FanGraphs Power Rankings: May 13–19

The FanGraphs Newsletter, May 21, 2024 [READ IN BROWSER]( May 21, 2024 The various division races are starting to shape up now that we’ve passed the quarter pole in the regular season. The Astros finally woke up from their early season slumber, reminding us that it’s still not too late for some of these disappointing teams to make a run into the playoff picture. As a reminder, we’ve revamped our power rankings. The old model wasn’t very reactive to the ups and downs of any given team’s performance throughout the season, and by September, it was giving far too much weight to a team’s full body of work without taking into account how the club had changed, improved, or declined since March. Without further ado, let's take a peek at the top of our list. The Yankees leapt to the top of these rankings with sweeps of the Twins and White Sox last week. They’ve now won seven straight and 13 of their last 15. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge are powering the offense as expected — along with a resurgent Giancarlo Stanton — but the most impressive part of this hot streak has been their pitching staff. During this stretch, New York has allowed just 2.4 runs per game and gave up a total of six runs last week. The entire starting rotation has stepped up in Gerrit Cole’s absence, with Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil representing the two biggest surprises. The Phillies stretched their division lead over the Braves to five games with a wild series win against the Mets and a sweep of the Nationals last week. It’s true Philadelphia has played the weakest schedule of any team thus far — it faced the Braves in the first series of the season and hasn’t met a team with a record over .500 since then — but the Phillies are banking enough wins now that it might not matter if they come back down to earth once the schedule toughens up. [FULL RANKINGS]( [Edwin Díaz Isn't Fully Back Yet]( Don't put your head in the sand and pretend that nothing is wrong, Mets fans. Díaz clearly isn't back to full health after missing the entire 2023 season. | by Ben Clemens [Top of the Order: The Phillies Keep Turning Without Trea]( No Turner, no problem for Philadelphia. Plus, Rafael Devers sets a Red Sox record and other notes from around the majors. | by Jon Becker [Joey Ortiz Is Succeeding Strangely]( The Brewers have a new star. Just don't spend too long trying to figure out how he does it, or you might turn your mind into knots. | by Ben Clemens [The Reds Have Completely Crashed in May]( This month’s 3-14 record has sent Cincinnati tumbling into the NL Central cellar. | by Jay Jaffe [Tuck on Roll: The Astros Have a New Best Player]( Kyle Tucker has been very good for five years. But what if he turned into a superstar? | by Michael Baumann [Sunday Notes: Well-Grounded, Jordan Weems Looks Back at Two Firsts]( Plus Gene Garber angered Pete Rose, Kevin Cash on pitch counts, 1966 Gary Peters, Mike Aldrete on Mike Scott, facts and stats galore, and more. | by David Laurila 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2166: Delayed Gratifi-K-tion]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [How Josh Hader set unprecedented rules to protect his health]( by Buster Olney, ESPN [The Stickiness of Extreme Strikeout Rate Changes from Year to Year]( by Rob Mains, Baseball Prospectus ($) [Chasing down legendary homer spots like Fenway’s red seat in ballparks across America]( by Steve Buckley, The Athletic ($) [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2024 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 3017 N Underwood StArlington, VA 22213 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](