Royals series is an early must-win for the Phillies

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The Royals and their fans got to celebrate a series opening victory

The Philadelphia Phillies (21-16) continue their series at Kauffman Stadium with the host Kansas City Royals (14-25) on Saturday night. The Phillies need to come away with a victory in order to have a chance to win this series against the team with the worst record in the American League.

The Royals offense has actually been very comparable to the Phillies to this point, at least statistically. They are averaging 4.74 runs per game to the Phillies average of 5.11 runs. Over two more games played, the Royals have slugged two more homers than the Phillies. Kansas City’s .752 collective OPS is just ahead of the .751 mark of the Phillies.

On the mound is where you find the primary difference between the first-place Phillies and last-place Royals. With a staff ERA at the 3.96 mark the Phillies pitchers rank 11th in all of baseball. The Royals staff has a collective 4.99 ERA, just 26th among the 30 MLB clubs.

That pitching difference didn’t show up in Friday night’s series opener. Royals starter Homer Bailey shut the Phillies down on four hits and one earned run over five solid innings. The Kansas City bullpen then followed with four no-hit frames, striking out eight Phillies batters.

SATURDAY STARTING LINEUPS

PHILLIES LINEUP

1. Andrew McCutchen LF
2. Jean Segura SS
3. Bryce Harper RF
4. Rhys Hoskins 1B
5. J.T. Realmuto DH
6. Odubel Herrera CF
7. Cesar Hernandez 2B
8. Maikel Franco 3B
9. Andrew Knapp C

ROYALS LINEUP

1. Whit Merrifield 2B
2. Adalberto Mondesi SS
3. Alex Gordon LF
4. Hunter Dozier 3B
5. Jorge Soler RF
6. Ryan O’Hearn 1B
7. Kelvin Gutierrez DH
8. Chris Owings CF
9. Martin Maldonado C

Phillies visit Kansas City for just second time since the 1980 World Series

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Phillies visit Kansas City for second time since the 1980 World Series

On the surface, this mid-May series in Kansas City between the Philadelphia Phillies (21-15) and the host Kansas City Royals (13-25) at Kauffman Stadium might not seem very interesting.

However, when you consider the situations of the two combatants and the Phillies upcoming schedule, the importance of winning – better yet, sweeping – this series should become more apparent to all Phillies fans.

First, those situations. You can tell just by looking at the win-loss records of the two squads that they are in far different places this year. The Phillies lead the National League East Division standings by four games, five in the loss columng.

Meanwhile, the Royals are in the basement of the AL Central Division. They already sit 11.5 games in back of the first-place Minnesota Twins, 13 out in that loss column. In fact, they are buried in the cellar at the current time, a full five back in the loss column from the fourth place team in their division.

These are the teams that the Phillies must beat up on if they are going to really pull away in their own divisional race. Also, after this weekend the club returns home for the next nine games. That would usually be a good thing, and it probably is in the scheme of things. But they return home to face some tough competition at the start of a scheduling crucible.

Of the Phillies next 23 games, 20 are against teams who currently have a winning record. And the three against a losing team come next weekend at home against the Colorado Rockies, who are just below the .500 mark and are always dangerous.

The Phillies will return home to a four-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers (23-16) followed by three with the Rockies. Then they go on the road to the Windy City and four with the red-hot Chicago Cubs (22-13) and on to Milwaukee for three more with the Brew Crew. A quick stop home for a three-game series with the Saint Louis Cardinals (22-16) is then followed by a trip out west to face the Los Angeles Dodgers (25-15) and San Diego Padres (21-17).

That, my friends, is what is called a “test” in the sports world. It is the kind of stretch that tells you whether or not you are a legitimate contending team or not. It is a gauntlet that can either make a team, bringing it closer together, elevating it to new heights, or expose it as either a flawed club or an outright fraud.

Whit Merrifield breaks out as Royals return to contention

Whit Merrifield emerges as productive second baseman

When the Kansas City Royals opened play for the 2017 MLB season, very few prognosticators picked them to be a contender.

The Royals captured back-to-back American League pennants in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. And in 2015, they won the second-ever World Series crown in franchise history. That isn’t all that long ago.

But fortunes of big league mini-dynasties can turn around in a hurry these days. The Royals slipped to a .500 finish a year ago. With the Cleveland Indians on the rise in the AL Central Division, and with an aging homegrown core, the Royals looked like yesterday’s news.

Flash forward a few months, and here we are in the Dog Days of summer. Heading into play on Tuesday, August 8, Kansas City is tied for one of the two American League Wildcard playoff berths. The club also sits just three games behind the Indians in the division.

As the season was set to open back in late March, Royals skipper Ned Yostannounced that then 21-year old Raul Mondesi Jr had won an open battle for the team’s second base position.

The losers in that battle, Whit Merrifield, Christian Colon, and Cheslor Cuthbert, were left to battle for bench roles with the club in the final days of spring training.

Can the Royals Bounce Back and Contend in 2017?

The Kansas City Royals and their fans suffered through nine straight losing campaigns and 17 of 18 dating back to the 1994 strike season.

Then in the early part of this decade, the club began to build up one of the top farm systems in the game.

It all came together for them at the big league level with back to back AL pennants in 2014 and 2015, and a World Series championship in 2015.

But this year the Royals slid back to the .500 mark, finishing in third place in the American League Central Division. They were 13.5 games behind the division-winning Cleveland Indians, and eight games behind the AL Wildcard pace.

It was a frustrating summer for the defending champs. But that eight game difference between themselves and the playoff teams is not insurmountable.

The Royals plan to return to that postseason contention in 2017, but is that a reasonable goal? With a few tweaks, some breaks, and not unreasonable improve performances, the club can indeed reach the postseason once again.

World Series 2014: These Wildcards Are No Jokers

Greg Holland and the KC bullpen should emerge victorious

A year ago when I made my prediction of the Boston Red Sox defeating the Saint Louis Cardinals in the 2013 World Series, it wasn't a difficult prediction to make.

Despite the fact that the 2013 Series featured the best teams by record in both the NL and AL for the first time in 14 years, I felt that Boston was clearly the better team. This time around, I found it much more difficult.

In 2014, we don't have the best regular season teams involved in the World Series from either league. Not only that, but we also don't have a division winner. Both the Kansas City Royals, who finished a game behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central, and San Francisco Giants, who finished 6 back of the LA Dodgers in the NL West, were Wildcard teams.

This marks just the 2nd time since the concept was introduced for the 1995 season that two Wildcard teams will faceoff in the World Series. In the only other such meeting, the then-Anaheim Angels defeated the San Francisco Giants in a dramatic 7-game series in 2002.

It's my call here that these current San Francisco Giants will again fall short in the Fall Classic to their AL Wildcard counterparts. I am going to call it Kansas City in 6 games.

The Giants have overcome more than the Royals to get this far. Back at the beginning of October, in the final 2014 MLB Power Ranking, San Fran was ranked just 17th of the 30 teams in baseball. Poor pitching and mediocre defense were the main reasons.

But that was the regular season, and frankly, that matters little right now. The Giants are a battle-tested group that has a number of key players still around who won the World Series in both 2010 and 2012. In the increased pressure of the postseason, winning experience can make a difference.

The case for the Giants begins with their bats. Buster Posey at catcher is one of the best and most valuable players in the game today. He is joined by 3rd baseman Pablo 'Kung Fu Panda' Sandoval and right fielder Hunter Pence in a dynamic, clutch middle-of-the-order.

Posey, Pence, and Panda pace the Giants offense

While those three are the engine that drives the Giants offense, the club must get production from supporting players if they want to win this series. In Mike Morse, they will have a true DH-type option when the series opens in KC. Guys like Gregor Blanco, Joe Panik, Brandon Belt, Brandon Hicks, and NLCS walkoff hero Travis Ishikawa are going to have to step up.

On the mound, Madison Bumgarner will start Game 1, and he is a true legit shutdown ace. He has the ability to win at least two games all by himself. Behind him, the Giants must continue to receive fountain-of-youth performances from veterans Jake Peavy and Tim Hudson. Ryan Vogelsong, likely in his last hurrah with the team, will start Game 4.

The Giants bullpen has been coming through in the postseason where it was a bit inconsistent in the regular season. Starters Yusmeiro Petit and Tim Lincecum lengthen that pen now, and the back end will feature the combination of Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, Jean Machi, Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez, and J.C. Guiterrez.

Trout's July All-Star MVP performance gave Royals home field 

Meanwhile, the Royals will have home field advantage thanks to Mike Trout. Back in July, Trout was the MVP of the All-Star Game, leading the American League to a 5-3 victory and giving it's representative the home field. So baseball's best player has had an effect on the World Series without even playing in it.

They Royals have hitting, but let's face it, talk about their dominance begins with their pitching, defense, and speed. Kansas City finished at the very top of the final MLB Power Ranking thanks to the game's #5 pitching staff, and with the top defense in all of baseball by a wide margin. That defense has been electric so far in the postseason.

On the pitching front, the bullpen back-end of closer Greg Holland setup by Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera has been as impenetrable as the "Massey pre-nup", and been just as intolerably cruel to opposing hitters in the postseason as they were in the regular season. These guys just don't allow anything, meaning you had best do something with the Royals starting pitchers if you want to beat them.

Those starters are no slouches themselves. It all starts with lead man "Big Game" James Shields. While he has been a bit up and down this postseason, he has the experience and repertoire to match Bumgarner pitch-for-pitch, at least for the 6 innings that he needs to last. Yordano Ventura is a power option in the #2 spot, while both Jason Vargas and Jeremy Guthrie are reliable workmanlike 3-4 starters.

On offense, the Royals have emerging star Lorenzo Cain in the outfield, an All-Star catcher of their own in Salvador Perez, and a quartet of organizational veterans in leftfielder Alex Gordon, DH Billy Butler, 1B Eric Hosmer, and 3B Mike Moustakas. They also have solid contributors in Omar Infante, Nori Aoki and Alcides Escobar. Perez is a star in-the-making, and my choice to emerge as the World Series MVP.

Catcher Salvador Perez: my choice to emerge as MVP

Perhaps the most interesting decision for manager Ned Yost will come right up front. Does he continue to carry the blazing speed of Terrance Gore, perfect for an AL series but limited for 3 possible NL-city games, or does he turn to veteran Raul Ibanez off his bench?

That managerial matchup again appears on paper to be a significant advantage for the Giants, who have the highly respected, 2-time World Series-winning skipper Bruce Bochy calling the shots. Some of Yost's calls this postseason have been so unorthodox that he has received extreme criticism. Unfortunately for all his critics, his way has resulted in a World Series appearance.

Ned Yost continues to confound his critics, every single one of whom I trust will talk about how Kansas City won despite, not because of, the decisions made by their manager. Their defense remains air-tight, their bullpen remains impenetrable, and their offense and starting pitching remain competitive. The Kansas City Royals give their fans a treat, winning at home in the 6th game.

MLB Defensive Team of the Year 2014

Andrelton Simmons of the Braves is the best
defensive shortstop in the game today

For the casual fan of the game, the least appreciated and valued part of most baseball games is defense.

Until some egregious error is made that costs their team a run, or worse yet, a game, many fans simply do not value this part of the sport nearly enough.

Simply put, good defense is vital to a team succeeding over the long haul of a 162-game season, and can prove the difference in what are often tough, low-scoring playoff and World Series games.

Just as much as a massive homerun in a close game, or a key base hit at clutch time, or a pitcher striking out a batter in a pivotal moment with runners on base, a sensational dive, leap, catch, throw...sometimes all four together, can change the course of a game, a series, and a season.

Many of my fellow Phillies fans, who shared the thrill of the 2008 post-season run to a World Series crown, might have a hard time remembering some of the big hits during that series against the Rays. But every single one of those fans remembers "The Deke", the Chase Utley defensive play that may have been the real difference.

The Phils were up 3-1 in the series and trying to win it at home, avoiding a return to Tampa where anything could happen. Game 5, tied at 2-2 after 6 innings, had been delayed by monsoon-like rains that had caused a suspension of play for two days.

The teams finally returned to action, exchanged runs, and went into the top of the 7th tied at 3-3. The Rays had shortstop Jason Bartlett on 2nd base as the potential go-ahead run with two outs as speedy 2nd baseman Akinori Iwamura stepped to the plate and shot a grounder up the middle.

With Iwamura's speed, it looked to at least be an infield hit. Utley fielded, and turned as if to throw to try to get Iwamura at 1st base. Tampa's 3rd base coach, Tom Foley, sensed an opportunity to take the lead at a pivotal moment and frantically waved Bartlett to the plate for the go-ahead run.

It was here that Utley made a play for the ages, the type of heads-up, hustling play that has defined the Phillies' 2nd baseman's career. Instead of throwing to first, Utley actually pumped his arm, and in the same motion turned and fired a one-hop throw to catcher Carlos Ruiz. "Chooch" fielded it and dove to tag out Bartlett, who himself was diving headfirst for the plate.

The Phils scored a lone run in their half of the 7th to re-take the lead at 4-3, and two innings later Brad Lidge dropped to his knees after striking out Eric Hinske to give the club it's first championship in 28 years. As much as any other factor, it was the Utley play that keyed the victory.

Jim Edmonds, June 10th, 1997, my personal fave

Whether it was Willie Mays' "The Catch" in the 1954 World Series, Joe Rudi leaping against the left field wall in the early 1970's, or Ozzie Smith diving into the hole in the 1980's, Derek Jeter's "The Flip" in 2001, or my personal favorite of all-time, Jim Edmonds' version of "The Catch" in 1997, defense has not only sparked victories, but defined them.

The following are my own choices for the 2014 Major League Baseball Defensive Team and Player of the Year.

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Best Defensive Team
Kansas City Royals

Defensive Player of the Year 
Andrelton Simmons, Atlanta (shortstop)

Defensive Team of the Year
1B - Adrian Gonzalez, LAD
2B - Dustin Pedroia, Boston
SS - Andrelton Simmons, Atlanta
3B - Chase Headley, NYY
C   - Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee
LF - Alex Gordon, Kansas City
CF - Jackie Bradley Jr, Boston
RF - Jason Heyward, Atlanta
P    - Zack Greinke, LAD

American League Most Valuable Player

Like yesterday's evaluation of the National League Most Valuable Player candidates, and the selection of my own Top 10 vote, there is a hitter-pitcher element in the AL this season.

The starting pitcher candidate in this case is Seattle Mariners righthander "King Felix" Hernandez. Like his NL counterpart, Clayton Kershaw, the King is most certainly the runaway favorite to win his league's Cy Young Award for the top pitcher. And like his NL counterpart, to this evaluator, that is where he should rightly and properly be honored.

Winning the Cy Young Award is not a "secondary" or "lesser" honor to the Most Valuable Player Award in any way. The Cy Young goes to the best pitchers in the game. Position players have no shot at it. Winning the honor says that you are the absolute best at your most-valued of all positions.

Both Kershaw and Hernandez are just that, the best pitchers in the game today. They deserve those awards. And they deserve MVP votes because neither of their teams would likely be a contender without them. But the same can be said of each of the position players, and those position players, and to a slightly lesser extent the best closers, affect team outcomes nearly every single game.

With all that said, take a look back when you get a chance at yesterday's NL MVP evaluation, and now enjoy my personal 10-player American League Most Valuable Player ballot, were I to have one, and were the season to end today:

10)   Josh Donaldson, 3B, Oakland
The offensive leader of a team that was baseball's best for much of the season, Donaldson has emerged over the last two years as an All-Star caliber performer. This year he has 26 homers and 93 rbi, and has scored 85 runs. He provides the middle-of-the-order pop that teams need to contend. Despite their slide of recent weeks, the A's remain in control of the top AL Wildcard spot. Much as with Miggy in Detroit, whether Oakland hangs on to a post-season berth will largely depend on his continued production over the last couple of weeks.

9)   Felix Hernandez, SP, Seattle
Already covered this above: the best pitcher in the American League, the easy choice for this year's AL Cy Young Award. The King has a 14-5 record with a 1.12 ERA and an 0.92 WHIP. He has allowed just 153 hits across 212 innings. His K/BB ratio is at 217/41. There is only one other player who has been more of a difference-maker to the M's emergence as a contender this season, and he is found much higher on the list.

8)   Jose Altuve, 2B, Houston
I struggled with putting a player on a team that is 17-games under the .500 mark and in 4th place in their division, never having been a contender all season long, on the list at all. But Altuve is a special case. The Astros are an extremely young, inexperienced team that has been losing for years. Altuve has stepped up as a leader, and with a ton of good-looking prospects coming, is exactly what they need at the crest of the wave of talent. He has game-changing speed, swiping 51 bags and scoring 78 runs for one of the lowest-scoring teams in the game. He is hitting .336 and is a serious contender for the AL Batting crown, and carries a .373 on-base percentage. Not a big power guy, he still has 50 rbi.

7)   Jose Abreu, 1B, Chicago
Very rarely do I rank a player this high on a losing team, especially when that team has a decent chance to finish last in their division. Couldn't they team be that putrid without him? Yes, they could. But the White Sox could also be down battling Texas for the worst record in baseball were it not for this Cuban rookie's production. He sports a .317 average, .372 on-base percentage, and has 33 homers with 99 rbi. He is an easy choice for the AL Rookie of the Year. Just as impressively, he is one of the game's best hitters already.

6)   Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Detroit
It has supposedly been an off-year for the man who has won the last two AL MVP Awards and the Triple Crown in 2012. Bothered most of the summer by what has been revealed as heal spurs, Miggy's power was sapped by the pain in his base. But he still remained one of the game's supreme hitters, and his power outburst last week almost single-handedly drove Detroit back into a Wildcard position. Even hurt, he has managed 22 homers, 101 rbi, and 91 runs scored while hitting .311 and with a .371 on-base percentage. Whether the Tigers return to the post-season or not largely depends on what he does in these final 2 1/2 weeks of the regular season.

5)   Victor Martinez, 1B, Detroit
With Cabrera slightly off from his 2-time MVP pace this year, Detroit desperately needed VMart to stay healthy and produce in order to stay on top in the AL Central race. He has delivered, batting .335 with a .406 on-base percentage. He has 30 homers, 96 rbi, and 79 runs scored and is battling Altuve for the AL Batting crown in a neck-and-neck race. Despite this, the Tigers have been caught by Kansas City in the standings. They remain in a battle for another division crown, and also cling to a Wildcard berth, largely thanks to Martinez' consistent production.

4)   Alex Gordon, OF, Kansas City
Much as with Anthony Rendon in the NL, Gordon doesn't receive nearly as much attention as he should for this honor. The Royals had another strong start to the season. But unlike a year ago, KC has not only stayed in the playoff race, but they have stayed in the race for an AL Central Division crown. A big reason has been the leadership, production, and the key hits and defensive plays from the unquestioned team leader Gordon. His raw numbers don't pop out at you, one reason that he won't be a favorite to actually win the AL MVP Award outright, and isn't a Top 3 guy on this ballot. He has 19 homers, 66 rbi, 77 runs scored. But perhaps as much as anyone on this list he epitomizes what I believe the award to be all about - true value to your team, which incorporates those intangibles such as leadership, and coming through in the biggest moments.

3)   Nelson Cruz, OF, Baltimore
The Orioles took over first place in the usually rough and tumble AL East in the early weeks of the season, and have steadily pulled away over the course of the summer to a point where they own a 10-game lead, the biggest in baseball, and already have a 'Magic Number' down to single-digits. Signing Cruz as a free agent in the off-season has proven to be one of the biggest such moves in baseball. With first catcher Matt Wieters and then Manny Machado lost for the season, Cruz has delivered with 39 homeruns, 101 rbi, and 82 runs scored. He seems to deliver his biggest bombs at the important moments. Despite the presence of his outstanding fellow outfielder Adam Jones, the O's are not where they are without Nelson Cruz.

2)   Robinson Cano, 2B, Seattle
The former Yankee signed a lucrative free agent contract in the off-season to move all the way across the country to play for a team that had not reached the post-season since 2001, and had finished in 4th place eight times in the last decade, including the last four seasons in a row. The Mariners are now 14 games over .500, just a half game out of a Wildcard berth. The Yanks are 4 over .500, 5 1/2 out of the Wildcard. The difference is clearly Cano. He has hit .320 with a .386 on-base percentage, with 75 rbi and 73 runs scored. His homers are down at a dozen, but that can largely be attributed to the ballpark factor. What is clearly up is the effect that his presence has in the Seattle batting order. 

1)   Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles
The man (we have to stop referring to him as "kid" at some point) who finished as the runner-up for the AL MVP in his first two seasons should finally win it this time around. He has driven his team to the top of the standings. His Angels have not only taken charge of the AL West lead over the last month, but they now have the best record in the sport. Some of Trout's ridiculous numbers of the last two years are down, but his impact on the game and his team are not. He is hitting .288 with a .372 on-base percentage. With 32 homers and 103 rbi, he has emerged as a true major power threat. His speed has allowed him to score 99 runs, and he still has stolen 14 bases in a season that saw his team restrict those opportunities for him. For the 3rd straight season he is clearly the best all-around player in the game. Now he will be recognized as it's Most Valuable as well.

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NO APOLOGIES for not putting the following players on either my NL or AL ballots the last two days. Fact is, they absolutely deserve consideration. Fact is, they will receive MVP votes in the real voting. But you only get so many choices, and we all have to make tough decisions. A few names who deserve mentioning that I did not vote for are:

NL - Justin Upton (Atl), Adrian Gonzalez (LA), Freddie Freeman (Atl), Jayson Werth (Was), Josh Harrison (Pit), Adam LaRoche, (Was), Matt Kemp (LA), Adam Wainwright (ST)
AL - Jose Bautista (Tor), Michael Brantley (Cle), Jacoby Ellsbury (NYY), Albert Pujols (LA), Adam Jones (Bal), Ian Kinsler (Det), Melky Cabrera (Tor), Corey Kluber (Cle), Kyle Seager (Sea)

MLB September 2015 Power Ranking

Alex Gordon (4) and KC are Power Ranking royalty

When it's July 1st and you're ranked at the top of the Power Ranking, as the Kansas City Royals were back on that date, it may still be a little too early to get overly excited.

When you're an evaluator and you put a team like the Royals, who have not reached the MLB playoffs in over two decades, on top that early in the season there will be those who scoff, saying that you are just trying to get attention by being different. And scoff at yours truly they did.

No one is scoffing any longer. In fact, others have jumped on the bandwagon, now that the Royals good play has been rewarded with an actual run to the top of the A.L. Central standings. After a couple of months that saw the A's and Angels dueling for the honors, the Royals are back on top of the latest Power Ranking.

It's no longer June and early. It's September, and it's starting to get late. The Royals are still baseball's top statistical defensive team, are being led by legitimate A.L. MVP candidate Alex Gordon, and for the first time since the 1980's, Kansas City fans have a true World Series contender.

POWER RANKING - SEPTEMBER 3RD

1. KANSAS CITY ROYALS
After holding the top spot in the first Power Ranking of the season back on June 1st, the Royals dropped back a bit as summer got underway and the A's and Angels see-sawed for supremacy. But KC got hot after the All-Star break, ran down the Detroit Tigers in the A.L. Central, and moved up to the #2 spot in the mid-August Power Ranking. Now they are back on top here in early September. Their defense has been ranked #1 almost all season. With the #8 offense and pitching staff, they are one of only two clubs in MLB ranked in the Top 10 of all three areas of evaluation. 30-year old leftfielder Alex Gordon is their senior player, their unquestioned leader, and an A.L. MVP candidate.

2. LOS ANGELES ANGELS
The Halos battled all summer for the Power Ranking top spot with their division rivals, the Oakland A's. Just over two weeks ago, they had fallen to 3rd, with Oakland on top. But then the Angels got white hot. They are now on a 15-5 run that has seen them open up a 4.5 game lead on the A's in the division. Included in that run have been 5 straight wins head-to-head vs Oakland. Led by A.L. MVP candidate Mike Trout, they are the game's top offense. With the #7 defense and 10th-ranked pitching staff, they join KC as the only other MLB club in the Top 10 of all three major categories.

3. BALTIMORE ORIOLES
The fast-risers in the Power Ranking, the O's were ranked 6th in mid-August. Though they have been a regular Top 10 club all summer, they have not been able to push into the very upper echelons. But since losing 3 of 4 at home to the Rays at the end of June, they have been on a tear. Their record since that series is 38-18, and they have pulled away to a 9.5 game lead in the usually tough A.L. East. Having lost catcher and leader Matt Wieters early, and budding star Manny Machado late, and with a mediocre starting rotation, Buck Showalter is pushing seriously for the A.L. Manager of the Year award. Baltimore is ranked 2nd in both offense and defense in all of baseball. Only their middling 15th-rated pitching staff is keeping them from the top.

4. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Back on June 1st, the Nats lost to Texas to fall a game below the .500 mark. They were not included at all in that first Power Ranking. Three months later, they are the top team in the National League. Much as with their Beltway brothers from the A.L. in Baltimore, the Washington side have been white hot ever since, having gone 51-31 since that June-opening defeat. They have opened up a 7-game lead in the N.L. East. They have baseball's #1-ranked pitching staff, and the game's 6th-rated offense. Only their mediocre 14th-rated defense holds them down a bit. Bryce Harper, baseball's erstwhile wunderkind, is finally looking fully healthy and is getting hot. They may get veteran leader Ryan Zimmerman back soon. As they get healthier, they are getting tougher to beat, and are serious World Series contenders.

5. OAKLAND ATHLETICS
The top team for much of the summer, and still at that lofty perch just over two weeks ago with the mid-August Power Ranking, the A's have slipped. After winning the first two of a big 7-game stretch with their division rivals, the Angels, Oakland dropped the final 5 straight games. The slide is part of a 7-15 mark over the past few weeks that has seen them fall 4.5 games behind the Angels in the A.L. West. It is showing in the Power Ranking now, and the A's need to rally fast. They still possess the game's 3rd-most potent offense, but it has been less so since dealing away slugger Yoenis Cespedes. With the game's 9th-rated defense and an improving pitching staff, there remains time to right the ship.

6. BOSTON RED SOX
BONUS NOTE: the Bosox stats continue to bely their position in the standings. A last-place team for much of the season, they have also spent the summer among the Top 10 teams statistically. They have the game's 3rd-ranked Defense, and 6th-ranked Pitching. The 16th-rated Offense has struggled for runs all year, and has led to the poor record. They remain a serious bounce-back candidate for 2015.

7. Atlanta Braves

8. Tampa Bay Rays

9. Saint Louis Cardinals

10. Los Angeles Dodgers

Best of the Rest:
Chicago Cubs (that's right), Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees,
San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers,
Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Call:
The Orioles will win the A.L. East, the Washington Nationals the N.L. East. Every other division is too close to call, though the Angels have done an impressive job opening a solid lead on Oakland in the A.L. West. I still believe that could turn around again over a 2-week stretch that goes in the A's favor, much as the last two have gone the Halos way. The Brewers and Indians in the respective Central divisions are, to me, the two most likely to fade completely out of the races. And watch the Cubs now: 11-6 over the last three weeks, their improvement is for real. Won't win anything this year, but they will be tough on everyone they play, and are primed for contending as soon as 2015.

Phillies:
Ruben Amaro Jr has been given the old "Vote of Confidence" from interim President Pat Gillick, who is supposed to be minding the store only until ailing David Montgomery can get healthier after battling cancer. We wish Mr. Montgomery the best, of course. But Amaro has done a poor job in his tenure, and it is this evaluator's opinion that improvement will not come under his watch. The team won the World Series in 2008 with Gillick as GM. Since then under Amaro: 2009 - lost World Series, 2010 - lost NLCS, 2011 - lost NLDS, 2012 - a .500 finish, 2013 - losing record, 2014 - last place in NL East. The farm system is consistently rated no better than mid-level, and usually in the bottom 1/3 of MLB, by reputable outside evaluators. In the Power Ranking of all 30 MLB teams, the Fightins are at #28, with only the White Sox and Astros rated lower. Their pitching is 20th-rated, and that is the strong point of a club with the #24 Defense and #27 Offense. That is all Amaro's responsibility. A change at the top is needed. Desperately. Period.