MLB Power Rankings: Astros Heating Up

As June comes to a close, the standings continue to become less clogged up. The San Francisco Giants became the first team to hit the 50-win mark, with the Houston Astros likely next. With just over two weeks until the All-Star break in Denver, Colorado, how do all of the MLB teams stack up? Here are your updated MLB Power Rankings.

Week 13 MLB Power Rankings

1) San Francisco Giants (50-27) (Last Week: 1)

The Giants have won eight of their last 10 games and are 2.5 games over the Houston Astros for the best record in the MLB. They have the second-best run differential in the league and have amassed a pretty sizable lead on the LA Dodgers in the NL West. Kevin Gausman is a sleeper in the NL Cy Young award race, with an 8-1 record with an ERA of just 1.49.

2) Houston Astros (48-30) (3)

The Houston Astros have always been in the middle of the pack when it came to the best teams in the MLB Power Rankings, but they have recently ramped up their play even more. Winners of eight of their last 10 games, the Astros may be separating themselves as the best team in the American League. While they were only able to split their four-game series with Detroit, the Tigers aren’t the same team they were to start the season either. The Astros close out the month of June with three easy games against Baltimore.

3) Boston Red Sox (47-31) (6)

Although Boston was only able to take one of three from the Rays, Boston fans will certainly be more than happy with their three-game sweep of the Yankees to end the week. Xander Bogaerts is hitting .330, J.D. Martinez is batting .300 and Rafael Devers has 19 home runs and 64 RBI’s. Who needs Mookie Betts?

4) Los Angeles Dodgers (47-32) (2)

The Dodgers had another up and down week, where they will feel disappointed they couldn’t do better. To start the week, the Dodgers were swept in a three-game series by the rival Padres. They did bounce back to take three of four from the Cubs, but with the way the Giants and Padres are playing as of late, the Dodgers can’t afford to lose many more series against rivals, much less be swept.

5) Tampa Bay Rays (47-32) (7)

The Tampa Bay Rays had a good week, taking a series against Boston and the Angels. Unfortunately, they are still a half game behind Boston in the AL East race. With the Nationals on deck for three games however, they might not be in second for long. It still remains to be seen how much losing their ace Tyler Glasnow will impact them this season. We’ll learn a lot about the resiliency of this team shortly.

6) San Diego Padres (47-33) (11)

San Diego is an extremely up and down team so far, and this week was an example of just how good they can be. While a three-game sweep over Arizona doesn’t mean much of anything, they did sweep the Dodgers and have won nine of 10 total games. With the struggling Reds and Phillies on deck, they’ll be looking to take the second spot in the NL West from the Dodgers this week.

7) Milwaukee Brewers (45-33) (9)

The week started out pretty poor, with a loss to an Arizona Diamondbacks team that hadn’t won in 17 games. However, the Brewers won the next two in Arizona before sweeping the worst road team, in the Rockies, in three games. With the Cubs struggling this week, they have a chance to add on to their division lead, with a three-game stint against Chicago at home to end the month of June.

8) Oakland Athletics (47-33) (4)

The Athletics certainly didn’t help themselves in the two-team race for the AL West crown this week. While the Astros were red hot, the Athletics split four games with the Rangers and dropped two of three to the Giants. The Athletics have lost six of 10 games and can’t drop many more if they want to keep pace with the Astros.

9) Chicago White Sox (45-32) (5)

To say the White Sox have been struggling lately is an understatement. The highlight of the week was splitting a two-game series with the Pirates, and they have won just three of their last 10 overall. Thanks to the Indians not exactly taking advantage, their lead in the AL Central still stands at 2.5 games. With the way they have been playing lately, and with the Twins and Tigers starting to find their stride, their next six games this week are no longer cakewalks.

10) Cleveland Indians (41-33) (8)

Their week started off well enough, with a split of a shortened two-game series with the Cubs. Losing two of three to the Twins, however, with one game postponed, is not going to cut it to keep pace with the White Sox. If there was any time that they could catch up with the White Sox, it would be now. Will the team continue to come up just short, or will they finally be able to string together a couple of good series wins?

11) Chicago Cubs (42-36) (10)

The Cubs have hit a little bit of a speed bump at a bad time with the Brewers taking advantage of an easy schedule. The Cubs have dropped three straight and were only able to split a two-game stint with Cleveland. Although the week could’ve gone much better, they have a golden opportunity to make it up with a three-game series against the Brewers to kick off the week.

12) New York Mets (40-33) (12)

This was a week we knew would tell us a lot about the Mets and they really didn’t want to show up. They split a four-game stint with the Braves and the Phillies this week when they could’ve given themselves quite the padding in the NL East. Thanks to a garbage division though, they’re still in first by four games and that counts for something at least.

13) Seattle Mariners (41-38) (16)

Seattle has won seven of 10 and has looked good this week. While splitting two games with the Rockies doesn’t mean much, they showed composure with a series win over the White Sox in Chicago. They may be 5.5 games out of a wild card spot right now, but their schedule does help them the next few weeks. If they can carry over this success, they could remove some of the space between them and the two wild card spots in the AL and continue rising in the MLB Power Rankings.

14) Toronto Blue Jays (40-36) (19)

After an underwhelming stretch last week, Toronto was able to take advantage of a week schedule this week. They took both games against Miami before taking three of four against the Orioles. The questions surrounding this team have all been about whether they can put it all together and this is a step in the right direction. Vlad Guerrero Jr. may be the AL MVP as of now too with a .342 average, 26 home runs and 66 RBI’s. If they make the playoffs, he is the sole reason.

15) New York Yankees (40-37) (13)

While the Yankees did take two of three from the Royals, a three-game sweep at the hands of Boston will sting for a while. The biggest concern for the Yankees needs to be Gerrit Cole as his spin rate has absolutely plummeted since the inception of the new foreign substance crackdown by the MLB. If the foreign substances were the reason he was so effective, and it likely is, the Yankees just gave him way too much money for a now middle of the pack pitcher. Here’s a “fun fact” for Yankees fans.

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It has been 281 days since the last time the Red Sox lost to the Yankees.

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) June 27, 2021

16) Washington Nationals (37-38) (20)

The Nationals may still be under .500, and they still may be four games out of first in the NL East. Washington have won seven of ten however and are starting to find a groove. Unfortunately they do have a brutal schedule coming up with 16 of their next 17 coming against top seven teams in the majors.

17) Cincinnati Reds (38-38) (14)

The streaky Reds are now crashing back down to earth again as they have lost seven of ten. They have another “anything can happen” week on deck with six games against the Padres and Cubs along with a makeup game against the Phillies. Knowing how this Reds team operates, it’s safe to say they’ll find a way to make another run this week.

18) Atlanta Braves (37-40) (21)

The Braves had maybe the most bland week of the year as they split four games with the Mets before splitting four with the Reds too. In a week where they had a chance to makeup ground on the Mets, they yet again failed to answer the bell. With July around the corner, Atlanta fans should legitimately be questioning whether or not this is who they are now. Seeing their ace Soroka tore his Achilles tendon again while simply walking, this Braves team might actually be cursed.

19) Los Angeles Angels (37-40) (15)

Well it was a good run for the Angels who went a whole one to two weeks of looking like an actual MLB wild card team. Admittedly, they had a tall order this week with five games against the Giants and Rays, but you would still think they could win more than one of those games. It’s hard to blame the losses on any one factor either seeing the pitching was bad, but they only produced more than three runs once. With the Yankees on hand for their next four, it’ll be interesting to see who wins the battle of underachievers.

20) Philadelphia Phillies (36-39) (17)

For any baseball fans that love to see runs galore, I give to you the Phillies vs. Nationals game from Wednesday, where the Nationals prevailed, 13-12. The Phillies, like virtually every other team not named the Mets in the NL East, could do nothing better than sub-par. They split with the Mets for four games after losing a shortened two-game series to Washington. With all of their big contracts and underachieving players, it has to be asked if this is the new Phillies. Unless they make a significant move, nothing is going to change. They will say towards the middle of the MLB Power Rankings.

21) St. Louis Cardinals (37-41) (18)

Remember when analysts acted like the Cardinals would just waltz into the playoffs after winning the NL Central? Well they’re 2-8 over their last 10 and eight games behind the Brewers in the NL Central. Not only did they lose a shortened series with the Tigers, but they also lost three of four to the Pirates. As much of a steal as that Arenado trade was, he’s only batting .266 this season which is not enough to pick up his teammates.

22) Minnesota Twins (33-43) (25)

The Twins are finally starting to turn it around. Either that or they’re just getting hot for a brief period in time. Either way, they’ve won seven of ten and didn’t exactly play scrubs in the Reds and Indians this week either. With the reeling White Sox on deck, there might be a chance they steal a couple games and find themselves with a little momentum going into July.

23) Detroit Tigers (34-44) (26)

The Tigers looked impressive in their split of a four-game series with the Astros. The team admittedly isn’t great, and won’t make the postseason, but they are outplaying what they are on paper. With 24-year-old pitcher Casey Mize 2-0 in his last four starts and not allowing more than three earned runs since April, the Tigers may have another budding star in the locker room. In case you missed it, the Tigers walked it off Sunday in a crazy way Sunday courtesy of this suicide squeeze. It will be interesting to see if they can continue rising in the MLB Power Rankings.

24) Miami Marlins (33-44) (22)

The Marlins won two of four against the Nationals to end the week which served as a decent bounce back from a two-game sweep from Toronto to start the week. The pitching and offense are both incredibly inconsistent and they just can’t seem to put anything together for more than a few games at a time. It’s hard to see this changing this season. Hopefully they hit in the draft at least.

25) Kansas City Royals (33-43) (23)

The Royals continue to plummet as losers of five straight and seven of ten. It would be one thing if they were losing to good teams, but a sweep to the Rangers where they could only score five runs in three games is just downright embarrassing. I would say this team has nowhere to go but up, but with a series against Boston followed by one against the rising Twins, that might not be a guarantee.

26) Colorado Rockies (31-47) (24)

The Rockies once again showed just how bad they are on the road with a two-game split in Seattle before dropping three straight to the Brewers. This team just falls apart on the road which could be seen in their first loss to the Brewers coming thanks to four runs given up in the last three innings before losing in extras. As if that wasn’t enough, they then gave up seven runs in the last two innings to lose 10-4 the very next day. Luckily for the Rockies however, their seven games are at home where they are somehow 25-16.

27) Pittsburgh Pirates (29-47) (27)

To put how bad the NL Central has been lately in perspective, outside of Milwaukee, the Pirates are the hottest team in the division over their last 10 games. Even with the White Sox and Cardinals struggling as of late, splitting with Chicago and taking three of four from St. Louis on the road is impressive. Unfortunately, it is another lost season for Pittsburgh, but it’s important to take the little wins when they present themselves. These little wins aren’t enough to move up in the MLB Power Rankings, however.

28) Texas Rangers (30-48) (28)

The Rangers might not be any good, but their sweep over the Royals does present a rare moral victory. With their next six coming against the Athletics and a hot Seattle team, that might be their last moral victory for a while. Thanks to the Orioles and Diamondbacks though, this team isn’t one of the worst two teams in the MLB.

29) Baltimore Orioles (24-54) (29)

The Orioles may have a better record than the Diamondbacks, but their run differential is worst in the majors by 18 runs at -124. They are 2-8 in their last ten and the only good thing this season is they aren’t the worst team in the majors.

30) Arizona Diamondbacks (22-57) (30)

Thankfully, the Arizona Diamondbacks stopped their incredible losing streak with a win against the Brewers. They still lost the series though, but can hang their hats on a 10-1 victory over the Padres on Saturday. They are still over a game behind the Orioles and eight behind the Pirates and Rangers, so they’ll likely be either last or second last in the MLB Power Rankings for a long time.