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MLB Power Rankings: Where All 30 Teams Stand in Week 11
June 13, 2017
This week's MLB power rankings were published on a different day of the week in deference to the MLB draft, but it was the status quo in the top spot as the Houston Astros remain atop the baseball world.
There was some shuffling below them, though, as the Colorado Rockies regained their place as the top team in the National League and the New York Yankees pushed ahead of a handful of other NL teams and into the No. 3 spot.
With trade season rapidly approaching, the divide between buyer and seller will be closely monitored in the weeks to come.
However, at this point, the entire AL is within 5.5 games of a wild-card spot and the NL figures to be wide-open as well once a trio of NL West contenders starts to cannibalize one another.
Back to the rankings, as always, this is a fluid process and teams rise and fall based on where they were ranked the previous week. If a team keeps winning, it will keep climbing—it's as simple as that.
With that in mind, here's an updated look at where all 30 teams stand:
| Updated Rankings | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Astros (44-21) |  |
| 2 |  Rockies (41-25) |  2 |
| 3 |  Yankees (38-23) | 2 |
| 4 |  Nationals (38-25) |  2 |
| 5 |  D-backs (39-26) | 1 |
| 6 |  Dodgers (39-25) | 3 |
| 7 |  Red Sox (35-28) | |
| 8 |  Brewers (33-31) | |
| 9 |  Twins (32-28) | 2 |
| 10 |  Blue Jays (31-32) | 2 |
| 11 |  Cubs (31-32) | 2 |
| 12 |  Indians (31-29) | 1 |
| 13 |  Orioles (31-31) | 3 |
| 14 |  Angels (33-34) | 4 |
| 15 |  Rays (34-32) | 2 |
| 16 |  Rangers (31-32) | 6 |
| 17 |  Mariners (32-33) | 1 |
| 18 |  Cardinals (29-32) | 4 |
| 19 |  Royals (28-34) | |
| 20 |  Tigers (30-32) | 5 |
| 21 |  Reds (29-34) | 3 |
| 22 |  Marlins (27-35) | 2 |
| 23 |  Pirates (29-35) | 2 |
| 24 |  Mets (29-33) | 4 |
| 25 |  Braves (28-35) | 2 |
| 26 |  Athletics (27-36) | 3 |
| 27 |  Giants (26-39) | |
| 28 |  Padres (25-40) | 3 |
| 29 |  White Sox (27-35) | 3 |
| 30 |  Phillies (21-41) | |
Biggest Risers
Texas Rangers (up six spots)
The Rangers are a team on the rise with a modest four-game winning streak that includes a sweep of the Washington Nationals and a series-opening win against the division-leading Astros.
Austin Bibens-Dirkx outdueled Nationals ace Max Scherzer on Sunday with seven strong innings, as the moment didn't prove to be too big for the 32-year-old rookie.
"I had no idea I was pitching, and I didn't know who they were pitching," Bibens-Dirkx told T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. "Then I found out I was pitching and my wife [Leah] told me it was Scherzer. I said, 'That's going to be a lot of fun. ... I hope I don't look incredibly dumb.'"
Meanwhile, the rotation is set to receive another boost this week as Tyson Ross will finally make his Rangers debut after spending the first two-plus months of the season recovering from thoracic outlet surgery.
He's tentatively slated to take the ball on Friday against the Seattle Mariners and he'll give the team some options in the rotation if he can prove healthy.
On the offensive side of things, speedy Delino DeShields Jr. has provided a nice spark with a .400 average and six stolen bases in 28 plate appearances this month.
If they can turn in another strong showing this coming week against the Astros and Mariners, they could be knocking on the door for a spot inside the top 10 in no time.
Los Angeles Angels (up four spots)
Series wins over the Detroit Tigers and the MLB-leading Astros are enough to move the Angels up four spots and into the upper half of the rankings.
The team has now gone 7-7 since superstar Mike Trout went down with a thumb injury—no small feat given his early impact on an otherwise underperforming club.
Kole Calhoun (1.326 OPS, 5 HR, 14 RBI) has picked up the slack at the plate with a red-hot start to June, and the pitching staff has held its own with a 4.27 ERA that ranks fifth in the AL this month.
However, the rotation is still hanging on by a thread and there are glaring holes at a number of spots in the lineup.
Still, they've managed to play roughly .500 baseball and if they can continue to tread water until guys like Trout, Tyler Skaggs and perhaps Garrett Richards return, a run at a wild-card spot is still within reach.
New York Mets (up four spots)
A two-game split with the Rangers, a series win over the Atlanta Braves and a series-opening victory over the Chicago Cubs are enough for the Mets to climb four spots in this week's rankings.
That upward trend could be short-lived, though, as slugger Yoenis Cespedes left Monday night's game when a heel issue flared up.
If they're without him for any amount of time, it's an obvious blow to a team that simply can't afford any more injury issues.
On a positive note, the team did pick up the win on Monday thanks to a complete game victory from Jacob deGrom and the rotation as a whole has looked significantly better of late.
Steven Matz and Seth Lugo both made their season debuts last week after missing time early to injury, while Robert Gsellman (6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER) and Matt Harvey (5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER) looked sharp in their most recent starts.
Pitching was always going to be the strength of this team and if they can finally start living up to expectations in that department, they'll continue to climb.
Biggest Fallers
Detroit Tigers (down five spots)
The Tigers entered last week riding a four-game winning streak and a 6-2 stretch of games that had seen them pull back to the .500 mark on the year.
That proved to be short-lived, though, as series losses to the Angels and Boston Red Sox effectively killed that momentum and halted their attempts to post a winning record for the first time since they were 21-20 roughly a month ago.
While the offense is plating an impressive 6.3 runs per game this month, the pitching staff has posted a 5.01 ERA and blown the only two save chances they've seen in June.
Michael Fulmer (4.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER) and Justin Verlander (5.0 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 ER) both struggled last week, and the team is counting on them to anchor the staff.
They welcome two good clubs in the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays to Comerica Park this week as they look to avoid sliding any further.
St. Louis Cardinals (down four spots)
Credit the Cardinals for recovering from a four-game sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds by doing some sweeping of their own at the expense of the Philadelphia Phillies last week.
There are still some clear issues this team needs to resolve, though.
General manager John Mozeliak called a press conference following the Cincinnati sweep and seemingly put the team—and manager Mike Matheny—on notice.
"I want him to feel confident we trust him to do his job," Mozeliak told reporters of Matheny, "but we need to do better."
The team also shuffled some coaches, announced Randall Grichuk would get one last shot at proving he can be an everyday outfielder once he returns from the minors and released veteran Jhonny Peralta.
And it's clear from the tone of Mozeliak that more changes will be coming if things don't improve.
The bullpen bridge from one of the league's best rotations to the late-inning duo of Trevor Rosenthal and Seung Hwan Oh has been a mess, and the offense is still searching for some semblance of consistency.
MVPs of the Week
AL MVP: Aaron Judge, NYY
Stats: 12-for-24, 3 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 10 R
What's left to say about Aaron Judge at this point?
After another monster performance last week, he's now leading the AL in hitting (.347) and home runs (22), and he sits one RBI behind Nelson Cruz (50) for the full Triple Crown lead.
He hit both the longest home run of the season (above) and the hardest-hit home run of the Statcast era at a 121.1 mph exit velocity last week.
His 22 long balls make him the first Yankees player 25 years old or younger to reach the 20 mark prior to the All-Star break since Roger Maris in 1960.
As far as phenoms in the Big Apple go, he's making what Gary Sanchez did in the second half of last season look like child's play.
NL MVP: Scooter Gennett, CIN
Stats: 10-for-20, 2 2B, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 6 R
For one magical night, Scooter Gennett was on top of the baseball world.
At the start of play last Tuesday, he sported a .758 OPS with three home runs and 20 RBI over 117 plate appearances in an oft-used super-utility role.
By the end of the night, his OPS has skyrocketed to .914 and he had added four home runs and 10 RBI to his modest season totals.
"It's surreal, man. It really is," Gennett told reporters after his historic night. "I was kind of laughing, to be honest with you. For a guy like me to do that is crazy—a little short of a miracle."
The 27-year-old has been a very nice waiver wire pickup for the Reds and he could prove to be a valuable trade chip come July thanks to his added defensive versatility.
Stats of the Week
Let's dive right into some of the better nuggets from around the league.
We'll start with a Yankees slugger not named Aaron Judge.
Gary Sanchez turned in the fifth multihomer game of his young career on Thursday, needing just 87 career games to do that.
According to Elias, the only player in the modern era (since 1900) to do it faster was Mark McGwire, who needed 84 games.
On the pitching side of things, Edinson Volquez followed up his no-hitter with another gem, allowing just three hits over seven shutout innings against the Pirates on Thursday.
He's the first pitcher since Tommy Greene on May 28, 1991, to throw at least seven shutout innings while allowing three or fewer hits in a start immediately following a no-hitter, per Elias.
To his credit, Greene threw a complete game three-hitter, but Volquez's accomplishment is impressive nonetheless.
Back to the hitters, you didn't think we were going to make it all the way through this section without a Judge stat, did you?
For inquiring minds, he's on pace for 58 home runs.
Here's a quick MLB draft note that also makes for a solid trivia question:
The trio in 1990? Chipper Jones (Braves), Tony Clark (Tigers) and Mike Lieberthal (Phillies) all went on to be All-Stars. The Tigers and Phillies probably would have preferred grabbing Mike Mussina, though, who went No. 20 overall.
And finally, while it's not stat-related, we'll close out this section with a tip of the cap to Pirates starter Jameson Taillon, who returned to the mound on Sunday just five weeks after undergoing surgery for testicular cancer.
Watching from the other dugout? Rockies starter Chad Bettis, who recently finished chemotherapy following his own battle with testicular cancer.
"I guess it was meant to be for me to be here to see his first start back," Bettis told reporters. "It's a very positive step forward for him and I'm very happy."
Bettis reached out to Taillon when he was first diagnosed to provide his support.
Best of luck to both of them going forward!
Must-See Upcoming Matchup
Boston Red Sox vs. Houston Astros (June 16-18)
This week's slate of games includes some excellent head-to-head pitching matchups, including Clayton Kershaw vs. Corey Kluber (Wednesday), Stephen Strasburg vs. Jacob deGrom (Saturday) and Chris Archer vs. Daniel Norris (Saturday).
Tempting as it was to make that Kershaw/Kluber matchup the "must-see" event of the week, a three-game set between two of the top dogs in the AL was too good to overlook.
This will be the first time the Red Sox and Astros meet this season, with the Red Sox taking the season series 5-2 with a plus-12 run differential a year ago.
There's no question this is a different Astros team, though.
While we unfortunately won't see Chris Sale, Dallas Keuchel or Lance McCullers Jr. take the mound in this series, that should mean runs are more readily available for two of the most dangerous lineups in the game.
It will be Drew Pomeranz vs. Mike Fiers in Game 1, Rick Porcello vs. David Paulino in Game 2 and David Price vs. Joe Musgrove on Sunday Night Baseball in the finale.
All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted and current through Monday, June 12.
Looking for someone to yell at about where your favorite team was slotted in the latest rankings? I'll meet you in the comments section.