Pro-GM Power Rankings - Episode 2

[Buster Olney]

Pro-GM Power Rankings
Episode: 2
Week: 8

Rising: Detroit Tigers (+5), Chicago White Sox (+4), St. Louis Cardinals (+3)
Falling: San Diego Padres (-5), New York Yankees (-4)

Welcome to the second episode of my power rankings. There wasn't a ton of shakeup at the top or bottom, but we had some movement in the middle of the rankings.

Key games to keep an eye on this week...

American League

• Toronto Blue Jays (6-0-1) vs Tampa Bay Rays (7-0)
  
• New York Yankees (4-3) vs Baltimore Orioles (3-4)
• Chicago White Sox (5-1-1) vs Cleveland Indians (2-4-1)

National League

• Cincinnati Reds (6-1) vs Philadelphia Phillies (7-0)

1. Chicago Cubs (7-0)  
Last Week: 1
Cubs beat the Reds in a battle of the Undefeated in Week 6. I'm keeping them up top. Ryan Braun is back from his most recent injury; his presence is needed in that lineup.

2. Toronto Blue Jays (6-0-1)  
Last Week: 2
HUGE matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays this week that could potentially shake up the rankings. Keuchel is on the DL which makes this week's game even more intriguing.

3. Los Angeles Angels (6-1)  
Last Week: 4
Dominating their division at the moment with a combined 21-3 victory the last two weeks over the Athletics and Rangers. Trading Lindor and Correa has not affected the results so far this season, a testament to the depth of this team.

4. Cincinnati Reds (6-1)  
Last Week: 3
Tough loss to the Cubs in Week 6, which was closer than the score indicates, but bounced back with a win over the Diamondbacks. Carlos Gomez heading to the DL is a tough blow as it looks like he'll be out a few weeks at least.

5. Colorado Rockies (7-0)  
Last Week: 6
The rotation is starting to really hurt this team as Verlander and Teheran haven't been very sharp. The Rockies are still undefeated, but facing the Braves this week is no cakewalk.

6. Tampa Bay Rays (7-0)  
Last Week: 5
Losing Freeman for 10 weeks is a huge blow for this team. They're still undefeated, but I see that changing this week against the surging Blue Jays.

7. Baltimore Orioles (3-4)  
Last Week: 9
The Orioles kept it close against the Blue Jays, but could not get past one of the best teams in the league. They bounced back by demolishing the Red Sox, though. A week 8 matchup against the Yankees is absolutely huge.

8. Philadelphia Phillies (7-0)  
Last Week: 7
The Phillies have been one of the Cinderella stories of the league so far, but I see that ending vs the Reds this week. That being said, props to this time for starting the season undefeated through 7 games.

9. Cleveland Indians (2-4-1) 
Last Week: 10
The Indians blanked the Twins 12-0 in Week 6, but suffered an awful loss against the Tigers in Week 7. Getting John Lackey upgrades (relatively) the rotation, but Tanaka has been straight trash his last two outings. He needs to be better for this team to win.

10. Detroit Tigers (4-3) 
Last Week: 15
Impressive wins against the Yankees and Indians moves the Tigers up the rankings. Napoli and Trumbo are starting to contribute in the power department against and Gregorius is having himself a nice year.

11. Seattle Mariners (4-2-1) 
Last Week: 11
Back to back wins against the Rangers and Athletics has this team sitting pretty in the second wildcard spot. I'm extremely intrigued about this week's matchup vs the division leading Angels.

12. New York Yankees (4-3) 
Last Week: 8
Back to back losses to the Tigers and Blue Jays shows that the Yankees were just pretenders. This week's matchup against the Orioles is one of the biggest games of the week.

13. Los Angeles Dodgers (4-3) 
Last Week: 14
Justin Smoak has somehow hit himself back into relevancy after years of ineptitude. Lance McCullers continues to pitch well, but the lack of a bullpen hurts.

14. Chicago White Sox (5-1-1) 
Last Week: 18
Looks like I didn't give this team enough respect in the first episode as the Twins blanked the Twins last week and defeated the Royals in week 6. My apologies to all the White Sox fans, but let's see how your team does against the Indians this week.

15. Arizona Diamondbacks (1-5-1) 
Last Week: 13
I said last week that I expect this team to win more games, but instead they've continued their losing ways. That being said, they should be given some sort of pass for losing 8-4 to the undefeated Rockies and 6-5 to the Reds.

16. St. Louis Cardinals (4-3) 
Last Week: 19
The Cardinals had a nice win against the Dodgers last week, but Carrasco and King Felx can't come back fast enough for this team. Swanson is starting the come around (finally).

17. San Diego Padres (3-3-1) 
Last Week: 12
Losing 12-0 to the Phillies was tough, but this team's lineup has been devastated by injuries. Donaldson should be back soon which will definitely help.

18. New York Mets (4-3) 
Last Week: 16
The Mets couldn't handle the powerhouse Cubs last week, but the important thing is that Todd Frazier is finally healthy.

19. Atlanta Braves (3-4) 
Last Week: 17
More injuries the past couple of weeks led to a couple of Ls in the loss column. Braves fans should hope the low point of their season was last week's loss to the previously winless Astros.

20. Pittsburgh Pirates (2-5) 
Last Week: 20
Adam Wainwright had an encouraging performance last week. If he can string together some decent starts it would help the Pirates cause immensely.

21. Kansas City Royals (2-5) 
Last Week: 21
The Royals couldn't hang with the big dogs of the AL, losing to the White Sox in week 6 and the Rays the week after. Jason Heyward is back from the DL, but I'm curious if he'll lose playing time to Ian Happ who has been a stud since getting called up.


22. Boston Red Sox (2-5) 
Last Week: 23
The Red Sox got demolished by the Rays and Orioles in consecutive weeks, but were never expected to beat either of those teams. A game against the Royals this week could prove interesting as both teams come in on two game losing streaks.

23. Washington Nationals (3-4) 
Last Week: 22
The depth, or lack thereof, is still hurting this team with Cano and Maeda now on the shelf, but Sano just keeps continuing to hit.

24. Texas Rangers (2-5) 
Last Week: 25
Alonso being moved to the DL hurts, but the Rangers were just outclassed by the Mariners and the Angels.

25. Milwaukee Brewers (3-4) 
Last Week: 26
How the Brewers managed to lose 10-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates is beyond me, but they took care of business against Miami the week after.

26. Oakland Athletics (0-7) 
Last Week: 24
How are they still winless? The lineup is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but there is just not enough pitching at the moment. I have to move this team out of the top 25 now.

27. Houston Astros (1-6) 
Last Week: 27
The 'Stros finally got into the win column with an upset victory over the Atlanta Braves. That doesn't mean they'll suddenly start winning games, but at least they added something to the win column.

28. Miami Marlins (0-7) 
Last Week: 28
Still bad and will be bad for the foreseeable future.

29. Minnesota Twins (0-7) 
Last Week: 29
Haniger is coming back soon...won't change anything. The bottom 3 teams in the league are pretty depressing.

30. San Francisco Giants (0-7) 
Last Week: 30
The Giants have a really nice farm.

[Max (Tigers GM)]

Hey Buster! Greg from Connecticut here..first time, long time. Last time I looked the Tigers beat the Orioles and the Indians and the Tigers have a WINNING record yet you have the Orioles and Indians with LOSING record ranked ahead of the Tigers.
What up with that bro?

PS...still showing no respect for the White Sox.

[Ben (Rays GM)]

Great work Buster! Damn, I hadn't even realized until reading through that the Mariners were surging as much as they are, but that's 4 straight wins now, including one against the White Sox. Impressive, Zack. A win this week and they could be threatening the top five. Maybe it's a little early in the week to be thinking like that, but their starting pitching compares favorably with LAA and the offenses aren't too far apart, with SEA's clearly the more balanced.

Tigers with a well deserved rise. That Tigers pitching keeps defying expectations.

The Cardinals, too, deserving of their recognition. The Dodgers made a real statement with their 11-1 win over Atlanta (who were voted the NL East favorite at the start of the season), but then the Cardinals made a statement by beating the Dodgers. You're right though, they need those pitchers back ASAP. Once they get them I wouldn't be surprised to see them challenge the top ten.

Oh, and I completely defend the choice of putting Baltimore 7th. That's clearly a top 7 roster, but they have the toughest schedule in the league by far, so the 3-4 record is perfectly understandable. So far, 8 weeks in, they've played SEA, TB, LAA, CLE, DET, TOR, BOS, and NYY. 7 out of 8 of those teams are in your top 12, and are your top-ranked teams in the AL, and yet they should come out of week 8 with a .500 record. Of course, the first 8 weeks repeat at the end of the season so Nick is going to have to do it all over again on the back end. But major respect to him for how he's responded and I'm confident he's going to clinch the playoffs despite the challenge.

As for CLE and CHW, well, they're playing each other, so either CHW will continue to rise after this week, or CLE will prove their own ranking. Interesting to see which it will be.

Keep up the good work, and thanks for doing these. Obviously there will always be some disagreement since you have to balance projection with results, but sometimes you just have to go with your instinct and make a tough call. I guess that's why ESPN pays you the big bucks!

[Micah (White Sox GM)]

Looking at my matchup with Indians this week seems fairly even, he's made some improvements not reflected in the current standings. It's an important week for sure. I'm not looking forward to this stretch with Indians, Yankees, Rays, and Angels coming up. Hopefully during this stretch I can impress Buster.

[Alex (Nationals GM)]

"The Giants have a really nice farm."

Better than nothing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯