By Blake Dowson
With the halfway point of the MLB season quickly approaching, The Daily Iowan’s Blake Dowson listed his power rankings.
1. Texas Rangers (49-27)
The Rangers have the second-best record in the Bigs and the best record in the American League. The pitching staff, powered by Cole Hamels, has been dominant. The addition of Ian Desmond through free agency has been the best off-season move so far.
2. San Francisco Giants (49-28)
It’s an even year, so what did you expect? No one wants to face Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, and Jeff Samardzija on consecutive days. With Brandon Belt having a huge year (.306 average, 38 RBIs), the infield is as good as anyone’s.
3. Chicago Cubs (49-26)
The North Siders have dropped six of their past 10 games but still have the best winning percentage in the game. The starting staff is coming back down to Earth a bit, and the injury bug has hurt, but the Cubs are still the most talented team in baseball.
4. Cleveland Indians (44-30)
LeBron James is carrying … wait, wrong sport. But the Finals magic is rubbing off on the Indians, who haven’t lost since the Cavs beat the Warriors in Game 7, and they have won 10 games in a row dating back to June 17.
5. Baltimore Orioles (45-30)
Mark Trumbo has been a nice surprise (22 home runs, 55 RBIs), and the bullpen is really, really good. Buck Showalter is one of the best managers in the game, and he continues to get it done without a flashy roster.
6-10: Boston Red Sox (41-35), Washington Nationals (45-32), Miami Marlins (41-35), New York Mets (40-35), Los Angeles Dodgers (42-36)
The Red Sox lineup is as sexy as any in baseball. Boston desperately needs another starter or two, though; relying on a knuckleballer deep into the season is playing with fire.
Injuries might hurt the Nationals (Steven Strasburg.) Much like Boston, Washington needs more pitching. But Daniel Murphy has been more than anybody in the nation’s capital could have asked for.
Miami just took a series versus the Cubs, and get this — the Marlins have seven regulars hitting better than .300 this year, none of whom are named Giancarlo Stanton. Oh, and Dee Gordon is currently suspended.
The Mets’ pitching staff has been good, and they match up well against anybody. But the Mets can’t hit. They have three regulars hitting over .250 (Yoenis Cespedes, Neil Walker, Asdrubel Cabrera.)
It’s fright night for Dodger’s opponents every fifth day when Clayton Kershaw takes the bump. The Dodgers are 14-2 in games Kershaw starts and 28-34 in non-Kershaw games.
11-15: Toronto Blue Jays (41-37), Houston Astros (39-37), Kansas City Royals (40-35), St. Louis Cardinals (39-36), New York Yankees (37-37)
The loud bats that woke Canada from a long baseball nap haven’t been the same this year. Michael Saunders and Darwin Barney have played well in their roles, though, and the pitching staff has been good enough to keep them in the AL East race.
The Astros have followed the Blue Jays story line a bit. Jose Altuve has been awesome, but the rest of the lineup has struggled. Last year’s AL Cy Young winner, Dallas Keuchel, is pitching like he wants to give the award back.
What have you done for me lately, Kansas City? Well, besides sweeping the Indians last week. This year has been a disappointment at the K, especially with the starting rotation.
The Cardinals haven’t gotten nearly the amount of production with runners in scoring position this year, and the rotation hasn’t been as good as last year. Gut feeling says they find their stride, though.
The Yankees hate to be sellers at the deadline, but they should be. Goodbye, Carlos Beltran and Brett Gardner.
16-20: Pittsburgh Pirates (37-40), Chicago White Sox (38-38), Seattle Mariners (38-38), Arizona Diamondbacks (36-42), Detroit Tigers (38-38)
Andrew McCutchen isn’t the same for the Pirates, the White Sox should consider trading Chris Sale and truly rebuilding, and the Mariners need pitching badly. The Diamondbacks were done before the year started with the A.J. Pollock injury, and the Tigers are too old.
21-25: Colorado Rockies (37-39), San Diego Padres (33-44), Milwaukee Brewers (34-41), Oakland Athletics (32-43), Los Angeles Angels (32-44)
Nolan Arenado is the best third baseman in the game, but the Rockies need more than him, the Padres should start selling but don’t want to before they host the All-Star game, and the Brewers should have traded Jonathan Lucroy yesterday. The A’s and Angels are in a similar position, trying to build up their farm systems. Mike Trout trade coming? Kidding.
26-30: Atlanta Braves (26-50), Cincinnati Reds (29-48), Philadelphia Phillies (32-45), Tampa Bay Rays (32-43), Minnesota Twins (24-51)
Pete Rose, who was recently inducted into the (Reds), Hall of Fame, could probably start on 80 precent of these teams.
