The Minnesota Twins may have just lost two of three to the Milwaukee Brewers, but as the season winds its way towards mid-June the Twins find themselves among baseball’s best teams, according to this week’s Major League Baseball power rankings.
ESPN’s Baseball Tonight ranks the Twins the highest of the major power rankings, slotting the Twins in at No. 5 on their power rankings.
New MLB Power Rankings (via @BBTN):
1. Cardinals
2. Astros
3. Dodgers
4. Pirates
5. Twinshttps://t.co/5PdpiYf5Zd— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 8, 2015
In moving the Twins into the top 5, ESPN gives a lot of the credit to an improved Twins pitching staff.
“The Twins are maintaining their hold on first place in the American League Central behind strong pitching and opportunistic hitting. Mike Pelfrey has been one of the biggest surprises in baseball; he ranks fourth in the AL with a 2.28 ERA after delivering one of the finest outings of his career on Sunday.”
Though not quite as high, Sports Illustrated also has the Twins in their top 10 – at No. 8, noting the Twins had slipped three spots from last week when they were ranked fifth.
It’s interesting to note that despite holding a lead in the A.L. Central, Minnesota remains behind Kansas City; the Royals are fourth in the SI rankings.
The two teams start a key series Monday night at Target Field. For the Twins it’s the beginning of a tough stretch in June that will pit them against the defending American League Champions, before heading on the road for a trip to Texas and St. Louis.
