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We are now at the 10% pole of the MLB year. The American League looks to have some serious battles taking place in the divisions, while the National League has teams who are separating from others.
Kansas City put themselves back on the map with a 5 – 2 week, and now have a tie for the AL Central lead.
The Yankees started the week winning 4 straight, before dropping the last contests with the Rays, but look good for the long haul.
The Rays officially lost Matt Moore for the year, and Alex Cobb is gone for a while too.
Albert Pujols is bouncing towards 500 HRs, but his Halo’s are in the midst of a tough 3 city road trip.
The Nationals are learning once again that nothing is handed to you.
Harang, who was part of four organizations in the last year, no hit the Mets for 7 Innings before coming out of the game for Atlanta last night. While the Relief Core could not keep the no-hitter intact, they kept the Shutout, thus preserving another strong outing by a Braves pitcher. Atlanta will be receiving a better rank each week they can knock off the schedule – as Mike Minor comes back to the fold soon,
The Braves continue to win games, even though Jason Heyward and Dan Uggla are struggling, and while B.J. Upton‘s average is rising, he has no power right now.
Giancarlo Stanton has been the best power slugger so far, and Yangervis Solarte is winning the hearts of all Yankees fans so much, they are not sure about Mark Teixeira coming back.
The Mariners have bowed out of AL West contention for now, licking their wounds to James Paxton and Taijuan Walker, while featuring an anemic offense.
Closers have blown 69 Saves so far (65% conversion rate), and many teams must be searching for better alternatives.
Offense is down across the board. This is the 2nd straight day, only one MLB’er (Pujols) has hit HRs in 2 straight games heading into Sunday’s games.
The NL West has 4 teams .500 or better so far, as does the AL East.
Just remember that the rankings are based hugely on my thoughts for the teams that are ranked 1 – 30 for winning the World Series.
Obviously your own division has a big mark on that rankings because it reflects your path of resistance to the playoffs, or even in the postseason of how far you will go.
***Denotes Leading Their Respective Division
** Tied for the American League Central
*Tied For the AL East
Records are before play Sunday Apr.20, 2014
RK Team Last Wk () Current Rec - Last Week Rec
1. ***Los Angeles Dodgers (2) 11 – 7: 3 – 3: The Los Angeles Dodgers have 4 great OF, a new fantasy threat in Dee Gordon, and even Juan Uribe is hitting. OH yeah. Clayton Kershaw is coming back soon.
2. **Detroit Tigers (1) 8 – 6: 2- 3: The Tigers aren’t hitting yet, but not to worry, Miguel Cabrera will unleash soon. This rankings has a lot to do with the AL Central Division they reside in.
People – stop bringing up their runs scored, they have played 2 or 3 fewer games than everyone else. They still could use Stephen Drew.
3. ***St. Louis Cardinals (4) 11 – 7: 5 – 2: Oscar Taveras is lurking. These guys seem to go 4 – 3 or 5 – 2 every 7 game stretches
4. Washington Nationals (3) 10 – 8: 3 – 4: Bryce Harper still shows signs that he is barely in his 20′s – relax, these guys will be fine.
5. ***Oakland Athletics (5) 12 – 5: 5 – 1: The Athletics are just a deep team that knows how to win. I think they will make the playoffs even if they don’t win the division. Yoenis Cespedes heating up.
6. ***Atlanta Braves (8) 12 – 5: 5 – 1: Would be higher if they were playing a with a full deck of pitchers. Aaron Harang already has entered into the 7th in two games with a no – hitter. Not sure it can last. B.J. Upton even 8 for his last 25.
7. *New York Yankees (9) 10 – 8: 4 – 2: Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann have woken up. Yangervis Solarte is among a league leader in XBH and BA. Michael Pineda and Masahiro Tanaka carrying the weight. The Bullpen still scares me. They will be in the mix all year.
8. Texas Rangers (12) 11 – 7: 6 – 1: The Rangers have put forth 5 SO ever since the club has welcomed back Yu Darvish back to the rotation.
Prince Fielder finally with 2 HRs this week. Kevin Kouzmanoff has carried the lineup with Adrian Beltre being out. Martin Perez looks great.
9. Milwaukee Brewers (10) 13 – 5: 4 – 3: Ryan Braun has 5 HRs in the 2 games he has hit Roundtrippers. He needs to say nothing about the visiting fans, and just do his job. Glad he likes being booed.
This tea, will go as far as Braun and Aramis Ramirez go on offense. Francisco Rodriguez with 9 scoreless frames so far.
10. San Francisco Giants (7) 10 – 8: 3 – 3: Not a great week. Pablo Sandoval is under .200 – and may need to go on a “Krispy Creme” bender to start hitting again.
Not worries about this club in the long – term.
11. Tampa Bay Rays (6) 9 – 9: 2 – 4: A tough week has ended well with 2 10+ run games with the offense.
Wil Myers is the new Yankees killer – with 7 hits in the last 2 contests, including his 1st 2 HRs yesterday (Ryan Hanigan also went yard twice Sat, and Evan Longoria took the ALL – time franchise lead for team HRs.)
12. **Kansas City Royals (17) 9 – 7: 5 – 1: The Royals have feasted on the Astros and Twins to tie the Tigers back in the Division. This team is 9 – 5 since starting the year 0 – 2.
Yordano Ventura could very well be the AL Rookie Of The Year. Mike Moustakas is running out of time, but at least clubbed 2 HRs this week.
13. *Toronto Blue Jays (16) 10 – 8: 4 – 2: The Canadian club has also feasted on the Twins, Astros and now the Indians. Tougher schedule coming.
Mark Buerhle posting a 4 – 0 record – with under a 1 ERA is awesome, not sure he will continue this. Jose Reyes back yesterday is good for the club.
14. Boston Red Sox (11) 8 – 10: 3 – 3: The team is surviving despite slow starts from several players. John Lackey is nothing like his 2013 self so far.
15. LA Angels (14) 8 – 9: 3 – 3: Albert Pujols has hit HRs in back to back games for the 3rd straight time already.
They are just starting a road trip in Detroit, Washington and New York (AL). Have started 1 – 1 so far versus Detroit.
Raul Ibanez either strikes out or HRs. A lot of hit and miss on this team.
16. Baltimore Orioles (18) 8 – 8: 3 – 2: Chris Davis only with 1 HR. Manny Machado coming back shortly should help jolt the offense. Pitching is better than it was the 1st week.
17. Cincinnati Reds (20) 7 – 10: 4 – 2: A better week started with placing Joey Votto in the #2 spot in the lineup. Cincy just needs to keep putting up winning weeks.
18. Colorado Rockies (21) 10 – 9: 4 – 3: Troy Tulowitzki just crushes the ball when he is in the lineup. Watch out for a renaissance year for Justin Morneau, who is off to a nice start.
19. Pittsburgh Pirates (13) 8 – 10: 2 – 5: Ike Davis trade is a good first step, but if he can’t correct his swing, could not work out. Should platoon still with Gaby Sanchez.
20. Chicago White Sox (22) 8 – 10: 2 – 4: Avisail Garcia injury hurts big time. Chris Sale continues to deal.
21. Seattle Mariners (T14) 7 – 10: 1 – 6: Free fall on the offensive side. Please get Abraham Almonte out of the Leadoff spot. Give Dustin Ackley another chance there.
How about inserting some more AB for Nick Franklin as well? Felix Hernandez and James Paxton 5 – 0, rest of the team, 2 – 10.
22. Cleveland Indians (19) 7 – 10: 1 – 4: Michael Brantley has woken up, but maybe Nick Swisher has declined faster than we thought. Carlos Santana struggling.
Like we have said on this site, it will be tough to make it through the whole year with the young Pitching Staff.
23. San Diego Padres (20) 9 – 9: 5 – 2: A nice week for the Padres makes up for the Josh Johnson loss to TJ Surgery. Still hate the division they play in, and the offense has been lackluster so far.
24. Minnesota Twins (27) 8 – 9: 3 – 3: Offense is not half – bad. Jason Kubel loves hitting in Minnesota. Not sure Brian Dozier should be leading off, but he has good HR power.
25. NY Mets (26) 8 – 9: 3 – 3: Kyle Farnsworth is not the answer at Closer fellas. Better than Jose Valverde though – yes. Nice 6 – 3 west roadtrip. They still struggle at Citi Field.
26. Philadelphia Phillies (24) 7 – 10: 2 – 4: Aging, old squad will really start losing when Chase Utley is not hitting north of .400. Cole Hamels could certainly help being back today.
27. Miami Marlins (23) 8 – 10: 3 – 3: Giancarlo Stanton is going to hit himself out of Miami. 6 HRs and 26 RBI is a fantastic start. Marcell Ozuna has hit in 15 of 17 GP.
28. Arizona D’backs (25) 5 – 15: 1 – 5: They can’t afford any more losing weeks now. Mark Trumbo hitting just .218 with a .263 OBP. Needs a lineup supporting him with slumps.
29. Chicago Cubs (27) 5 – 11: 1 – 4: Bad week where they were shutout in a double header versus the Yankees, and salvaged a game yesterday versus the Reds with a win.
30. Houston Astros (30) 5 – 13: 0 – 6: 7 guys hitting under .200 – I would have called up George Springer too. Jonathan Singleton should be next.
Chris Carter, 25 SO in 53 AB, with 0 HRs and mid .100 BA, not good.
The Reds, Royals, Padres and Orioles had crucial winning weeks in the last 7 days after struggling mightily for the 1st 10 games of the year respectively. The NL Ohio club has 8 out its next 11 contests versus the Cubs and Pirates, so it is a good chance to end the month near the .500 mark. Billy Hamilton is showing signs of life, Votto is clubbing it in the 2nd slot – and it is only a matter of time for Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce to start heating up.
*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com and their partners***
A Big thanks goes out to our chief writer Hunter Stokes for preparing today’s feature post
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