FanGraphs Power Rankings: May 13–19

The assorted division races are beginning to form up now that we’ve handed the quarter pole within the common season. The Astros lastly awakened from their early season slumber, reminding us that it’s nonetheless not too late for a few of these disappointing groups to make a run into the playoff image.

This season, we’ve revamped our energy rankings. The outdated mannequin wasn’t very reactive to the ups and downs of any given workforce’s efficiency all through the season, and by September, it was giving far an excessive amount of weight to a workforce’s full physique of labor with out taking into consideration how the membership had modified, improved, or declined since March. That’s why we’ve determined to construct our energy rankings mannequin utilizing a modified Elo score system. In case you’re acquainted with chess rankings or FiveThirtyEight’s defunct sports activities part, you’ll know that Elo is a sublime answer that measures groups’ relative power and could be very reactive to current efficiency.

To keep away from overweighting current outcomes in the course of the season, we weigh every workforce’s uncooked Elo rank utilizing our coinflip playoff odds (particularly, we regress the playoff odds by 50% and weigh these in opposition to the uncooked Elo rating, rising in weight because the season progresses to a most of 25%). As one of the best and worst groups kind themselves out all through the season, they’ll filter to the highest and backside of the rankings, whereas the train will stay reactive to scorching streaks or chilly snaps.

First up are the total rankings, introduced in a sortable desk. Under that, I’ve grouped the groups into tiers with feedback on a handful of golf equipment. You’ll discover that the official ordinal rankings don’t all the time match the tiers — I’ve taken some editorial liberties when grouping groups collectively — however usually, the ordering is constant. One factor to notice: The playoff odds listed within the tables beneath are our commonplace Depth Charts odds, not the coin flip odds which are used within the rating components.

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The Yankees leapt to the highest of those rankings with sweeps of the Twins and White Sox final week. They’ve now received seven straight and 13 of their final 15. Juan Soto and Aaron Choose are powering the offense as anticipated — together with a resurgent Giancarlo Stanton — however probably the most spectacular a part of this scorching streak has been their pitching workers. Throughout this stretch, New York has allowed simply 2.4 runs per recreation and gave up a complete of six runs final week. The complete beginning rotation has stepped up in Gerrit Cole’s absence, with Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil representing the 2 largest surprises.

The Phillies stretched their division lead over the Braves to 5 video games with a wild sequence win in opposition to the Mets and a sweep of the Nationals final week. It’s true Philadelphia has performed the weakest schedule of any workforce to this point — it confronted the Braves within the first sequence of the season and hasn’t met a workforce with a report over .500 since then — however the Phillies are banking sufficient wins now that it may not matter if they arrive again right down to earth as soon as the schedule toughens up.

Whereas Elly De La Cruz could have stolen the highlight on Thursday in Los Angeles, the Dodgers received the ultimate three video games of their sequence in opposition to the Reds to take the sequence and held De La Cruz hitless over the weekend. They personal the biggest division lead and greatest run differential in baseball.

Max Fried slipped up on Friday after an extended stretch of dominant begins, permitting three runs on 9 hits in opposition to the Padres. After a rainout on Saturday, the Braves misplaced a stinker on Sunday and are lined up for a doubleheader as we speak. They will nonetheless be counted among the many higher echelons in baseball, nevertheless it’s clear they’re not firing on all cylinders but.

Each the Royals and Guardians swept their weekend sequence, although Cleveland’s wins in opposition to the Twins are way more impactful than the three wins Kansas Metropolis racked up in opposition to the A’s. The Guardians nonetheless lead the AL Central and knocked Minnesota down a notch, however the Royals are on tempo for his or her second greatest season in franchise historical past if they’ll preserve this up.

The Mariners went 3-3 in opposition to two of the opposite groups on this tier final week, which is just about what you’d count on from their strong however flawed roster. They nonetheless haven’t solved their run scoring points and Julio Rodríguez’s energy outage to start out the season is beginning to turn out to be a bit of regarding. In the meantime, the Orioles are attempting to maintain up with the high-flying Yankees; Baltimore’s sequence win over Seattle actually helps in that regard.

A variety of ups and downs on this tier final week. The Twins’ scorching streak flamed out after they have been swept by the Yankees and Guardians; the Cubs didn’t do a lot better, shedding each of their sequence to the Braves and Pirates. On the opposite finish of the spectrum, the Rays went 5-2 in opposition to the Pink Sox and Blue Jays, banking two key sequence wins in opposition to some division rivals.

Right here come the Astros. With two wins in opposition to the Brewers over the weekend, Houston has now received three sequence in a row and 9 of its final 11 video games. Alex Bregman’s bat has all of the sudden awoken as he raised his wRC+ from 58 to 87 over the past week. The Astros have an enormous four-game sequence in Seattle looming in every week they usually’ll hope to proceed their momentum forward of that showdown.

A bunch of the groups on this tier continued their early season struggles and have fallen even additional behind within the playoff image. The Giants and Tigers have been the one two amongst these groups to win a sequence final week.

San Francisco emphatically swept the Rockies over the weekend, although that’s a small comfort contemplating the unhealthy information it obtained about Jung Hoo Lee’s shoulder damage; the Giants’ middle fielder can be out for the season after dislocating his shoulder final Sunday. Blake Snell is on the mend and ought to be activated off the IL quickly, however there are nonetheless far too many position gamers sidelined at present, forcing the Giants to show to their shallow depth. Fortunately, Luis Matos has made a direct impression, gathering 16 RBIs and recording hits in 5 of the seven video games since being recalled to cowl for Lee.

The Cardinals, Pirates, Angels, and Marlins all confirmed some pluck final week, incomes sequence wins over some excessive profile opponents. St. Louis received each of its sequence in opposition to the Angels and Pink Sox and might’t be counted out of the NL playoff image simply but; Pittsburgh took three of 4 from the Cubs over the weekend, a sequence highlighted by a dominant begin from Paul Skenes; and the Marlins picked up sequence wins over the Tigers and Mets.

With Mike Trout sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Angels have had only a few causes for optimism just lately. Fortunately, Jo Adell’s long-awaited breakout is one thing they’ll construct upon. It’s not a franchise-altering improvement, nevertheless it’s a optimistic notice for a company that has desperately wanted one this 12 months.

After reaching .500 with a 20-4 win over the Marlins on Might 4, the A’s have received precisely twice within the 15 video games since then. Their nosedive has coincided with a very robust stretch of their schedule, with sequence in opposition to the Rangers, Mariners, Astros, and Royals bringing them again right down to Earth. Mason Miller has gotten the entire consideration because the standout on this roster, however there are a couple of different breakouts that might turn out to be beneficial commerce bait in a while this summer time.

The Rockies put collectively a pleasant little seven-game win streak with sweeps of the Rangers and Padres earlier than getting swept by the Giants final weekend. Ezequiel Tovar has rewarded the group’s belief in him with a incredible begin to the season. Nolan Jones ought to be activated off the IL this week and hopefully he can begin pounding the ball once more in order that Colorado can correctly play spoiler to the remainder of the groups within the NL West.