Total Access Baseball

User login

Who's online

There are currently 0 users and 1 guest online.

2010 MLB Power Rankings, Week Two

We're just about a week into the MLB season, and a couple of teams have jumped out to early-season surprise starts .

The Blue Jays have won five straight since an Opening Day loss, and sit atop baseball's most loaded division at 5-1, while the A's have started 5-2 out West .

On the other end of the spectrum, the Dodgers are just 2-4, and the Angels and Mariners are a combined 4-10.

The lesson?

Don't panic. There are like 155 games left.

Here's how they stack up through one week's worth of games.

 

1. New York Yankees (4-2)

The Yanks' best hitter through week one?

None other than one Robinson Cano, who leads the team in batting average, homers, runs batted in, and runs scored.

2. Philadelphia Phillies (5-1)

They've gotten off to quite a start, but their schedule to open the season couldn't have been easier.

They've beaten up on the Nationals and Astros, two of the weakest teams in the National League.

3. San Francisco Giants (5-1)

The Giants were the last team to lose a game, dropping one at home to Atlanta Saturday by a score of 7-2.

Tim Lincecum and his 10 strikeouts helped them rebound with a win Sunday, improving himself to 2-0 on the young season.

4. Detroit Tigers (5-1)

Speaking of hot starts, Miguel Cabrera has helped the Tigers out to a surprising 5-1 start, with his robust .522 batting average with a pair of home runs and eight runs batted in so far.

5. Toronto Blue Jays (5-1)

The Jays are baseball's biggest surprise through the season's first week and Vernon Wells has been a major reason why.

He's hitting .350 with four home runs, seven RBI, and seven runs scored.

6. Oakland Athletics (5-2)

The A's have been projected by many to finish in the cellar of the AL West, but they've refused to accept their prognosticated fate thus far.

They won three-of-four against the Mariners before taking two-of-three in Anaheim against the Angels.

7. Minnesota Twins (5-2)

After going an impressive 5-2 in a week's worth of road games to start the season, the defending AL Central champs open their new home, Target Field, Monday afternoon against the Red Sox.

8. St. Louis Cardinals (4-2)

Matt Holliday has gotten off to a scorching start in his first full season in a Cardinals uniform, hitting .423 through the first six games.

9. Florida Marlins (4-2)

Despite having been outscored by five runs, the Marlins are off to a 4-2 start to their 2010 campaign.

10. Arizona Diamondbacks (4-2)

The D-Backs have started well, but, like the Phillies, haven't done it against anybody resembling the league's best.

Their pair of series wins have come against the Padres and the Pirates.

11. Atlanta Braves (3-3)

Needless to say, Jason Heyward's performance, despite insane scrutiny, hasn't been a disappointment.

He's hitting .292 (.370 OBP) with three homers and eight runs batted in already.

12. Texas Rangers (3-3)

Without Frank Francisco having already blown two games, the Rangers would be off to a 5-1 start.

Fortunately, they'll be forced to hold their breath through a Frankie ninth-inning no longer, as fireballer Neftali Feliz has been installed as the closer in his stead.

13. Tampa Bay Rays (3-3)

The Rays haven't exactly surged out of the gate as many expected, but they're still a respectable 3-3 heading into their second series of the season with the Orioles.

14. Colorado Rockies (3-3)

Ian Stewart has responded well thus far to full-time duty at third base, hitting .391 with a pair of homers and five RBI through six games.

15. Boston Red Sox (3-3)

Former MVP and Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia, who hit 15 home runs in 154 games in 2009, already has three big flies in six games in 2010.

16. Milwaukee Brewers (3-3)

Trevor Hoffman blew his second consecutive game Sunday night, giving up back-to-back home runs to Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday.

Fortunately for the Brew Crew, Casey McGehee picked up the slack with a solo walk-off shot of his own in the bottom of the ninth.

17. Cincinnati Reds (3-3)

If he continues his pace, centerfielder Drew Stubbs is projected for 27 home runs, 27 triples, 135 RBI, 216 strikeouts, and 54 stolen bases.

Fun.

19. Washington Nationals (3-3)

If you had to guess one team that the Nationals would've just won a three-game series from, which team would it be?

The Mets?

(Answer at the bottom of this section)

Duh.

19. Pittsburgh Pirates (3-3)

After winning two-of-three games against the Dodgers to open the season, the Pirates lost two-of-three to the D'Backs.

In Sunday's loss to Arizona, Pirates pitching gave up 13 runs...in the fourth inning alone.

20. New York Mets (2-4)

The Mets have outscored their opponents by five, but have just two wins in six games to show for it.

Jeff Francoeur is off to a nice start, hitting .476 with a couple of home runs and six batted in.

21. Los Angeles Dodgers (2-4)

Vicente Padilla has gotten off to a rough start in 2010, with an ERA of 11.42 in two starts thus far.

22. Chicago White Sox (2-4)

The White Sox have two wins on the season, and both belong to ace Mark Buehrle.

They'll head to Toronto for a four-game set against baseball's hottest team Monday.

23. Chicago Cubs (2-4)

Carlos Zambrano rebounded from his horrible Opening Day effort against Atlanta with seven strong innings Saturday against Cincinnati.

24. Kansas City Royals (2-4)

Reigning AL Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke hasn't lit the world on fire as he did to start last season.

He's allowed two home runs this season after not allowing one until June last year.

25. Seattle Mariners (2-5)

The Mariners lost three-of-four to the A's to start the year, and they'll have to face them once again this week.

They've also needed ninth-inning heroics to record each of their two wins so far.

26. Cleveland Indians (2-4)

Cleveland blew a 7-1 lead to lose to Detroit Sunday, completing their three-game sweep at the hands of the Tigers.

Fill-in closer Chris Perez threw a wild pitch that allowed Detroit to score the winning run in the ninth.

27. San Diego Padres (2-4)

Chris Young looked stellar in his comeback start against the Diamondbacks last week, allowing just one hit and no runs in six innings of work.

28. Los Angeles Angels (2-5)

Hideki Matsui has been impressive thus far, but the pitching staff has struggled to a 5.50 ERA to date, good for last in the AL.

29. Baltimore Orioles (1-5)

The O's have been victims of some tough luck so far, having already lost four one-run games.

30. Houston Astros (0-6)

The Astros have been the worst team in baseball to this point, and it's not even close.

They rank last in the NL in runs (12), on-base percentage (.249), slugging percentage (.320), OPS (.569), stolen bases (0), batting average against (.350), opponent OPS (.941), and saves (obviously zero).

They also rank 14th in batting average (.223), 15th in ERA, (6.80), and 15th in WHIP (1.89).

For MLB fantasy advice and more, head over to MLB Soup.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Poll

Best of the American League
Tampa Bay
19%
Boston
19%
Chicago
7%
Minnesota
10%
Los Angeles
17%
Texas
27%
Total votes: 270

Recent blog posts

Featured Sponsors