by James Kunkle August 25, 2020
As we said last week, for most teams including the Atlanta Braves, we are basically at the halfway point of the season.
Most things are playing out like we suspected but as always, some surprises have emerged.
The trade deadline is one week away and it’s now already time for teams to get ready for their postseason push.
As always on Monday’s here though, it is time for our weekly power rankings. Where will the Atlanta Braves place this week?
30. Pittsburgh Pirates
Despite a sweep of the Brewers over the weekend, the Pirates stay at the bottom of these rankings once again and are one of the few clear cut sellers before next week’s trading deadline.
29. Los Angeles Angels
Things seem to be getting worse in Southern California for the Angels. I once again will let you know that we can make an offer for Mike Trout here for the Atlanta Braves. Surely, he will waive his no trade clause to get out of that dumpster fire.
28. Detroit Tigers
One week after getting swept by the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers bounce back and take two out of three, the problem is their was another sweep by the White Sox in the middle of those two series.
27. Boston Red Sox
If you had the Boston Red Sox being the first MLB team to reach the 20 loss plateau, you would be correct. The miserable 2020 season for them continues.
26. Kansas City Royals
The Royals have some bats in the system but currently do not have much pitching besides Brad Keller who is still sporting a 0.00 ERA at this point of the season.
25. Seattle Mariners
Those new alternate uniforms that the Mariners wear now look a lot like the Milwaukee Brewer classic retro style jerseys. It took me a few minutes to recognize who I was watching.
24. Texas Rangers
The Rangers might be a very exciting team to watch over the next week as they have some players who could be of major value to other teams. Players like Lance Lynn, Todd Frazier, and even Mike Minor despite his struggles thus far.
23. Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are imploding quick like. It was not long ago they were sitting in first, but now they are only half a game out of last in the West and already 8 back of the Dodgers for first.
22. Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona was on a roll and looking to get right back in the playoff race but they closed last week with 5 straight in the loss column. Perhaps a series they are about to start with the Rockies will get them back on a winning streak?
21. Philadelphia Phillies
Already having a awful bullpen, they made a trade with the Red Sox and the pitcher they acquired come right in Saturday and was hit hard against the Atlanta Braves. The Phillies were lucky to escape with 1 win in Atlanta.
20. Washington Nationals
It’s been setback after setback for the defending champs….but it’s not like any of the Atlanta Braves fans are going to feel sorry for them. The latest injury is a season ending one to Stephen Strasburg.
19. San Francisco Giants
Here we go again, the Giants are on a lengthy win streak right before the deadline and it will probably cause them to be staying pat at the deadline instead of a rebuild they should be well into by now.
18. Miami Marlins
Give the Marlins some credit, as of today, they would still be in the playoffs. I do not think they will get in, but as many predicted, they have been better this year.
17. Cincinnati Reds
I picked the wrong Reds pitcher for my preseason Cy Young award winner. I should have gone with Trevor Bauer who has to be the leading candidate for that award up until this point in the season.
16. Baltimore Orioles
At the start of the year, I had the Orioles total win to be somewhere between 14 and 18. Yet, here we are at the near halfway point and they already have 14 wins.
15. Milwaukee Brewers
If you truly want to make the postseason, you can not be sitting on the verge of .500 and go get swept by possibly the worst team in the league. For the Brewers sake, hopefully they wont look back and wish they would have won just one of those three games.
14. New York Mets
All of a sudden, the New York Mets are playing good ball and are inserting themselves right in the picture. They obviously have 1 pitcher everyone would want to avoid come playoff time.
13. Toronto Blue Jays
After spending much of the off season trying to beef up the rotation, the Blue Jays have been laced with injury after injury to the group. The latest being Matt Shoemaker heading to the injured list.
12. St. Louis Cardinals
It will be very interesting to see how all of the double-headers that the Cardinals will presumably have to play down the stretch will wear them out or make them come even more together as a team.
11. Houston Astros
Only 1 current player has an average of .300 or more on the Astros…and that’s Carlos Correa with a average right on the .300 nose.
10. Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs were on the losing side of the crosstown series with the White Sox over the weekend. The Cubs pitching could not slow down the White Sox offense at all.
9. Chicago White Sox
Speaking of the White Sox, here they are. Jose Abreu was a man on a mission this weekend as he was just named the AL player of the week and rightfully so, as he had a 7 dingers on the week. My fantasy team was single handily smashed by that guy.
8. Cleveland Indians
The Indians are once again right in the middle of the playoff hunt and are obviously one of the better teams in that league. They quietly have one of the more well rounded rosters in the entire game.
7. San Diego Padres
The Padres just smashed the Texas Rangers last week as it seems they hit a grand slam every inning against the Rangers. And Fernando Tatis Jr….do not apologize for swinging and doing something you are great at.
6. Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves excel in the late innings of games over the past few years, and 2020 has been no different as they have already registered a few late inning miraculous wins this season including two last week.
5. New York Yankees
The Yankees and the Atlanta Braves start a quick two game set Tuesday in Atlanta. Hopefully this series goes more the Braves way than the series in the Bronx did a few weeks ago.
4. Minnesota Twins
The Twins offense jumps on opposing teams and in a hurry as they lead the Majors with 27 runs scored in the first inning. The pitching is doing it’s job and keeping those leads the majority of the times as well.
3. Tampa Bay Rays
Red hot is what the Rays are as they are 13-2 over the teams last 15 games. If you did not believe they could win the World Series before…think again.
2. Oakland Athletics
It seems a tad odd, but is it too early to talk about Oakland getting close to wrapping up the AL West already? They have a good size lead and could extend it even further with a good week as they play the Rangers and Astros this week.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers were the class of the field all along for the National League, and they have proven it thus far on the field as well. Despite a couple players starting slow, everyone is rolling now.
So that is our rankings this week.
Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate
REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964
West Villages Realty LLC
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