MLB Power Rankings: Yankees are the boss, Tigers at a loss
By Tim Boyle
25) MLB Power Rankings: Pittsburgh Pirates
The recent history of the Pittsburgh Pirates has followed the Royals closely. Kansas City, at least, got the 2015 World Series out of it. The Pirates didn’t get anything other than a nice run with Andrew McCutchen during the best years of his career. Another regular rebuilder, Pittsburgh’s season is headed nowhere.
Bryan Reynolds is finally beginning to come around while closer David Bednar continues to look like one of the best closers in baseball. It’s not nearly enough for this ball club whose status as a rebuilder looks like it could linger.
24) MLB Power Rankings: Chicago Cubs
Nobody with common sense expected the Chicago Cubs to perform all that well this year. Even with some star power left on the roster and guys like Marcus Stroman and Seiya Suzuki brought in during the offseason, the team has fallen short of even pessimistic expectations.
Catcher Willson Contreras and outfielder Ian Happ have done plenty to raise their trade value with some fantastic starts to the season for each of them. The Cubs also have a pretty good bullpen with some pieces we should expect to be on the move this summer. Maybe the plan was to acquire more trade pieces this offseason and not compete. If so, it’s a job well done.
23) MLB Power Rankings: Colorado Rockies
The National League West is a tough division. The Colorado Rockies are experiencing this plenty. Regular games against three playoff teams are going to continue to hurt them in the standings and the MLB Power Rankings.
This year’s Rockies club is pretty much what one might expect. They have a few good bats, fewer good arms, and a spot at the bottom of the division. Colorado is much further away from competing than the signing of Kris Bryant seemed to suggest.
22) MLB Power Rankings: Baltimore Orioles
The American League’s version of the Rockies because of the division they play in, the problem for the Baltimore Orioles is overcoming a schedule with four teams vying for a playoff berth. It can’t be easy for them. Yet somehow, they aren’t quite so miserable this year.
The Baltimore bullpen has been one of the overlooked nice stories this year. Closer Jorge Lopez is having an outstanding run saving games for them. Several others, including Dillon Tate, Felix Bautista, and Cionel Perez, deserve shout-outs as well. The Orioles have some promising signs of brighter days ahead. It’s just going to take another year—or two—maybe closer to three.
21) MLB Power Rankings: Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners have been disappointing enough this year to the point where many baseball fans may have already forgotten how much better they were supposed to be and actually were earlier this year. There wasn’t any long losing streak to ruin their season. The Mariners just began to consistently drop games and it places them in the bottom third of this week’s MLB Power Rankings.
Seattle has shown they are capable of being a quality .500 team with decent pitching and hitting. Starting pitcher Logan Gilbert has been their brightest spot on the mound. At the plate, it has been Ty France. They can easily regroup and give it another go next season. With no major trade candidates on the roster, they could have a 2023 mission to fix their mistakes.