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Welcome to the NBC Sports EDGE MLB Power Rankings, a weekly feature that will run every Tuesday through the end of the 2021 regular season. These rankings are not fantasy-driven in any way, though I do tend to sprinkle in fantasy-relevant nuggets here and there. Who’s hot, who’s not, who to watch -- that sort of thing. Send any and all complaints to me on Twitter: @drewsilv.
Please believe me when I tell you that I do not hate your team.
1. San Francisco Giants
Record: 102-54
Last Week: 1
They’ll finish as the top-ranked team in these NBC Sports EDGE MLB Power Rankings, but the Giants were dealt some brutal news on Monday. Brandon Belt, after getting struck by a pitch on Sunday in Colorado, has been diagnosed with a fracture in his left thumb. That’s typically a several-week injury, so it figures to be a season-ender for Belt even if San Francisco is able to pull off a deep postseason run. He had slugged a career-high 29 home runs through 97 games played this year.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
Record: 100-56
Last Week: 2
The defending World Series champions took two of three at both Colorado and Arizona last week, with the 3-0 victory on Sunday versus the Diamondbacks clinching the ninth 100-win season in Dodgers franchise history. And three of those nine 100-win seasons have come in the last five years. This has been a nearly decade-long run of dominance, and yet it looks like Los Angeles might be denied a ninth consecutive NL West title. The deficit is two games with only six games to go.
3. Tampa Bay Rays
Record: 97-59
Last Week: 4
The recently-crowned AL East champs will bring a four-game winning streak into Tuesday’s series opener against the Astros, having just swept a three-game weekend series from the Marlins. They’re at 97 wins for the year, which is tied for the franchise record set in 2008. And they have a good shot to log their first-ever 100-win campaign. Wander Franco returned from the IL on Friday and picked up right where he left off. He’s nearing history with an active 41-game on-base streak.
4. Milwaukee Brewers
Record: 94-62
Last Week: 3
Milwaukee got swept by the Cardinals in a four-game series to begin last week’s slate but rebounded to then sweep a three-game weekend series from the Mets. And the 8-4 victory on Sunday afternoon against New York secured a National League Central title for the Brewers and a trip to the NLDS. Freddy Peralta will be hunting for 200 strikeouts in his final scheduled regular-season start this week against the Dodgers, which would give this team three different 200-strikeout pitchers.
5. Houston Astros
Record: 91-65
Last Week: 5
It likely won’t matter in the end -- the Astros are right on the brink of clinching the American League West -- but they have suddenly lost four straight games after getting swept over the weekend in Oakland. Zack Greinke is on the IL with a lingering neck issue, though he might have been an afterthought for the postseason rotation even with a clean bill of health. The veteran right-hander has yielded 18 earned runs over his last 13 innings (three starts) dating back to August 29.
6. Chicago White Sox
Record: 89-68
Last Week: 6
While they’re not playing the most inspiring baseball at the moment, the White Sox basically locked up the AL Central two-and-a-half months ago and could certainly step on the gas again as the calendar flips to October. Don’t tell Dylan Cease this team has faded. He’s worked 10 1/3 scoreless innings, recording 19 strikeouts, over his last two rotation turns versus the Rangers and Indians. Should the 25-year-old right-hander be the Game 3 starter for the Pale Hose in their best-of-five ALDS?
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7. New York Yankees
Record: 89-67
Last Week: 9
On another upswing at a very opportune time, the Yankees swept three-game sets from both the Rangers and Red Sox last week and will ride a six-game winning streak into Tuesday’s series opener in Toronto. Giancarlo Stanton just became the first Yankees player to ever record 10-plus RBI in a three-game stretch at Fenway Park, topping the previous such record of nine RBI shared by Joe DiMaggio and Hideki Matsui. Stanton was named AL Player of the Week for September 20-26.
8. St. Louis Cardinals
Record: 87-69
Last Week: 10
Make it 16 wins in a row for the Cardinals, who can officially lock up the second NL Wild Card spot on Tuesday. They won the final 11 road games on their 2021 regular season schedule -- all during this stretch -- joining the 1887 Philadelphia Quakers as the only two teams in MLB history to win their final 11 or more away games to close out a campaign. St. Louis is also the first NL team to manage a 16-game winning streak since the New York Giants in 1951. What a run, and might not be over yet.
9. Boston Red Sox
Record: 88-68
Last Week: 8
Boston was on a seven-game winning streak last week -- including sweeps of the Orioles and Mets -- before running into the visiting Yankees on Friday and dropping three straight. But this final week does line up nicely for the Red Sox as they prepare to visit the O’s and then the Nationals, teams that have combined for 198 losses so far in 2021. Chris Sale will get the ball on Tuesday at Baltimore. He is 5-0 with a 2.57 ERA in seven starts since returning August 14 from Tommy John surgery.
10. Toronto Blue Jays
Record: 87-69
Last Week: 7
Toronto will begin play Tuesday on the outside looking in for a postseason spot after dropping two of three to the Rays to open last week’s slate and then splitting a four-game weekend set with the Twins. George Springer did put a good foot forward in that series with Minnesota, making his first start in center field since August 14 on Friday before homering in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday. He might be rounding into form again following a range of lower-body ailments.
11. Atlanta Braves
Record: 83-72
Last Week: 13
The current leaders of the NL East, the Braves just swept a three-game weekend series at San Diego after taking three of four in Arizona. They’ve won seven of their last eight games and will enter play on Tuesday leading the Phillies by 2 1/2 games for the division crown. Atlanta and Philadelphia are now set to go head-to-head in a massive three-game set at Truist Park. Max Fried will take the mound on Wednesday, boasting a 6-0 record, 1.48 ERA, and 58/9 K/BB ratio across his last 10 starts.
12. Seattle Mariners
Record: 87-70
Last Week: 12
Mitch Haniger hit two home runs, his 36th and 37th of the year, as Seattle trounced the division-rival A’s by a 13-4 margin on Monday night at T-Mobile Park while pulling within 1 1/2 games of the second American League Wild Card spot. A sweep of Oakland could put the Mariners even closer to playoff position leading into the final weekend. The run differential currently sits at -52, but the fun differential is skyrocketing again here in late September. They’ve won eight of their last nine.
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13. Oakland Athletics
Record: 85-72
Last Week: 11
That ugly loss to the Mariners on Monday night pretty much assured that the A’s will be held out of the playoffs for the first time in the last four years. But let’s give a nod here in the final week to Matt Olson, who is up to 38 home runs and 109 RBI through 151 games played. Of those 38 homers, 21 have come against lefties. The only other two left-handed batters in MLB history with 21-plus homers in a season versus left-handed pitching: Ken Griffey Jr. (1996, 1998) and Barry Bonds (2002).
14. Philadelphia Phillies
Record: 81-75
Last Week: 15
The final stretch of the regular season is here, and the Phillies are in position to pull off a late upset in the NL East race. Or can it even be called an upset given how up-and-down and generally mediocre that division has been? Whatever the narrative, the fightin’ Phils have won nine of their last 12 and sit 2 1/2 games back of the first-place Braves. They play three games in Atlanta to begin the final week before rounding it out against a Marlins team that is currently 27 games below .500.
15. Cincinnati Reds
Record: 82-75
Last Week: 14
With their 13-1 blowout win over the Pirates on Monday afternoon, the Reds clinched a winning season. It is the first winning season for Cincinnati in a non-truncated campaign since 2013 and only their fifth winning season overall since 2000. Jonathan India continued to fill his NL Rookie of the Year Award coffers in that rout of Pittsburgh, going 4-for-5 with two RBI and four runs scored. He is one of only nine rookies in the last 30 years to amass 20-plus homers, 30-plus doubles, and 90-plus runs.
16. San Diego Padres
Record: 78-78
Last Week: 16
They have been fully eliminated from playoff contention and are at risk of falling below the .500 mark for the first time this year, but the Padres do still have a say in the NL West race with a final-week schedule that features three games at Oracle Park against the division-leading Giants and then three in Los Angeles versus the defending-champion Dodgers. The eyes of the baseball world will be on those series, so maybe Fernando Tatis Jr. can get back in better graces with NL MVP voters.
17. Cleveland Indians
Record: 77-79
Last Week: 18
Shane Bieber (shoulder) returned to a major league mound for the first time since June 13 on Friday night against the White Sox and delivered three perfect innings while striking out three of the nine batters he faced. He could go a little deeper in his final start this week in Kansas City to fully prove his health leading into the 2021-2022 offseason. The 26-year-old won the AL Cy Young Award in 2020 and holds a stellar 2.47 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and 255/54 K/BB ratio across his last 171 frames.
18. Detroit Tigers
Record: 75-81
Last Week: 19
Miguel Cabrera singled and doubled for the 2,985th and 2,986th hits of his career on Monday afternoon against the White Sox. There are only six games left on the Tigers’ schedule, so the veteran slugger is probably going to fall short of joining the exclusive 3,000 hit club here in 2021, but milestone watch will be in full swing in the first month of the 2022 campaign. Cabrera, who turns 39 years old next April, is under contract with Detroit through 2023 at a total salary outlay of $64 million.
19. New York Mets
Record: 73-82
Last Week: 17
This has been a dreadful finish to the season for the Mets, who have lost 10 of their last 11 games and are 17-34 since the beginning of August. It’s also historic, as they are the first team ever to spend 103-plus days as a division leader and then finish with a losing record. You might expect such a crash to bring about sweeping changes, but word is that Sandy Alderson will continue in his role as club president in 2022 and be empowered to hire the next set of baseball operations folks.
20. Los Angeles Angels
Record: 74-82
Last Week: 20
Few would have criticized the Angels had they decided to put a halt to Shohei Ohtani’s pitching appearances a few weeks ago, but he continues to take the mound and build on his winning candidacy for 2021 AL MVP. The two-way star struck out 10 batters over seven innings of one-run ball on Sunday against the Mariners and now holds a 3.18 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 10.8 K/9 in 23 starts this year. He’s also sporting a .966 OPS with 45 homers, 98 RBI, 24 stolen bases, and 99 runs scored.
21. Colorado Rockies
Record: 71-85
Last Week: 21
A notoriously tough-to-beat team in the unique environment presented at Coors Field, the Rockies had not been swept at home twice in a season by a single opponent since the Braves pulled it off in May and July of 1993, which also happened to be Colorado’s first year in Major League Baseball as a new expansion team. That is until the Giants rolled through town for a pair of three-game series this month and broke off six total wins by a combined score of 49-18. Fun facts for know and tell.
22. Kansas City Royals
Record: 71-85
Last Week: 22
He still doesn’t hit for much power, but Nicky Lopez may be emerging as an important part of the Royals’ future. The slick-fielding middle infielder singled and scored in a loss at Cleveland on Monday, leaving him with a .302 batting average -- and a respectable .365 on-base percentage -- here in the final week. He has tallied 21 steals in 145 games, after swiping only one bag across his first 159 major league games between 2019-2020. Lopez, 26, is under team control through 2025.
23. Minnesota Twins
Record: 69-87
Last Week: 24
A weird note to cap off a weird Twins season: Joe Ryan, in his start last Wednesday against the Cubs, struck out the final seven batters he faced before being removed after five innings with a pitch count of 86. He is the fourth starter in the expansion era (since 1961) to strike out his final seven-plus batters in an outing, joining Tom Seaver (1970), Stephen Strasburg (2010), and Jacob deGrom (2021). Ryan has a 2.45 ERA, 0.59 WHIP, and 25/3 K/BB ratio in his first 22 big league frames.
24. Chicago Cubs
Record: 67-89
Last Week: 23
Remember that seven-game winning streak the Cubs staged between the final week of August and the first week of September? Welp, they are 3-14 since it came to an end on September 6, and they just helped the arch-rival Cardinals set a new franchise record for consecutive wins in a brutal -- maybe somewhat embarrassing -- four-game weekend series at Wrigley Field. This could be the new normal for a while on the North Side of Chicago as an aggressive roster rebuild gets underway.
25. Washington Nationals
Record: 65-92
Last Week: 26
Juan Soto reached base in 12 consecutive plate appearances last week, passing Ken Griffey Jr. for the longest such streak by any player age 22 or younger in the expansion era -- so, since 1961. Beyond the walks, which are to be expected as the only dangerous slugger remaining on a Nationals team in flux, Soto also currently ranks in the top-four percentile among all MLB hitters in max exit velocity, hard-hit rate, xBA, and xwOBA. Will he soon become the sport’s first $500 million player?
26. Miami Marlins
Record: 64-91
Last Week: 25
There wasn’t much fanfare around young catcher Nick Fortes when he got called up to the major leagues on September 17. After all, he had a career .232/.318/.333 batting line over 753 plate appearances in the minors. But the 24-year-old former fourth-round pick promptly became the first Marlins player to hit a home run in each of his first two career starts and then also belted a two-run shot as a pinch-hitter last Wednesday versus the Nationals. Maybe the Fish have something here?
27. Pittsburgh Pirates
Record: 58-98
Last Week: 27
It’s been a while -- probably back at the trade deadline -- since Bryan Reynolds was featured in a blurb here. He has stayed consistently productive throughout the second half and will steer into the Pirates’ final stretch of games showing a .293/.382/.505 batting line with 24 home runs, 88 RBI, and 87 runs scored through 628 plate appearances for the season. The 26-year-old outfielder, who is under club control through 2025, could be one of the hottest players on the winter trade market.
28. Texas Rangers
Record: 57-99
Last Week: 28
Randy Arozarena of the Rays is the current betting favorite for 2021 American League Rookie of the Year, with Ryan Mountcastle of the Orioles recently vaulting into the second spot on sites that track such odds. Adolis Garcia had been in the running for much of the summer, but the 28-year-old outfielder is slashing just .211/.257/.372 with 85 strikeouts in 63 games since the All-Star break. And he has hit only one home run through 96 plate appearances for the Rangers here in September.
29. Arizona Diamondbacks
Record: 50-106
Last Week: 29
With less than a week to go in the 2021 regular season, the Diamondbacks are in a deadlock with the Orioles for the worst overall record in the majors and the rights to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. Get fired up, Arizona baseball fans! What’s left for the D-backs is three games in San Francisco against the host Giants and then a three-game set at home versus the visiting Rockies. Baltimore, meanwhile, will host the Red Sox for three and before finishing on the road in Toronto.
30. Baltimore Orioles
Record: 50-106
Last Week: 30
Cedric Mullins slugged his 30th home run of the season on Friday against the Rangers, after also reaching 30 stolen bases earlier this month. It’s the first 30-30 season in Orioles franchise history, and only three other American League players have accomplished the feat in the last 10 years: Mike Trout in 2012, and both Mookie Betts and Jose Ramirez in 2018. Mullins should get a number of down-ballot votes for 2021 AL MVP and should probably be a top-25 pick in fantasy drafts next spring.
