Rangers rise into the top spot
Updated: April 16, 2012, 12:40 PM ET
Week:
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The Texas Rangers are riding a four-game winning streak and went 6-1 last week to move into the top spot in our MLB Power Rankings for Week 3.
The Detroit Tigers, the No. 1 team last week, fell one spot to No. 2 after going just 3-3 last week.
The St. Louis Cardinals move up three spots and are at No. 3, while the New York Yankees (No. 4) and red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers (No. 5) round out the top five.
Tell us what you think about this week's Power Rankings: Use the hashtag #ESPNMLBPOWER to join the discussion on Facebook.
This week's voters were Jim Bowden of ESPN Insider, Tim Kurkjian of ESPN The Magazine, David Schoenfield of the SweetSpot Blog Network/ESPN.com and Jayson Stark of ESPN.com. Nearly all team comments come courtesy of the fan bloggers on the SweetSpot Blog Network. Meanwhile, you can rank the teams yourself.
| 2012 Power Rankings: April 16 | |||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | ||
| 1 | 3 Last Week: 4 | Aside from a couple of ninth-inning hiccups by Joe Nathan, the Rangers boast both the best record and best run differential in the American League. -- Joey Matschulat: Baseball Time in Arlington | |||
| 2 | 1 Last Week: 1 | With 7 2/3 innings of five-hit, one-run ball against the White Sox on Sunday, Rick Porcello became the first Tigers starter to earn a win on the season. -- Josh Worn: Walkoff Woodward | |||
| 3 | 3 Last Week: 6 | Matt Carpenter has filled in for an ailing Lance Berkman and has 18 total bases in 20 plate appearances to help the Cardinals to a National League-best 5.7 runs/game and the NL Central lead. -- Matt Philip: Fungoes | |||
| 4 | 4 Last Week: 8 | After starting out the season 0-3, the Yankees bounced back with a good week by taking five out of six from the Orioles and Angels. However, back-to-back bad starts from Phil Hughes has fans anticipating the return of Andy Pettitte even more. -- Rob Abruzzese: Bronx Baseball Daily | |||
| 5 | 6 Last Week: 11 | Sizzling outfielder Matt Kemp has more total bases this season (40) than the entire Dodgers starting infield (34). -- Jon Weisman: Dodger Thoughts | |||
| 6 | 3 Last Week: 9 | The Nationals' starters have a crazy 1.75 ERA so far this year, leading the National League by two-thirds of a run. -- Harper Gordek: Nationals Baseball | |||
| 7 | 4 Last Week: 3 | The Diamondbacks' 5-2 win on Sunday was their first victory decided by more than two runs this season; all three of their losses have been by one run. The team is hitting .176 with RISP through the first nine games. -- Diane Firstman: Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 8 | 6 Last Week: 2 | The sleepless Rays, amidst a stretch of eight straight day games, are 2-5 so far during the stretch and were outscored 43-14 in the losses. -- Mark Heilig: The Ray Area | |||
| 9 | 13 Last Week: 22 | The White Sox won two of three from the Tigers before beginning a 10-game stretch against the Orioles, Mariners and A's. Brent Morel, Gordon Beckham and Adam Dunn have combined for 34 strikeouts in 89 plate appearances, but the defense has been surprisingly solid in the early going (third in the AL in defense efficiency ratio at .733). -- Diane Firstman: Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
| 10 | 7 Last Week: 17 | The surprising Mets are a half-game out of first place, led by the scorching-hot David Wright, who is hitting .571 with a 1.473 OPS, two home runs and five RBIs in six games played. -- Joe Janish: Mets Today | |||
| 11 | 4 Last Week: 7 | After two turns through the rotation, an uncertain Toronto starting staff has exceeded expectations. The Blue Jays' batting average against (BAA) of .197 among starters is the best in the AL. -- Callum Hughson: Mop-Up Duty | |||
| 12 | 2 Last Week: 10 | The new low-impact offense is taking some getting used to, but the Phillies' run prevention is as good as it's ever been. Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay have combined for a cumulative K/BB ratio of 19 to 1, and when Laynce Nix and Ty Wigginton hit in the middle of your batting order, the starting pitching will need to be pretty good for the Phillies to repeat last season's success. -- Michael Baumann: Crashburn Alley | |||
| 13 | 10 Last Week: 23 | After a dismal 0-4 start resulted in flashbacks to last September, the Braves bounced back with five straight wins to finish the week. Jason Heyward's new swing is producing results; he's 10-for-29 with two home runs so far. -- David Lee: Capitol Avenue Club | |||
| 14 | 2 Last Week: 16 | After nine games, the Giants are in a precarious situation: completely unsure about what a Tim Lincecum start brings and without the health of their closer (Brian Wilson). Farmhand fireballer Heath Hembree could soon make his debut in the majors. -- Rory Paap: Bay City Ball | |||
| 15 | -- Last Week: 15 | The loss of Jacoby Ellsbury is huge and means a starting outfield of Cody Ross, Darnell McDonald and Ryan Sweeney. The good news is offense is not what has hurt the Red Sox of late. -- Troy Patterson: Fire Brand of the AL | |||
| 16 | 4 Last Week: 12 | Wily Peralta recorded his third straight successful start at Triple-A on Sunday and now has allowed just four runs, nine hits and six walks in 17 innings to go with 13 strikeouts. If Randy Wolf (10.61 ERA) or Chris Narveson (7.00 ERA) continues to struggle, Peralta should be the next man up. But when? -- Jack Moore: Disciples of Uecker | |||
| 17 | 12 Last Week: 5 | There were unfortunately more downs than there were ups again for the Angels last week. The rotation has not yet performed how it should and the bullpen has been pretty bad. It is very early in the season, but something needs to be done to address the bullpen issues before things get out of hand. -- Hudson Belinsky: Halos Daily | |||
| 18 | 2 Last Week: 20 | Through his first 33 plate appearances, Matt Wieters has posted a line of .286/.394/.536 with a BABIP of .261, and a 5/3 BB/SO ratio. -- Nick Faleris: Camden Depot | |||
| 19 | 1 Last Week: 18 | The Rockies' rotation was a known weakness heading into the season and so far it has been worse than imagined. Through the team's first nine games, the starting pitcher has lasted more than six innings only twice (both came opening weekend in Houston). -- Travis Lay: Blake Street Bulletin | |||
| 20 | 7 Last Week: 13 | The Reds scored a grand total of only 10 runs while losing five of six games last week; even worse, Cincinnati's run total through nine games was the lowest in franchise history (post-1900). Ownership has spent a lot of money recently. If the play on the field doesn't improve soon, how long until manager Dusty Baker's seat begins to get warm? -- Chad Dotson: Redleg Nation | |||
| 21 | 7 Last Week: 14 | Although they finished a weekend series winning two of three, the Marlins still find themselves giving up too many runs. A three-game series against the Cubs to start the week could very well have the Marlins continuing to roll. -- Dave Gershman: Marlins Daily | |||
| 22 | 3 Last Week: 19 | The Mariners paid a high price to bring Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi over from the Yankees this past offseason. Saturday brought their first major return on the investment as Noesi tossed eight shutout innings and Montero drove in three runs with a home run and a double in a 4-0 defeat of the Athletics. -- Jon Shields: Pro Ball NW | |||
| 23 | 2 Last Week: 25 | The Indians' bats came to life this past weekend as they scored 32 runs on their way to a sweep of the Royals. That run total is the most the Indians have scored in a three-game series since April 2000. In addition, this was the first time in team history the Indians scored eight or more runs in their first three road games of the season. -- Stephanie Liscio: It's Pronounced Lajaway | |||
| 24 | 3 Last Week: 27 | A .500 week for the A's with two shutouts might mean more if the record had been compiled against teams better than the Royals and Mariners. Yoenis Cespedes continues to produce, with an OPS over .900. But the A's are getting consistent hitting from just one other lineup spot: the DH platoon of Seth Smith and Jonny Gomes. -- Jason Wojciechowski: Beaneball | |||
| 25 | 4 Last Week: 21 | Royals starting pitchers coughed up 21 runs in 10 2/3 innings of work while being swept by the Indians. -- Craig Brown: Royals Authority | |||
| 26 | 4 Last Week: 30 | The Astros dropped four of six games last week as they continue to try to figure out how to hit with the bases loaded. They've had plenty of chances, but are 0-for-11 so far with the bags full this year. -- Austin Swafford: Austin's Astros 290 Blog | |||
| 27 | 1 Last Week: 28 | Starlin Castro committed 29 errors at shortstop in 2011. In just 10 games so far this year, he's already up to four. -- Joe Aiello: View from the Bleachers | |||
| 28 | 4 Last Week: 24 | The Pirates snapped their five-game road losing streak by defeating the Giants on Sunday in San Francisco. Kevin Correia has pitched well in two starts this season (a 1.50 ERA and seven hits allowed in 12 innings pitched). -- ESPN.com | |||
| 29 | 3 Last Week: 26 | The Twins' offense will only go as far as Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau can take it. Up to this point, that's been nowhere. The Twins have scored three or fewer runs in seven of nine games, in which they're 0-7. -- Nick Nelson: Twins Daily | |||
| 30 | 1 Last Week: 29 | Padres fall to a majors-worst 2-8 after seemingly getting jobbed on "foul bunt" triple play in the ninth inning against the Dodgers on Sunday. Matt Kemp has feasted on Padres pitching so far this season (11-for-27, six homers and 15 RBIs in seven games). -- Diane Firstman: Value Over Replacement Grit | |||
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