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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. Tampa Bay Rays
Record: 35-20
Last Week: 3
Rich Hill tossed five scoreless innings and Austin Meadows belted his 12th home run of the season as Tampa Bay earned a 3-1 victory over the Yankees on Monday afternoon in the Bronx. It was the 16th win for the Rays in their last 17 games, and they ultimately closed out the month of May with a 22-6 record, which goes down as the winningest single month in franchise history. The defending American League champions have the best record in all of baseball here at the beginning of June.
2. San Diego Padres
Record: 34-21
Last Week: 1
If the Padres can’t get back into the win column on Tuesday at Wrigley Field, they’ll match their longest losing streak of the season. But, yeah, that longest losing streak is only three games. All is well for the Friars, who hold the very best run differential in the major leagues at +81. There has to be at least some concern about Blake Snell, though, after he got shelled for seven runs in just three innings Sunday in Houston. He owns a 5.55 ERA and has worked into the sixth inning only once this year.
3. Chicago White Sox
Record: 33-21
Last Week: 6
Chicago had a five-game winning streak in the works before losing 3-1 in the second half of Monday’s doubleheader against the Indians. Jose Abreu is the current MLB leader in RBI with 46, which really comes as no shock after he led all of MLB in that category last season (60 RBI in 60 games) en route to earning MVP honors in the American League. He also finished first in the AL in RBI in 2019, plating 123 runs in 159 games. That three-year, $50 million contract extension is looking like a bargain.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
Record: 32-22
Last Week: 2
The defending World Series champions lost three of four to the Giants over the weekend, but they had been on a nice run before that and easily took care of the Cardinals on Monday night, winning 9-4 as Gavin Lux slugged a pair of home runs. The overall season totals for Lux aren’t all that eye-popping, but he has hit .295/.356/.505 across his last 104 plate appearances dating back to May 2. It sure seems like the 23-year-old former top prospect is finding his groove at baseball’s highest level.
5. Boston Red Sox
Record: 32-21
Last Week: 4
Even factoring in a rough 11-2 loss to the Astros on Memorial Day, the Red Sox have won seven of their last 10 games and hold a three-game lead on the top American League Wild Card spot -- if it’s not too early to sneak a peek at the Wild Card standings. But, um, what’s going on with Eduardo Rodriguez? He pitched so promisingly in April, shedding some fears about last year’s battle with myocarditis, but the lefty has now yielded 19 earned runs over his last four starts covering 19 2/3 innings.
6. San Francisco Giants
Record: 34-20
Last Week: 9
Beyond the 6-1 defeat of the Angels, which pushed the Giants’ winning streak to four, the best news from Monday was that an MRI on Kevin Gausman’s sore left hip turned up negative for any structural damage. The right-hander boasts a 6-0 record, 1.40 ERA, 0.807 WHIP, and 83/16 K/BB ratio through 70 2/3 innings (11 starts) this year and is expected to be able to take his next scheduled turn Saturday against the Cubs. He went six scoreless frames Sunday in a win over the arch-rival Dodgers.
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7. Houston Astros
Record: 29-24
Last Week: 8
Jose Urquidy returned from the IL in fine form on Monday, striking out nine batters over six innings of one-run, three hit ball as the Astros routed the Red Sox. The 26-year-old missed a couple of weeks due to shoulder inflammation, but he now has a 3.02 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 50 2/3 total innings this season and should be a big part of the Houston rotation moving forward. Kyle Tucker also shined on Monday with three hits and four RBI. He’s batting .333/.409/.654 with 19 RBI in his last 20 games.
8. Oakland Athletics
Record: 31-25
Last Week: 7
Oakland dropped the final two games of a weekend series versus the Angels and then fell in extra innings on Monday afternoon in Seattle. Those three losses came without the presence of center fielder Ramon Laureano, who is expected to be placed on the injured list Tuesday because of a lingering right groin issue. When healthy this season, the dynamic 26-year-old has produced an .834 OPS with 11 home runs and eight stolen bases in 48 games. He’ll miss at least the first week of June.
9. New York Yankees
Record: 29-25
Last Week: 5
So, uh, the Yankees are no longer surging. They lost two of three to the Blue Jays last week, got swept by the lowly Tigers over the weekend, and then fell 3-1 in Monday’s series opener against the visiting Rays. That’s six losses in seven games and a current four-game losing streak. Corey Kluber, who threw a no-hitter on May 19 and has a 3.04 ERA for the year, is probably going to be sidelined until late July or early August due to a subscapularis muscle strain in his right shoulder.
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10. Chicago Cubs
Record: 30-23
Last Week: 14
In beating the Padres on Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field, the Cubs put a 19-8 record on the board for May -- the first time a Cubs team has won more than 18 games in May since 1977. Javier Baez slugged a pair of homers in that Memorial Day victory over San Diego and is now up to 13 home runs through 48 games played this season. Even more encouraging is that the impending free agent shortstop’s OPS has risen above .800. But it’s far more ‘S’ than the ‘O’ with Baez: his OBP is .295.
11. St. Louis Cardinals
Record: 30-24
Last Week: 10
There’s probably a bit of panic in St. Louis right now after staff ace Jack Flaherty made an early exit from his start Monday night against the Dodgers after tweaking his side on a swing in the top of the sixth inning. In predictable fashion, the Cardinals’ bullpen blew that game in the bottom of the sixth, with Genesis Cabrera issuing yet another bases-loaded walk. St. Louis pitchers have yielded 15 bases-loaded walks already this year. The most they’ve had in a full season since 1974 is 17. Yikes.
12. Milwaukee Brewers
Record: 29-25
Last Week: 13
Corbin Burnes worked six innings of one-run ball and Willy Adames slugged a two-run homer as the Brewers eked out a 3-2 victory over the Tigers on Memorial Day while running their current winning streak to five. Burnes now has a 2.24 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, and 81/7 K/BB ratio in 52 1/3 innings (nine starts) this season. Adames, meanwhile, is 11-for-34 (.324) with two home runs and nine RBI in 10 games since being acquired from the Rays on May 21 in exchange for a couple of relievers.
13. Cleveland Indians
Record: 29-24
Last Week: 11
Cleveland split a doubleheader with the Blue Jays on Sunday and then did the same Monday versus the White Sox. Four games in two days, it’s like AAU baseball! The injury to Zach Plesac is problematic for the Indians given the way they have to rely on high-level pitching to stay afloat in contention. Per manager Terry Francona, the 26-year-old right-hander fractured the thumb on his pitching hand last week when he caught it on a chair while “aggressively” changing clothes. That’s a new one.
14. New York Mets
Record: 26-20
Last Week: 15
Winners of five straight, the Mets probably deserve more than a one-spot jump in this week’s NBC Sports EDGE MLB Power Rankings, but the same can be a said for a number of other teams here in the middle ground. Jacob deGrom was in full force Monday night against the Diamondbacks, striking out eight batters over six shutout innings. He became the first starting pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) to average triple digits on his fastball in a game. That average was 100.1 mph.
15. Toronto Blue Jays
Record: 27-25
Last Week: 12
They won four of six last week on a rainy road trip through the Bronx and Cleveland, and now the Blue Jays will stage another home opener of sorts on Tuesday at Sahlen Field in Buffalo against the visiting Marlins. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s splits may be worth monitoring as the Jays leave behind TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida. He slashed .410/.521/.897 with 11 home runs and 28 RBI in 21 games there and has slashed .259/.362/.444 with five homers and 14 RBI in 31 games everywhere else.
