MLB Team Power Rankings Update: What's Going on With the Cubs?
Teams Ranked 30th to 21st
After just one week in the cellar, the Texas Rangers used a strong week to start making their long trek back toward the top of our power rankings. They made the biggest jump of this bunch, and the team that replaced them in last place took the biggest nosedive.
| Rank | Team | nERD | Record | Playoff Odds | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Pittsburgh Pirates | -1.17 | 16-22 | 2.8% | -6 |
| 29 | San Francisco Giants | -0.96 | 16-24 | 12.8% | 0 |
| 28 | Kansas City Royals | -0.90 | 16-21 | 4.0% | 0 |
| 27 | Texas Rangers | -0.83 | 19-20 | 9.6% | +3 |
| 26 | San Diego Padres | -0.80 | 15-25 | 0.4% | 0 |
| 25 | Toronto Blue Jays | -0.70 | 17-22 | 15.9% | +2 |
| 24 | New York Mets | -0.69 | 16-21 | 14.1% | -1 |
| 23 | Detroit Tigers | -0.56 | 18-18 | 20.1% | -2 |
| 22 | Atlanta Braves | -0.50 | 14-21 | 3.9% | +3 |
| 21 | Baltimore Orioles | -0.36 | 22-14 | 42.3% | -1 |
Biggest Rise: Texas Rangers
The Rangers still have an uphill battle to fight in the AL West, but winning 7 of their last 10 games -- including 6 straight -- definitely helps get them going in the right direction. As we can see above, their odds of returning to the playoffs for a third consecutive season are still pretty low, but that's quite an increase from the 3.2% they were at just least week.
One man who had an interesting last several days was catcher Jonathan Lucroy. He's been mired in a slow start, but produced a 215 wRC+, .484 wOBA and a team-leading 0.4 fWAR over the past week, which spanned 16 plate appearances. He didn't strike out at all, but didn't collect a single extra-base hit en route to slashing .533/.563/.533 with a .533 BABIP.
Biggest Drop: Pittsburgh Pirates
It's not easy being the Pittsburgh Pirates right now, guys.
Their starting pitching hasn't been great (0.0 fWAR over the past week), but it's been their offense that's been the worst in baseball during the last seven days. As a group, Pittsburgh ranked last in wRC+ (45), wOBA (.241), BsR (-2.1) and fWAR (-1.0) during this period of time.
Only two position players produced a positive fWAR during this rough patch: Josh Bell and John Jaso. Since they combined for just 24 plate appearances, we can get a glimpse as to just how bad they've been at the plate recently.
