MY NEW MLB POWER RANKINGS

Rank		Team					Comment
1			Boston Red Sox	79-34		Is the American League East Division race over? The Red Sox swept a four-game home series against the Yankees over the weekend to go up by a whopping 9.5 games in the standings. The Boss must be rolling over in his grave.
2			Houston Astros	71-42		The defending champs are 4-2 on the current road trip, which ends with two games in San Francisco to start this week. That recent five-game losing streak is becoming a distant memory now.
3			New York Yankees	68-42		Five straight losses now, including the four in Boston, have the Bronx Bombers asking a different question. Can they hold off the hard-charging Athletics for home-field advantage in the wild-card game?
4			Los Angeles Dodgers	62-51		Looking way ahead, the Dodgers close the season with six straight in the road. The first three are against the Diamondbacks and the last three are against the Giants. That could make for an interesting final week.
5			Chicago Cubs	64-47		Imagine a scenario where the Brewers win the National League Central and the Diamondbacks win the NL West. Could we get a Cubs-Dodgers wild-card game in the playoffs? That would be insane.
6			Oakland Athletics	67-46		It’s been four years since the A’s were 21 games over .500 as Oakland is on a 33-10 tear right now. Who are these guys?! Remember, this team started the season with the lowest payroll in baseball. It’s vintage “Moneyball” time ... again.
7			Arizona Diamondbacks	62-51		A 15-19 record in one-run games is what has kept Arizona down this year. The Diamondbacks had a six-game NL West lead on May 1, and it’s been a grind for them since then, posting just a 41-43 mark from that day to now.
8			Cleveland Indians	61-49		The next 13 games are against squads way under .500 on the year, so Cleveland has a chance to extend its nine-game division lead over the next two weeks. It’s that kind of season for the Tribe.
9			Atlanta Braves	60-48		Winners of six in the last seven, the Braves are still 1.5 games out of first place in the NL East, and the NL playoff picture when it comes to wild-card slots is a serious jumble no team wants to get caught in at the end.
10			Philadelphia Phillies	63-48		With five straight victories, the Phillies are holding off the Braves still. The same NL playoff mess applies to Philadelphia, of course. We’re looking at a historic playoff chase this season, which is just what the wild card was expected to do.
11			Milwaukee Brewers	65-50		It’s these Brewers currently leading the race for the top NL wild-card slot, and Milwaukee certainly made enough trades to serve notice on its intentions. This club wants the NL Central Division title, and it just might make it happen.
12			Washington Nationals	57-54		Things are slightly improving for the Nationals. They’ve won eight of the last 11 to move back above .500, and outfielder Bryce Harper did not get traded. He’s hitting .367 since the All-Star break as well.
13			St. Louis Cardinals	58-54		The Cards are hanging in the wild-card race, despite making some deadline trades that appear to suggest maybe the team was in a selling mode. Don’t tell that to the guys still on the roster, however.
14			Seattle Mariners	64-48		After going 19-9 in June, the Mariners are just 11-17 since then, and they are no longer holding down the final AL playoff spot. After winning last Monday, Seattle lost five straight before recovering for a victory in Toronto on Sunday.
15			Colorado Rockies	59-52		The Rox lost two games in a row on walk-off plays last week, in two different cities. On Thursday in St. Louis, it was three-time All-Star closer Wade Davis blowing the save. On Friday, in Milwaukee, it was Davis again. That’s rough.
16			Los Angeles Angels	55-58		With one win in the last seven games, rumors are flying about Manager Mike Scioscia. For what it’s worth, we think he should retire now. He proudly insists he’s not going anywhere. In the meantime, the Angels remain irrelevant.
17			Tampa Bay Rays	56-56		Since a five-game win streak in early July, Tampa Bay has posted an 8-12 record. Over the weekend, the Rays got swept at home by the White Sox. Even for a team not really playing anything other than pride that was bad.
18			Pittsburgh Pirates	57-55		Winning 11 in a row last month helped the Pirates back into the conversation, but they’re playing their way out of it again with just four victories since then. Now, Pittsburgh goes on the road for nine straight contests.
19			San Francisco Giants	57-56		Since returning from the disabled list for a broken hand, third baseman Evan Longoria is hitting .357 and slugging at a .619 rate. Whatever medicine he’s taking, we want some!
20			Toronto Blue Jays	51-60		The Blue Jays just finished a ten-game road trip with five wins, including three in Seattle. Twelve of the next 16 games are against AL East foes, which don’t bode well for continuing that .500 success rate.
21			Texas Rangers	49-64		Even with Sunday’s loss to Baltimore, the Rangers have won seven of their last nine. Unfortunately, the next nine are all against teams with a combined 194 victories this season already.
22			Cincinnati Reds	49-63		With five losses in six games last week, the Reds finally have fallen to a sub-.500 record under interim leader Jim Riggleman. But that 28-22 record in June and July combined was fun while it lasted.
23			Minnesota Twins	52-58		The good news is that the Twins finished the week with a three-game sweep at home. The bad news is that Minnesota merely beat Kansas City to accomplish the feat.
24			New York Mets	45-64		Mets Manager Mickey Callaway—how many non-Mets fans knew he was even the manager?—finished his playing career in MLB with negative-1.5 WAR and a 6.27 ERA. His first year of managing in the majors is proving just as disastrous.
25			San Diego Padres	44-70		With a 7-22 mark since the start of July, the Padres have sunk to the worst record in the NL. They still managed to go into Wrigley Field this weekend and take two of four from the Cubs, however.
26			Miami Marlins	46-67		The Marlins lost all six games they played last week, so they could be challenging the Padres soon for that worst-record status in the NL. Miami’s weakness is blowout games, with just an 11-23 mark this season in games decided by five runs or more.
27			Detroit Tigers	47-65		The Tigers played an interesting series in Oakland over the weekend, losing all three games by a combined 9-1 score. So, the pitching is not that bad, but the offense clearly has packed it in for the offseason already.
28			Chicago White Sox	41-70		The ChiSox won four straight to end the week, establishing their longest winning streak of the season. But now New York (A) and Cleveland come to town, so we suspect that’s as good as it gets for Chicago this year.
29			Baltimore Orioles	34-78		The 1988 Orioles won just 54 games, and this group is on pace to be the worst team in franchise history since the organization moved to Baltimore. The 1939 St. Louis Browns posted a 43-111 record, however.
30			Kansas City Royals	34-77		Manager Ned Yost took the 2008 Brewers to the postseason to break a long playoff drought. He led the 2014-15 Royals to back-to-back AL pennants and a World Series title. Why is he still here? He could get another job, no?