MLB Power Rankings: Padres get a facelift, Cubs buried in dirt
By Tim Boyle
25) MLB Power Rankings: Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates managed to sweep the Milwaukee Brewers last week which is both a surprise and not one at all. They’ve beaten some good teams this year. Their issue is not winning enough. When they lose, they can find themselves getting blown to smithereens.
Some lesser yet positive decisions by the Pirates in the last year can give fans some hope. A contract extension for Ke’Bryan Hayes earlier this season highlights it. Pittsburgh does have some solid young pieces. If it all comes together quickly and they do actually add some pitching, maybe they can be a threat in the National League Central.
24) MLB Power Rankings: Cincinnati Reds
This might be the highest the Cincinnati Reds have finished in the weekly MLB Power Rankings? How have they managed this? This was a team that buried itself early on. If not for all of those devastating injuries, the Reds appear to be a team that might have challenged for a wild card spot—but probably not.
The Reds had a pretty good trade deadline. Selling Luis Castillo in this market added a lot of young talent to the pipeline. They won’t have any regrets pulling the rip cord. They weren’t going to need him this year or next. Sending him somewhere else was the smart move to make. They need to give as many innings to the young kids and see where it takes them.
23) MLB Power Rankings: Los Angeles Angels
Would it be too mean to put the Los Angeles Angels last in the MLB Power Rankings? As far as expectations versus reality goes, they feel like a last place club. Even if some people didn’t buy into their Opening Day roster, it’s hard to not anticipate more from a team that has Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on it.
The Angels are in dangerous territory. They’re going to have to hope the trade deadline deals they did make turn out to be wins. The farm system is far from incredible which could mean trading Ohtani in the offseason.
22) MLB Power Rankings: Colorado Rockies
One team didn’t make any trades last week. Rather than trying to recoup some talent for C.J. Cron in his All-Star campaign, the Colorado Rockies stayed on course and remained silent while 29 teams all made at least one move.
The Rockies are weird. They extended Daniel Bard recently. In the offseason, they inked Kris Bryant to a mega-deal. This is the same organization that signed Nolan Arenado to an extension and then traded him not too long after. Is this team being run by an auto-generated general manager? Because of where they are in the standings, the players may soon appear like they’re just going through the motions.
21) MLB Power Rankings: Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks are right there with the Rockies at the bottom of the National League West. They’re seemingly slightly better but that could be slanted because they play in a ballpark where numbers don’t end up in extremes. Their starting pitching staff has been okay this year. Combined with their young players, they could feel decent about next season.
Unfortunately, next season doesn’t help with this current campaign. The Diamondbacks are a flawed ball club in need of some big-time players. In a division with some big spenders with impressive farm systems, they are in a permanent state of having a challenge ahead of them.