Texas rises and the Tigers fall this week. The rankings are as follows.

1. St. Louis Cardinals (38-19, Last Week 1): They are 4.5 games better than any other team in baseball, as they continue to win and stave off a hot Pirates team. It’s also very impressive that they are consistently a top tier team. Great organization in St.Louis.

2. Houston Astros (34-24, Last Week-3): The future is becoming the present as Carlos Correa was called up after Sunday’s game. Now there are three players from the 2012 Drafts (Luhnow’s first): Correa, Preston Tucker, and Lance McCullers, Jr. Tucker (two pinch-hit game-tying home runs) and McCullers (a complete game against the Orioles) have already made positive impacts this season, and I expect Correa to do the same.

3. Minnesota Twins (33-23, Last Week-2): Losing two of three to Milwaukee drops them a spot, but they still lead the Central after going 3-4 this week.

4. Pittsburgh Pirates (31-25, Last Week-12): Their best bet in catching up to St. Louis and not have to go the Wild Card game for the third year in a row is to beat them head-to head.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers (32-25, Last Week-4): Puig is back and they need him because they have not played particularly well lately.

6. Kansas City Royals (31-23, Last Week-5): Avoided getting swept by the Rangers at home this weekend with a late-inning victory. Need to heat up as they’ve gone 3-7 in their last ten.

7. New York Yankees (32-25, Last Week-14): Have won 6 in a row by beating on some A.L. West underachievers. I have a feeling they will be very streaky this season.

8. San Francisco Giants (32-26, Last Week-6): Got swept by the Pirates at home this weekend in what could be very important in who gets the home game for a potential wild card rematch.

9. Washington Nationals (30-27, Last Week-7): Anthony Rendon is back and at an important time for Washington as they have given back first place to the Mets.

10. New York Mets (31-27, Last Week-10): After Colon ripped a double last week, he extended his hitting streak to three games. He is must-watch TV every time he comes up to bat.

11. Texas Rangers (30-27, Last Week-13): After Hamilton was placed on the DL, Joey Gallo (big prospect) was called up and hit two home runs in his first two games.

12. Tampa Bay Rays (31-27, Last Week-15): Another blow to their rotation as Jake Odorizzi was placed on the DL with an oblique injury.

13. Chicago Cubs (30-25, Last Week-11): They will need to make some upgrades to their pitching, more so their bullpen, as the four starters who have started 11 games all have ERAs under 4.

14. Detroit Tigers (30-28, Last Week-9): Dropped to .500 this week and are now closer to last place than first. Offense needs to pick it up, and Verlander should be back this weekend.

15. San Diego Padres (29-29, Last Week-19): Big series against the Dodgers this weekend for a team that has played solid baseball as of late.

16. Toronto Blue Jays (28-30, Last Week-24): Here is shocking stat: The Blue Jays have the best run differential in the A.L.

17. Cleveland Indians (27-29, Last Week-22): They are very close to climbing back to .500 and that recent good stretch of baseball has pushed them to being projected to finish first by Fan Graphs.

18. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (28-29, Last Week-8): Their winning streak has been followed by a lengthy losing streak that has them back to under .500. Luckily for them the Astros did not take advantage.

19. Arizona Diamondbacks (27-29, Last Week-21): This upcoming eight-game California road trip versus Dodgers, Giants, and Angels will be tough, but it’ll be interesting the see how they play against teams better than them.

20. Atlanta Braves (27-29, Last Week-18): Cameron Maybin has played very well as he has an OPS of .798. Maybe he is starting to become a solid player who will provide some offense.

21. Boston Red Sox (27-31, Last Week-25): Swept Oakland this past weekend and now have a good pitcher in rookie Eduardo Rodriguez.

22. Baltimore Orioles (26-30, Last Week-20): They will need Bud Norris to pitch like he did yesterday as their rotation is lacking in star power.

23. Seattle Mariners (25-32, Last Week-17): The Trumbo trade doesn’t make a ton of sense to me because they are adding another hitter with a low OBP and he weakens their defense.

24. Chicago White Sox (25-30, Last Week-22): Difficult rest of the month coming up that includes Houston, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Texas, Minnesota, Detroit, and St. Louis.

25. Colorado Rockies (25-30, Last Week-26): Even though Jordan Lyles is 24, he continues to struggle to stay healthy and play well as he is out for the rest of season and has an ERA over five.

26. Miami Marlins (24-33, Last Week-28): If they play like they did this week (4-2), maybe the can make the playoffs…

27. Oakland A’s (23-36, Last Week-27): They will need to win five of six this week against the Rangers and Angels if they want to get back into the race.

28. Cincinnati Reds (24-31, Last Week-23): They have got plenty of assets to trade and I think they should trade them all and blow it up as three other teams in their division have much brighter futures.

29. Milwaukee Brewers (20-37, Last Week-30): Good series win against the Twins and won a game in St. Louis, which is pretty good week for what has been a horrible season.

30. Philadelphia Phillies (22-36, Last Week-29): Worst run differential in baseball (-74) and Jeff Francoeur has the third most RBIs on the team with 20.

Sources:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/index.jsp

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp

http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Standings