The St. Louis Cardinals – listed lower on most major baseball ranking lists – land on the top of this week’s MLB Power Rankings – thanks to a high-octane offense, solid pitching numbers, one of the best records in baseball and more road wins than any other team.
Meanwhile, last week’s top team, the Cleveland Indians, fell three spots to fourth.
Albert Pujols has struggled at times, but the Cardinals still managed the top spot in this week’s Power Rankings
KP’s MLB Power Rankings: May 30, 2011
Note: All stats & records as of Monday morning, and do not reflect results of day/night games
1. St. Louis Cardinals – 32-22 (111 points) – Last Week: #2
The Cards have scored more runs than any team in the AL (only Reds have more in NL), post solid pitching numbers, hold a multi-game division lead and have more road wins than any other team – all worthy of top ranking.
2. Philadelphia Phillies – 33-20 (102 points) – Last Week: #4
The killer quartet of Halladay, Lee, Hamels and Oswalt have so far lived up to most of the hype, combining for a record of 25-11.
3. New York Yankees – 28-23 (92 points) – Last Week: #3
The solid performance and consistency of both the pitching staff and offense have helped boost New York’s ranking, hitting the third-spot for the second consecutive week.
4. Cleveland Indians – 31-19 (90 points) – Last Week: #1
The Indians fell out of the MLB Power Rankings top spot for the first time. A three-game stretch of being outscored 23-4 to the Rays and Red Sox helped knock the Tribe down.
5. Boston Red Sox – 30-23 (78 points) – Last Week: #13
Kevin Youkilis and the Red Sox are climbing the standings, jumping eight spots this week
Last week, the surging Sox rattled off a five-game win streak where the team outscored the Indians and Tigers by a combined score of 42-11.
6. Florida Marlins – 30-21 (72 points) – Last Week: #7
A surprising stat to many, reliever Edward Mujica actually leads the Marlins in total wins on the season, posting a 5-2 record in 23 appearances.
7. Atlanta Braves – 30-24 (72 points) – Last Week: #5
Jair Jurrjens – always overlooked when discussing elite pitchers – leads all of baseball with a 1.51 ERA, and is tied for the lead with 7 wins – and that’s in just 9 starts.
8. Tampa Bay Rays – 28-24 (63 points) – Last Week: #6
Just how good has James Shields been this season? In 11 starts, Shields has 10 quality starts, a 2.15 ERA, 5-3 record and 81 strikeouts.
9. Texas Rangers – 28-25 (58 points) – Last Week: #9
Think the Rangers missed Hamilton and Cruz? The Texas offense has scored seven or more runs in four straight games.
10. Toronto Blue Jays – 27-26 (58 points) – Last Week: #11
The Jays’ success is not just due to Jose Bautista. Starter Ricky Romero leads the team in wins (5), ERA (2.88) and strikeouts (66).
11. Milwaukee Brewers – 29-24 (55 points) – Last Week: #16
The Brewers have more wins at home (21) than any other team in baseball. The downside – only Kansas City has fewer road wins than Milwaukee.
12. Los Angeles Angels – 28-27 (55 points) – Last Week: #12
Jered Weaver (2.10 ERA in 12 starts) and Dan Haren (2.29 ERA in 12 starts) – has there been a nastier 1-2 punch in the American League?
13. Arizona Diamondbacks – 29-24 (47 points) – Last Week: #17
The surging Diamondbacks have lost just one game since May 17th – and have moved up the charts to the top of the National League West standings.
14. Oakland Athletics – 27-27 (44 points) – Last Week: #15
Gio Gonzalez has been stellar for the A’s this season, posting a 5-2 record in 10 starts, with 2.17 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings.
15. Cincinnati Reds – 27-27 (32 points) – Last Week: #8
Before a Memorial Day win over the Brewers, the Reds had dropped 10 of 12 and saw the biggest drop in this week’s Power Rankings.
16. San Francisco Giants – 28-24 (30 points) – Last Week: #10
The injury to Buster Posey really hurts an offense that was already struggling, sitting with just the 25th best team batting average in the major leagues.
17. Colorado Rockies – 25-27 (25 points) – Last Week: #14
At age 37, Todd Helton continues to impress with his bat, posting a .315 average, 6 HR and 22 RBI in 149 AB’s on the 2011 season.
18. Seattle Mariners – 26-26 (24 points) – Last Week: #20
Ichiro – with a .276 average on the 2011 season – is currently 53 points below his career average of .329. Could we finally be seeing a decline?
19. Pittsburgh Pirates – 24-27 (20 points) – Last Week: #23
Of the eligible players statistically, 2B Neil Walker is Pittsburgh’s team leader in average, while batting a mediocre .265 in 196 AB’s.
20. Detroit Tigers – 26-26 (7 points) – Last Week: #18
Miguel Cabrera has avoided negative headlines during the regular season, while leading the Tigers in average (.314), HR (10), RBI (37), OBP (.427) and hits (58).
21. New York Mets – 24-28 (-2 points) – Last Week: #21
Jose Reyes continue to post impressive numbers on the season, with a .335 average, 19 steals, 8 triples and 17 doubles.
22. Chicago Cubs – 23-28 (-2 points) – Last Week: #25
Chicago’s rotation has been abysmal in 2011. Matt Garza – the team’s only starter with an ERA under 4.00 – currently sits on the disabled list with an elbow injury.
23. San Diego Padres – 22-31 (-6 points) – Last Week: #26
The Padres continue to struggle on offense, batting just .228 as a team, which is the worst average in all of Major League Baseball.
24. Chicago White Sox – 24-31 (-11 points) – Last Week: #19
Ozzie Guillen is not happy with the way his White Sox are playing
With the arms in Chicago’s rotation, who would have thought that Philip Humber would be posting the rotation’s best numbers (7 quality starts and 2.85 ERA in 9 starts)?
25. Kansas City Royals – 23-29 (-17 points) – Last Week: #22
The young Royals continue to flounder, winning just one game since May 21st and giving up 34 runs over its last four games.
26. Baltimore Orioles – 24-27 (-19 points) – Last Week: #27
For those that thought Vladimir Guerrero would decline this year, note that he leads the Orioles in average (.295) and hits (61).
27. Los Angeles Dodgers – 24-30 (-21 points) – Last Week: #28
In 12 starts this season, Clayton Kershaw has 87 K’s, second to Roy Halladay, and has held opponents to just a .218 average.
28. Washington Nationals – 22-30 (-28 points) – Last Week: #24
Washington’s offense is missing injured stars Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche. Currently, Jayson Werth’s .255 average is the team’s best among its starters.
29. Houston Astros – 19-34 (-54 points) – Last Week: #29
Houston’s pitching staff – currently 27th in ERA – will now go without its best starter, after Wandy Rodriguez was placed in the DL with fluid in his left elbow.
30. Minnesota Twins – 17-34 (-199 points) – Last Week: #30
Jason Kubel surprisingly leads the Twins in four major categories: average (.310), HR (5), RBI (30) and hits (62).
Note: RED = Falling 3+ spots from last week, GREEN = Rising 3+ spots from last week
The Wife Hates Sports MLB Power Rankings system has a method to its madness, attempting to be different and not just rank by popularity and record. It mixes a secret formula of six completely different categories, meshed into a points system. The categories don’t just include team results regarding record, but how each team has performed recently, as well as incorporating some statistics on both a team’s offense and pitching staff, too.
TOP–
Yes, you have to include Jurrjens in the Cy Young race right now, putting up ridiculous numbers so far….
TOP–
I’m with you on the Mariners… right now, they don’t have enough bats, and the question remains, can Erik Bedard stay healthy throughout the entire year? That plus, will Michael Pineda start to wear down not being used to this many innings in this kind of situation? When you add all that up, I would venture to guess that they would also fade down the stretch – but right now, that entire division is bunched up yet again, and anyone can win it – and every team has its flaws.
TOP–
Tress had to go… there was no other way around that.
The Royals may have more young talent than any other organization right now… it’s all just a matter of keeping them around, plus getting them to actually blossom in the system and start playing better. The offense has had flashes this year, but they have no pitching, especially with Greinke gone. Soria is showing that maybe they should have dealt him for prospects a year ago when his value was high.
Watch out for Seattle’s rotation… nasty. They need more bats though.
J-DUB–
I did see that power rankings post over the weekend… solid effort put in by you.
The Twins are easily the biggest disappointment in baseball this season… hands down.
At least we agree on my exceptionally pathetic Twins. I hear rumors they are about to sign Jim Tressel.
http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/the-memorial-day-dubsism-baseball-power-rankings-how-wrong-we-were/