Welcome back to The Call to the Pen! Quick post this week after another busy day at the office. I’m gonna have to make a concerted effort to get back to the Sunday posting for this series. We saw the announcements of A-Rod and Mark Texiera’s retirements and Ichiro’s 3,000th hit this week. Let’s get to it! Here are the Power Rankings…

Power Rankings

The Bottom:

30) Atlanta Braves (41-70): Even
29) Minnesota Twins (45-66): Even 
28) Arizona Diamondbacks (45-66): Down 2
27) Tampa Bay Rays (45-65): Even 
26) Cinncinati Reds (45-65): Up 2
25) Oakland Athletics (48-63): Down 1
24) San Diego Padres (48-63): Up 1
23) LA Angels of Anaheim (47-58): Down 1
22) Milwaukee Brewers (47-57): Down 1
21) Philadelphia Phillies (52-61): Up 2

The Middle:

20) Chicago White Sox (51-54): Down 1
19) Kansas City Royals (53-58): Up 1
18) New York Yankees(56-55): Down 3 
17) Pittsburgh Pirates (55-54): Even 
16) Colorado Rockies (55-56): Even 
15) Houston Astros (57-54): Down 2
14) New York Mets (57-54): Even
13) Seattle Mariners (57-53): Up 5
12) Miami Marlins (59-52): Even 
11) St. Louis Cardinals (58-53): Even

The Top:

10) Detroit Tigers (61-50): Even   
9) Boston Red Sox (60-50): Down 2 
8) LA Dodgers (62-49): Even
7) Toronto Blue Jays (63-49): Up 2
6) San Francisco Giants (63-48): Down 2
5) Baltimore Orioles (63-47): Up 1 
4) Cleveland Indians (62-47): Down 1
3) Texas Rangers (65-47): Down 1
2) Washington Nationals (66-45): Up 3
1) Chicago Cubs (69-41): Even 

The Cubbies didn’t lose last week. Much of the league stood still or flip-flopped a game or two with a team in their division. The Nats are starting to pull away in the NL East as the Mets continue to experience injury woes while the Marlins continue to hang around the Wild Card but make no advancement towards the Nats. The excitement is building in the AL Central as Detroit has clawed their way back into the mix on the back of Justin Verlander’s resurgence.

Phillies Update:

A 4-2 week! I went to last Tuesday’s game against the Giants expecting MadBum the dominate the Phils but our Phightins came out swinging! Even after Zach Eflin surrendered the lead, the offense exploded in the 8th inning! The rest of the week was the typical, one-run-game, Phillies baseball we’ve come to expect in 2016. The highlight of the week:

A TRIPLE PLAY! I love this team. The Phillies continue their West Coast roadtrip this week as they travel to Dodger Stadium before returning home this weekend to face the Colorado Rockies.

Disagree with the Rankings? Let me know in the comments

(cover photo via)