The Yankees look to still be unstoppable, but with only a 3 game lead over the Rays, they still need to play hard with plenty of time till the playoffs. Looks to be an exciting couple of months leading to the playoffs this season.
Biggest Jump: The Detroit Tigers jumped three spots from 17 to 14 after splitting their series against the Rays.
Biggest Drop: The Colorado Rockies dropped five spots from 11 to 16 after losing six straight games.
Rank (LW) Team Record
1. (1) New York Yankees 63-35
The Yankees went 9-3 during their 12-game homestand after the All-Star break. Even with Andy Pettitte’s recent addition to the DL, they continue to win and ride towards the playoffs as the hottest team in baseball.
2. (2) Tampa Bay Rays 60-38
Started their 11-game homestand with a bang behind Matt Garza’s history making, with the first no-hitter in Ray’s history.
3. (3) Texas Rangers 58-41
I never would have thought that the Texas Rangers would be one of the top teams in the league during the offseason, let alone have a 7.5 game lead ahead of the Angels and the Athletics. After taking three of four against the Angels, they hope to continue their winnings with their next four series within the division.
4. (4) Atlanta Braves 57-41
Even though they are 5-5 this half of the season, they further increase their lead in the NL East behind Brain McCann, Martin Prado, and Matt Diaz’s three home runs each since the break.
5. (5) San Diego Padres 58-39
Went 4-2 on the east coast including a sweep of the Pirates. This team looks to increase their divisional lead against their rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
6. (6) Boston Red Sox 56-44
During their 10-game road trip against the AL West division, they have gone 4-4. Hopefully the move to replace Kevin Cash with Victor Martinez as catcher will help enough to finish off the Angels with a sweep on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
7. (7) St. Louis Cardinals 55-44
After winning eight straight and then dropping three straight, they look to turn the tables after Sunday night’s extra inning with against the Cubs. Matt Holliday is currently on an 11-game hit streak batting 13-for-36 with an average of .361.
8. (10) San Francisco Giants 56-44
9-3 since the break including a recent sweep of the Diamondbacks, hope to claim the lead in the NL West with a four-game series against the Marlins, and then a series against the Dodgers.
9. (8) Cincinnati Reds 55-46
Cincinnati Red’s rookie sensation Mike Leake is pitching 7-2 with an ERA of 3.57.
10. (9) Chicago White Sox 54-44
Their top pitchers such as Freddy Garcia are going to need to play better and more than 1 1/3 innings, if they are going to want to keep their close lead over the Twins in the AL Central.
11. (13) Minnesota Twins 54-46
Justin Morneau’s continued absence has not been as bad as some may have thought after winning five of their last six and after winning 19-1 Monday night against the Royals and Zach Greinke, they are showing the league how much they want to win. In Monday night’s big win, Joe Mauer went 5-for-5 with 3 runs and 7 RBIs.
12. (14) Philadelphia Phillies 53-46
After taking five in a row including an extra innings win against the Cardinals, and a four-game sweep of the Rockies, they are slowly catching up to the braves with a series against Arizona and Washington to finish off July.
13. (15) Los Angeles Dodgers 53-46
Quite a turn around after losing their first six of the half, with winning four of their last five. With two series in San Diego and San Francisco, and then a four-game series against San Diego again shows a tough road to first place while trying to beat the two teams ahead of them.
14. (17) Detroit Tigers 51-47
Only three games behind the White Sox, they lost another starter to injury to make three starters out, Brandon Inge, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Guillen. This team is in some big trouble, they were swept four games by the Indians and failed to hit on Matt Garza on Monday night.
15. (12) Los Angeles Angels 52-50
They pulled off a big trade with their five-player swap with Arizona to get Dan Haren. Despite losing his debut for the Angels, and leaving with a right arm contusion after being hit by a line drive, he is a great pitcher and should help them win.
16. (11) Colorado Rockies 51-48
After losing six straight, hopefully Troy Tulowitzki’s return will help them win.
17. (19) Oakland Athletics 50-48
Winning their first three series this half, they are now tied with the Angels for second place behind the Rangers. Tuesday is the start of their series against the Rangers and the first game starts with Gio Gonzalez facing Cliff Lee.
18. (16) New York Mets 50-49
2-9 road trip through the NL West, including being swept by the Diamondbacks. They definitely need to make some changes if they want to win again.
19. (18) Toronto Blue Jays 51-49
Jose Bautista and Vernon Wells power this team with extra base hits despite being 13 games out of first place.
20. (20) Florida Marlins 50-49
8-2 in their last ten winning by 1 run 6 times. Josh Johnson looks for win number 11 Tuesday night in San Francisco.
21. (22) Milwaukee Brewers 48-53
Possible trades to be made with this team; however, they have won five straight and look to continue against the Reds.
22. (21) Chicago Cubs 46-54
Possibly Ted Lilly’s last week as a Cub, but on the bright side Carlos Zambrano is supposed to apologize to his team by the weekend.
23. (24) Kansas City Royals 42-57
David DeJesus is gone for the season, and the Royals gave up 19 runs and 20 hits on Monday night, who knows if things will look up from here.
24. (23) Washington Nationals 42-57
Were just swept by Milwaukee over the weekend, but Strasburg looks to get his sixth win in his upcoming start.
25. (25) Cleveland Indians 41-58
Surprising start to the second half with winning their first six, however, they have lost four of five since.
26. (26) Houston Astros 40-59
Wandy Rodriguez has gone 5-1 his last six starts and prevented the Astros being swept Sunday against the Reds.
27. (27) Seattle Mariners 39-61
Their offense ranks last in batting average, hits, home runs, runs, and RBIs.
28. (28) Arizona Diamondbacks 37-62
In their three series this half, they were swept by the Padres, then swept the Mets, and were just swept in a four-game series against the Giants. However, they did just acquire four pitchers in their trade with the Angels for Dan Haren.
29. (27) Pittsburgh Pirates 34-64
Their starting pitchers are 18-53, and are currently on a four-game slide.
30. (30) Baltimore Orioles 31-68
2-9 since the All-Star break, and continue to lose even after getting Brian Roberts and Kevin Millwood off the DL.
Original Story:
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