2015 MLB Power Rankings Week 22

September is here and the amount of regular season games are waning. That means it's playoff positioning time. Will the New York Mets win the National League East? Are the Houston Astros for real? Will the Toronto Blue Jays end baseball's longest current playoff drought? All of these questions will be answered in just a few short weeks. Until then, it's on to the rankings.

*Note ~ Due to the holiday all stats and records will be as current as possible.

1. St. Louis Cardinals (87-50) ~ Two straight losses means the Cards have finally hit the 50 loss plateau on the season. Of course they are the last to accumulate that amount and they have to play just a hair over .500 the rest of the way out to reach 100 wins on the season. (Last Week's Ranking 1)

2. Kansas City Royals (82-54) ~ Like the Cardinals KC is simply rolling towards the playoffs. With a 12-game lead in the American League Central it won't be long before they officially clinch their second straight playoff berth. (LWR 2)

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (81-55) ~ They have been the second-best team in the National League for much of the season but now all of a sudden have to pay attention to the hard-charging Chicago Cubs. Hosting the NL WIld Card game might not be the lock the Bucs thought it was. (LWR 3)

4. Chicago Cubs (79-57) ~ With a home run on Sunday Kris Bryant tied the club rookie record for RBI (84). I'd say he has a good bet to far surpass that with roughly one month left. (LWR 4)

5. Toronto Blue Jays (78-59) ~ Josh Donaldson raised his MLB-leading RBI total to 115 today as he pads his stats in what has been an MVP-calibur season. Remind me again why Oakland was so eager to dump this guy? (LWR 5)

6. New York Yankees (77-58) ~ Mark Teixeira, and his team-leading 31 home runs, was finally placed on the disabled list last week with a shin issue that has left the slugger on crutches. While he says he is 100% coming back before the end of the season I will listen more to the doctors. (LWR 6)

7. Los Angeles Dodgers (78-58) ~ Their three-game sweep of the San Fracisco Giants may have been enough to secure the NL West. That is huge because it looks almost certain that the Central will send three teams to the postseason which only leaves one spot for the Dodgers and Giants to fight over. (LWR 9)

8. Houston Astros (75-62) ~ Dallas Keuchel became the first 17-game winner in the AL with a win on Sunday. He is padding his stats for a surprise run at the Cy Young award. (LWR 7)

9. New York Mets (76-61) ~ All eyes are on the Mets and how they will handle Matt Harvey's workload the rest of the season. For now, they just have to focus on his huge start tomorrow in their series against the Washington Nationals. (LWR 8)

10. Texas Rangers (71-64) ~ They are in hot pursuit of Houston for the AL West division crown and I think most experts had those teams finishing 4-5. Just another reason why baseball is the best. (LWR 10)

11. Washington Nationals (71-66) ~ They sent Max Scherzer to the mound opposite Jon Niese and came up empty in their huge series against the Mets. Time may be running out for the Nats as the NL East, like the NL West, will likely only have one representative in this years playoffs. (LWR 12)

12. Minnesota Twins (70-66) ~ As usual the Twins pitching staff leaves a lot to be desired. That said, they have already gone on record stating they will not promote top prospect Jose Berrios. Wait til next year Twins fans. (LWR 14)

13. Los Angeles Angels (69-67) ~ Manager Mike Scioscia picked up his 1,400th career regular-season victory over the weekend which puts him at 27th all-time. He has a good chance to move into the top 25 before season's end. (LWR 13)

14. San Francisco Giants (71-66) ~ A late-season seven-game losing streak has just about put the final nail in the coffin on the Giants' season. Buster Posey did, however, hit his 100th career home run Sunday. It's the little things. (LWR 11)

15. Tampa Bay Rays (67-70) ~ Already one of the more frugal teams in MLB rumor has it that the Rays will look to cut more payroll for the 2016 season. They are run so well that if they had any money to spend they would be a legitimate World Series threat each year. (LWR 16)

16. Baltimore Orioles (65-72) ~ Chris Davis is leading all of baseball with 40 home runs. Will the impending free agent follow fellow slugger Nelson Cruz and leave Baltimore? That's a lot of power to replace. (LWR 15)

17. Arizona Diamondbacks (65-72) ~ Grumpy Cat "threw out" the first pitch of today's Diamondbacks game. You can't make this stuff up. (LWR 17)

18. San Diego Padres (65-72) ~ After missing most of the season Wil Myers is back in the lineup in San Diego. In a lost year if Myers can produce down the stretch it could leave some warm fuzzies for Padres fans going into next year. (LWR 18)

19. Cleveland Indians (67-69) ~ Sports Illustrated's, or more specifically Joe Sheehan's, preseason pick to win the World Series remains two games under .500 a week into September. Sometimes it's fun to go back and look at what you thought would happen before the games are played and see how that unfolded. I'm sure Joe would like to have that one back. (LWR 20)

20. Chicago White Sox (65-71) ~ They swept the Royals and that's the kind of baseball I expected the Sox to play this year when I picked them to secure a postseason spot prior to the season. I might like to have that one back. (LWR 19)

21. Boston Red Sox (65-72) ~ At the end of July Joe Kelly was 2-6 with a 5.94 ERA. After picking up the win in his last seven starts he now sits at 9-6 witah 4.84 ERA. It may not be the Cy Young award-winning season he predicted but if he can replicate this in 2016 the Sox will take it. (LWR 21)

22. Seattle Mariners (66-71) ~ General Manager Jack Zduriencik was already let go and manager Lloyd McLendon may be next out the door as Seattle will look to put this disappointing season behind them as quickly as possible. (LWR 23)

23. Detroit Tigers (63-74) ~ Justin Verlander has given up three or fewer runs in eight of his last nine starts. That is promising as he looked lost in his first few starts back from the disabled list. (LWR 22)

24. Milwaukee Brewers (61-76) ~ After a sweep last week they couldn't quite do it again against Cincinnati but they did take the series and have a nice 3 1/2 game lead over the Reds to stay out of the NL Central cellar. (LWR 26)

25. Oakland A's (58-79) ~ They have the worst record in the AL yet maintain a zero run differential. That means this is a team that had some serious bad luck. (LWR 25)

26. Cincinnati Reds (57-79) ~ Lost in a miserable season is the fact that Joey Votto is having himself a year. The first baseman is slashing .318/.462/.565 while leading the league in walks for the fourth time in the last five seasons. That other year? He was limited to 62 games due to injury. (LWR 27)

27. Colorado Rockies (56-80) ~ Kyle Kendrick blasted his first career home run today in Petco Park no less! Good on ya Kyle. (LWR 28)

28. Miami Marlins (57-81) ~ Jose Fernandez could possibly return this week after dealing with a biceps injury for the last month. Why the Marlins wouldn't just shut him down is a mystery to me. (LWR 30)

29. Atlanta Braves (54-83) ~ The battle for the number one pick is on in Phildalephia. So far the edge goes to the Phillies as the Braves have a 2-0 lead in the second inning. (LWR 24)

30. Philadelphia Phillies (53-84) ~ Three teams from the NL East are the bottom three in the rankings and the Nationals still might not make the playoffs. LOL. (LWR 29)

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