Major League Baseball Power Rankings Week 18: An Overview – Part 3
Detroit Tigers are going strong in the American League Central division but they are on the verge of being ousted from the top ten teams after experiencing a slight slip in their ranking from last week.
Tigers had a poor start after the midseason break, losing their home series against the Chicago White Sox. Later, playing on the road with the White Sox, the Tigers could not make up for their loss at home and the series ended with a similar disappointing
result for the Tigers.
The Tigers have a .500 winning percentage after the All-Star break and need to pick this up if they want to stay atop of the AL Central.
Tampa Bay Rays showed improvement this week and thus experience a boost in their ranking from the 12th position to finish 11th this week.
The Rays are placed third in the American League East division and that is the best any team could have achieved with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox on top of their form. However, the Rays are hard-pressed by the Toronto Blue Jays who are just 1.5
games behind and they need to make sure that this deficit does not deteriorate.
The Rays have won three of their previous four games which included 8-0 and 8-1 wins over the Seattle Mariners. Tampa Bay Rays now have a golden opportunity to become stable at the third spot when they play the Toronto Blue Jays at home in a three-game series
from Tuesday, August 2.
Arizona Diamondbacks have also shown improvement this week with a one-place jump to the 12th spot this week. They are fighting hard in the National League West with the San Francisco Giants and are just two games away from toppling the reigning
world champions.
Diamondbacks have further bolstered their bull-pen with the addition of Jason Marquis and Brad Ziegler. The Diamondbacks are one game up in the three-game series against the Giants on the road and a possible victory here can do wonders for Arizona.
Pittsburgh Pirates have the sixth-best ERA in the Majors and this is one reason why they have jumped to 13th place this week. Jeff Karstens has been awesome at the mound and his heroics need to continue if the Pirates have to further improve.
The Pirates have lost six of their last seven games and are currently riding a four-game losing streak. With the San Diego Padres to play next, the Pirates can be hopeful of this streak to end pretty soon but at the same time, complacency can be dangerous!
One team which has improved drastically is the New York Mets. The Mets have moved three places to finish at Number 14 this week and this was largely due to their five-game winning streak which included a 4-0 series whitewash of the Cincinnati Reds.
Mets are currently on a three-game losing streak and a quick solution to this is necessary before the streak becomes too large to handle.
New York are scheduled to play Atlanta Braves in a three-game series starting Friday, August 5. The Mets are 7.5 games behind the Braves and cannot afford to lose games freely if they aim to at least reduce the deficit. It will be vital to see how the Mets
tackle the Braves at home.
Continued in Part 4
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