Baseball rankings roundup: Giants stay strong; Angels fall
A week ago, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made the highest jump among the five California major-league teams. This week, they had the second-biggest drop.
The Angels dropped an average of 2.75 places in the four weekly power rankings (ESPN, Bleacher Report, USA Today and Si.com). The only team that had a more dizzying descent? The A’s, who dropped an average of 3.0 spots in the polls.
On the plus side for the A’s is they have an average ranking of 21. The Angels managed a 24.75.
Meanwhile, the Giants hang on as the top-ranked team from California with an average ranking of 10.5, up two spots from last week. The Dodgers, who gained by a half-point, are second at 12.5. Expect the battle between these to continue. In their past seven games through Monday, they are a combined 7-7.
Sorting the data:
Giants
Average rank: 10.5
Average change: +2.0
High/low: 9/13
From ESPN (No. 10): “A pair of Brandons – Belt and Crawford – got hot at the plate this week. The two combined to hit nearly .340, including three homers, two doubles and two triples.”
Dodgers
Average rank: 12.5
Average change: +.5
High/low: 11/16
From Bleacher Report (No. 11): “The starting rotation beyond Clayton Kershaw and Kenta Maeda has been an issue all season, so more quality starts from (Ross) Stripling would go a long way.”
A’s
Average rank: 21
Average change: -3
High/low: 20/22
From Si.com (No. 21): “Odd as it might sound, the pitch that most pitchers tend to throw the straightest was the one that would often desert (Rich) Hill, resulting in lots of walks and sometimes a bunch of crushed hits when the fastball floated into the middle of the plate.”
Angels
Average rank: 24.75
Average change: -2.75
High/low: 22/27
From ESPN (No. 22): “Albert Pujols is on pace for 31 home runs. And 10 doubles. Even in his first year with the Angels, he hit 50 doubles with 80 total extra-base hits. Now he's home run and not much else, hitting .190.”
Padres
Average rank: 25.25
Average change: +1.75
High/low: 24/27
From USA Today (No. 25): “Drew Pomeranz a pleasant surprise with a 2.12 ERA and an impressive 10.85 K/9 rate.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2016 at 7:48 PM with the headline "Baseball rankings roundup: Giants stay strong; Angels fall."