There was a shakeup near the top of this week's MLB power rankings, but the Atlanta Braves still stay in control of the top spot.
It's hard to argue with what the Braves are doing to maintain the top spot in our MLB power rankings, and we're already salivating with the thought of what lies ahead this week as Atlanta starts a trip west that will eventually land the Braves in Los Angeles for a matchup against the Dodgers in what could be a preview of the NLCS.
But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. There is plenty of baseball to come this week, including some matchups that will have impacts on the Wild Card standings and could determine which teams still actually have a chance to play meaningful baseball in October.
MLB Power Rankings: 30. Oakland Athletics
Will franchise history be made this season? Last week, the A's dropped to 55 games under .500 for the second time in Oakland history. The other time was on the second-to-last day of the 1979 season (September 29) when they were 53-108 before winning the final game. The last A's team to be more than 55 games under .500 is the 1946 Philadelphia A's, who finished the year 56 under at 49-105.
MLB Power Rankings: 29. Kansas City Royals
After splitting the first two games of a series at Wrigley Field against the Cubs, the Royals played their 11th rubber game of the season on Sunday. With the loss in that game, they are now 2-9 in their previous 11 series-deciding matchups, with wins on May 17 in San Diego and July 2 against the Dodgers. Kansas City is winless in its last five series overall (including four losses and one split) since they swept the Minnesota Twins and New York Mets in back-to-back series to complete a 6-0 home stand from July 28-July 3.
MLB Power Rankings: 28. Chicago White Sox
In a battle at the bottom of our MLB power rankings this week, the White Sox traveled to Denver to play the Colorado Rockies and looked like a team that didn't want to be there during the first two games of the series, especially in a 14-1 drubbing on Friday night. Maybe all of the attention around Tim Anderson's suspension and the absence of Eloy Jimenez (paternity leave) was just too much for a thin White Sox squad to overcome.
MLB Power Rankings: 27. Colorado Rockies
One of the best stories of the season for the Rockies was the return of reliever Tyler Kinley, who was dominant in 2022 before needing to undergo elbow surgery. However, the right-hander struggled in his first seven outings after making his 2023 season debut on August 1, seeing an ERA of 9.53 in his first 5.2 innings out of the bullpen before being sent to the injured list on Sunday (retroactive to August 17) with right elbow inflammation.
MLB Power Rankings: 26. St. Louis Cardinals
This season marked the slowest start for the Cardinals since 1995 when they were 52-72 (.419) after 124 games. St. Louis needs to finish 27- 11 (.710) over the remaining 38 games to end with .500 record. Like all season, maybe they will finish better than they started. The Cardinals are just 12-28 in series openers this year, but 24-15 in series finales.
MLB Power Rankings: 25. Washington Nationals
Before losing to the Phillies on Saturday, the Nationals put together the best 48-game stretch for the franchise since they capped the 2019 season going 33-15 (.688) in the last 48 games. Between July 8 and August 19, Washington was 22-13 (.629), the second-best record in the National League behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and the fourth-best in all of baseball.
MLB Power Rankings: 24. Pittsburgh Pirates
Andrew McCutchen continues to be a good story for the Pirates. McCutchen's five-RBI night on Saturday marked his most in a game since recording eight on Sept. 26, 2017, against Baltimore at PNC Park. McCutchen's three-run home run in the ninth inning on Saturday was also the 298th of his career. He's hoping to join the 11 active players who have hit at least 300 home runs.
MLB Power Rankings: 23. Detroit Tigers
You have to hand it to Miguel Cabrera. As he makes his retirement tour across MLB stadiums, he continues to have some fun with his final games and his final visits to opposing stadiums. He also has a knack for keeping up with current storylines in his own division. Check out the face of Ramirez when Cabrera jokes about fighting with him.
MLB Power Rankings: 22. New York Mets
If nothing else, the Mets exorcised some of their demons in St. Louis this past week, falling just short of their first four-game road sweep of the Cardinals since April 24-27, 1986. Entering Sunday's series finale, the Mets slashed .292/.356/.531 in the current first three games of the series, while posting a 1.67 ERA. New York also outscored St. Louis 24-5 in the first three games before falling on Sunday. Is it a good sign for the Mets or just another reminder of how far the Cardinals have fallen this season?
MLB Power Rankings: 21. San Diego Padres
Stick a fork in San Diego's season. Losing three of four games to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park was likely the final coffin in any kind of postseason hopes for the Padres. With the Miami Marlins coming in this week to finish off what has been a disappointing home stand that was viewed as critical before it began, San Diego fans will likely start looking ahead to next season.
MLB Power Rankings: 20. Los Angeles Angels
How about a triple play? Did you see the one pulled off by the Angels last week? The Angels turned the seventh triple play in franchise history on Friday against Tampa Bay and the first since July 5, 1997 against Seattle. The play was the first 6-4-3-2 triple play since Milwaukee did so on April 28, 1971 at Boston. Per Elias, Nolan Schanuel became the first player to be part of turning a triple play in his MLB debut since Sal Fasano on April 3, 1996 for Kansas City at Baltimore.
MLB Power Rankings: 19. Cleveland Guardians
Logan Allen took the mound for Cleveland on Sunday looking to build on some impressive numbers. Opposing teams were hitting .175 (14-for-80) against Allen with runners in scoring position, the lowest average of any starter on the roster (minimum of 30 innings pitched). The rookie southpaw was also holding hitters to a .091 (3-for-33) average with runners in scoring position and two outs.
MLB Power Rankings: 18. New York Yankees
August has been a good month for Gleyber Torres, even if the Yankees are struggling mightily. Heading into Sunday's finale against the Red Sox, Torres was slashing .328/.411/.484 (21-for-64) with four doubles, two home runs and five RBI. In his first 17 games of August, Torres has also walked eight times and stolen four bases. He hit safely in 13 of those games and has reached base in 15 of those contests.
MLB Power Rankings: 17. Minnesota Twins
Don't look now, but Carlos Correa could be heating up. Before Sunday's finale against Pittsburgh, including Saturday's 1-for-4 performance with a walk, Correa has reached base safely in 11 straight games since August 5. Between August 5-19, Correa was hitting .333 (12-for-36) with two doubles, three home runs, nine RBI, seven walks, a .455 on-base percentage, a .639 slugging percentage and a 1.093 OPS.
MLB Power Rankings: 16. San Francisco Giants
One of the reasons San Francisco has slipped in our rankings? It's their ineffectiveness in recent games with runners in scoring position. On Saturday, San Francisco went 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position. In the previous seven games before that, Giants batters went 5-for-49 (.102). Those kind of numbers won't help the Giants as they try to hold on to a Wild Card spot.
MLB Power Rankings: 15. Arizona Diamondbacks
While Zac Gallen is deservedly getting all of the buzz around a potential Cy Young Award, don't overlook what Brandon Pfaadt is doing. On Friday, he became the youngest Diamondbacks' starter (24 years, 307 days) to toss 6.0+ hitless innings (the previous was Alex Young, July 7, 2019 at 25 years, 301 days) and became the first Diamondbacks' starter to toss 6.0+ no-hit innings since Tyler Gilbert's no-hitter on Aug. 14, 2021 against the Padres.
MLB Power Rankings: 14. Miami Marlins
The Marlins flexed some Friday night power while posting a win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Miami smacked a season-high five homers in the win, marking the club's first five-homer game since July 3, 2012 at Milwaukee and just the eighth in club history. Miami had one four-homer game earlier this season (on June 11 at the Chicago White Sox).
MLB Power Rankings: 13. Boston Red Sox
Boston's rotation has been hitting on all cylinders in recent games. In their last 25 games heading into Sunday's finale at Yankee Stadium, Red Sox starting pitchers have posted a 3.51 ERA. Since July 22, that represents MLB's third-lowest starter ERA in that time. In the four outings before Sunday, Sox starters allowed only six earned runs in 22.1 innings pitched (2.42 ERA).
MLB Power Rankings: 12. Cincinnati Reds
Just how much of a youth movement has there been in Cincinnati this season? In 2023, 13 Reds players have made their MLB debuts this season, the most in the Major Leagues. Those are pitchers Andrew Abbott, Ricky Karcher, Randy Wynne, Jake Wong, Casey Legumina, Levi Stoudt, Brandon Williamson, Eduardo Salazar, and Lyon Richardson, as well as infielders Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and outfielder TJ Hopkins.
MLB Power Rankings: 11. Chicago Cubs
The Cody Bellinger revival tour continues. On Saturday, Bellinger recorded his 17th-career multi-homer game and reached 20 homers on the season after he belted 19 in all of 2022 with the Dodgers. Bellinger is just the second Cub since 1981 to primarily play center field and reach 20 homers in a season, joining Corey Patterson (24 homers in 2004).
MLB Power Rankings: 10. Milwaukee Brewers
Of the eight career leadoff home runs that Christian Yelich has blasted for the Brewers, four have come this season (April 18 at Seattle, May 4 at Colorado, May 14 against Kansas City and July 15 at Cincinnati). Yelich's resurgence is one of the reasons for Milwaukee's surge to the top of the division as, entering Sunday, he batted .316 (80-for-253) with 46 runs, nine homers and 41 RBI in his last 63 games.
MLB Power Rankings: 9. Toronto Blue Jays
David Schneider is making his mark on the Toronto record books. His solo shot on Saturday marked the third homer of his young career, joining Carlos Delgado (five in 1994), Billy McKinney (three in 2018), and Bo Bichette (three in 2019) as the only players in team history to homer three times in their first nine career contests. In his first 30 at-bats, he went 11-for-30 (.367) with four extra-base hits.
MLB Power Rankings: 8. Philadelphia Phillies
Talk about one for the history books: Saturday's 12-3 victory over the Nationals was only the second in franchise history in which the Phillies were being shut out and losing by three or more runs through 6.0 innings, only to score 12 or more from the seventh inning on. However, that other instance came in a 16-12 loss against the Cardinals on Aug. 3, 1918.
MLB Power Rankings: 7. Seattle Mariners
While all eyes are on what Julio Rodriguez is doing at the plate, Teoscar Hernandez is also on fire. On Saturday, he went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and RBI, recording his fifth game with three or more hits in the month of August. Through his first 16 games in August, Hernandez was batting .371 with eight doubles, two home runs and seven RBI, while reaching base at a .394 clip and slugging .597 with a .991 OPS.
MLB Power Rankings: 6. Houston Astros
Catcher Yainer Diaz connected for his 17th homer of the season on Saturday night against Seattle, becoming the ninth rookie in franchise history to hit 17-plus homers in a single season. Some of the other players on that list are current teammates, with shortstop Jeremy Peña (22 homers in 2022) being the last to do so, and left fielder Yordan Alvarez (27 homers in 2019) owning the franchise rookie record.
MLB Power Rankings: 5. Tampa Bay Rays
Perhaps Tampa Bay is starting to find its stride again after some bumpy times during the middle of the campaign. The Rays are 5-1-1 in their last seven series on the heels of a 2-7-1 performance in series play from June 12 through July 23. After taking a series in Anaheim from the Angels, they are 5-1-0 in road series since the All-Star break after going 5-6-2 in the first half of the season.
MLB Power Rankings: 4. Texas Rangers
How big of an immediate impact has Max Scherzer made on the Rangers? He is just the fourth pitcher in the Modern Era (since 1901) to go 3-0 with 20 or more innings pitched, four-or-fewer runs allowed, and 26 or more strikeouts over their first three outings with a new franchise. In that club, Scherzer joins former Tigers and Mets teammate Justin Verlander (Houston, 2017), Randy Johnson (Houston, 1998), and Jim Bunning (Philadelphia, 1964).
MLB Power Rankings: 3. Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles have gone 79 consecutive series of at least two decisions (no ties) without being swept. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the most consecutive series without getting swept in Orioles history (since 1954), ahead of 46 consecutive sweepless series from 1971-72. It is the fifth-longest such streak in MLB history, trailing the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals (124), 1906-09 Chicago Cubs (115), 1903-05 New York Giants (105), and 1922-24 New York Yankees (83).
MLB Power Rankings: 2. Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles is 9-1 in their last 10 games and 17-2 in August. Since the All-Star break, the Dodgers are 25-9. It's not hard to see that the Dodgers are churning toward the postseason and, with two days off thanks to Sunday's game being moved to Saturday because of Hurricane Hilary, they will start a series in Cleveland on Tuesday fresh and ready for a reunion with Noah Syndergaard, who is slated to open the series for the Guardians.
MLB Power Rankings: 1. Atlanta Braves
It's certainly hard for any team to top the Braves anywhere, but Atlanta is making Truist Park a real home-field advantage recently. Atlanta started 14-14 through its first 28 home games dating to May 27. However, since May 28, the Braves were 28-6 (.824) at home (with four of those six losses came in consecutive games) before dropping a one-run decision to San Francisco on Sunday.