MLB Power Rankings: Week 3

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

For the third straight week, there’s a new team that tops my power rankings.

The Brewers are baseball’s hottest team and the first to reach 10 wins. Can they keep it up? I’m skeptical, but as long as their starting pitchers continue to hurl gems like Kyle Lohse did against the Pirates, they’ll be a contender come October.

Injuries continued to mount up this week as Tampa Bay Rays’ starter Matt Moore is out for an extended period of time, while Angels’ Josh Hamilton underwent thumb surgery.

Oh, and apparently replay stinks.

Here are my power rankings as baseball begins Week 3.

1. Milwaukee Brewers (10-2) (Previous 13): Winners of nine straight. Nobody is playing better than the Crew.

2. Atlanta Braves (8-4) (Up 4): Aaron Harang has an ERA of 0.96. What?

3. Los Angeles Dodgers (9-4) (Up 4): They continue to score runs and only lost once last week.

4. St. Louis Cardinals (7-5) (Down 2): The Cards are a much better team than how they’re playing. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt. For now.

5. Detroit Tigers (6-4) (Down 4): Last week’s No. 1 falls four spots after losing four of their last six.

6. San Francisco Giants (8-5) (Down 3): And people laughed at Tim Hudson‘s contract.

7. Oakland Athletics (8-4) (Up 2): Second in team ERA and first in quality starts.

8. Washington Nationals (7-5) (Down 4): Ryan Zimmerman is hurt again. Raise your hand if you’re surprised.

9. Tampa Bay Rays (7-6) (Down 4): Without their pitching, the Rays would be lucky to crack the top 15. But Matt Moore’s injury wounds that rotation.

10. New York Yankees (6-6) (Up 1): Took three of four from rival Boston. Nice bounce-back from a series loss to the Orioles.

11. Boston Red Sox (5-8) (Down 2): The Sox have yet to show any sort of consistency.

12. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (6-6) (No change): And Josh Hamilton was doing so well, too.

13. Toronto Blue Jays (7-6) (Up 6): They likely won’t be this high the rest of the season. Enjoy it while it lasts.

14. Pittsburgh Pirates (6-6) (Down 4): Errors hurt them a lot in Milwaukee.

15. Cleveland Indians (6-7) (Down 1): I believe in Nyjer Morgan.

16. Texas Rangers (6-6) (Up 1): Prince Fielder is batting .149 with zero home runs, and he’s not a slow starter. He owns a career .280 batting average in the months of March and April.

17. Kansas City Royals (4-7) (Down 1): I only moved them down one spot because the potential is still there. I still think they have a shot at the Wild Card.

18. Philadelphia Phillies (6-6) (Up 5): After being swept by Milwaukee, they responded nicely with three straight wins…even if it was against the Marlins.

19. Cincinnati Reds (4-8) (Down 4): Before Sunday’s 12-run outburst, the Reds had only scored one run in their previous three games.

20. Seattle Mariners (6-5) (Down 2): Robinson Cano has just two extra-base hits on the year.

21. Colorado Rockies (6-7) (No change): They’ve scored 70 runs but that’s been negated by allowing 69 runs.

22. Baltimore Orioles (5-7) (Down 2): Ubaldo Jimenez has lost all three of his starts and owns an ERA of 7.31. Yikes.

23. Chicago White Sox (7-6) (Up 2): Holy offense, Batman. 80 runs in two weeks? That’s borderline insane. And yet, they’re only No. 23 on my list. I just don’t think they have enough weapons to sustain their success.

24. San Diego Padres (5-7) (Down 2): Still don’t understand why some “experts” view them as a threat in the NL West.

25. New York Mets (5-7) (Up 1): Their run differential is horrendous but that’s only because they allowed 14 runs on Sunday.

26. Minnesota Twins (6-6) (Up 2): Riding a nice three-game winning streak.

27. Houston Astros (5-8) (Up 2): They moved up not because they had a great week, but because the last three teams on my list were terrible.

28. Chicago Cubs (4-8) (Up 2): See Houston Astros.

29. Miami Marlins (5-8) (Down 5): The only team who didn’t win a game this week. The Marlins are who we thought they were.

30. Arizona Diamondbacks (4-11) (Down 3): They have double-digit losses through 15 games. Things are not good in Arizona.