Hey Sportsfans — it's time for Week 21 of
r/baseball Power Rankings: Tis the Season of Faded Flair. Watch it creep upward — how long can your team survive?
Every voter has their own style / system and the only voting instructions are these:
"To an extent determined individually, you must take into account how strong a team is right now and likely to be going forward. You must, to some degree, give weight to the events and games of the previous week."
TRANSPARENCY: This link will show you who voted each team where and has added neat statistics!
We had one guest voter this week! /u/Mozilla_Fennekin represented the Kansas City RoyalsRoyals!
If something is a little messed up, feel free to pester me let me know.
Total Votes: 28 of 30.
| # | Team | Δ | Comment | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodgers | +2 | The rotating door of injured players has no end, with Freddie hurt with a finger injury that we still don't know about, and Austin Barnes also having a bloody toe or a concussion or something. Glasnow went back to the IL as well. At least no one is lacerating their esophagi anymore! Kershaw looked pretty good his last couple starts, and Gavin Fux continues to rake. Muncy and Edman are coming back too, so there is hope still. Time to find out which player will be on the IL by the end of next week! | 73-52 |
| 2 | New York Yankees | Yankees | -1 | Boone: walks into bathroom to see Verdugo with his hands out in front of him at the urinal Verdugo: “……………………I’m allergic to batting gloves.” | 73-52 |
| 3 | Baltimore Orioles | Orioles | -1 | A pretty blah week. Nothing of note happening for the Orioles. This week however Nick Markakis gets inducted into the Orioles HOF. Consistency in RF and a great hitter. Probably MLB Hall of Very Good, but happy to have him in the Orioles HOF. | 73-52 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Phillies | Phillies | 0 | The Phillies schedule finally lightened up and they in turn won some games. A 4-2 week against the bottom of the division could be better, but its a nice sight to see after a really bad stretch. Trea Turner looks like he's back on track after really struggling coming out of the All-Star break. The highlight of the week, though, was 29 year old rookie Wes Wilson hitting for the cycle in his 24th career game after bouncing back and forth between the minors all year. The schedule picks back up these next two weeks with 4 straight series against playoff teams, with 2 coming on the road this week in Atlanta and Kansas City. For now though, the Phillies once again have the best record in baseball and have a 7 game lead on the Braves, with 7 games against them before the end of August. If they can get through this stretch with a similar division lead to what they have now, they should be good to coast through September for the division crown. | 73-51 |
| 5 | Milwaukee Brewers | Brewers | +1 | The Brewers stayed hot this week, splitting a four game series against the Dodgers and sweeping the Guardians. | 72-52 |
| 6 | Cleveland Guardians | Guardians | -1 | Guardians sweeping the Cubs was pretty sweet because 2016. The two losses against the Brewers were a bit disappointing. I went to American Family Field for my first away series of the year. The check in guy took my drawstring bag because apparently it violated park rules. That also didn't make me happy. Next up: the Yankees. Gulp. | 72-52 |
| 7 | San Diego Padres | Padres | +1 | Hope Kim is ok. Sometimes a team just has your number, without necessarily a great rhyme or reason for it, there were no late game theatrics at Coors this weekend. Similarly, I'm not sure what the Pirates did to anger the NL West gods, but I hope Bob Nutting learned his lesson. Good to see Big Smoke back on the mound. The best version of this team is still to come. | 70-55 |
| 8 | Minnesota Twins | Twins | +1 | Another good week, going 5-2 and gaining to just 2 games back of Cleveland. The Royals are right behind us too at just 3 games back of Cleveland. What's this, the AL Central is the most competitive division in baseball? Where is your Comedy Central now?! Anyway, let's all take this moment to laugh at the White Sox for being eliminated in mid-August. | 70-54 |
| 9 | Houston Astros | Astros | +2 | Aside from one unexplained loss to the White Sox, the Astros had an excellent week. I'm also really liking the combination of the home whites and the blue cap/orange bill. Looks pretty clean, and even cleaner when you're sitting in first place. | 67-56 |
| 10 | Arizona Diamondbacks | D-Backs | -3 | 69-56 | |
| 11 | Kansas City Royals | Royals | -1 | Tale as old as time; just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. The Twins own us which is extremely unfortunate but Dairon Blanco has made Great American Ballpark their property (sorry in advance to the Reds voter ily). Lucas Erceg is already approaching Cole Ragans-levels of legendary mid-season Royals trades. He has 0.8 bWAR in 9 appearances and it's not much of a fluke. Apparently the A's just sort of had a second elite closer in their pocket–and we have him for FIVE YEARS?!?!?! I hope we get another season of Frieren before Erceg becomes a free agent. | 69-55 |
| 12 | Atlanta Braves | Braves | +1 | The good news? 5-2 on the week and those games were all played out West on the road. The bats seem to be waking up a bit and pitching has been fantastic. The bad news? ANOTHER INJURY?!?!?!?!?! As soon as we get harris back and things start to look up…RILEY BREAKS HIS FIGGIN HAND! I am usually a "injuries happen, you gotta adjust" guy…but this year is RIDICULOUS. | 66-58 |
| 13 | Boston Red Sox | Red Sox | +1 | Triston Casas is back!!! The Sox started this year flipped around, with an incredibly strong start from the rotation and a mediocre offense. The lineup has slowly improved (with a lot of injuries in the interim) to the point where we are now one of the AL's best offensive threats. The pitching on the other hand has been horrendous over the last two months, regressing back towards our original expectations. I don't know if the bats have enough juice to carry us to a wildcard spot, but good offense and bad pitching at the very least makes for some entertaining baseball. | 65-58 |
| 14 | Seattle Mariners | Mariners | -2 | What a difference a week makes. The Mariners clutched defeat from the jaws of victory multiple times, and until Sunday's game looked absolutely lifeless at the plate the whole week. Hard to believe it was just 7 days ago we were still riding the wave of a Mets sweep, but life comes at you fast. Up next: 3 @ Blue former New York team, 3 vs. Orange former New York team | 64-61 |
| 15 | New York Mets | Mets | 0 | Do or die stretch coming up for the Mets, as they are about to host the Orioles before heading to San Diego and Arizona. I am very frightened. Brandon Nimmo is getting a shoulder MRI tomorrow too which we have to hope goes well. | 64-60 |
| 16 | San Francisco Giants | Giants | 0 | If the Giants lost yesterday, I was going to say wrap it up – it’s over. But, in retrospect – splitting our final series ever vs Oakland is pretty normal and a (largely) hard fought series loss to the talented Braves is not an abnormal thing to happen. So, I choose to believe this .500 team is still real. For now. This week, the Giants play the very beatable White Sox and the theoretically evenly-matched Mariners. This has to be a winning week. Essentially, the Giants can no longer have losing weeks to maintain any hope. I understand if you want to put the nail in the Giants, but I suggest waiting a little bit longer if only because that’s more. What’s also fun right now? Blake Snell. He’s a cant miss start. Really, the whole rotation is at least interesting. RIP Wilmer Flores – he has probably played his last game for the Giants. Thank you for your service. And thank you, Oakland, for being a fun place for me to watch baseball for over 30 years. | 63-63 |
| 17 | Tampa Bay Rays | Rays | +2 | The Rays finally called up Junior Caminero and promptly got swept, but then did the sweeping, so clearly he fits our current .500 era perfectly. And keeping with balance, Pete got hurt again. Dandy and fine. Fine and dandy. I miss Randy. A wild card berth is still possible, but it will take a streak that isn't immediately (or in this week's case preemptively) erased. | 62-61 |
| 18 | Chicago Cubs | Cubs | 0 | The Cubs began the week by being sweot for the 1st time all season against the Guardians, and it could not have come at a worse possible time. Although they dalvaged the week by taking a series against the Blue Jays, they went from 3 to 5.5 games out of the Wild Card. As such, the already miniscule hopes of a playoff run vanished. For the next 5 weeks, all eyes will be on young players to see who can splidify themselves going forward. One who appears to have done so is Pete Crow-Armstrong, who has been roughly league average at the plate since a swing change at the start of July. That is more than welcome for a defender as great as him | 61-64 |
| 19 | Detroit Tigers | Tigers | +2 | Baby Tigers! The callups of Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney to man the left side of the infield, along with Colt Keith, Parker Meadows, Dillon Dingler, and yes, Spencer Torkelson have really dropped the average age of the regular lineup. Riley Greene coming off the IL is pretty cool too. Let's see what 2025 and beyond might look like. This week: 3 at CHC, 4 at CWS (Fri-Mon series). | 61-64 |
| 20 | St. Louis Cardinals | Cardinals | -3 | 61-63 | |
| 21 | Cincinnati Reds | Reds | -1 | Changing my name to Scooby because I can't Doo this anymore | 60-64 |
| 22 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Pirates | 0 | The Pirates picked up a couple of wins this weekend of the Mariners, who are a more extreme version of the Bucs' great-pitching, no-offense roster. Those wins, however, snapped a 10-game losing streak that all but ended any hopes of reaching the postseason in 2024. All that remains to be seen is when Paul Skenes gets shut down and how pissed off the fanbase will be. | 58-65 |
| 23 | Toronto Blue Jays | Blue Jays | +2 | Early pro/AAA looks are showing that there could be some gems in the trade deadline haul (Jake Bloss, Will Wagner, Jonatan Clase, some flashes from Joey Loperfido). Between them and a few of the Buffalo callups, we should be able to fill some of the roster holes with better upside in 2025. The Jays will still have to be aggressive with the $40-$60M they'll have to spend in free agency, tho, to build a contender around Vladdy. Guys Soto, Bregman, Adames, Kim, and the slew of SPs available. Keep those pocketbooks open, Rogers. | 58-66 |
| 24 | Texas Rangers | Rangers | -1 | Well this is shaping up to be one of the more disapointing seasons for a reigning World Champion in recent memory. Oh well, flags fly forever. | 57-68 |
| 25 | Washington Nationals | Nationals | -1 | Nats split with Balitmore in a Beltway Series and then lost a walkoff to the Phillies before claiming the last game. Would have felt a lot better if Finnergan could have nailed down the 8/16 game. | 56-69 |
| 26 | Oakland Athletics | Athletics | 0 | No more Bay Bridge series, yet one more final thing this season. Bullpen is sorely missing Erceg and I think Stripling finally got sent there too, though of course he's still our highest paid player | 53-71 |
| 27 | Los Angeles Angels | Angels | 0 | Griffin Canning has had a season to forget. Of qualified starters, he has the second worst ERA (you can probably guess the worst), and the worst FIP. His strike out rate has dropped precipitously, from 9.85 K/9 in 2023, down to 6.50 this year. Only Miles Mikolas is striking out fewer guys. A once promising middle of the rotation prospect, Canning is yet another testament to this organization's failure to develop any semblance of starting pitching talent over the past decade. | 53-71 |
| 28 | Miami Marlins | Marlins | 0 | My kingdom for some dependable pitching….Bellozo seems to be the only servicable starter. Even Max Meyer has shown some issues on the mound, sending him back down to the minors due to his service time may have been a detriment to him. Shocker. Thankfully some of the younger bats have shown some promise at the big league level (shoutout to jonah bride and xavier edwards). The fish got the sneks and cubs at home this week. | 46-78 |
| 29 | Colorado Rockies | Rockies | 0 | Padres fans have their mom check the closet for Coors Field before bed. | 46-79 |
| 30 | Chicago White Sox | White Sox | 0 | 30-95 |
11 comments
**Mobile Friendly Rankings + ‘True Rank’**
1. Dodgers 3.214
2. Yankees 3.464
3. Orioles 3.679
4. Phillies 3.857 — *CLOSE!*
5. Brewers 4.75
6. Guardians 6.071
7. Padres 6.821
8. Twins 8
9. Astros 8.036 — *CLOSE!*
10. D-Backs 9.5
11. Royals 9.929
12. Braves 11.571
13. Red Sox 13.571
14. Mariners 14.75
15. Mets 14.786 — *CLOSE!*
16. Giants 17.179
17. Rays 17.571
18. Cubs 18.357
19. Tigers 18.75
20. Cardinals 19.321
21. Reds 19.786
22. Pirates 22.643
23. Blue Jays 22.929
24. Rangers 23.143
25. Nationals 24.536
26. Athletics 25.679
27. Angels 26.786
28. Marlins 28.143
29. Rockies 28.786
30. White Sox 29.929
Dodgers voter, I pray y’all in LA use “Gavin Fux” as a nickname constantly because that is incredible lmfao
Trying something new with my own personal rankings to get potentially more volatility.
It started with: Any game you lose to the White Sox drops you one spot for the week.
But I also added: Any game you win against last week’s #1 (Yankees), raises you up a spot for the week.
Watch the Giants get swept by the WS and I curse my own creative energy.
Nats voter, AMA
Shoutout to Angels voter getting a dig in at Patrick Qorbin – never good when being compared to him. Wonder if he’ll pitch again in MLB after this year or ride off into the sunset with his $134M career MLB earnings and his World Series ring.
Sorry for the short blurb this week, I got very sick this weekend. AMA about brewers baseball
Marlins voter here, ask me how much I hate service time manipulation
I feel like we shouldn’t be number 1, but I guess it’s less indicative about how good we are and more indicative that literally every team has dealt with some major struggles at some point.
I am not the Rockies voter AMA
Reds voter here, ask me if I know why kids like the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch
cardinals voter here ask me how sad i am