MLB Week 15 Power Rankings: An overview of the teams – Part 5
17. The Toronto Blue Jays have shown an improvement in this week and have safely moved out of the last ten to stamp their position at Number 17. Although their winning percentage is less than .500 with a win-loss record of 45-47, they have the entire arsenal
to pick up their game at any moment and challenge even the most stringent opposition.
This season Jose Bautista has exhibited what others imagine. His hitting power and precision has been exceptional. The Blue Jays will want their All-Star player to continue with his form for at least the foreseeable future.
18. The Chicago White Sox were at one stage going decent with a .500 winning percentage. After that, however, they have lost five of their last seven games. What is more disappointing is that the games have been dropped against the weaker Kansas City Royals
and Minnesota Twins.
Home games have not been good for the White Sox as they have lost 25 against the 21 they managed to win.
The solution to it is simple. Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, Juan Pierre, Brent Morel and Gordon Beckham should either start hitting powerfully or just clear the way for young talent to take over. Dayan Viciedo can prove to be a good replacement at third base with
the kind of hitting form he is in.
19. The Washington Nationals have not shown any intentions of improvement this season. They are lagging behind from league standards with only Jordan Zimmermann showing some fighting spirit.
The Nationals would now want to keep and nurture the young talent and at the same time filter the free-agents-to-be.
Some of the players they might want to trade for a better 2012 season are Livan Hernandez, Jason Marquis and Laynce Nix.
Jayson Werth is a reasonable player and a must-have in the squad. He needs to start hitting soon enough to rubbish all the negative-talk about his abilities.
20. The Colorado Rockies have failed to perform against the stronger teams and this has been a major reason for their current ranking. They are placed third in the National League East Division but still have a sizeable margin against the second-placed Arizona
Diamondbacks.
The Rockies are lacking firepower at the mound and this has been a major reason that even after scoring 407 runs this season, they have leaked 410 runs to their counterparts.
Having said this, the Rockies are a renowned second-half team. If this is to be true this season, they are now due for a big rotation in their win-loss record. Ubaldo Jimenez has the armoury to turn things around for the Rockies.
21. The Seattle Mariners are in all sorts of trouble. Ichiro Suzuki has been a big disappointment this season. The team now needs to move out of his dependency and ask the young blood to perform.
Felix Hernandez, Brandon League and Michael Pineda have been exceptional at the mound for the Mariners but without support from the batters, their pitching would not be of any substantial help.
Their last ten games have been worst. They have lost seven of their previous ten games and are now on a six-game losing streak. Seeing the Mariners in such a mess is hard to digest. With this season almost out of reach, the Mariners should experiment and
focus on developing a strategy for the next season.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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