Major League Baseball Rankings: Week 9 - Part 2
The Philadelphia Phillies have once again conquered the top spot but are tailed by the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. The St. Louis Cardinals and the Florida Marlins take up the fourth and fifth position respectively.
The New York Yankees remain where they were last week, the sixth spot with a 28-23 record. Even with all the Jorge Posada and batting order controversies the Bronx Bombers are the second best in the highly competitive American League and have the best offence
out of all the Major League teams. Team Captain and short-stop Derek Jeter is being constantly criticised for his deteriorating numbers where CC Sabathia is pitching wonderfully with all he’s got. The Yankees need to focus on the field and not on locker room
issues if they want to have another shot at the World Series Championship they have claimed many times before. With age definitely not being on their side, it’s now or never for the Yankees.
The Atlanta Braves climb up three spots from last week’s tenth position to claim the seventh one. Although Jonny Venters has been more than often termed as the best reliever in all of baseball, he has only one save up till now. Previously Venters has had
ten performances where he didn’t let a single hit pass him by and his ERA of 0.55 is staggering.
The reigning World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants dropped down a spot to land on the eighth position this week with a 28-24 record. Tim Lincecum’s ERA is 2.22 which is the fourth best in the pitching powerhouse that the National League is. Out
of the eleven starts he has made this season, he has sacrificed one and earned a run in six of them. They have a terrific starting rotation and unlike the Phillies they are backed with an equally performing bull-pen.
The Tampa Bay Rays slip down from last week’s fourth position to this week’s ninth with a 28-24 record. They tackled the League leading Cleveland Indians and managed to win three games against them. As a Rookie, Jeremy Hellickson is performing better than
expected grabbing his fifth win from six starts.
The Arizona Diamondbacks climb a good ten spots from last week’s twentieth position to barely make it to the top ten. They have a 29-24 record and are in first place. Their statistics are getting better by the day and they have managed to win 14 out of their
latest 16 games due to their pitchers outperforming expectations. Their offence isn’t far behind and is doing well for itself which can be proved by the fact that just recently they handed the Florida Marlins an extremely humiliating 15-4 defeat in the series
opener between the teams.
The Texas Rangers are at the Number 11 position with a 28-25 record. While their biggest stars aren’t playing to win, unexpected players like Mitch Moreland. Mike Napoli and Michael Young are trying to help by getting a win every few games. The biggest problem
the Rangers face is that their complete Opening Day starting outfield was in the Disabled List at one point which included Julio Borbon, Nelson Cruz and the American League Most Valued Players Josh Hamilton. The absence of their superstars has definitely affected
and is still affecting the Rangers. The quickest solution for the Rangers to get back in the game would be to fix their extremely gifted bull-pen.
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