My 2016 MLB Power Rankings Week 8

Happy Memorial Day everyone. I hope you were blessed with a three-day weekend. I know I was and I'm wasting the beautiful day inside to write this. Then again, you are wasting it reading this so, thank you. On to the baseball talk!

*Note ~ With a litany of day games today all stats and records will be as up-to-date as I can make them.

1. Chicago Cubs (34-14) ~ After losing eight of 12 the Cubs picked up a series sweep in Wrigley against the Philadelphia Phillies for the first time since 1995. I almost didn't believe that when I heard it. (Last Week's Ranking 1)

2. Washington Nationals (30-21) ~ Stephen Strasburg set a franchise-record by winning his 12th straight decision. He hasn't suffered a loss since September 9th, 2015. (LWR 2)

3. Boston Red Sox (30-20) ~ Jackie Bradley's hit streak ended at 29 games so now the longest active streak belongs to his teammate Xander Bogaerts who has hit safely in 23 straight. He is hitting over .400 during that stretch. (LWR 3)

4. San Francisco Giants (32-20) ~ Hunter Pence is healthy again and pacing the Giants balanced offensive attack. He leads the team in batting average (.309), home runs (seven) and RBI (36). He also smacked three doubles Sunday which helped the Giants tie a club record with eight doubles in a single game. (LWR 6)

5. Pittsburgh Pirates (28-21) ~ Jung Ho Kang is back and he is tearing the cover off the ball. In just 18 games he has 10 extra base hits including 6 home runs which is good for third on the team. (LWR 8)

6. New York Mets (29-21) ~ Matt Harvey pitched into the 7th inning for the first time this season. Could this finally be the tipping point in what has been a terrible first two months for the Dark Knight? (LWR 7)

7. Baltimore Orioles (28-20) ~ Mark Trumbo has an MLB-high 15 home runs on the season. His career high is 34 which he did back in 2013. He's about halfway there already. If he keeps this up the slugger has a real shot at surpassing 50. (LWR 5)

8. Seattle Mariners (28-21) ~ King Felix is averaging just 7.6 strikeouts per 9 innings. If that holds it would be the first time since 2008 he would finish a season averaging less than 8 Ks per 9. (LWR 9)

9. Texas Rangers (29-21) ~ Yu Darvish is back. The Rangers ace returned from Tommy John surgery to toss five innings allowing just one run while striking out seven. If he can produce like that the Rangers just may be the favorites in the American League West. (LWR 10)

10. Los Angeles Dodgers (27-24) ~ Clayton Kershaw has reached the 100-strikeout plateau already and what's more amazing is the fact he has issued just five walks. I'm not a math expert but that's a 20:1 K:BB ratio. That's just stupid. (LWR 12)

11. Chicago White Sox (27-25) ~ Six straight losses for the Pale Hose who have now fallen to 3rd in the AL Central. Someone call Drake LaRoche. This team needs a leader to snap them out of their funk. (LWR 4)

12. Kansas City Royals (27-22) ~ The injury bug has struck in a big way in KC. Third baseman Mike Moustakas is lost for the year with a torn ACL. Left Fielder Alex Gordon has a broken wrist and will be out 4-6 weeks. Catcher Sal Perez has a quad contusion and will miss the next 7-10 days. Rough times for the champs. (LWR 13)

13. Cleveland Indians (26-22) ~ Josh Tomlin became the first Indians pitcher to start a season 7-0 since Dennis Martinez back in 1995. (LWR 14)

14. St. Louis Cardinals (26-25) ~ Two months into the season and Trevor Rosenthal has just eight saves. A big reason is the Cards starting pitchers are having trouble keeping leads. St. Louis can score but the save chances just aren't there for one of the best in the business. (LWR 11)

15. Toronto Blue Jays (26-26) ~ Troy Tulowtizki has landed on the disabled list but it may not be as big a loss as you think. Since coming to Toronto the slugging shortstop has yet to find his footing and is slashing a meager .221/.303/.382 in 87 games. (LWR 16)

16. Miami Marlins (26-24) ~ Marcell Ozuna has been scorching for more than a month. During his MLB-high 36-game on-base streak the outfielder has a whopping 1.164 OPS which is reminiscent of his hitting coach's heyday. That's Barry Bonds for those of you who may have forgotten he is back in baseball. (LWR 17)

17. Philadelphia Phillies (26-24) ~ Philly has figured out how to win close games as evidenced by their 14-4 record in one-run games. It's the other games that give them trouble as evidenced by their 12-20 record in games decided by more than one run. (LWR 15)

18. New York Yankees (24-25) ~ Luis Severino has been activated from the disabled list and optioned back to AAA. The young pitcher was 0-6 with a ghastly 7.46 ERA in his first Spring with the parent club. Maybe I'll see him pitch locally soon. (LWR 20)

19. Tampa Bay Rays (22-26) ~ Tampa's offense is so bad they found a way to lose a game in which they only allowed one hit. Sure it was a two-run homer but if you hold the opposition to just one hit you have to win that game. (LWR 18)

20. Detroit Tigers (24-25) ~ Justin Verlander now has three games this season in which he has reached double-digit strikeouts. He had just one such game in 2014 and 2015 combined. (LWR 22)

21. Colorado Rockies (23-26) ~ Jose Reyes is set to return from his suspension but is there a place for him in the lineup? Rookie Trevor Story seems to have the shortstop position locked up. Could Colorado find a trade partner? (LWR 19)

22. Oakland A's (22-29) ~ Khris Davis showcased his power in Milwaukee the past two seasons and it has translated well to Oakland. Davis has 14 home runs and 34 RBI so far and looks to be on pace to surpass his career-highs of 27 and 69 if he can stay healthy. (LWR 21)

23. Houston Astros (22-29) ~ Carlos Gomez is set to return from the disabled list tomorrow and if he can look more like the player he was in past seasons Houston could be ready to get back into the AL West race. He needs to be better than the player who hit just .182 with zero home runs and five RBI in his first 121 at bats. (LWR 25)

24. Arizona Diamondbacks (23-29) ~ For the second year in a row the offense is carrying Arizona. The only thing holding this team back is a pitching staff that ranks in the bottom five in baseball in most of the traditional stats. This is also a team that tried to address the pitching by acquiring Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller in the offseason. So far it has not paid off. (LWR 23)

25. Los Angeles Angels (22-28) ~ Tim Lincecum may be just to weeks away from making his Angels debut. They are in dire need of pitching help so if he has anything left in the tank it will be a big boost for the Angels. (LWR 24)

26. Milwaukee Brewers (23-28) ~ Jonathan Lucroy had himself a weekend. The veteran catcher had three consecutive games in which he recorded three RBI. That tied a club record set by Hall of Famer Robin Yount back in 1987. They are the only two in team history to accomplish the feat. (LWR 26)

27. San Diego Padres (20-31) ~ James Loney, who spent all season in AAA, was sent to the Mets for cash considerations. The veteran was slashing .342/.373/.424 in the PCL. Shouldn't San Diego have considered how he could fit into their own plans before giving him away for pennies on the dollar? (LWR 27)

28. Minnesota Twins (15-34) ~ Joe Mauer and Miguel Sano have each homered in three consecutive games. For a team with not much to cheer for that is worth noting. (LWR 29)

29. Atlanta Braves (15-35) ~ Their series win versus the Marlins last week was their first home series win of 2016. It took them until Memorial Day weekend to get that done. That said, the Braves have played better over the past two weeks. (LWR 30)

30. Cincinnati Reds (16-34) ~ The team is a dumpster fire but Adam Duvall has been a bright spot. He has 21 RBI in May which is fourth-best in the NL during that time. (LWR 28)

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