We're at the unofficial halfway point of the 2015 season, and we've seen plenty of surprises, like the Twins (in a good way) and the Mariners (in a bad way). It's also not too surprising the St. Louis Cardinals have been at or near the top of our rankings ever since spring training wrapped up three and a half months ago.
With that comes another week of MLB Power Rankings from CSNChicago.com's Tony Andracki and JJ Stankevitz. This week, we're listing our first half MVPs for each team.
Stay tuned for updated rankings every Monday throughout the 2015 campaign. Here's where we're at so far: Preseason rankings | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13
| Rank | Team |
Last Week | Comment |
| 1 | 1 |
Jhonny Peralta. Hard to argue here given all the injuries the Cardinals have faced. Peralta's .828 OPS and 2.1 WAR have been a godsend to STL. |
|
| 2 | 2 |
A.J. Burnett. Andrew McCutchen is an obvious choice given how he's turned his season around after a slow start, but did anybody expect this out of the 38-year-old Burnett in the first half?? |
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| 3 | 3 |
Lorenzo Cain. He’s a legitimate star who’s powered Kansas City’s offense and paced a great defense that’s allowed a so-so pitching staff to be successful. |
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| 4 | 6 |
Joc Pederson/Yasmani Grandal. Zack Greinke's been unreal, but his contributions were expected. Pederson (.851 OPS) and Grandal (.927) have been welcome - and much-needed - surprises for the Dodgers. |
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| 5 | 5 |
Bryce Harper. C'mon, how could it be anybody else? |
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| 6 | 8 |
Albert Pujols. Mike Trout is the best player in the AL, maybe in baseball. But Pujols’ resurgence (26 HR, 2.1 WAR) has been critical in vaulting the Angels back into first place at the All-Star break. |
|
| 7 | 9 |
Alex Rodriguez/Mark Teixeira. Combined, these two aging sluggers have 40 home runs that’ve been critical in supporting a pitching staff with a 3.96 ERA, 11th-highest in baseball. |
|
| 8 | 7 |
Jake Arrieta/Jason Hammel. With a rotation that has been inconsistent, Arrieta (2.66 ERA, 0.99 WHIP) and Hammel (2.86, 0.95) have been essential to Cubs' success thus far. |
|
| 9 | 11 |
Brian Dozier. His dramatic walk-off home run against Detroit last week was the exclamation point on Minnesota’s out-of-nowhere first-half success. |
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| 10 | 4 |
Dallas Keuchel. He started the All-Star Game and has a 2.23 ERA/2.82 FIP at the break, but unfortunately for the lagging Astros, he can’t start every game. |
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| 11 | 14 |
Joe Panik. The Giants have had so many underrated contributors (Aoki, Duffy, Crawford, Belt), but nobody's been better than Panik (.820 OPS). |
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| 12 | 16 |
Jacob deGrom. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year proved he's for real with a stellar first half (2.14 ERA, 0.92 WHIP) and added a dominant All-Star apperance to boost. |
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| 13 | 13 |
Chris Archer. If his nickname isn’t “Codename Duchess” yet, we’ve failed. His 2.74 ERA is a big reason why the Rays aren’t buried in the up-and-down AL East. |
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| 14 | 10 |
Manny Machado. At 23, his monster first half (4.2 WAR, 19 HR, 13 SB) puts him in the MVP discussion, where he’ll stay if Baltimore makes a second-half run. |
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| 15 | 12 |
Josh Donaldson. Remember when Oakland traded him for Brett Lawrie? Whoops. His 4.7 WAR is the third-highest total in the American League. Lawrie: 1.0 WAR. |
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| 16 | 15 |
J.D. Martinez. With Miguel Cabrera out for the next few weeks and Victor Martinez struggling, he and Yoenis Cespedes (3.3 WAR) will have to prop up this shaky, .500 team. |
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| 17 | 17 |
Paul Goldschmidt/A.J. Pollock. Goldschmidt was expected to produce, but nobody expected his ridiculous first half (.340/.455/.610 slash line, 21 HR, 70 RBI, 16 SB). Pollock has emerged as a must-needed spark atop the lineup with an .814 OPS and fantastic CF defense. |
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| 18 | 20 |
Jason Kipnis. He leads all players not named Harper or Trout in WAR (4.8) and is making his 2014 regression (0.8 WAR) look like a major fluke. |
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| 19 | 21 |
Clay Buchholz. He’s the only player (3.26 ERA/2.62 FIP) keeping a generally awful starting rotation from the abyss. |
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| 20 | 27 |
Chris Sale. Baseball’s most dominant first-half pitcher and someone who the White Sox shouldn’t trade, even if he’d fetch a massive haul in return. Baseball’s most dominant first-half pitcher and someone who the White Sox shouldn’t trade, even if he’d fetch a massive haul in return. |
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| 21 | 18 |
Yovani Gallardo. With a 2.62 ERA, the right-hander should fetch the spinning-their-wheels Rangers a decent prospect at the trade deadline. |
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| 22 | 19 | Shelby Miller. Miller's 2.38 ERA and 1.15 WHIP established him as an All-Star and ensured the Braves undoubtedly won the Jason Heyward trade. | |
| 23 | 22 |
Nelson Cruz. Unfortunately, his 21 home runs and .308/.373/.546 line haven’t translated into much offensive success for one of baseball’s biggest first-half disappointments. |
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| 24 | 21 |
Justin Upton. He's the only offseason big-ticket acquisition to actually play up to his potential this season. |
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| 25 | 25 |
Sonny Gray. His 2.04 ERA leads the American League and is only bested by Zack Greinke’s 1.39 mark. |
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| 26 | 24 |
Todd Frazier. In a lost season for the Reds, Frazier (.922 OPS) has taken his game to the next level and given Reds fans reason to cheer all year, including his chilling Home Run Derby performance. |
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| 27 | 28 |
Nolan Arenado. The 24-year-old established himself as a bonafide offensive star (.926 OPS, 24 HR, 70 RBI) to go with his awesome defense. |
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| 28 | 26 |
Adam Lind. A .292 AVG and .887 OPS has helped stabilize the lineup. |
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| 29 | 29 |
Dee Gordon. I wanted to give it to Giancarlo Stanton (.952 OPS), but Gordon's 122 hits, .338 average and good defense has been a welcome addition to the Marlins. |
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| 30 | 30 |
Cole Hamels. Hamels has been a stud (3.63 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 9.49 K/9) and will bring a big return back to the Phils...if their front office is smart enough to trade him. |