MLB Power Rankings: Dodgers back on top to open August

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The Tampa Bay Rays have been near the top all season

The Philadelphia Phillies are as high as they have been all season in the latest 2019 MLB Power Rankings. As the month of August opens, that still only leaves them at 14th overall in Major League Baseball.

However, while they rank as middle-of-the-pack in all of baseball, they are the sixth-highest ranked ball club in the National League. That means they statistically come out right about where they are in the standings, as a legitimate NL Wildcard contender.

In taking a look at the landscape of contenders over the final eight weeks of the regular season, the Phillies are likely going to have to beat out the division-rival Washington Nationals and whichever team finishes as runners-up in the NL Central Division, the Chicago Cubs or Saint Louis Cardinals.

The Nationals made a series of moves to shore up their one glaring weakness – the bullpen – at yesterday’s MLB trade deadline. The Cubs added a big bat in Nicholas Castellanos.

In looking ahead at the schedule, the Phillies have just four games left head-to-head with the Nationals. Those will take place in Washington at the end of September in the club’s final road series of the year. Having met 14 times already, the Nationals have taken nine games from the Phillies, who would need a sweep of that final series to gain a 9-9 split.

The Cubs will come to Citizens Bank Park for three games in the middle of August. The Phillies and Cubs have already split four games at 2-2 this season. The Phillies are done with the Cardinals, having won four of six games between the two teams.

My own personal feelings never have anything to do with the MLB Power Rankings published here at Phillies Nation. Instead, the rank is all about actual team performance: results in the standings and statistical breakdowns.

I take what I have found to be key statistical categories and rank each of the 30 teams in Major League baseball on their ability to win ball games and perform on offense, the pitching mound, and in the field. There is never any subjectivity on my part.

The MLB Power Rankings are updated here at Phillies Nation on roughly the 1st and 15th of the month for the remainder of the regular season using the following methodology.

Phillies need a sweep as they set to meet Tigers in series finale

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Vince Velasquez takes the mound on Wednesday afternoon

The Philadelphia Phillies (53-48) will try to accomplish their goal when this quick two-game series began, putting the finishing touches on a sweep of the Detroit Tigers (30-66) with a win on Tuesday afternoon at Comerica Park.

Last night, the two teams battled through 16 long, arduous, frustrating innings before it finally ended with a 3-2 Phillies victory in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

The Phillies will also be attempting to move to six games over the .500 mark for the first time since a seven-game losing skid nearly knocked the rails off their season back in late June.

Following this game, the Phillies will have their second off-day of the week. It will be a travel day, with the club returning to Citizens Bank Park.

This weekend, the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves will roll into South Philly at the start of what will be a pivotal nine game home stand for the Phillies, one that will carry the club up to and through the July 31 trade deadline.

Bullpen stars as Phillies down Tigers 3-2 in 15 innings at Comerica Park

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Rhys Hoskins delivered the game-winning hit in 15th inning

The Philadelphia Phillies (53-48) edged out the host Detroit Tigers (30-66) by a 3-2 score in 15 often frustrating innings on Tuesday night at Comerica Park.

The victory, which came in a game that began nearly 40 minutes late due to rain and ended six innings late due to the failure of both offenses to produce with runners in scoring position, was the Phillies fourth in five games. It also moves them to five games over the .500 mark for the first time since July 2.

The Phillies had a couple of chances to put some distance between themselves and Detroit in regulation play, the first coming in the very first inning when Rhys Hoskins singled and Bryce Harper doubled with one out. Both would end up stranded.

In the home 1st inning, rookie Tigers second baseman Harold Castro reached on an error by Scott Kingery, who continues to be played out of position by the Phillies on a nightly basis, this time at shortstop. Nola than hit Miguel Cabrera with a pitch. Castro moved to third on a ground out, and then raced home to score the game’s first run when Nola bounced a wild pitch in the dirt that J.T. Realmuto couldn’t block.

In the top of the 2nd, the Phillies went on top via an unlikely source. Roman Quinn powered up, blasting his first home run of the season out deep to left field, a two-run shot to put the Phillies up by a 2-1 score.

Tigers host Phillies in Tuesday night opener as trade rumors swirl

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Phillies and Tigers face off in Tuesday night opener at Comerica Park

The Philadelphia Phillies (52-48) and Detroit Tigers (30-65) open a quick two-game Interleague series at Comerica Park with a Tuesday night match-up in Motown. The two clubs met previously at the end of April, splitting a two game set at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies have won three of their last four games as they fight to stay in the National League Wildcard race. The club is currently tied with the Milwaukee Brewers, a half-game behind the Saint Louis Cardinals in the battle for the second of two NL Wildcard playoff berths.

Losers in 16 of their last 20 games, the Tigers are suffering through a season in which they are challenging only for the top pick in next year’s MLB Draft. It is a season and a period in Tigers history that is absolutely reminiscent of a place where the Phillies found themselves about four years ago.

As a sidebar to the actual baseball taking place on the field, the MLB trade deadline is looming, just eight days away. Tonight’s starting pitcher for the Tigers is one of the most talked about arms as that deadline approaches. Phillies general manager Matt Klentak will be in the ballpark, believed to be scouting a number of Detroit players for possible deals.

TUESDAY STARTING LINEUPS

PHILLIES

1. Scott Kingery SS
2. Rhys Hoskins 1B
3. Bryce Harper RF
4. J.T. Realmuto C
5. Cesar Hernandez 2B
6. Maikel Franco 3B
7. Adam Haseley RF
8. Roman Quinn CF
9. Nick Williams LF

Tigers need to be used as a doormat by the Phillies in quick two-game series

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Phillies hope there won't be too much partying this week in Motown

The Philadelphia Phillies (52-48) have won five of their seven Interleague contests thus far in the 2019 MLB regular season.

The club will try to add to that winning record over the next two nights at Comerica Park as they take on the host Detroit Tigers (30-65) in Motown for a quick two-game set.

Back on April 30 and May 1, the Phillies and Tigers split another two-gamer. That one was held at Citizens Bank Park in what may have been a perfect microcosm of this 2019 Phillies season to date.

Four Detroit hurlers held the Phillies to just four hits as the Tigers won that opener by a 3-1 score. The very next night, the Phillies offense exploded for 15 hits in a 7-3 victory. It has been that kind of roller coaster year for a team that is now involved with a half-dozen other clubs in a chase for an NL Wildcard playoff berth.

The Tigers are not chasing anything, other than the top pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. Their record is the second-worst in all of Major League Baseball, just a few percentage points better than the Baltimore Orioles 31-68 mark.

The Tigers offensive attack and pitching staff both rank as next-to-last in baseball in key categories. Their hitters have produced just 3.65 runs per game. The pitchers have a combined .273 batting average against.

Frankly, this is a series that the Phillies need to sweep. The Tigers are down and out, already playing out the string with more than two months left on the schedule. However, as our look below at the starting pitchers who they will be throwing at the Phillies in this series shows, it won’t necessarily be an easy task.

Phillies president Andy MacPhail hedging bets on free agent activity

Phillies president Andy MacPhail
(Photo: Keith Allison)

The Phillies brain trust has been making the rounds over the last few days trying to defend the 2018 rise and collapse, and handle media and fan questions regarding their plans to better the team for the 2019 season.

On Tuesday it was Andy MacPhail’s turn in front of the cameras and microphones. One comment made by the team president is really sticking in my craw and is likely doing the same with most Phillies fans who picked up on the it.

Tim Kelly here at Phillies Nation highlighted that comment in his own piece on MacPhail’s presser just yesterday:

“This isn’t the last year that major league baseball is ever going to be played. So you’re not going to throw every resource you have at this year because there’s the following year as well.”

For me, that attitude is problematic. First, if this season demonstrated anything it was that the Phillies are now walking a very fine line. They finished just below the .500 mark at 80-82 and were exactly middle of the pack in the National League East Division in third place.

Over the season’s first four months they were a tease, somehow finding a way to overcome glaring shortcomings in the most fundamental aspects of the game to actually contend. Over the final two months, those glaring shortcomings finally caught up to them, and the predictable collapse occurred.

But was it inevitable, or was the team simply unwilling to pay the price it would take to inject some real life, and real talent, into a lineup that was desperate for both? And is that unwillingness a sign that the current management team is incapable of pulling the trigger and actually going for it?

Manny Machado was there for the taking at the trade deadline when the Phillies were still contending as far as the standings were concerned. And yet in a piece for Phillies Nation back in mid-July, I quoted Jon Heyman at Fancred Sports who commented that Phillies management was suffering from “too much timidity” in their pursuit of the superstar.

The Baltimore Orioles ended up dealing him to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a package led by outfield prospect Yusniel Diaz. Frankly, the other four prospects are likely to prove insignificant over the long run. None was ranked highly within the Dodgers minor league system.

Diaz is not going to be a superstar. He will likely be a big-leaguer, and probably a starting outfielder. The Orioles at least got something of long-term value for a superstar who they were going to inevitably lose. But could they have gotten a bit more?

The Phillies were not going to, nor should they have, traded either Sixto Sanchez or Scott Kingery in what was potentially a rental-only Machado trade. However, would a package led by J.P. Crawford and Adonis Medina have gotten it done? Would the Orioles have taken those two at the front along with a couple of lesser prospects over Diaz? How about Crawford and Zach Eflin or Nick Pivetta?

We’re probably never going to know just how hard the Phillies actually pushed in the Machado talks with Baltimore. But we do know that they didn’t get it done, that the offensive attack continued to sputter, that the shortstop position continued to be manned by a rookie seeing his first-ever significant professional time at the position, and that the team collapsed.

A month from now the World Series will have ended, and Major League Baseball’s “Hot Stove” season will begin. Dozens of players of varying levels of value will become available on the free agent market. The Phillies have the resources to bring in significant talent for the 2019 campaign.

It should be obvious to the Phillies brain trust of MacPhail, controlling owner John Middleton, and general manager Matt Klentak that the Atlanta Braves have passed them in present talent. Also, both the Washington Nationals and New York Mets within the division are right now in at least as good a position, possibly better.

Tigers Facing Buy or Rebuild Decision

The Detroit Tigers could become one of the most interesting teams in Major League Baseball this off-season as they decide whether to go for it again, or deal stars and rebuild.

For most of the last 11 seasons the Detroit Tigers have been a legitimate contending team in the American League Central Division.

In those years the Tigers have registered eight winning campaigns and one .500 season. They have been to the MLB postseason five times, including the World Series twice and the ALCS on two other occasions.

The 2016 Tigers finished 86-75, good for second place in the division to the eventual AL champion Cleveland Indians. The club finished just 2.5 games out of an AL Wildcard playoff berth.

The Tigers may, however, have a looming problem on their hands. More than a handful of their key players are now on the wrong side of 30 years of age, many approaching or in their mid-30’s.

Team management is now approaching a crossroads with the franchise.

Do they tweak the roster a bit and try to squeeze another winning, possibly contending, season out of this core of players? 

Or should they take a more difficult course, one that might result in a couple of losing seasons? Deal away a number of these veterans for strong prospects who could become the core of the next generation of Tigers contenders?