It isn’t often that a team can play .500 baseball over a 10-game period and still climb into the top spot in the world-acclaimed GW Power Rankings.
But that’s exactly what has happened in the wacky West, where the Athletics replaced the cross-bay rival Giants as the No. 1 team among West Coast teams. It’s the second time the reigning AL West champions held the top spot this season.
Even more impressive, though, is the Astros’ climb out of last place in the rankings. Indeed, the Astros, on the strength of their 6-4 past-10-day record going into Monday’s well-deserved day off, are an astounding (for them) seven games UNDER .500 (32-39) as June moves into its second
half.
The woebegone Astros won their 32nd game last season on July 6.
And here are this week’s rankings:
1. Athletics (2): Left fielder Yoenism Cespedes might have the best throwing arm since Roberto Clemente
2. Giants (1): Getting swept by the Rockies at AT&T Park gave catcher Butch Posey a really bad headache
3. Angels (3): Is there a better one-two punch than Mike Trout and AlbertPujols right now in MLB?
4. Dodgers (5): RIP Bob Welch, a formerCy Young Award winner who started his career with Dodgers
5. Mariners: (4): Home-field advantage (15-20) isn’t nearly as prevalent as other big-league teams
6. Rangers (6): Who knew the team would have such a difficult time finding aproductive leadoff hitter?
7. Rockies (7): Three consecutive come-from-behind wins against the Giants has the Rockies sky-high
8. Padres (8): A tough week for all of baseball as Welch and then Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn pass away
9. Astros (10): Pitchers not only pitch for the Astros, they also play the outfield on occasion
10. Diamondbacks (9): The loud thud you heard was the D-Backs falling to the bottom of the Power Rankings
(Last week’s ranking in parenthesis)