MLB Power Rankings: The top 5 teams stay the same
By Sean Sears
20. San Diego Padres, 36-37, 4th in the NL West (ranked 12 last week)
Fernando Tatis Jr. is something else. The 20-year-old is still OPSing over 1.000 on the season, all while flashing the glove at SS and making some incredible plays this week. The Padres outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Franmil Reyes have both been teeing off on baseballs, with a combined 42 home runs on the season. Manny Machado has started to look more like himself, despite getting suspended one game for touching an umpire during an argument, but the Padres still find themselves 12 games back of the division and a game below .500.
San Diego optioned starter Chris Paddack to the Minors in an attempt to limit his minutes, but according to The Athletic’s Dennis Lin, the 23-year-old Paddack isn’t expected to be there long. Without Paddack, Joey Lucchesi and Cal Quantrill are the main pieces in the rotation now, and both have had their moments this season. The Padres’ main focus in 2019 is to develop talent, keep said talent healthy and evaluate the current team. They’re going to make moves this summer, it’s just a question of whether the moves are geared towards winning eventually or winning right now.
19. Washington Nationals, 33-38, 4th in the NL East (ranked 23rd last week)
From where the Nationals were a month ago, you could say they’ve righted the ship. But sitting 8.5 games back in the division with their bullpen still losing games for them, it’s hard to say the Nationals are heading in the right direction. They’ve still got one of the best rotations in baseball, but ace Max Scherzer reportedly broke his nose during BP Tuesday night, leaving his status for his next start TBD at the moment.
The good news is that their bats have found life behind Anthony Rendon, veteran Howie Kendrick and young bats like Trea Turner and Juan Soto finding their stride. Washington is averaging just under five runs per game, and combined with their 3.90 starter ERA, they could push themselves back into contention. But it’s probably safer to say they end up sellers by the end of July.