Welcome to the Week 20 Say It Again Network MLB Power Rankings! With six full weeks of regular season baseball left to play at the major-league level, we are officially in the Stretch Run. The Cincinnati Reds fall out of the top 10, while the New York Yankees broke through. (please note: all stats were researched during Saturday’s games, but records reflect Sunday morning’s standings)
Rank | Last Week | ||
San Diego Padres | 68-57 | 10 | 9 |
A tough week for the Friars, going 1-4. Losing three out of four to the Arizona Diamondbacks and then a three-game sweep to the Colorado Rockies was ill-timed with the return of Fernando Tatis Jr. Here’s a fun factoid about Tatis and his recurring shoulder issues. In his first game back – the first time – on April 16th, Tatis went 1-for-6 with a solo homer. The second time, on May 19th, he went 4-for-4 with a homer, two doubles, 2 RBI, and a stolen base. On August 15th, he went 4-for-5 with two homers, a double, and 4 RBIs. In his first three games this week, he slashed .462/.462/1.308 with three dingers and 5 RBI. The dude bounces back quickly. Having Yu Darvish and Chris Paddack on the IL doesn’t help, though. Neither did signing Jake Arrieta. The Padres’ bullpen has to be tired after a week of basically all bullpen games. In the past two weeks, they’ve fallen 5.5 games further back of San Francisco. Meanwhile, they are hanging onto a tie for the second Wild Card spot with the Reds…by their fingernails.
Rank | Last Week | ||
Oakland Athletics | 70-54 | T-8 | 8 |
Oakland started the week 67-49 and ended it at 70-53. Maybe our system ain’t so bad? Basically, they lost one game overall on their win-loss gap, so upward movement isn’t there this week. Despite a 2-4 week – mostly at the hands of the White Sox – the A’s are still 11-6 in August. If they want to make a run for their division (only 2.5 GB), they’ll need to improve against the Astros. Currently, they are 4-9 against Houston, but six of their last nine regular-season games are against the Astros, so those two series could be pivotal. Matt Olson is a legit MVP candidate and currently has 31 homers and 81 RBI, both top 10 ranks in the AL. He also has the third-highest OPS (.933) in the AL.
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