MLB Power Rankings 5 May 2008
The Top Five
1. Boston Red Sox (21-13): The Red Sox pitching has carried them in spite of their patchy production with the bats. The Sox have allowed three runs or fewer in eight of the last nine.
2. Arizona Diamondbacks (21-10): Arizona still has room to grow offensively. Young, Stephen Drew and Reynolds are putting up high on base percentages for their batting averages. If those guys push into the .270 range rather than the .240 range, they will be really lethal.
3. Los Angeles Angels (21-13): A soft schedule should help Anderson, Matthews and Guerrero get back on track. The rotation could falter if Saunders and Santana slide even slightly.
4. St. Louis Cardinals (20-12): They have played 2/3 games at home so far this season which may account for their unexpected run of form.
5. Oakland Athletics (19-14): They still need Rich Harden healthy to do some damage and win the division.
The Bottom Five
26. San Diego Padres (12-20): The pitching has been decent. The offense has been anemic, with Adrian Gonzalez the notable exception. As much as it pains my OPS soul, they may need to run in that ballpark to shake things up, only six steals in 32 games.
27. Texas Rangers (13-19): They have the same pitching weakness every year, and this time they lack the lineup to mask it.
28. Cincinnati Reds (13-20): They should start shedding excess baggage soon.
29. Colorado Rockies (12-19): Manny Corpas already has four blown saves. Four of the starters have above a 5.25 ERA.
30. Pittsburgh Pirates (12-19) Stink! Stank! Stunk!
I wonder if the Rockies wish they had made some off-season moves now.