15 home runs, 36 RBIs, and a .282 batting average. Meanwhile, Noah Syndergaard has continued to dominate with a 1.87 ERA and 79 strikeouts.
8. Baltimore Orioles (28-20, previously 4) – Mark Trumbo has continued to stay red hot at the plate with 15 homers and 37 RBIs, but Baltimore has dropped six of its last ten contests, including as sweep at the hands of the Astros, and is now a game out of first place in the AL-East behind Boston. They will have a chance to get the lead back as the host the Red Sox this week.
7. Kansas City Royals (27-22, previously 14) – Oh Kansas City. The defending world series champs are finally playing like champs, riding an 11-4 stretch and a sweep of the White Sox to move all the way form under .500 and third place in the AL-Central to first place in the division. Eric Hosmer has remained on a tear, now with 30 RBIs and a .319 batting average on the season. KC may extend their hot streak even further has they host the lowly-Rays this week.
6. Pittsburgh Pirates (28-21, previously 11) – Raise the Jolly Roger. Though they dropped two of three to Texas over the weekend, the Pirates have looked dominant of late, winning five straight games last week and ten of their last 14. The Bucs have now driven in 247 runs and are batting .283 as a team, 4th and 2nd best in the majors, respectively. They also have the third best OBP in the majors at .357. They still have some ground to make up against the Cubs, but look out for the Pirates to make some noise as we enter the summer months.
5. Texas Rangers (29-21, previously 9) – Great times for Rangers fans. First place in the AL- West, Yu Darvish is finally back, and Nomar Mazara only boosted his rookie of the year campaign with two home runs of more 480 feet last week, including an estimated 500 foot bomb on Wednesday – the longest home run in the majors this season. Texas has now prevailed in seven of its last nine games, and will head to Cleveland to face the Indians this week.
4. Washington Nationals (30-21, previously 3) – The Nats are one of only four teams to have reached 30 wins this season but are only one game up on New York after a 5-5 week. Daniel Murphy has stayed red hot with a .387 batting average and .420 OBP. Oddly enough, Washington does not crack the top ten in any category for either batting or pitching as a team. But hey, all that matters is winning
3. San Francisco Giants (32-20, previously 5) – The Giants have now won 15 of their last 17 contests, and that streak could only grow as they take on the sluggish Braves for a four game series in Atlanta this week. Buster Posey launched two three-run homers in Saturday’s win over Colorado, and Johnny Cueto is now 8-1 on the season. Stay hot San Francisco.
2. Boston Red Sox (30-20, previously 2) – Mookie Betts’ 29 game hit streak came to an end this week, but Boston has continued to pound opponents on offense this season, especially at Fenway where they are 18-10. Boston leads the majors in runs scored, batting average, and slugging percentage, and boasts a second best OBP of .359.
1. Chicago Cubs (34-14, previously 1) – Sitting 20 games above .500, the Cubs reign once again. Any fears we had after their sluggish stretch last week can now be erased, as they have won five straight games. They host the Dodgers this week, but it is unlikely they will face Clayton Kershaw unless a last minute adjustment is made to the starting pitching schedule. Even then, facing Kershaw may not be an issue with Jake Arrieta and company dominating the world of pitching at the moment.
Biggest Movers: Kansas City Royals/Los Angeles Dodgers (+7), Chicago White Sox (-7)