Last weekend saw Kansas City take two of three from St. Louis in the I-70 series, so we have a new No. 1: The defending American League champs. It seems like ages ago we were taking a skeptical at the Royals, who came out of the gates strong against the White Sox and haven't slowed down since.
With that comes another week of MLB Power Rankings from CSNChicago.com's Tony Andracki and JJ Stankevitz. Stay tuned for updated rankings every Monday throughout the 2015 campaign. Here's where we're at so far: Preseason rankings | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6
| Rank | Team |
Last Week | Comment |
| 1 | 3 |
Kendrys Morales has an .857 OPS and six home runs. Through about two months, he's been the most successful under-the-radar offseason signing. |
|
| 2 | 1 |
Are they starting to fall back to Earth? They've lost two of their last three series and tied in the other. |
|
| 3 | 2 |
Three-game sweep at the hands of Giants in San Fran highlights Dodgers' worrisome 7-11 record on the road. |
|
| 4 | 5 |
Bryce Harper won't turn down for anything, leading the charge for one of the hottest teams in baseball. |
|
| 5 | 4 |
They're cruising for now, but probably will need more pitching than Dallas Keuchel to fend off the rest of the AL West contenders. |
|
| 6 | 12 |
"I don't know where you magic pixies came from, but I like your pixie drink." |
|
| 7 | 10 |
Whaddya know? After an 8-game winning streak, Giants are suddenly lead NL Wild Card and only two games behind Dodgers in the West. |
|
| 8 | 6 |
They really could use a healthy, effective Justin Verlander back as Anibal Sanchez continues to get lit up. |
|
| 9 | 7 |
They're just 3-5 since their 6-game win streak as they search for consistency. |
|
| 10 | 8 |
Got crushed by the Cardinals in back-to-back games this week and then were swept out of Pittsburgh. |
|
| 11 | 15 |
Back at .500 and rolling strong, making a push for contention again right before Memorial Day. |
|
| 12 | 11 |
In a weak AL East, they're sitting pretty thanks to 20 combined strong starts from Chris Archer (2.40 ERA) and Jake Odorizzi (2.31 ERA). |
|
| 13 | 22 |
Surging behind Prince Fielder's renaissance, and hey, maybe Josh Hamilton will help them too. |
|
| 14 | 9 |
Michael Pineda's been excellent, but they'll need Masahiro Tanaka to come back healthy and effective to really mount a playoff run. |
|
| 15 | 13 |
Not exactly playing inspiring ball, but Mike Trout is still doing Mike Trout things, so they're hanging around .500. |
|
| 16 | 20 |
Ubaldo Jimenez -- yep, that Ubaldo Jimenez -- has a 2.82 ERA and a sustainable 3.08 FIP. Nice bounce-back for a guy who's been justifiably written off quite a bit recently. |
|
| 17 | 17 |
They're lurking, but concerning is their bullpen averaging 4.13 walks per nine innings. |
|
| 18 | 18 |
Still hanging around the race, thanks to an easy schedule where they beat up on bad teams (Brewers, Marlins) by winning 6 of 7 in those two series. |
|
| 19 | 25 |
Took three of four from the White Sox and swept the Reds last week. It's a start. |
|
| 20 | 24 |
This is looking more and more like A.J. Pollock's breakout season (.311/.353/.441, 10 SB) if he can stay healthy. |
|
| 21 | 19 |
Their starting rotation ERA is an AL-worst 5.17 and Joe Kelly may be on thin ice. Yikes. |
|
| 22 | 14 | They have yet to hit a groove and play up to expectations and suddenly people are calling for Bud Black's job. | |
| 23 | 23 |
Like the Red Sox, pitching is holding them back. Drew Hutchison's shutout of the White Sox Monday, though, was a welcome change north of the border. |
|
| 24 | 16 |
After a rough homestand, an 11-game road trip began Monday night with a listless loss to Toronto. |
|
| 25 | 28 |
After an 11-game losing streak at the end of April/beginning of May, the Rockies have now won 5 of 8 to prove they really are the streakiest team in baseball. |
|
| 26 | 26 |
Marcus Semien's defense hasn't been good, but he has a solid .290/.337/.459 slash line through 47 games. |
|
| 27 | 26 |
After hitting .114 with .398 OPS in April, Chase Utley has a .250 AVG and .728 OPS and has 13 hits in his last 10 games. |
|
| 28 | 27 |
Unreal how much of a mess things are in Miami in what was expected to be a potentially fun season. Even more drama now with coaching staff. |
|
| 29 | 21 |
9-game losing streak sinks them all the way to 29th on this list, though they received good news on Johnny Cueto's elbow. |
|
| 30 | 28 |
Things still aren't going well in Milwaukee, but at least Jonathan Lucroy is due back next week. |