MLB Power Rankings: What Happened to the Yankees and Astros?

Two American League heavyweights appear to be in trouble.

The 2020 season is heading into the final stretch, and each team has taken a winding path to get here. Teams that had long layoffs due to COVID-19 outbreaks now live by a schedule filled with seven-inning doubleheaders.

Even if those team-wide quarantines had never happened, this 60-game season was destined to be chock-full of weirdness as every club only played regional opponents. This week's Power Rankings will focus on a takeaway from each team's unprecedented schedule. To the rankings!

30. Pittsburgh Pirates (Last Week: 30)

Pittsburgh didn’t win a series of three-plus games until sweeping the Brewers at home between Aug. 21-23. They haven't done so since. The Pirates actually hold a passable 12-15 record against division opponents, but their MLB-worst 2-12 record in interleague play sunk their season.

29. Arizona Diamondbacks (Last Week: 25)

The Diamondbacks have a good argument for the last spot in the rankings this week after losing 18 of their last 21 games. At least the worst is over for Arizona; the club is one of just two teams—the other being St. Louis—with zero remaining games against teams over .500.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

28. Boston Red Sox (Last Week: 29)

The Red Sox are 0-7 against the Yankees so far, with three games to play. They’re in danger of going winless against their bitter rivals for the first time ever. 

27. Texas Rangers (Last Week: 28)

The last-place Rangers won’t get any scheduling favors down the stretch, with 11 of their 18 remaining games are against A’s and Astros. They’ve gone 5-19 since starting the season 10-9.

26. Kansas City Royals (Last Week: 26)

The Royals are one of two teams to have two separate losing streaks of six games or longer (the other being the Rangers). Kansas City went 1-9 against the White Sox this season, being outscored by 31 runs.

25. Los Angeles Angels (Last Week: 27)

The Halos pulled off a four-game sweep of the Astros this past week—taking the lead in each game during their final at-bat. It was the team’s first four-game series sweep since 2017.

24. Seattle Mariners (Last Week: 24)

If we’ve learned one thing about the Mariners this season, it’s that they are better than the Rangers. Seattle won eight of 10 games in the season series, outscoring Texas by 28. Against all other opponents, the Mariners are 11-22 and have been outscored by 71.

23. Washington Nationals (Last Week: 23)

Most pitchers are right-handed. It’s a bad sign, then, that Washington is 6-22 (.214 winning percentage) against righty starters, by far the worst mark in the bigs. On the bright side, the Nationals are 10-4 against left-handed starters.

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22. Detroit Tigers (Last Week: 18)

The Tigers split a doubleheader against the Cardinals Thursday, finishing their interleague record at 11-7 for the season. In the previous three years combined, Detroit went 19-41 in interleague games.

21. Milwaukee Brewers (Last Week: 21)

Fifteen of Milwaukee’s last 19 games are against the Cardinals, Cubs or Reds, with nine against St. Louis. Despite a largely disappointing season thus far, the Brewers are just 2.5 games out of second place in the NL Central, and could make up that deficit with a good showing against their division rivals.

20. Cincinnati Reds (Last Week: 19)

The Reds haven’t won a series since taking two of three from the Brewers on Aug. 7-9. They’ve split six of their last nine series and lost the other three. Time is running out.

19. Colorado Rockies (Last Week: 17)

Colorado couldn’t have asked for a better first quarter of the season, going 11-4 while winning series against the Rangers, A’s, Padres, Giants and Mariners. The Rockies have since won just two of 10 series since, falling out of playoff position–for now .

Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

18. New York Mets (Last Week: 20)

The Mets have the second-toughest slate remaining among National League teams, with series coming up against the Blue Jays, Phillies, Braves and Rays, all of whom are above .500. New York’s time to make a run may have run out. 

17. Baltimore Orioles (Last Week: 22)

Heading into the weekend’s critical four-game series against the Yankees, the Orioles are 3-3 on the season against the Bombers, and are 4-3 against the Red Sox (with three more to play). This gives Baltimore a chance to post winning records against both the Yankees and Red Sox for the first time since 2015. The O’s are also in the midst of a 13-game stretch in which they will only face the New York teams—nine against the Yankees and four against the Mets.

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16. Miami Marlins (Last Week: 15)

After Miami’s pitching staff was shellacked in historic fashion by Atlanta for 29 runs on Wednesday, the bullpen could really use a day off. But the club is still playing catch up from its COVID-19 outbreak. The team’s final day off was Sept. 3. They’re in the middle of a five-day, seven-game series against the Phillies, the most absurd part of their 18-day stretch of 22 games to finish the season. Fifteen of those games are at home, which would usually be advantageous—but the Marlins are just 3-9 at home and 17-10 in road games.

15. Houston Astros (Last Week: 10)

The Astros lost to Oakland on Thursday to fall below .500 for the first time since Aug. 14, and to conclude a series in which they lost four of five games to the AL West leaders. However, Houston has MLB’s easiest schedule going forward, as their remaining opponents have a combined .417 winning percentage.

14. Philadelphia Phillies (Last Week: 12)

Like the Cardinals (more on them below), the Phillies are a second-place team with a packed schedule presenting an obstacle in the race for first. Philadelphia will play four doubleheaders—including two against Miami this weekend—in their final five series of the season, with just one off day on Sept. 24 before they conclude the season with a three-game road set in Tampa Bay. The Phillies must hope the AL-best Rays will have nothing to play for at that point.

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13. San Francisco Giants (Last Week: 16)

The Giants have won 15 of their last 21 to climb above .500 and occupy a wild-card spot. But it must be said that they’ve been lucky enough to play all 11 of their scheduled clashes against the cellar-dwelling D-backs during that period, winning nine. San Francisco is still just 5-12 against teams with winning records this season, and have the toughest remaining schedule of any team in baseball (.565 opponents’ winning percentage).

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

12. St. Louis Cardinals (Last Week: 14)

The Cardinals miraculously have zero remaining games against winning teams despite having played the fewest games of any team, even after enduring three doubleheaders in the last week. With 37 contests in the books, they’re scheduled to play 21 more in the next 17 days with zero days off. An additional make-up doubleheader could be scheduled against the Tigers if those postponed games could affect the playoff picture, which certainly seems possible.

11. New York Yankees (Last Week: 7)

The Yankees have a 6-14 record in their last 20 games, which is only better than the Diamondbacks (2-18) and Rangers (5-15). So far, New York has feasted on the weaker clubs, going 15-7 against teams with losing records. The team is just 6-14 against teams .500 or better, including 2-8 against the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays.

10. Toronto Blue Jays (Last Week: 13)

Playing their home games in Buffalo, the Blue Jays’ entire season has been one giant scheduling quirk. Toronto apparently likes their new digs, however: The Jays are 10-5 at “home” this season after going 35-46 at the Rogers Centre in 2019.

9. Chicago Cubs (Last Week: 11)

The Cubs and Cardinals appear to be evenly matched. Their season series in this unconventional year amounted to two five-game series, of which the road team won three of five games in both instances. If the season ended today, the two heated rivals would face off in the first round of the playoffs in a three-game set at Wrigley Field. Sign us up. 

8. Atlanta Braves (Last Week: 6)

A four-game home series against the Marlins represents Atlanta’s only remaining games against winning teams. And they may have a psychological advantage over Miami after Wednesday’s record-breaking beatdown.

7. Chicago White Sox (Last Week: 9)

The White Sox haven't lost against a lefty this year. Remarkably, they're 13-0. By contrast, they are 14-16 against right-handed starters. 

6. Cleveland Indians (Last Week: 5)

Cleveland is among the worst hitting teams against left-handed pitchers. Indians hitters are batting .228 (eighth-worst) against lefties this year, with a 72 wRC+ (third-worst). Despite this, Cleveland is 6-2 when facing an opposing left-handed starter.

5. Minnesota Twins (Last Week: 8)

The Twins have the best home record in the majors, going 18-5 at Target Field. They’ve also been exceptionally strong in one-run games for the second straight season: 7-3 this year after going 23-12 in 2019. 

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

4. Oakland Athletics (Last Week: 3)

Oakland’s bullpen is among the league’s best, so it’s not entirely surprising that the A’s are a perfect 5-0 in extra-inning games this season. What’s more impressive is that in eight innings of extra baseball, Oakland’s bullpen has allowed just one run despite the free runner in scoring position.

3. San Diego Padres (Last Week: 4)

The Padres have played a MLB-high 46 games entering Friday, meaning they also have a league-high three days off before the end of the regular season. San Diego may not yet know what its rotation will look like for its first postseason appearance in 14 years since expected ace Chris Paddack sprained his ankle on Thursday and hasn’t performed as well this year as fellow starters Dinelson Lamet, Zach Davies and new arrival Mike Clevinger. But manager Jayce Tingler will certainly have enough time to get his arms in a row once he figures that out.

2. Tampa Bay Rays (Last Week: 2)

The Rays have the most wins in the American League, and they’ve come by them the hard way. They’re 21-9 against teams who are .500 or better, yet their loss to the Red Sox on Thursday drops them to 7-7 on the season against teams with losing records.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (Last Week: 1)

Dave Roberts’ men finally lost their first series of the season last weekend to the Rockies, who won two of three games at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles had won 10 and split three of its first 13 series, ultimately falling one short of the club record set in 1977 for consecutive series without a loss to open a season.

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