The Oakland Athletics are getting cozy with the last spot in the MLB Power Rankings with another finish at number 30. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
This week’s MLB Power Rankings includes big jumps for the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox.
It’s the final Monday of June and the MLB Power Rankings continue to put distance between the best and worst teams in the sport. There are some obvious teams at the top with usual poor performers at the bottom.
This week’s ranking includes some major changes at the top compared to where the 30 clubs ranked last week. A few huge series for some, a couple of rotten weeks for others, and the power has changed drastically.
More than half of the season remains for all teams so dramatic changes are possible for everyone. However, some slow starters we all expected to be World Series contenders are flexing hard while some of the game’s most disappointing clubs continue to perplex us all.
30) MLB Power Rankings: Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics win this year’s award for meeting expectations the most. They are at the bottom of the MLB Power Rankings exactly where they belong. The front office set them up perfectly for a rough year. It’s getting uglier and will only get worse.
The big story from this past week for them was Frankie Montas nearly throwing a no-hitter only for the Athletics to end up losing the game. It perfectly sums up their season. They don’t have much offense at all. Single game collapses like this are available to them every single day. Getting unseated as the least powerful club in the sport will take an even more catastrophic ending from another club.
29) MLB Power Rankings: Washington Nationals
The problems plaguing the Washington Nationals are far different from the Athletics. Washington is a decent hitting team even in the absence of Juan Soto putting up MVP numbers. He’s having an off-year which should have people wondering if it’s due to a lack of competitiveness or if something else more major is going on.
What has made the Nationals so bad this year is their pitching. They don’t have it. Josiah Gray is having a nice learning experience year where he has been pretty much their lone reliable starter. The bullpen, filled with many veterans past their prime and younger players better off in Triple-A, has been roughed around, too. The city of Washington cannot catch a break with its sports teams right now.
28) MLB Power Rankings: Cincinnati Reds
It’s important to remember the Cincinnati Reds are better than their record. Even taking this into consideration, they aren’t that good. Brandon Drury is going to win the club’s Triple Crown this year. That’s not a winning recipe.
Like many other teams near the bottom, things will only worsen for the Reds after the trade deadline. The few valuable pieces they do have to trade away will put holes on the roster they won’t be able to properly fill. Cincinnati has already pushed many young players to the forefront this year. They have struggled mightily in just about every chance they have gotten.
27) MLB Power Rankings: Kansas City Royals
Is there a positive takeaway for the Kansas City Royals this year? Catcher MJ Melendez looks like he could be ready to take over for Salvador Perez sooner than later. Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor represent two solid trade candidates for the club to help acquire some decent players. Other than that, it’s not going their way.
The Royals will remain one of the weakest teams in MLB for the rest of the year. There is little doubt about it. They were built imperfectly over the last few years. Moves like bringing in Benintendi last year and signing Zack Greinke this past winter are a bit curious when the rest of the roster is clearly not ready to compete.
26) MLB Power Rankings: Detroit Tigers
It has been a challenge for the Detroit Tigers to score runs this year. Even with Javier Baez beginning to produce a little more, it’s far too late into the season for them to do much more than finish ahead of the Royals.
Detroit does have a nice bullpen which should get picked apart in the next few weeks by other clubs. They’d be wise to hold onto guys with control but players like Michael Fulmer should definitely get traded before hitting free agency. The abundance of young and promising players on the Tigers does make for some future optimism. In 2022, it’s still cloudy with a chance of maybe scoring a run.