NFL
By: Chandler Ragsdale
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Hello to my loyal readers, I hope that you’re all having as good of a week as the Rockies and I hope that yours isn’t going as bad as the Cubs has been! Division races are starting to shape up here in May, and surprisingly enough the Rockies are still going very strong. Problems continue for the Mets, and now they have found out that Jeurys Familia has a clot in his shoulder. However, the other team from New York, the Yankees, are still playing well, and are coming up with a huge series against Houston in what could be a potential ALCS matchup! And what a start that we got to that series last night with a huge throw from Jake Marisnick!
Fan Question
“The Nationals and Orioles are looking like two of baseball’s best, and are battling like it, too. Could this be a preview of the World Series?”
Answer: These are two hot teams, no doubt about it, and they continue to keep wowing us night in and night out. The three games that these two clubs have played this past week were decided by a total of four runs. That is some good baseball. Both of these teams are complete, and both can definitely compete for a pennant in their respective leagues. However, I’m not sure if they both can get there, because Baltimore is going to have a very tough path ahead of them. Not only do they play in a tough division, but they also have Houston to worry about, who is right now the best team in all of baseball. The Nationals can easily win their division, and they’ve already proven that they can beat the NL West leading Rockies, and nobody from the NL Central has looked outstanding so far this season. So I can see Washington in the World Series yes, but I’m not so sure about Baltimore.
Power Rankings
1. Houston Astros (Last Week: 1)- Man is this team scary. I keep mentioning the stars that they have in the middle infield with Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, but I want to show some love to former Cy Young award winner Dallas Keuchel this week. He is currently 6-0 with a 1.69 ERA. Talk about looking back to Cy Young form huh? He did have a rough season last year and he dealt with some injuries, but he is back and is dominating once again. Keuchel held a hot Yankees lineup to 1 run in 6 innings last nights, and that run wasn’t even earned, it came off of an error! He isn’t afraid to throw to hitters inside and he can back it up. The Astros as a whole are second in the league with a 3.42 ERA overall. We knew that they could hit, but now that their starting pitching is starting to dominate also, so watch out.
2. Baltimore Orioles (Last Week: 5)- The Orioles have been in a dog fight with the Nationals this week, and they have played in some really close games. They took two of three from the Nationals, and the fourth and final game of this series was postponed Thursday. But I’m giving them the nod over the Nationals here in the power rankings not only because they beat them twice, but because I believe that Baltimore just has the better team. Their bullpen is what separates them from Washington. Washington may end up looking better record wise by the end of the season, but a lot of that is due to the fact that they are in the weakest division in baseball currently. Baltimore is looking good, and they have proven to me that they’re the second best team in the AL.
3. Washington Nationals (Last Week: 2)- The Nationals are still a very good team, and will definitely be in contention for a NL pennant this postseason. Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper still have averages close to .400 this season, and their starting pitching has been consistent also. They lost some close games this past week to the Orioles, but they will be hungry to prove themselves as the best team in baseball as the season progresses.
4. Colorado Rockies (Last Week: 6)- The Rockies are continuing to climb my rankings each week it seems, and have finally cracked my top five. I honestly hadn’t had much faith in this team until now, because they keep winning. We know that this team is average at pitching, and that’s to be expected being with the conditions that they have to deal with, but this team can flat out hit. They put up double digits on the Dodgers last night and that’s saying something. They also won a series against the Cubs earlier in the week. They keep beating these good teams in the NL, and are showing themselves as a serious contender.
5. New York Yankees (Last Week: 3)- The Yankees are still going strong, and are only a 0.5 game back from the Orioles in the AL East. They swept the Cubs over last weekend, and then split a two game series with Cincinnati. We will really see what this team is made out of when they play the Houston Astros this weekend, and they didn’t get off to a great start tonight, losing 3-2. However, this is still a very good team, and one that deserves to be in the top five on my list still.
6. Cincinnati Reds (Last Week: Not Listed)
7. St. Louis Cardinals (Last Week: Not Listed)
8. Cleveland Indians (Last Week: 8)
9. Los Angeles Dodgers (Last Week: Not Listed)
10. Boston Red Sox (Last Week: 7)
Sources: mlb.com
