MLB Power Rankings: Week 15 ~ Daily Shootout

It was a big week in baseball, as we head into the All Star break. Texas and New York have asserted themselves as the best in baseball, and the Pirates are showing they could be for real. Meanwhile, the Phillies, Red Sox, and Giants continued to slide.

Power Rankings

Current		Team	Previous
	1	Texas Rangers	1
	Joe Nathan has allowed just 3 runs since the start of May.
	2	New York Yankees	2
	Robinson Cano will captain the AL home run derby squad on Monday, but could he also be in line for the MVP? He ranks 2nd only to Mike Trout in WAR in the American League.
	3	Washington Nationals +1	4
	The Nationals pitching staff ranks 1st in baseball with a 3.19 ERA.
	4	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim -1	3
	Since starting off 6-14, the Angels are an incredible 42-24, good for a .636 winning percentage.
	5	Chicago White Sox +2	7
	Jake Peavy was finally named to the All Star game yesterday, replacing CJ Wilson who is out with blisters. Peavy is enjoying a nice career renaissance.
	6	Cincinatti Reds	6
	The Reds sit just 1 game behind the Pirates. Joey Votto finished the first half with 35 doubles, the most by a Red before the all-star break ever.
	7	Pittsburgh Pirates +7	14
	The Pirates currently have the 4th best record in all of baseball, despite ranking 29th in baseball in on base percentage.
	8	Atlanta Braves +3	11
	The Braves outfield trio of Michael Bourn, Jason Heyward, and Martin Prado currently rank 3rd, 7th, and 8th in the NL in wins above replacement.
	9	Los Angeles Dodgers +3	12
	The Dodgers have regained the NL West lead, but are still struggling to score runs. They have only scored more than 4 runs once since a June 22nd loss to the Angels.
	10	St. Louis Cardinals	10
	Despite giving up 5 or more runs in each of his last 3 starts, Lance Lynn returned on Thursday to throw 6 shutout innings.
	11	New York Mets -2	9
	The Mets just don't seem to give up. They currently sit a half game behind Atlanta for the 2nd Wild Card spot.
	12	San Francisco Giants -7	5
	The Giants have gone 3-7 in their last 10 games and now sit half a game back from the Dodgers in the NL West. It also doesn't help that Tim Lincecum continues to struggle. Could he be moved to the bullpen, and be used as some sort of 130 inning relief ace?

	13	Tampa Bay Rays	13
	The Rays offense took another hit as outfielder Matthew Joyce landed on the 15-day DL. Joyce has an .899 OPS in 62 games this season.

14	Baltimore Orioles +1	15
The Orioles have cooled off in recent weeks, but still have a .5 game lead over the Rays for the 2nd wild card spot.
15	Boston Red Sox -7	8
Some good news for Red Sox fans: David Ortiz is enjoying his best season since 2007 when he finished 4th in AL MVP balloting.
16	Detroit Tigers +2	18
The Tigers are finally above .500 as they have gone 7-3 in their last 10 games.
17	Cleveland Indians +2	19
Cleveland's rotation is easily one of the worst in the majors. Justin Masterson leads the rotation with a 4.40 ERA.
18	Toronto Blue Jays -2	16
Blue Jays 2012 first round pick, Marcus Stroman has officially been moved to the bullpen for 2012. Could we see him in Toronto sometime this year?
19	Oakland Athletics +2	21
The Athletics are sitting at .500 as they head into the break, but are still 8.5 back from the Rangers and 5 from the Angels.
20	Arizona Diamondbacks -3	17
There have been numerous reports that the D-backs are willing to trade star outfielder Justin Upton. Despite the reports, the D-backs have been playing well as of late and are just 1 game below .500.
21	Miami Marlins +1	22
The Giancarlo Stanton injury is bad news for Miami fans. This also means that Miami will have no representatives playing in this years all-star game.
22	Milwaukee Brewers -2	20
Zack Greinke currently leads all NL pitchers in WAR. He is also one of only 2 pitchers to start back to back games this season. The other being CJ Wilson.
23	Kansas City Royals +1	24
Despite having the 7th best team batting average, the Royals rank just 21st in runs scored this season.

	24	Minnesota Twins +3	27
	Joe Mauer might be having one of the more underrated seasons of anybody this year, particularly by a former MVP. Mauer leads the AL in OBP and has a 141 OPS+. He is also on pace to hit double digit home runs for the first time since his 2009 MVP campaign.

25	Philadelphia Phillies -2	23
Just how bad can it get for Philadelphia? They currently sit 14 games out of 1st in the NL East and have lost 10 of their last 11 games. The return of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard may be what the Phillies need to start winning again.
26	Seattle Mariners -1	25
At the age of 38, Ichiro Suzuki is in the midst of his worst season as a big leaguer. He is hitting .261, but his OBP sits at only .288.
27	San Diego Padres +3	30
Padres fans don't have much to cheer for these days, but they do have some hope. Yasmani Grandal combined to hit 4 home runs in his first 6 games in the big leagues this past week.
28	Chicago Cubs +1	29
Ryan Dempster hasn't allowed a run in his last 27 innings pitched. He should be a valuable commodity as we near the July 31st trade deadline.
29	Colorado Rockies -1	28
The Rockies offense has been one of the 5 best in baseball this season, but their pitching ranks last in nearly every statistical category. They've reached the point where you can't just blame Coors Field for their troubles.
30	Houston Astros -4	26
Houston is on a horrendous 1-11 stretch. Bad pitching has been their undoing as their staff ranks 27th in the majors in ERA. The team has also allowed at least 5 runs in 6 of their last dozen games.