GW’s MLB Power Rankings (week 22)

Beyond Golf — 26 August 2013 by Jim Street

1. Dodgers (1): Here is a bold prediction: A 25-year World Series championship drought will come to an end in late October when the Dodgers celebrate another title in a Game 5 victory over the Tigers at a jam-packed, and stay-until-the-final- out, crowd at Dodger Stadium.

2. Rangers (2): Right-hander Yu Darvish must be spending a lot of free time with club executive Nolan Ryan. How else do you explain 10 starts this season with at least 10 strikeouts for perhaps the best Japan-produced player in MLB history?

3. Athletics (3): The biggest smile in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards this past week surely belonged to catcher Kurt Suzuki, re-acquired from the Orioles in a trade with the Orioles. Many believe that Kurt is the classiest Major League player from Japan with the last name “Suzuki”.

4. Diamondbacks (4): Even Ernie (“Let’s Play Two”) Banks would have thrown in the towel at some point during the D-Backs’ 7-plus hour, 18-inning marathon victory over the Phillies on Saturday night (and two-plus hours into Sunday morning) in the City of Brotherly Love. (See below for the most amazing performance of the game.)

This is when ARI-PHI game ended — AM

5. Giants (6): The only thing worse than finishing in last place in the NL West for the defending World Series champions is looking up and seeing the bitter-rival Dodgers resting comfortably in first place.

6. Rockies (7): The race for third place in the NL West continues into the final week of August with only two games separating the Rockies, Padres and Giants. OK, so it isn’t pennant fever, but players and fans need something to shoot look forward to down the stretch.

7. Angels (5): If you want to know what has happened to one of the former model franchises in MLB, check out this article, written by an award-winning baseball writer who is one of the best in the business.

8. Padres (8): A regular season that started so promisingly for right-hander Edison Volquez, the Opening Night starter, ended in the worst way – the words “designated for assignment” in the daily MLB transactions. That’s yet another tough pill to swallow for the organization.

9. Mariners (9): The Mariners had a bad weekend against the Angels, but their former teammate, Casper Wells, had a doozy of a Saturday night-Sunday morning in Philadelphia. The outfielder went 0-for-7 at the plate and ALSO was the losing pitcher in the 18^–inning loss.

10. Astros (10): The number of Astros fans probably will not expand a whole lot on Sept. 1, when MLB rosters can be expanded beyond the 25-player limit. What it means is that several more players in the Astros organization will get to experience up-close-and-personal yet another 100-plus loss season.

(Last week’s ranking in parenthesis)

About Author

Jim Street

Jim’s 40-year sportswriting career started with the San Jose Mercury-News in 1970 and ended on a full-time basis on October 31, 2010 following a 10-year stint with MLB.com. He grew up in Dorris, Calif., several long drives from the nearest golf course. His first tee shot was a week before being inducted into the Army in 1968. Upon his return from Vietnam, where he was a war correspondent for the 9th Infantry Division, Jim took up golf semi-seriously while working for the Mercury-News and covered numerous tournaments, including the U.S. Open in 1982, when Tom Watson made the shot of his life on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach. Jim also covered several Bing Crosby Pro-Am tournaments, the women’s U.S. Open, and other golfing events in the San Francisco area. He has a 17-handicap, made his first and only hole-in-one on March 12, 2018 at Sand Point Country Club in Seattle and witnessed the first round Ken Griffey Jr. ever played – at Arizona State during Spring Training in 1990. Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Kapalua Plantation Course, Pinehurst No. 2, Spyglass Hill, Winged Foot, Torrey Pines, Medinah, Chambers Bay, North Berwick, Gleneagles and Castle Stuart in Scotland, and numerous gems in Hawaii are among the courses he has had the pleasure of playing. Hitting the ball down the middle of the fairway is not a strong part of Jim’s game, but he is known (in his own mind) as the best putter not on tour. Most of Jim’s writing career was spent covering Major League Baseball, a tenure that started with the Oakland Athletics, who won 101 games in 1971, and ended with the Seattle Mariners, who lost 101 games in 2010. Symmetry is a wonderful thing. He currently lives in Seattle and has an 8-year-old grandson, Andrew, who is the club's current junior champion at his home course (Oakmont CC) in Glendale, Calif.