MLB Power Rankings Week 12: Philadelphia Phillies Take Massive Step

Inside the Phillies has just launched their MLB Week 12 power rankings! See where the Philadelphia Phillies land!

D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Phillies climbed into the top-10 of our weekly power rankings, after a very impressive week. The Phillies have won 12 of their last 14 games.

The Phillies were one of three National League teams to move into the top-10 this week.

Here's a look at our power rankings for Week 12 of the 2023 Major League Baseball season:

1) Tampa Bay Rays (51-24; +143 DIFF, 28-15 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 1 [no movement]) — For the fifth week in a row, the Rays remain at the top of our power rankings.

2) Atlanta Braves (46-26; +100 DIFF, 21-16 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 4 [up 2]) — The Braves caught fire this week, cleaning up on their slate of games against the Rockies and Tigers, going 6-1. Brian Snitker's club has now won six straight games and has reclaimed the throne in the National League.

3) Baltimore Orioles (44-27; +38 DIFF, 22-18 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 3 [no movement]) — No movement from the Orioles, who took care of business at home versus the Blue Jays, before surprisingly dropping a road series to the Cubs.

4) Texas Rangers (44-27; +148 DIFF, 24-19 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 2 [down 2]) — The Rangers fall two spots, after they were bullied at home by their AL West rival Los Angeles Angels. The Angels took three of four from the Rangers in Texas. Only time will tell if this series says more about Texas or Anaheim.

5) Arizona Diamondbacks (43-28; +34 DIFF, 18-18 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 5 [no movement]) — A surging Diamondbacks team cooled off a touch this week, going 3-4 during their seven-game homestand with the Phillies and Guardians coming to town. Even with a very 'meh' week, the D-Backs did enough to increase their lead in the NL West over the Dodgers. The Dodgers are now four games back of the first-place Snakes.

6) Los Angeles Angels (41-33; +25 DIFF, 21-25 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 11 [up 5]) — With the longest active playoff drought in the American League (technically tied with the Tigers), the Angels have become a meme. "Shohei Ohtani pitched six scoreless innings and Mike Trout hit two home runs, in the Angels' 7-3 loss to the White Sox." We've all seen the jokes on Twitter. But let me tell you, this team is different!

The Angels made a statement this week, rolling into Arlington and taking three of four games from the first-place Rangers. I understand the hesitancy to buy-in to the Angels, but here are three reasons why the Halos look to be in the hunt all summer long:

A) Lineup Depth. The Angels of yesteryear did not have much in their lineup past Trout and Ohtani. This year, they have a nice mix of proven veterans and promising young players, including Hunter Renfroe, Brandon Drury, Gio Urshela, rookie Zach Neto, and former no. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak. Not to mention that former top prospect Jo Adell has impressed in Triple-A this season. But the Angels' most important bat, besides Trout and Ohtani, is Anthony Rendon. With a healthy Rendon in the lineup, the Angels are a different team. The club is 10-3 since his return from the IL earlier this month.

B) Phil Nevin has been an improvement over Joe Maddon, as the club's manager. Three weeks ago, Angels beat reporter Rhett Bollinger visited the Jack Vita Show, and spoke about Nevin's success as skipper. Bollinger believes Nevin has an easier time relating to players than Maddon did, and that he is a better fit to manage the club. I agree with him.

C) The Angels' bullpen has been lights out. The Halos' bullpen has the sixth-lowest team ERA in baseball, led by closer Carlos Estevez. Estevez has a 1.80 ERA over 31 games, with 18 saves.

The Angels' pitching rotation has been below-average. If Reid Detmers, Tyler Anderson, Patrick Sandoval and Griffin Canning don't show improvement by the trade deadline, perhaps Perry Minasian will look to add. Anaheim seems like a good landing spot for Cubs' starting pitchers Marcus Stroman and/or Drew Smyly.

7) Miami Marlins (41-31; -24 DIFF, 17-17 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 9 [up 2]) — The Marlins are now ten games above .500, and they continue to move up. Their -24 run-differential makes me, and others, hesitant to buy in to the team as a legitimate threat in the National League, but for now, they're our seventh-best team in Major League Baseball.

8) San Francisco Giants (39-32; +48 DIFF, 22-16 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 13 [up 5]) — I don't quite know the Giants do it, but the team has ascended from no. 18 two weeks ago and is now back in our top-10. That will happen when you go 6-0 in a week, sweeping the Cardinals and Dodgers on the road, and surpass Los Angeles in the NL West standings. Don't look now, but San Francisco is now just 3.5 games back of the Diamondbacks for first place in the NL West.

9) Cincinnati Reds (37-35; -19 DIFF, 17-18 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 19 [up 7]) — Upon the arrival of top prospect Elly De La Cruz, the Reds are quickly emerging as the team to beat in the NL Central. Since the rookie phenom made his big league debut, the Reds are 10-2, and have won four straight series. Over the weekend, the club surprisingly swept the defending champs in Houston. Beware of the Reds!

10) Philadelphia Phillies (38-34; -13 DIFF, 21-26 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 15 [up 1]) — For the second straight year, the Phillies appear to be a different team in the month of June. Since the start of the month, has shed its losing record and is 13-4 in June. The Phils impressed this week, going to the other side of the country and taking three and four from a hot D-Backs team. Philadelphia has won 12 of its last 14 games, including six straight.

11) Toronto Blue Jays (39-34; +15 DIFF, 24-30 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 6 [down 5]) — The next four teams in our power rankings are teams that have played very well for most of this season, but have been unimpressive as of late. The Blue Jays dropped a pair of road series this past week to good teams (Baltimore and Texas), but weren't entirely embarrassed.

12) Los Angeles Dodgers (39-33; +42 DIFF, 18-20 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 10 [down 2]) — The Dodgers picked up their first series win of the month this week, defeating the White Sox. Then, the Giants gave the Dodgers a swirly, sweeping the reigning NL West champions in Los Angeles, as the Dodgers were outscored 29-8 over three games. Dave Roberts' club is 5-10 in the month of June.

13) New York Yankees (39-33; +26 DIFF, 28-27 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 8 [down 5]) — The Yankees drop five spots after they played just five games this week, losing four of them, including being swept by the rival Boston Red Sox.

14) Houston Astros (39-33; +48 DIFF, 20-24 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 7 [down 7]) — Though the Astros' starting pitching has remained very strong despite losing Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. for the foreseeable future, the defending champs are sliding. The club dearly misses Yordan Alvarez's bat in the middle of its lineup. Astros are 3-9 over their last 12 games.

15) Boston Red Sox (37-35; +18 DIFF, 28-23 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 17 [up 2]) — Had the Red Sox not lost two of three to the lowly Rockies on their own home turf, Alex Cora's club likely would have made a bigger move up the power rankings this week. One note about Boston: they're 28-23 in games against teams above .500. If that trend continues, not only will the Red Sox climb out of last place in a historically great AL East division, but they'll find themselves back in the playoffs.

16) Minnesota Twins (36-36; +34 DIFF, 18-21 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 16 [no movement]) — The Twins leapfrog the Brewers after downing Milwaukee on back-to-back nights for a short-series sweep, but the 36-36 Twins remain the most average division leader in baseball, evidenced by the club's struggles at home against the Tigers this weekend. The Tigers took three of four, outscoring the Twinkies 21-11. Unless the Twins kick it into another gear and go on a run, the AL Central will be very obtainable for rival teams. Cleveland (33-38) is just 2.5 games back, Detroit (30-40) is five games back, and the White Sox (31-42) are 5.5 games back.

17) Milwaukee Brewers (37-34; -16 DIFF, 19-21 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 14 [down 3]) — Now for the other average division leader. The Brewers swept the Pirates at home over the weekend, putting them three games above .500. This week, they'll be tested when the Diamondbacks come to town, before embarking on a ten-game road trip in the Rust Belt.

18) Seattle Mariners (35-35; +11 DIFF, 12-24 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 21 [up 3]) — The M's impressed this week, going 4-2 and taking a pair of home series from the Marlins and White Sox. Are they finally about to go on a long-awaited run? Only time will tell.

19) San Diego Padres (35-36; +24 DIFF, 22-23 vs. >.500. LAST WEEK: no. 20 [up 1]) — The Padres are the Mariners of the NL. Both West Coast teams had lofty hopes for 2023, and neither team has really taken off, as we enter into the final two weeks of June. Both Seattle and San Diego showed signs of life this past week, though. 'Slam Diego' went 4-2 at home against quality teams, cooling off a surging Guardians team and downing baseball's best team. How will they fare when they travel to San Francisco for a four-game series, beginning Monday?

20) Chicago Cubs (33-38; +9 DIFF, 19-29 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 24 [down 3]) — Even while David Ross refuses to play Christopher Morel everyday, regularly batting the versatile power bat in the bottom of third of his lineup when the utility man does play, Morel entered the weekend with the fourth-highest home run total since making his 2023 debut May 9. Whose idea was it for Morel to start the season in Triple-A? Why did David Ross say that he didn't see a fit for Morel to play regularly when Morel got promoted? And why is Morel (1.042 OPS), who has been the club's best hitter, still sitting behind Miles Mastrobuoni (slashing .148/.246/.426) from time to time? Very little, if anything, about this 2023 Cubs team makes sense to me. Nonetheless, the Cubs may have found themselves a star in Morel. Oh, and the Cubbies are 7-2 over their last nine games.

21) Pittsburgh Pirates (34-36; -24 DIFF, 17-23 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 12 [down 9]) — Yikes! Since taking a one-game lead in the NL Central last Sunday, the Buccos haven't won. This week, the Pirates were swept by the Cubs and the Brewers. They'll look for redemption against Chicago Monday, when David Ross' club travels to Pittsburgh for a three-game grudge match.

22) Cleveland Guardians (33-38; -22 DIFF, 21-20 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: 18 [down 4]) — The Guardians cooled off this week during their West Coast road trip, but I still think they take the AL Central. The 2023 Guardians remind me a bit of the 2021 Braves. The Braves entered 2021 with sky-high expectations and with good reason. Riddled with injuries, the club did enough to hang around in a weak division, retooled its roster at the trade deadline, and finally took off in the season's final months, not posting a winning record until August. Guardians fans shouldn't panic. The Twins have shown no indication that they will run away with the Central division.

23) New York Mets (33-38; -21 DIFF, 17-20 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 22 [down 1]) — Another subpar week from the Mets drops them down a spot.

24) Detroit Tigers (30-40; -76 DIFF, 14-29 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 27 [up 3]) — The Tigers picked up their first win of the month of June after an 0-9 start to the month. Then they went into Minnesota and took a four-game series from the Twins. They move up three spots.

25) Chicago White Sox (31-42; -57 DIFF, 18-32 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 23 [down 2]) — Last week, the Sox topped the Cubs. This week, they are the lesser team in the Windy City.

26) St. Louis Cardinals (29-43; -15 DIFF, 18-30 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 25 [down 1]) — The perception of the Redbirds has changed wildly over the past two weeks. The Cardinals went from (still) the favorite to win the NL Central to a potential trade deadline seller.

27) Washington Nationals (27-43; -54 DIFF, 11-29 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 26 [down 1]) — The Nationals are emerging as one of those teams that contenders must-sweep if they want to compete.

28) Colorado Rockies (29-45; -98 DIFF, 13-29 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 28 [no movement]) — The Rockies have the worst record in the National League, but they are not on-par with Oakland or Kansas City, as historically terrible. Colorado will surprise from time to time, and they did earlier this week, when they took two of three in Boston.

29) Oakland Athletics (19-55; -203 DIFF, 14-45 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 29 [no movement]) — The A's road a seven-game win-streak into the week and their season likely hit its peak Tuesday night, when they topped the MLB-best Tampa Bay Rays in a packed Oakland Coliseum on a reverse-boycott night. Since, the A's haven't won, and the MLB approved the club's move to Las Vegas. Each week, we track what record the A's are on pace to record for the season. Right now, they're on pace to finish 42-120 in 2023, which would surpass the 2003 Tigers' 43-win total for the worst record in a 162-game season.

30) Kansas City Royals (19-52; -112 DIFF, 9-38 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 30 [no movement]) — The A's win-streak launched them past the Royals, but the Royals are on pace to finish 43-119, tying the Tigers' all-time terrible record.

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For more from Jack Vita, follow him on Twitter @JackVitaShow, and subscribe to his podcast, the Jack Vita Show, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and wherever podcasts are found.

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