MLB power rankings: Dodgers climb, Giants fall and Braves just keep rolling
By Kevin Henry
MLB Power Rankings: 10. Milwaukee Brewers
Of the eight career leadoff home runs that Christian Yelich has blasted for the Brewers, four have come this season (April 18 at Seattle, May 4 at Colorado, May 14 against Kansas City and July 15 at Cincinnati). Yelich’s resurgence is one of the reasons for Milwaukee’s surge to the top of the division as, entering Sunday, he batted .316 (80-for-253) with 46 runs, nine homers and 41 RBI in his last 63 games.
MLB Power Rankings: 9. Toronto Blue Jays
David Schneider is making his mark on the Toronto record books. His solo shot on Saturday marked the third homer of his young career, joining Carlos Delgado (five in 1994), Billy McKinney (three in 2018), and Bo Bichette (three in 2019) as the only players in team history to homer three times in their first nine career contests. In his first 30 at-bats, he went 11-for-30 (.367) with four extra-base hits.
MLB Power Rankings: 8. Philadelphia Phillies
Talk about one for the history books: Saturday’s 12-3 victory over the Nationals was only the second in franchise history in which the Phillies were being shut out and losing by three or more runs through 6.0 innings, only to score 12 or more from the seventh inning on. However, that other instance came in a 16-12 loss against the Cardinals on Aug. 3, 1918.
MLB Power Rankings: 7. Seattle Mariners
While all eyes are on what Julio Rodriguez is doing at the plate, Teoscar Hernandez is also on fire. On Saturday, he went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and RBI, recording his fifth game with three or more hits in the month of August. Through his first 16 games in August, Hernandez was batting .371 with eight doubles, two home runs and seven RBI, while reaching base at a .394 clip and slugging .597 with a .991 OPS.
MLB Power Rankings: 6. Houston Astros
Catcher Yainer Diaz connected for his 17th homer of the season on Saturday night against Seattle, becoming the ninth rookie in franchise history to hit 17-plus homers in a single season. Some of the other players on that list are current teammates, with shortstop Jeremy Peña (22 homers in 2022) being the last to do so, and left fielder Yordan Alvarez (27 homers in 2019) owning the franchise rookie record.