The Oakland Athletics slide down to the bottom of the MLB Power Rankings this week. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
This week’s MLB Power Rankings include some fans filled with glee while others checking if they’re living through an American horror story.
The final full week of August baseball begins today. The MLB Power Rankings might not have had an entire shake up but a couple of the best teams definitely dropped off while some climbed closer to the top.
Late August is the finale of the dog days of summer. Kids go back to school soon. Air conditioners get taken out of the window. The sun sets a little sooner and we dread having to spend an entire afternoon picking up fall leaves.
The baseball season has plenty of games left for teams to make up ground or come tumbling down like those leaves in our backyards. In this week’s MLB Power Rankings, some of the best are filled with glee while others are an obvious American horror story in the works.
30) MLB Power Rankings: Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics get the privilege of being behind everyone else in this week’s MLB Power Rankings. It’s difficult to be critical of the players when it’s clear many of them don’t belong in the major leagues. Cole Irvin leads the team in innings pitched. Nobody has more plate appearances than catcher Sean Murphy whose greatest gift is his glove.
The Athletics are having a rough 2022 season and the future is so incredibly unknown that it makes sense why the fans don’t even bother showing up for a game. Sports fans in Oakland are fully invested in the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. They don’t even have the Raiders anymore to cleanse them of the Athletics.
29) MLB Power Rankings: Washington Nationals
This week, the Washington Nationals crawl on their elbows out from last place in the MLB Power Rankings. Rejoice. You’ve won something.
The Nationals aren’t much better than the Athletics but at least they have some semblance of a plan in place. They have their own uncertainty with ownership. However, the fans do know they’re staying put in D.C. That and not completely falling off the face of the earth after trading Juan Soto help move them up to 29.
28) MLB Power Rankings: Detroit Tigers
The American League Central race should have had four teams in it right now. Someone forgot to tell the Detroit Tigers they were meant to compete in it. A lot of the fault lies with the offense that probably won’t have a single player even reach 20 home runs. Dingers aren’t everything but with no other way to score runs, the Tigers have given their fans very little to cheer about.
Several of the team’s pitchers, including Tarik Skubal, are now out for the season. It’s like the final week of your senior year of high school and no shot at improving your grades. The Tigers laid an egg this year. In what should have been a nice change for the organization, they came up so short we have to wonder if they ever even heard the race began.
27) MLB Power Rankings: Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds look much different today than they did a month ago. We can thank the trade deadline for that. They were wisely active and managed to turn the page on what’s next for this ball club.
The 2022 season was lost early on for them. Now is their chance to sample what’s in store for next year. While a couple of other losing ball clubs may have bought in that they could pull off a magic trick or should hold onto veterans, the Reds depleting everything they could. Good for them. It was the move to make.
26) MLB Power Rankings: Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are finally beginning to have a record that fits in best with their horrible run-differential. Another lost year for this team, at least some young players are getting their feet wet.
A big story for the Pirates in the offseason might be a possible Bryan Reynolds trade. As much as he’d fit in and be a necessary player to keep around, unloading this talented center fielder for multiple pieces might be the far wiser move. Until then, try to win some games. PNC Park is much better-looking when the home team has a chance at victory.