2023 MLB Power Rankings Week 13: Philadelphia Phillies Take a Tumble

The Philadelphia Phillies take a tumble in Inside the Phillies latest MLB Power Rankings for Week 13.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Phillies fell out of the top-10 of our weekly power rankings, after going 2-3 against the division rival Atlanta Braves and New York Mets over the past week.

This week's power rankings saw three teams enter the top-10, as well as a new team at the top of our rankings.

Here's a look at our power rankings for Week 13 of the 2023 Major League Baseball season:

1) Atlanta Braves (50-27; +107 DIFF, 23-16 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 2 [up 1]) — For the first time since we launched our weekly power rankings last month, we have a new no. 1 team! Sunday, the Braves became the second Major League team to reach 50 wins this season. The Braves are 10-1 over their last eleven games and quickly closing the gap between them and the Rays, in the battle for baseball's best record. The Braves won four of five against the scorching hot Reds and Phillies, all on the road, this past week.

2) Tampa Bay Rays (54-27; +150 DIFF, 29-16 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 1 [down 1]) — After five consecutive weeks in our top spot, the Rays drop down to no. 2. The club went 3-3 over the past week, splitting a four-game series at home with the Royals. At this point, any team in the hunt should sweep the Royals and A's, especially at home. A 2-2 split at home with Kansas City is a disappointment for the team with baseball's best record.

3) Baltimore Orioles (47-29; +26 DIFF, 23-19 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 3 [no movement]) — The O's played just five games last week, enjoying two off-days. A 3-2 week keeps them at the no. 3 spot.

4) Arizona Diamondbacks (47-32; +36 DIFF, 21-21 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 5 [up 1]) — The D-Backs may have dropped a weekend series in San Francisco, and the Giants may be closing in on them, but Arizona survived a seven-game road trip against teams in contention, going 4-3 after traveling to Milwaukee and San Francisco. On June 25, the Diamondbacks have the second-best record in the National League and lead the NL West by 2.5 games, just as we all predicted.

5) Texas Rangers (47-30; +152 DIFF, 20-20 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 4 [down 1]) — The Rangers have slowed down over the past two and a half weeks. They're 7-9 since June 7.

6) San Francisco Giants (44-34; +45 DIFF, 24-17 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 8 [up 2]) — I don't know how the Giants do it. Once again, I fell into the trap of thinking that the Giants would be lackluster or mediocre at best, coming into the season. Gabe Kapler has once again shut me up. San Francisco is one of the hottest teams in the big leagues and is 12-2 over its last 14. The Giants are now just 2.5 games out of first place in the NL West.

7) Cincinnati Reds (41-37; -15 DIFF, 18-20 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 9 [up 2]) — There's a special buzz in the city of Cincinnati right now. Reds fans packed the Great American Ballpark for a series with the NL-leading Braves, as the Redlegs extended their win streak to 12. In other news, Elly De La Cruz hit for the cycle Friday night. The rookie sensation is must-see TV.

8) Los Angeles Dodgers (43-34; +47 DIFF, 22-21 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 12 [up 4]) — The Dodgers recovered from a disastrous weekend in which they were swept at home by the Giants, by sweeping a two-game series in Anaheim and taking two of three from the Astros.

9) New York Yankees (43-35; +40 DIFF, 28-27 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 13 [up 4]) — The Yankees and Dodgers were piled on sports radio hosts across the country at the start of last week. Both teams responded nicely this week, as the Yankees won home series against the Mariners and Rangers.

10) Toronto Blue Jays (43-36; +23 DIFF, 24-30 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 11 [up 1]) — The Blue Jays took two of three from the Marlins in Miami, moving them in front of the Fish in this week's rankings.

11) Miami Marlins (45-34; -15 DIFF, 17-17 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 7 [down 4]) — The Marlins continue to take care of business, but move down four spots this week, despite winning four of seven. The Dodgers, Yankees, Reds and Blue Jays all move in front of the Marlins this week. The Dodgers and Yankees bounced back nicely, the Reds are playing better than just about anybody, and the Blue Jays won a road series in Miami. Seems reasonable, right? When the Marlins get their run-differential out of the red, more people will buy in. Until then, many of us will remain hesitant.

12) Houston Astros (42-36; +41 DIFF, 20-24 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 14 [up 2]) — The Astros move up two spot after a 3-3 week, simply because the Angels and Phillies each moved down this week.

13) Los Angeles Angels (42-37; +41 DIFF, 17-25 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 6 [down 7) — It's unbelievable to see the Angels even with the Astros at this point in the season, especially with both AL West teams having an identical run-differential. A 1-4 week and a series loss to the Rockies drops the Angels down seven spots as the club continues to struggle when Anthony Rendon is out of the lineup. The Angels got their money's worth in their one victory of the week though, compiling a franchise-record 25 runs Saturday night at Coors Field.

14) Milwaukee Brewers (40-37; -21 DIFF, 17-23 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 17 [up 3]) — With the Reds emerging as an unlikely favorite to win the NL Central, the question becomes, who will pose the greatest threat to David Bell's club in the division? The Brewers are the logical pick. They aren't flashy, but they're a few games above .500 and will remain in the hunt unless the Reds are able to continue to run through their schedule and create greater separation.

15) Philadelphia Phillies (40-37; -16 DIFF, 19-27 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 10 [down 5]) — The Phillies cooled off this week, going 2-3 against the division rival Braves and Mets. The Phillies enter the new week three games out of the third and final National League Wild Card spot.

16) Chicago Cubs (37-39; +32 DIFF, 17-28 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 20 [up 4]) — The Cubs could pose the greatest threat to the Reds in the NL Central, which really tells you more about the NL Central than it does the Cubs. The +32 run-differential is promising, but the 17-28 record against teams above .500 isn't. Living in Chicago, I've seen enough Cubs baseball this season to believe that David Ross' team is mediocre at best. Maybe the club has turned a corner, or maybe their latest hot streak will eventually be followed up with another cold spell. The Cubs have won nine of their last eleven, moving them up four spots. If only they could play the Pirates 162 times!

17) Boston Red Sox (40-39; +21 DIFF, 28-24 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 15 [down 2]) — The Red Sox move in front of the Twins after splitting a four-game series in Minnesota. 2-2 split favors the road team.

18) Minnesota Twins (40-39; +34 DIFF, 20-23 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 16 [down 2]) — The Minnesota Mids remain remarkably average. Admittedly, I gave the club major props for acquiring Pablo Lopez and prospects for Luis Arraez. It's way too early to make a call on the trade, but the Twins look like they greatly miss Arraez's bat in their lineup right now. Arraez is setting the National League on fire, batting .399. Meanwhile, the Twins aren't getting much production out of their two highest-paid players. Carlos Correa is slashing just .216/.293/.706 and Byron Buxton is slashing an unimpressive .206/.304/.744.

19) Cleveland Guardians (37-40; -20 DIFF, 18-19 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 22 [up 3]) — The Guardians did what every competitive team should do and swept the A's at home this week, before dropping a three-game series to the Brewers, for a 4-2 week. Tito will take it. The Guardians are two games back of the Twins. It wasn't until after the All-Star break that Cleveland's young squad caught fire last year. The Guardians are fine.

20) Seattle Mariners (37-39; +24 DIFF, 14-28 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 18 [down 2]) — Like the Guardians, it wasn't until later in the summer that the M's flipped a switch and became a dangerous team that won a playoff series. The M's however will have a more difficult path to the postseason, though. They don't have the luxury of playing in the AL Central, and they are currently the fourth-best team in the AL West. Still, they're just 4.5 games back of the third AL Wild Card spot, so they aren't out of the hunt by any means.

21) San Diego Padres (37-41; +31 DIFF, 22-25 vs. >.500. LAST WEEK: no. 19 [down 2]) — Each week, the Padres, Mariners, Mets and Guardians seem to be locked into the 15-23 territory of our power rankings. This week, they are in a single-file line with one in front of the other from 18-21. Will these playoff teams from last season finally get their act together soon?

22) New York Mets (35-42; -18 DIFF, 19-24 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 23 [down 1]) — Unlike Seattle and Cleveland, New York and San Diego have the highest payrolls in the history of their respective franchises. If the season ended today, the teams with the first, third, fourth and sixth-highest payrolls would all miss the playoffs. Maybe you can't buy a championship after all. Having baseball's biggest payroll doesn't automatically translate to having the game's best team. In fact, most of the time it doesn't. Fans, please remember this when you're yelling at your team on Twitter, telling them to spend big in the offseason.

23) Detroit Tigers (33-42; -72 DIFF, 14-28 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 24 [up 1]) — The Tigers are nine games below .500 and only 5.5 games back of first place. Oh, the AL Central.

24) Chicago White Sox (34-45; -60 DIFF, 20-33 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 25 [down 2]) — Off that last note, the White Sox are only six games back of the Twins for the AL Central lead.

25) St. Louis Cardinals (32-45; -16 DIFF, 17-28 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 26 [down 1]) — The Cardinals put together their first winning record in a week since the week of May 15 - May 21. It will be interesting to see how they are impacted from the two-game London Series.

Personally, while I appreciate Rob Manfred's efforts to expand the game of baseball globally, I'm not into having teams play a series in London in the middle of the season. The new schedule already creates longer travel for teams across the sport. Now they have to take a flight to and from London, while dealing with the time change, over a five-day stretch? The Cubs and Cardinals may have each gotten three days off over the five day-stretch, but now they use up three of their off-days, meaning they will have fewer rest days the rest of the way than other teams do. Aside from the All-Star break, the Cardinals' next day off is Monday, July 31. The Yankees will have four days off between now and then.

I'm not anti-playing baseball in London. I'm anti-forcing teams to travel to London in the middle of the season. Here's my suggestion: play a series in Europe during spring training. Remember 20 years ago when the Yankees and Rays played their Opening Day game in Japan? I would be all for something like that. Let the guys play overseas before settling into a rhythm and getting into the swing of things.

Fortunately or unfortunately, MLB may have lucked out by having the Cubs play the Cardinals, because it appears that neither team will make the playoffs, so the excessive travel won't be putting a contending team at a severe disadvantage.

26) Washington Nationals (30-47; -64 DIFF, 11-30 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 27 [up 1]) — The Nationals took a road series from the Padres this weekend, less than a year after San Diego emptied the farm to acquire Juan Soto.

27) Pittsburgh Pirates (35-42; -44 DIFF, 17-24 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 21 [down 6]) — The Pirates are freefalling out of the race, having now lost 11 of their last 12. The club giftwrapped six wins to the Cubs, allowing their division rival to move closer to .500.

28) Colorado Rockies (31-49; -123 DIFF, 15-30 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 28 [no movement]) — The Rockies are either the best horrible team ever or the worst subpar team of all-time. This week, Bud Black's club was swept by the Reds, bringing their losing streak to eight games. Then, the Rocks unexpectedly took two of three from the Angels. And yet, I don't think I have seen a team ever look worse in a series win, given that the one game they lost was a 25-1 blowout Saturday night.

29) Kansas City Royals (22-56; -122 DIFF, 11-40 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 30 [no movement]) — The Royals picked it up this week, splitting a four-game series with the Rays in Kansas City, and adding another win earlier in the week in Detroit. Their win total is now up to 22. As we do each week, we track what record the Royals and A's are on pace to finish the season at. The Royals are on pace to finish 2023 with a 46-116 record, which would place above the mark for the fewest wins in a 162- game season: the 2003 Tigers, who won 43 games.

30) Oakland Athletics (20-60; -224 DIFF, 15-40 vs. >.500, LAST WEEK: no. 29 [no movement]) — As for the A's, well, Oakland is on pace to finish with the worst record in baseball history, at 41-121. I wish I had better things to tell A's fans, but I don't

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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