Lake County Sentinel
Justin Lada's Major League Baseball Power Rankings
Week Two
1. Chicago Cubs (9-3) (LW 1, 0) - They swept the Cincinnati Reds, ending their early season excitement. Javier Baez is back and Jake Arrieta is still Jake Arrieta
2. Washington Nationals (9-2) (LW 5, +3) - They were the sixth graders beating up on second graders this week, taking six of seven from Atlanta and Philadelphia. Bryce Harper has 102 homers at age 23. What were you doing at 23?
3. Kansas City Royals (8-4) (LW 2, -1) - Two ugly starts this week by Chris Young. Pitching staff still one of the worst in baseball in terms of BB/9, but still find a way to be the Royals.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (8-5) (LW 4, 0) - Who has Kike Hernandez in the pool to lead the Dodgers in homers after two weeks? Even took Madison Bumgarner deep Friday.
5. Baltimore Orioles (8-3) (LW 6, +1) - Not so shockingly, they are tied for the team lead in baseball with 23 homers. Surprisingly, they’re third best at preventing home runs as a pitching staff.
6. Detroit Tigers (7-4) (LW 14, +8) - Took three of four from the Pirates, the team just ahead of them in OPS this season at the moment. Their pitching staff is second last in K/9 in all of baseball. Only two pitchers have double digit strikeouts so far this season.
7. St. Louis Cardinals (7-5) (LW 11 +4) - It was a rough week for Adam Wainwright but the Cardinals still managed to take advantage of the Brewers and Reds.
8. Chicago White Sox (8-4) (LW 20, +12) - John Danks continues to be the most expensive batting practice pitcher but Mat Latos has had two really encouraging starts so far, meaning big things for their rotation.
9. Texas Rangers (7-6) (LW 17, +8) - Nomar Mazara already has four multi hit games in seven career games.
10. San Francisco Giants (7-6) (LW 3, -7) - They struggled with the Dodgers but it wasn’t on their pitching staff. Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardjiza look like good signings thus far.
11. PIttsburgh Pirates (7-6) (LW 9, -2) - Their bullpens 1.43 WHIP is the worst in baseball among teams expected not to be competing for a top five pick in the draft next season.
12. New York Mets (5-6) (LW 7, -5) - Jacob deGrom has been out and Terry Collins is relying heavily on Jeurys Familia early in the season.
13. Toronto Blue Jays (6-7) (LW 8, -5) - Have to think they won’t be hitting .214 as a team all season
14. Boston Red Sox (6-5) (LW 12, -2) - Second most strikeouts as a pitching staff in baseball, also a 17.1 HR/FB%
15. CLEVELAND INDIANS (5-5) (LW 13, -2) - They’ve scored seven runs four times. The pitching staff has been solid. Corey Kluber was victimized by two fly balls lost in the sun and Bryan Shaw has been victimized by lack of finding the strike zone.
16. New York Yankees (5-6) (LW 10, -6) - Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller have struck out 27 of 33 batters they’ve retired. And they don’t have Aroldis Chapman back. They do however, have Nick Swisher. Awesome, bro.
17. Seattle Mariners (5-7) (LW 21, +4) - Steve Cishek didn’t allow a run this week in two appearances and recovered from a rough weekend last weekend.
18. Tampa Bay Rays (5-7) (LW 18, 0) - They need Chris Archer to get things under control and they need Kevin Kiermaier and Logan Forsythe healthy.
19. Colorado Rockies (7-5) (LW 26, +7) - Trevor Story only hit one homer this week but they took two of three from the Cubs and the Giants.
20. Oakland Athletics (6-7) (LW 19, -1) - Sonny Gray was impressive in two starts and even though Sean Dolittle had a rough week, their bullpen has been tough.
21. Philadelphia Phillies (6-7) (LW 28, +7) - Vincent Velazsquez has made the Ken Giles trade look pretty good thus far.
22.Houston Astros (5-8) (LW 16, -6) - Dallas Keuchel got back on the right track but the rest of the staff hasn’t follow through.
23. Los Angeles Angels (5-7) (LW 24,+1) - Everyone in the rotation but Jered Weaver had a good week.
24. Miami Marlins (3-7) (LW 23, -1) - 42 walks in 91 innings for the pitching staff but only -3 in run differential
25. Cincinnati Reds (6-6) (LW 15, -10) - Brandon Finnegan was good last week. Everyone else on the pitching staff was not.
26. Arizona Diamondbacks (5-8, LW 22,-4) - Zach Greinke’s 1.56 WHIP looks bad. Then you notice Shelby Miller’s 1.82
27. San Diego Padres (4-9) (LW 27, 0) -There are signs of life from Melvin Upton
28. Minnesota Twins (3-9) (LW 30, +2) - Glen Perkins hit the DL and they’ve actually won three in a row.
29. Milwuakee Brewers (5-7) (LW 25, -4) - -23 run differential not quite as bad as
30. Atlanta Braves (3-9) (LW 29,-1) - They’ll probably keep throwing Bud Norris out there meaning there’s another reason not to be watching.
jlada@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Justin on Twitter @JL_Baseball you can also check out our IndiansNation fan page
POSTED 04/18/2016 13:45
