MLB Team Power Rankings Update: The Rangers Hit a New Low
Teams Ranked 30th to 21st
There was a lot of shifting going on within this group, especially with the Rangers and San Francisco Giants taking over the bottom for the Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays. However, it's a pair of National League East teams that catch our eye with the biggest movement of all.
| Rank | Team | nERD | Record | Playoff Odds | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Texas Rangers | -1.25 | 13-20 | 3.2% | -5 |
| 29 | San Francisco Giants | -1.22 | 11-22 | 9.0% | -3 |
| 28 | Kansas City Royals | -1.11 | 11-20 | 1.5% | +2 |
| 27 | Toronto Blue Jays | -1.09 | 12-20 | 1.5% | +2 |
| 26 | San Diego Padres | -0.77 | 13-20 | 0.7% | +2 |
| 25 | Atlanta Braves | -0.55 | 11-18 | 3.8% | -11 |
| 24 | Pittsburgh Pirates | -0.52 | 14-18 | 9.7% | -4 |
| 23 | New York Mets | -0.51 | 15-16 | 26.4% | +4 |
| 22 | Los Angeles Angels | -0.44 | 16-18 | 6.0% | -3 |
| 21 | Detroit Tigers | 0.38 | 15-15 | 20.8% | +1 |
Biggest Rise: New York Mets
Anyway you slice it, the New York Mets can't really get anything right, and that mostly stems from their off-field issues -- whether it's Matt Harvey not showing up to the ballpark or the official team account sharing interesting photos on Twitter. However, the one thing New York has done rather consistently is start winning again.
After dropping 10 spots in last week's power rankings, they've begun to dig themselves out of that hole with a 4-2 week, along with winning 7 of their last 10 ballgames. It definitely had nothing to do with the starting pitching that's supposed to be the backbone of this team, though.
Their -0.3 rotation fWAR from the past week tied for the third-worst in baseball, while their 8.48 ERA and 6.70 FIP were also pretty terrible.
Biggest Drop: Atlanta Braves
The starting rotation for the Atlanta Braves has been just as bad as New York's since we last checked in around the league (-0.7 fWAR, 8.28 ERA and 7.88 FIP), but the difference is that their offense hasn't nearly been productive (84 wRC+ and 0.4 fWAR).
Ender Inciarte has continued his strong start with a .917 OPS over the past week, but Brandon Phillips, Freddie Freeman and Matt Kemp haven't provided the usual levels of production we saw from them earlier in the year.
