USA Today’s Weekly MLB Power Rankings

It’s that time of the week today where we bring to you the weekly MLB Power Rankings from the great set of people over at the USA Today. The Yankees had a great week last week which started with a sweep of the Seattle Mariners and ended with a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Would that be enough to grab the “biggest rise” award this week or would a team like the San Diego Padres or Tampa Bay Rays steal New York’s Thunder?

Well technically the New York Yankees and the San Diego Padres were both the largest risers this week both climbing five spots but we’ll give the nod to the Yankees since they climbed all the way to the #8 spot while San Diego sits at #16. Well that and because I’m biased since I own a New York Yankees blog but who’s keeping score anyway? The biggest fall of the week goes to the Detroit Tigers who have been in the Top 5 for a big chunk of the season. Detroit fell six more spots this week all the way to the #14 position, ouch.

With New York currently occupying the #8 spot the rest of the American League East division showcases the Tampa Bay Rays at the #11 position, the Toronto Blue Jays at the #18 spot, The Orioles coming in at #20 and the Boston Red Sox bringing up the rear at #22.

The Top 5 best teams in order are the St. Louis Cardinals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins. The five worst teams in order according to the rankings in descending order are the Miami Marlins, the Cincinnati Reds, the Oakland Athletics, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Teams will go through hot streaks just like they will go through cold streaks and both will affect these ratings but the rankings are starting to show a trend at this point in the season. The A’s and Reds were once Top 11 or better teams before falling back down to Earth while the Astros were once 27^th before sample size caught up to them and showed that they are one of the best teams in the American League. If New York can stay a Top 10 team and win their division the sky is up for the team and they are a true World Series contender, I truly believe that, the team just has to get there. If these rankings are any indication of the future, and they should be by now, then they will.