USA Today’s Weekly MLB Power Rankings

Breaking News out of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball’s office as apparently the New York Yankees are petitioning the league to change the name of Minnesota’s Target Field to “Little Yankee Stadium” based on their win/loss record there since it’s opening. Obviously I joke about the petition and the potential name change but the rest of the statement was accurate, the Yankees have owned the Twins for quite some time now and the team always seems to pick up their game a bit more when playing on the road inside Target Field. New York is fresh off taking three-of-four from the Twins in a weekend series but how would this affect them in the USA Today’s weekly power rankings? Well you’ll just have to keep reading to find out.

I won’t leave you in suspense for too long. The New York Yankees finished the week ranked 17^th, right where they were when they began the week unfortunately. Is that kind of like no news being good news? The rest of the AL East had a good week as well as the Boston Red Sox finished 6th while the Baltimore Orioles finished 5^th at the top of the rankings and the division. The Toronto Blue Jays finished the week at the #7 position while the Tampa Bay Rays finished another week towards the bottom of the rankings at #21.

The Top 5 teams according to the rankings are the Chicago Cubs, the Texas Rangers, the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants and the Baltimore Orioles. The five worst teams according to the rankings are the San Diego Padres, the Oakland Athletics, the Cincinnati Reds, the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins.

The biggest rise of the week went to the Kansas City Royals who rose five spots from the #15 position to finish with the #10 while the biggest fall of the week went to the New York Mets. The Mets fell three positions to finish the week where they didn’t want to at the #11 position.

Another week in the books and another week closer to the August 1^st Trade Deadline. This deadline will shape this rankings this year much like they do every year, especially if the heavy hitters continue to add talent from the teams that are in the middle of the pack. For instance, can you see the Cubs relinquishing the top spot if they acquire one of Andrew Miller or Aroldis Chapman from the Yankees? Better yet can you see it if they acquire both? Can you see the Washington Nationals making a push if they acquired both? I sure could. It will be interesting to say the least and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out this season.