Power Rankings: Red-hot Astros rise, struggling White Sox plummet

Thanks to a 10-game win streak, the Astros have bashed their way into the top five of this week's Power Rankings, while the slumping White Sox continue to fall.

The Cardinals remain first in our latest Power Rankings, but this week's big story is the rapid rise of the Astros. On the strength of a 10-game win streak and the second-best record in baseball, Houston has rocketed all the way from 11th place to third in the rankings. Overall, St. Louis hung on to the top spot thanks to three of the six first-place votes this week, with the Dodgers right behind them at No. 2. The Astros check in at third, with another red-hot American League team, the Yankees, jumping up to fourth. The Royals round out the top five.

Last September's collapse, horrible 2015 start spell end for Roenicke

It's been all systems go in Houston through the first month of the season, with the team sporting an 18–7 record and a two-game lead in the AL West. The Astros bashed their way through a perfect 7–0 week, sweeping the Padres and the Mariners thanks to some stellar offense. In those seven games, Houston crushed 18 home runs—more than nine different teams have on the season—and now leads the majors with 40 round-trippers. Leading the home run barrage was Evan Gattis. The burly designated hitter was ice cold to start the year, hitting just .156/.194/.250 with 22 strikeouts and three walks in 67 plate appearances through April 27. But last week, Gattis exploded for five homers and 12 RBIs, including a two-homer game to finish Houston's sweep of Seattle on Sunday.

A-Rod's actions going forward will dictate meaning of 660th home run

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the Astros are the rapidly sinking White Sox, who are 8–14 on the year and fell all the way to 28th in this week's rankings. Chicago has lost five straight games and went winless last week, getting routed by the Orioles in an empty Camden Yards and then dropping a entire four-game series to the Twins on the road. Pitching has been the sore spot for the White Sox, who gave up 39 runs in those five games. Jeff Samardzija's 4.78 ERA is the best mark among the team's five main starters, and the back of the rotation has been absolutely hammered, with John Danks and Hector Noesi sporting ERA+ marks of 66 and 62, respectively. Most troubling, however, has to be the slow start from Chris Sale. The White Sox' ace has a 5.32 ERA in 22 innings and was lit up by Minnesota in his lone start last week, giving up nine runs (eight earned) in just three innings. Sale's peripherals are still relatively strong (8.2 strikeout-per-nine ratio and only two walks per nine), but the results have yet to come for the lanky lefthander.

April non-stars: Choo, Utley among those hoping for brighter days

Speaking of the Twins, they were one of this week's biggest risers, going all the way from 28th to 19th. They had a slow start to the week, dropping two of three to Detroit, but a four-game sweep of Chicago has them sitting a game above .500 at 13–12 and just 3 1/2 games back of the Tigers in the AL Central. Minnesota's bats did the heavy lifting last week, scoring 45 runs in seven games, including 12- and 13-run outbursts against the White Sox. Trevor Plouffe led the way with three homers and 11 RBIs, and Danny Santana hit a scorching .393 (11-for-28), but the Twins could use more pop. Their 16 home runs rank next-to-last in the American League, and of their seven players to have gone yard, only one—Plouffe, with five—has hit more than two. Three Twins regulars haven't hit a longball yet, including Joe Mauer, though the veteran first baseman does have a solid 117 OPS+ on the season and a team-high .382 on-base percentage.

1. St. Louis Cardinals

PREVIOUS: 1

RECORD: points 177

Low Vote: 2nd (3x)

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

PREVIOUS: 3

RECORD: points 168

Low Vote: 5th

3. Houston Astros

PREVIOUS: 11

RECORD: points 164

Low Vote: 8th

4. New York Yankees

PREVIOUS: 8

RECORD: points 153

Low Vote: 10th

5. Kansas City Royals

PREVIOUS: 4

RECORD: points 152

Low Vote: 13th

6. Detroit Tigers

PREVIOUS: 5

RECORD: points 151

Low Vote: 11th

7. New York Mets

PREVIOUS: 2

RECORD: points 143

Low Vote: 11th

8. San Diego Padres

PREVIOUS: 7

RECORD: points 130

Low Vote: 12th

9. Chicago Cubs

PREVIOUS: 9

RECORD: points 125

Low Vote: 13th (2x)

10. Baltimore Orioles

PREVIOUS: 16

RECORD: points 124

Low Vote: 19th

11. Pittsburgh Pirates

PREVIOUS: 6

RECORD: points 114

Low Vote: 16th

12. Tampa Bay Rays

PREVIOUS: 10

RECORD: points 110

Low Vote: 16th (2x)

13. Washington Nationals

PREVIOUS: 21

RECORD: points 106

Low Vote: 17th (2x)

14. Miami Marlins

PREVIOUS: 14

RECORD: points 101

Low Vote: 24th

15. Oakland Athletics

PREVIOUS: 15

RECORD: points 91

Low Vote: 22nd

16. Boston Red Sox

PREVIOUS: 13

RECORD: points 83

Low Vote: 22nd (2x)

17. Los Angeles Angels

PREVIOUS: 12

RECORD: points 81

Low Vote: 21st (2x)

18. Toronto Blue Jays

PREVIOUS: 17

RECORD: points 80

Low Vote: 20th (3x)

19. Minnesota Twins

PREVIOUS: 28

RECORD: points 74

Low Vote: 24th

20. San Francisco Giants

PREVIOUS: 27

RECORD: points 71

Low Vote: 28th

21. Cincinnati Reds

PREVIOUS: 24

RECORD: points 68

Low Vote: 24th

22. Atlanta Braves

PREVIOUS: 18

RECORD: points 67

Low Vote: 27th

23. Arizona Diamondbacks

PREVIOUS: 25

RECORD: points 57

Low Vote: 29th

24. Seattle Mariners

PREVIOUS: 22

RECORD: points 54

Low Vote: 25th (2x)

25. Cleveland Indians

PREVIOUS: 23

RECORD: points 43

Low Vote: 26th

26. Colorado Rockies

PREVIOUS: 20

RECORD: points 31

Low Vote: 26th (5x)

27. Texas Rangers

PREVIOUS: 26

RECORD: points 26

Low Vote: 29th

28. Chicago White Sox

PREVIOUS: 19

RECORD: points 24

Low Vote: 29th (2x)

29. Milwaukee Brewers

PREVIOUS: 30

RECORD: points 13

Low Vote: 30th (2x)

30. Philadelphia Phillies

PREVIOUS: 29

RECORD: points 9

​Low Vote: 30th (4x)