Throughout the 2014 regular season, some teams will shine and some will falter. Power Rankings will identify who has been moving upwards and who may be hitting a cold spell.
In this week, it is already evident that the baseball season will have its share of hot and cold streaks. Only two of last week’s Top 10 Power Rankings make their mark on the top 10 a second consecutive week.
1. Milwaukee Brewers (6-0) (Last week: --)
Ending last week, the Milwaukee Brewers were on a two-game winning streak against the 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox. The Brewers would keep up these winning ways with a sweep of the Red Sox in Boston. They would continue to Philadelphia to be the visitors for the Phillies home opener. A postponed home opener would take place a day late but Ryan Braun spoiled the pageantry of the home opener with three home runs for seven runs. Carlos Gomez continues to have a great start to his season in many facets of the game with gap-to-gap offense for doubles and triples while also flexing the muscles and going deep a pair of times during their eight-game winning streak. They won a pair of close games with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Brewers may see themselves atop the Power Rankings.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers (4-1) (Last week: --)
How often does a once fallen star replace the lightning rod of attention, both positive and negative? For the Dodgers, it was once and it was storybook against the rival San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers opened the week with a tardy Yasiel Puig replaced with the return of Matt Kemp. A power tandem of Hanley Ramirez and Matt Kemp would provide two home runs each to avoid a series sweep in San Francisco. The other star of the Dodgers lineup, Adrian Gonzalez has found his power stroke, hitting home runs in three consecutive games with the Dodgers winning four of their five games this week.
3. Oakland Athletics (5-1) (Last week: --)
The seemingly snubbed All-Star of 2013, Josh Donaldson may have put on a good showing this week for the Oakland Athletics. After finishing their homestand with a win against the Seattle Mariners, the A’s found themselves on the road up north to Minnesota where Donaldson would make the pitcher’s park look small with a pair of home runs in their three-game sweep of the Twins. They would continue their road trip to Seattle where Josh Donaldson hit his third home run of the week, driving in six runs over the 5-1 record for the week. It will be hard for Donaldson to be overlooked if he can produce like this.
4. Baltimore Orioles (4-2) (Last week: --)
The Baltimore Orioles scored their most runs of the young season on the bats of Delmon Young and Adam Jones when they scored 14 to defeat the New York Yankees. They would split the series against the Yankees but a shutout by Toronto Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan over 6.1 innings took the wind out of their sails upon returning home. The Orioles would see a mixed bag of results when it comes to close games so far this season.
5. Washington Nationals (4-2) (Last week: 7)
After preventing the sweep on the last game of their opening road trip, home is where the home runs seemed to be. After a shutout of the Miami Marlins on their home opener, the Nationals would find the grand slam in the two games to follow from Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond. The Marlins would be an easy sweep for the Nationals, even if they had to mount a comeback on the second game, and then the Nationals had to go back on their road as they continue their streak of division opponents. The Nationals would continue getting offensive production despite losing the first two games of their series in Atlanta as Zimmerman got a home run and Anthony Rendon produces too.
6. St. Louis Cardinals (3-3) (Last week: 10)
The talented Yadier Molina was a frequent contributor to the Cardinals this week. The great catcher brought in six runs over this six-game stretch this week. Despite losing their series at Pittsburgh, the Cardinals had a successful opening home series, winning two games out of three over the Cincinnati Reds. While the talk is about Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha, lesser praised starter Joe Kelly pitched six innings, allowing one unearned run, despite the Cardinals losing to the Chicago Cubs.
7. Chicago White Sox (4-3) (Last week: --)
A pair of Cubans provided some necessary power for the Chicago White Sox this week. Newcomer first baseman Jose Abreu got his first home run out of the way so nicely that he hit another in their lone win in Colorado. Returning home against the Cleveland Indians, Abreu would hit two more. The White Sox would two of the first of a four-game series against the Indians with some offense by fellow Cuban Alexei Ramirez too. The White Sox would finish higher on the Power Rankings if they didn’t give up the most runs (43) of the week too.
8. Cleveland Indians (4-3) (Last week: --)
Strength through the middle infield was evident during this week for the Cleveland Indians. Second baseman Jason Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera were big contributors. Kipnis brought in six runs in three of the four wins this week. The Indians also got an unusual pitching performance by starter Danny Salazar. The young righty struck out 10 White Sox batters over 3.2 innings, or 11 outs. An impressive strikeout total but it isn’t necessarily a good pitching line for a starting pitcher.
9. Los Angeles Angels (3-3) (Last week: --)
Veterans and up-and-coming stars were tremendous contributors to the wins for the Angels this week. Raul Ibanez (41) and Mike Trout (22) were the premier contributors for the Angels. The Angels were able to split the series with the Seattle Mariners after being swept by them in their home opener. They won the series with the Houston Astros and were able to win one of the two extra-inning affairs in an interleague matchup with the visiting New York Mets.
10. Toronto Blue Jays (3-3) (Last week: --)
Closing off the first week of the season, Melky Cabrera would be a slugging leadoff hitter, hitting two home runs out of the leadoff spot in the final two games. In the next two games to start this week, Melky Cabrera did it again. For four consecutive games, Melky Cabrera was the primary slugger of the Blue Jays lineup. Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus provided some offense in all three of the wins during this week. They won two out of three games with the Houston Astros and split the first two games of the three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles.
