MLB Team Power Rankings Update: The Washington Nationals Can Cruise Toward October
Teams Ranked 10th to 1st
As usual, the Dodgers and Houston Astros remain at the top of our power rankings, but we've got a lot more movement amongst the rest of the top-10 clubs than we've had recently. And outside of the Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays, none of these clubs currently have playoff odds worse than 88.0%.
| Rank | Team | nERD | Record | Playoff Odds | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Boston Red Sox | 0.44 | 74-57 | 98.8% | -1 |
| 8 | Arizona Diamondbacks | 0.57 | 73-58 | 94.0% | -2 |
| 8 | St. Louis Cardinals | 0.57 | 65-65 | 19.8% | 0 |
| 7 | Tampa Bay Rays | 0.63 | 66-67 | 19.6% | +2 |
| 6 | Chicago Cubs | 0.75 | 70-60 | 88.4% | 1 |
| 5 | Washington Nationals | 1.10 | 79-51 | 100.0% | -1 |
| 4 | New York Yankees | 1.27 | 70-60 | 95.1% | -1 |
| 3 | Cleveland Indians | 1.28 | 74-56 | 99.9% | +2 |
| 2 | Houston Astros | 1.71 | 79-51 | 100.0% | 0 |
| 1 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 2.12 | 91-38 | 100.0% | 0 |
Biggest Rise: Cleveland Indians
It's taken a little while, but the Cleveland Indians have caught fire. Despite having a number of impact players on the disabled list, they've gone 17-9 since August 1st and have turned themselves from "probably a sure thing" to a virtual certainty of making the playoffs. And as you can imagine, the roster is firing on all cylinders.
Cleveland's pitching staff ranks second in baseball with regard to SIERA (3.43), strikeout rate (27.0%), and walk rate (6.5%) over the past two weeks. The offense has also been the second best during this time, as their team 121 wRC+ is right behind the Rays (122).
Jay Bruce has been a stellar acquisition this month, but it's been Carlos Santana who has finally seen his bat wake up in a big way. Through his most recent 47 plate appearances, he's slashing .342/.468/.816 with a 17.0% walk rate, 10.6% strikeout rate and an eye-popping .474 ISO. That's good for a 229 wRC+, also known as really freakin' good.
Biggest Drop: Arizona Diamondbacks
With guys like Paul Goldschmidt, J.D. Martinez, A.J. Pollock, and Jake Lamb taking up real estate in Arizona's every-day lineup, it'd be easy to assume that the Dbacks have a great offense. That thought only intensifies upon realizing they play at Chase Field, which is rather friendly with regard to runs being scored. This really hasn't been the case, though, and it's been on display the last two weeks.
The power is still there (.180 ISO), but only three teams have a lower wRC+ than Arizona's 82. These struggles can be attributed to Lamb, Pollock, and David Peralta, who have all failed to post a wRC+ higher than 73 since we last checked in around the league.
