Which NL power sits atop our list?
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It’s showtime for many teams as we enter the final month of the regular season.
Some are cruising toward the postseason, while others are locked in a close battle for a playoff spot. And with no Game 163 tiebreakers this season, it should prove to be a fun September.
After dominating our list for 20 weeks, the Yankees have fallen out of the top five for the first time all season, having lost three of their past six games. On the other hand, the Mariners have been steadily rising as the season has progressed, finally making their top-10 debut this week.
Who’s climbing the ranks, and which teams are nosediving?
Our expert panel has combined to rank every team in baseball based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts David Schoenfield, Bradford Doolittle, Jesse Rogers, Joon Lee and Alden Gonzalez to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Week 20 | Second-half preview | Preseason rankings
Record: 90-39
Previous ranking: 1
He has been mostly lost within the Dodgers’ overwhelming greatness, but perhaps it’s time to give Mookie Betts some MVP consideration. Betts trails only Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado in the NL with 6.4 fWAR and is noticeably trending upward. Betts posted a 1.081 OPS in the month of August, has 11 extra-base hits in his last 12 games and, after going deep off Jacob deGrom on Wednesday, has already tied his career high in home runs with 32. Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman have been consistent forces at the top of the lineup, neither of them missing a single game yet, but Betts — the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter — has been the catalyst lately. — Gonzalez
Record: 83-48
Previous ranking: 3
As good as the Mets have been, there remain some concerns about the rest of the bullpen aside from Edwin Diaz. Note that manager Buck Showalter also shares this concern to an extent, twice using Diaz in the eighth inning in August against the…
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Source : espn
