Toronto Takes Top Spot

Baseball News - Ryan Fagan -

Odd week in the MLB neighborhood.

Manny's on the sidelines with a 50-game suspension that will end in early July (in time for the All-Star Game, actually -- he likely would have been a lock to be voted in as a starter. What happens now? Will the fans vote him in?. A-Rod's back in pinstripes, and that homer on the first pitch was pretty impressive (though, getting only one hit in his next 10 at-bats shows even the best have to work their way back into the rhythm of the game). The Mets have reeled off a seven-game winning streak to grab first place in the N.L. East, and the Angels are suddenly just a half-game out of first in the A.L. West.

And the Blue Jays just keep winning. Though, at this point, it doesn't seem nearly as odd to see them atop the A.L. East. Fun team to watch.

Here are this week's rankings, with last week's rankings in parentheses.

1. Blue Jays (2). Finally, the top spot (the sixth different No. 1 team in six weeks so far this year). The Blue Jays have been lurking for a few weeks now and didn't even have to put anyone on the D.L. this week. Double-bonus, eh?

2. Red Sox (4). Watching Jonathan Papelbon pump 97-mph fastballs past the heart of the Rays' order with two on and no outs in the ninth inning of a one-run game on Sunday was awe-inspiring. Highly impressive.

3. Cardinals (3). Not the greatest of weeks for the Cardinals, but it could have been worse. Closer Ryan Franklin allowed a pair of solo homers in blowing his first save opportunity of the season on Sunday, but rookie Colby Rasmus came through with a 10th-inning double to keep the Cards from being swept in Cincy.

4. Dodgers (1). You know why they dropped in the poll. Still a good team without Manny, but not the best in baseball. Where will they be in early July, when he comes back?

5. Mets (21). And just like that, the Mets are atop the N.L. East with a seven-game winning streak that seemed to come out of nowhere. Amazing.

6. Brewers (13). Speaking of coming from nowhere, the Brewers have won 14 of their past 19 games. Why? Because they have a team ERA of 3.21 in that stretch, the best in baseball.

7. Tigers (10). Back-to-back-to-back outstanding starts by Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson and Rick Porcello helped the Tigers sweep the Indians.

8. Royals (7). Rough weekend in L.A., where the boys from K.C. lost all three games to the Angels. That's the bad news. The good news? The pitching still looked solid.

9. Reds (14). Who would have guessed that the Reds, of all teams, would have the best road record in baseball? They're 10-5 entering the week. (OK, technically, the Phillies, at 8-4, have the same road winning percentage at .667.)

10. Cubs (6). For all the grief the N.L. Central gets, the division has four teams at least three games over .500 entering the week. No other division even comes close to that.

11. Marlins (8). A sweep in Colorado would have been a good answer to a brief 1-3 homestand, but, still, two out of three ain't bad.

12. Rangers (15). First place in the A.L. West has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

13. Angels (24). Joe Saunders has been nails, but Torii Hunter deserves most of the credit for getting the Angels back over .500. He's leading the team in homers, RBIs and runs, and his home-run-robbing catch saved Sunday's game with the Royals from heading to extra innings.

14. Giants (12). The Giants haven't lost a series since the middle of April. Their window of opportunity in the West is officially open with Manny on the sidelines in Dodgertown.

15. Phillies (9). Two impressive road victories in St. Louis were followed by one win in five games against East rivals, the Mets and Braves.

16. Mariners (5). Horrible week for the M's was salvaged by five runs in the last two innings in Minnesota that averted a sweep by the Twins.

17. Yankees (11). A-Rod and CC couldn't have produced at a better time. Their tag-team win Friday against the Orioles came on the heels of losing four straight to the Red Sox and Rays. At home, no less.

18. Rays (19). Going 3-2 on a trip through New York and Boston is nothing to be ashamed of, but the Rays put themselves in position to win all five, so the pair of losses has to sting a bit.

19. Twins (18). Joe Mauer is hitting .485 since his return. The team is 4-4 in those games.

20. Braves (20). Talk about being bunched up ... the Braves enter the week with six players tied for the team lead with three home runs. And there are three other players with two homers each.

21. White Sox (17). He certainly doesn't have the best raw stuff on the staff, but with his 5-0 record and 2.61 ERA, veteran lefty Mark Buehrle is showing why he'll be the White Sox's ace until he leaves Chicago.

22. Astros (25). Wandy Rodriguez has only allowed more than one earned run in two of his seven starts this season, but he's only 3-2 because of poor run support.

23. Diamondbacks (22). Something had to give in the desert, and Bob Melvin paid the price. New manager A.J. Hinch certainly knows the youngsters he'll be writing on the lineup card, but will that be enough?

24. Padres (23). Closer Heath Bell still hasn't allowed a run in 11 games this season.

25. Orioles (27). Future update: At Class AAA Norfolk, Matt Wieters has his average up to .301, and Chris Tillman is 3-0 with a 2.52 ERA.

26. Pirates (16). Two weeks ago, they were at No. 6 in this poll. They've won once since then.

27. Rockies (28). The Padres were expected to be horrible this year, and the Diamondbacks just fired their manager. And both of those teams enter the week ahead of the Rockies in the N.L. West.

28. Athletics (26). They can see rock-bottom, right? That has to be a good thing.

29. Nationals (30). Out of last place, and sooner than expected. Ryan Zimmerman has a 28-game hitting streak that would probably be the talk of baseball if, you know, he played somewhere else.

30. Indians (29). Ugh. At least they scored a run Sunday against the Tigers.

Ryan Fagan is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at rfagan@sportingnews.com.

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