MLB Power Rankings - September 10, 2012

Joey Votto is back, Stephen Strasburg is done for the season and the Baltimore Orioles are indeed for real. There were plenty of story lines this past week which played a part in the rankings and the races for playoff berths in both leagues.

The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are streaking; winning five and six straight games respectively. The Braves' streak has them seven games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers who are right now the first team out of the National League wild card race.

The Angels have moved within one game of the Orioles for the last spot in the American League playoffs and only 2 1/2 games behind division rival Oakland who holds the top position.

With their excellent weeks both teams made moves up the charts while the Washington Nationals swap places with the Texas Rangers mostly due to Strasburg's departure from the field. Please let us know what you think about the rankings in the comments below.

Playoff Risk Mitigation: Are the Nationals concerned about Jordan Zimmermann?



(Getty Images)

By Stevo-sama | @yoshiki89

There can be no question about the continued success of the Washington Nationals in the NL East this season and the alarming reality that after years of mediocrity, they are something more than a valid playoff contender. The franchise’s last winning season was their inaugural season as the Nationals in 2005, as a .500 team that still floundered in the basement of the division. Prior to that, only the 2002 Montreal Expos could boast a winning season and a division title berth, finishing 2nd at 83-79.

There should be dancing in the streets as September arrives. The taste of playoff baseball is in the air, and the team leads the NL East over the Atlanta Braves by 6.5 games. However, the cause for pre-emptive celebration in DC has been dampened somewhat not only by the inevitable exeunt of phenom Stephen Strasburg as a playoff pitcher but also by the recent struggles of Jordan Zimmermann.

Strasburg’s highly-publicized innings limit this season has been a highly debated and thoroughly analyzed question mark in the Nationals’ potential post-season strategy for the past few weeks. Some of the alarm in this plan has been magnified by Zimmermann’s performance in August.

Why Washington Fans Shouldn’t Worry About Shutting Down Strasburg



(Alex Brandon / AP)        

By Carlos Collazo | @CarlosCollazo__

How’s it going guys? Man it’s been a while since I have managed to write anything about baseball and let me tell you; it’s good to be back. For those of you who don’t know (probably a large number of you), I have just recently moved into college. I have been getting my dorm set up, getting accustomed to classes, eating a lot of food, and getting my internet set up. That last little part turned out to be extremely cumbersome, but I have some great tech guys around here to help me out.

Regardless of all of my issues, I’m back and, more importantly, ready to talk some baseball.

Today’s column—which is actually my first column for the Daily Site—is going to cover one of the best teams and one of the best pitchers in baseball. If you haven’t already deduced from the title, it is Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals of Washington.

The Nationals are 77-47 so far during the season, helped out significantly by Strasburg and his 15-5 record in 25 starts. So, clearly he is a good pitcher right? He’s got a lot of wins and not a lot of losses, so he must be. If you know me then you know that I don’t put too much stock in Wins and Losses for pitchers (say hello, Felix). I like to look a little bit deeper.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that most of you know about Stephen Strasburg and are aware that he is an elite pitcher. We won’t need to analyze all of his advanced stats because there is no real need. He is good, we know he is good, and we know why he is good. He throws ridiculously hard, has a ridiculous curve ball, and a ridiculously cool beard to top it off (the high socks he normally wears can’t hurt either).

Lucas Giolito Will Likely Need Tommy John Surgery

 

By Jim Pratt | @BigLeaguesMthly

On the Wednesday morning edition of The Mike Rizzo Show, the Washington Nationals general manager confirmed that Lucas Giolito would likely need Tommy John surgery.

(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

During his appearance on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, Rizzo said, "It looks like he is going to need Tommy John surgery. He's seen our medical people. We're going to give him a second medical opinion. Dr. Lewis Yocum is going to see him this week some time and we anticipate that he will have Tommy John and if and when he does, it will be done by Lew Yocum. We'll have a rehabilitation schedule in place the same as we've had with Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg and Sammy Solis and in a year he'll be a young 19-year-old guy that's come off Tommy John surgery and will begin his ascent up the minor league system."

Giolito, the 16th overall pick in the June draft, appeared in only one game for the Gulf Coast League Nationals before reporting soreness in his right elbow.

MLB Power Rankings - August 13, 2012

This is the first of a weekly series which will provide my rankings of all 30 MLB teams. There is no scientific formula behind the rankings. I take into account the teams' current record, their future outlook and recent trends when determining positions on the chart. I welcome any and all comments concerning the rankings themselves and/or the notes provided for each team.

The first set of rankings is headed up by the Washington Nationals, which should be of no surprise at this point in the season. However, how many of us had them this good in 2012? Personally, I felt they were one or two years away from dominating this division, but they've developed quicker than I expected and have done so while dealing with several key injuries. This team is for real and will be a force in the National League East for some time. It will be interesting to see how they handle Stephen Strasburg going forward and what impact his innings limit will have on the team. For now they are number one in my estimation, with at least a few teams a good win streak away from snatching the honors. Without further delay here are the rankings. Team records and statistics are as of Sunday, August 12.

There you have it. What are your thoughts? Are the Nationals the number one team in MLB? Who do you think deserves the top spot? Let me know in the comments.

Updated 8/14/12: Big Leagues Monthly magazine's second issue has gone live, so please check it out and feel free to leave us comments here or through our social media sites. You can follow the Big Leagues Monthly daily edition and magazine on Twitter at @BigLeaguesMthly and on Facebook here. 

Follow me on Twitter at @Chris Carelli.