2014 MLB Power Rankings Week 8

Ah, Memorial Day. A great day for cookouts and baseball. I spent my afternoon watching my Atlanta Braves blow a five run lead against the Boston Red Sox. I hope yours was better. Anywho, this week's rankings will run a little differently than usual. There was a bevy of afternoon games so rather than wrack my brain to find the stats and records for everyone prior to today's games I am just going to go with what I find. So some will be through Sunday's games and some will be through today's. Next week we will be back on track.

1. San Francisco Giants (32-18) ~ San Fran has the best record in baseball and they are tied for the best run differential (+42) in the National League. This team is winning with offense. They aren't your father's Giants. (Last Week's Ranking 4)

2. Oakland A's (30-20) ~ Like their rivals across the bay these A's are winning games with offense as they sport the best run differential (+90) in all of baseball despite being on a four game losing skid. (LWR 1)

3. Detroit Tigers (28-18) ~ Detroit has 39 stolen bases as a team so far this year which is four more than they had in all of 2013. The culture is shifting in the Tigers' clubhouse under first year manager Brad Ausmus. (LWR 2)

4. Milwaukee Brewers (30-22) ~ Things are starting to unravel in Milwaukee. Their division lead is down to a mere game and can be even closer after tonight if St. Louis defeats the Yankees. (LWR 3)

5. Los Angeles Angels (28-21) ~ The Angels are hot and this is all without Mike Trout looking like Mike Trout and with Josh Hamilton on the disabled list. If this offense comes together at full strength they can be a force to be reckoned with. (LWR 7)

6. Colorado Rockies (27-23) ~ If the playoffs started today Colorado would be in. Will that be the case when the season actually ends? I hope so. To me, October baseball in Colorado should be a yearly occurrence. (LWR 5)

7. Atlanta Braves (28-22) ~ I don't get to see them on TV a lot, being that I live in Pennsylvania, but when I do, I don't like to see them blow five run leads like they did today. (LWR 6)

8. St. Louis Cardinals (28-22) ~ The Cards are the hottest team in the NL right now and as I mentioned earlier they can cut their division deficit to a mere half game with a victory today against the New York Yankees. (LWR 11)

9. Los Angeles Dodgers (27-24) ~ I watched Josh Beckett hurl his first career no-hitter on Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies. The only thing that made it sweeter was watching it with a Phillies fan. (LWR 8)

10. Baltimore Orioles (26-23) ~ Nelson Cruz is leading the American League in home runs (16), RBI (44) all while hitting .295 and slugging .612. Why is nobody talking about him? (LWR 9)

11. Miami Marlins (26-25) ~ If someone can explain to me why the Marlins signed former MVP Miguel Tejada to a minor league deal I'm all ears. He hasn't been an effective player in half a decade. (LWR 14)

12. Toronto Blue Jays (29-22) ~ Edwin Encarnacion is raking, the Jays are scorching and find themselves atop the AL East. Oh, and Jose Bautista is officially the first professional baseball player to follow me on Twitter. Thanks Joey Bats. You will forever be one of my favorites. (LWR 18)

13. New York Yankees (26-23) ~ Well, it finally happened. Six days ago the Chicago Cubs handed Masahiro Tanaka suffered his first regular season defeat since 2012. He then went out and shut down the Chicago White Sox yesterday to resume his winning ways. (LWR 10)

14. Washington Nationals (25-26) ~ Two years ago the Nats took baseball by storm and finished the season with the best record in the bigs. Fast forward to the present and the team that has all the talent in the world is struggling to stay above .500 as we are ready to put the first third of the season in the rear view. (LWR 12)

15. Kansas City Royals (24-25) ~ KC has scored exactly as many runs (192) on the season that they have given up. It's always fun to see a zero run differential. Not fun if it is the team you root for but I am not a Royals fan so it's fun for me. (LWR 16)

16. Cincinnati Reds (22-26) ~ Having Aroldis Chapman back should help solidify the bullpen which has not been kind to the Reds starters or their fans for that matter. (LWR 17)

17. Texas Rangers (26-25) ~ Losing Prince Fielder for the year is just going to be too much for the Rangers to overcome. Injuries will officially sink 2014 for Texas. (LWR 15)

18. Seattle Mariners (24-25) ~ While Robinson Cano hasn't missed a tick in Seattle the rest of the offense is just not showing up. This team will only go as far as their pitching staff will take them. (LWR 19)

19. Chicago White Sox (26-27) ~ In his first start in nearly five weeks due to a stint on the disabled list Chris Sale threw six innings of one-hit ball while striking out ten. Hasn't missed a beat. (LWR 22)

20. Tampa Bay Rays (23-28) ~ Alex Cobb is back from the DL and has not allowed a run in his last three starts. (LWR 21)

21. Boston Red Sox (21-29) ~ The New England Nightmare is over! Boston snapped their ten-game losing streak today in Atlanta coming back from a five-run deficit. (LWR 13)

22. Minnesota Twins (23-25) ~ In case you didn't know Phil Hughes is thriving away from the Big Apple. He has a 1.08 ERA over his last five starts. (LWR 23)

23. New York Mets (22-28) ~ The wheels are falling off in New York. And by that I mean speedster Eric Young has landed on the disabled list with hamstring issues. (LWR 20)

24. Cleveland Indians (24-28) ~ If someone can explain to me how the Indians swept the Tigers I would appreciate it. I still can't figure it out. (LWR 27)

25. Pittsburgh Pirates (23-27) ~ Pittsburgh's lost its top two starters last season and that is a big part of why the team is scuffling right now. Oh, wait. Francisco Liriano is on the team still? Oh, that's right, he's just 0-5 with an ERA north of five. (LWR 26)

26. Philadelphia Phillies (21-26) ~ Did you hear the Phillies were no-hit this weekend? Just wanted to make sure you got that. (LWR 25)

27. San Diego Padres (23-28) ~ Bring back the dinosaur that threw out the first pitch a few weeks ago. At least that was an exciting product on the field. (LWR 24)

28. Arizona Diamondbacks (20-32) ~ I'm really just waiting for Kevin Towers and Kirk Gibson to be fired. I mean, why else bring in Tony LaRussa? (LWR 28)

29. Chicaco Cubs (18-30) ~ They signed Manny Ramirez to be a minor league player/coach. Yes, that Manny Ramirez. (LWR 29)

30. Houston Astros (19-32) ~ Dallas Keuchel has accounted for nearly a third of Houston's wins this year. For those of you that aren't match majors he has six wins. (LWR 30)