The Cubs are having their best season in years and enter the week with their magic number for clinching a wild card berth at five. But unless something changes with this weekend's critical series against Pittsburgh, they're the third-best team in the National League Central -- which is far less a knock against the Cubs and more a compliment to baseball's best division. It's certainly led to an interesting wild card race, much better than the mediocre hellscape of the race for the American League's No. 2 wild card spot.
With that comes another week of MLB Power Rankings from CSNChicago.com's Tony Andracki and JJ Stankevitz. Stay with us every Monday from here through October for a fresh set of rankings.
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 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Week 17 | Week 18 | Week 19 | Week 20 | Week 21 | Week 22
Rank | Team |
Last Week | Comment |
1 | 1 |
Looks like the young Cubs are getting under their skin... |
|
2 | 3 |
Survived a late-season lull and now look to be charging toward closing out the No. 1 wild card spot. |
|
3 | 5 |
Had a chance to sweep Cardinals in each of last two series - would've represented a four-game swing in the division and Cubs would've been just two back right now. |
|
4 | 3 |
They're three wins away from eclipsing their 2014 total and there's panic in Kansas City over a mediocre September. #BaseballTown |
|
5 | 4 |
Can effectively clinch their first division crown since 1993 with a huge three-game home series against the Yankees starting Monday night. |
|
6 | 7 |
Cubs were really hoping the Dodgers could take care of some business behind Greinke, Kershaw at home against the Pirates, but it didn't work out that way. |
|
7 | 6 |
This Matt Harvey stuff is stealing attention away from the Mets' incredible turnaround. |
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8 | 8 |
If they don't win this three-game series at Rogers Centre, should probably start aligning their rotation for the wild card game. |
|
9 | 9 |
They're 30-17 since Aug. 1 and could lock up the division with a series win in Houston this weekend. |
|
10 | 10 |
How strange is this: They have the most home wins (50) and fewest road wins (29) of any American League team. |
|
11 | 11 |
Bad injury news continues with Brandon Belt's concussion and reports Joe Panik is going to be shut down for the season. |
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12 | 14 |
Bryce Harper is awesome, but this team is just not going to make the playoffs. Matt Williams may only have two weeks left as a big-league manager. |
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13 | 13 |
They're within striking distance (2.5 games) of Houston entering a make-or-break three-game series at Minute Maid Park. |
|
14 | 14 |
Dropped three of four to the Angels over the weekend, but it seems like every time this team is counted out, they come right back. |
|
15 | 15 |
Four games back with 13 to play is a tall order. |
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16 | 20 |
They're 12-6 in September. Where was this when it mattered? |
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17 | 16 |
Lost in their September collapse is Chris Davis' huge rebound season: .264/.360/.558, 43 home runs, 4.7 WAR. |
|
18 | 19 |
It's kind of a shame we won't see David Ortiz (.270/.353/.544, 35 HR) in the playoffs for the second straight year. |
|
19 | 18 |
Kevin Kiermaier has 8.7 WAR in 250 career games. Defense has real value, folks. |
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20 | 17 |
Paul Goldschmidt since Aug. 1: .244 average, six homers, .799 OPS. |
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21 | 21 |
Jose Abreu worked through some Year 2 turbulence to have a nice season that keeps him on his same career trajectory, which is very good. |
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22 | 22 | Can an aging, veteran team make one more run next year or is it too late for this group? | |
23 | 23 |
Let's stay positive here: Matt Kemp homered again Sunday. |
|
24 | 26 |
Sadly, their highlight of the season came in spring training when Will Ferrell debuted for them. |
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25 | 25 |
Jose Fernandez since returning from biceps injury: 15 K, only 2 ER in 10.2 IP. |
|
26 | 27 |
Joey Votto: 1.018 OPS, but "he doesn't get paid millions of dollars to walk!" Right, Reds Twitter? |
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27 | 24 | ||
28 | 28 |
The Jose Reyes experiment (.261 AVG, .675 OPS) isn't working out so hot, eh?' |
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29 | 30 |
They swept the Phillies with three straight 2-1 victories. Doesn't mean anything, just kinda cool, ya know? |
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30 | 29 |
Not sure we've ever seen a player benched for "pouting" before. |