Looking at the teams on top, it appears the true World Series contenders are starting to emerge as the season reaches its halfway point.<\/p>\n
(Previous rankings in brackets)<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. (1) Philadelphia Phillies (51-30): <\/strong>As if the Phillies needed more things to go right…Cliff Lee has started one of his maniacal hot streaks again. Three consecutive complete-game shutouts. 2. (3) New York Yankees (47-31): <\/strong>Could Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson give the Bronx Bombers their first 50-homer tandem since the glory days of Mantle and Maris?<\/p>\n 3. (10) Atlanta Braves (47-35): <\/strong>Brandon Beachy fills the void for injured Tommy Hanson \u2013 and pitches just like Hanson. The Braves have another great kid on their hands.<\/p>\n 4. (12) San Francisco Giants (46-35): <\/strong>The champs are hot, primarily because of their pitching but also because their anemic hitting has shown the slightest signs of life.<\/p>\n 5. (6) Tampa Bay Rays (45-36): <\/strong>It was only a matter of time before Evan Longoria exploded. No coincidence that the Rays are heating up just as he does.<\/p>\n 6. (2) Boston Red Sox (45-34): <\/strong>Their bats have randomly gone cold and they\u2019ve lost six of seven as a result. Are you worried? I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n 7. (21) Los Angeles Angels (42-40): <\/strong>The Halos are 8-2 over their last 10, largely because the Weaver\/Haren connection is on fire again. But this team still isn\u2019t deep enough to make waves in October.<\/p>\n 8. (16) Texas Rangers (43-38): <\/strong>Who knew that the Rangers\u2019 MVP candidate this year would be Michael Young and not Josh Hamilton nor Nelson Cruz?<\/p>\n 9. (7) Milwaukee Brewers (44-37): <\/strong>The Brew Crew is good enough to win the National League Central but that 15-26 road record sticks out like a sore thumb. What if they open a playoff series away from Miller Park?<\/p>\n 10. (20) New York Mets (41-39): <\/strong>Whoa, daddy. Where\u2019d this offense come from? Jose Reyes has possibly been the NL\u2019s best player, Carlos Beltran is turning back the clock and David Wright is on the mend.<\/p>\n 11. (4) Cleveland Indians (42-37): <\/strong>Even though Shin-Soo Choo wasn\u2019t doing much, his thumb injury hurts. The rest of the team is crashing back to Earth and the Tribe really needed Choo to get hot.<\/p>\n 12. (9) St. Louis Cardinals (43-38): <\/strong>.500 over their last 10 and that\u2019s all they can really ask for with the greatest ballplayer on Earth sidelined with a fractured forearm.<\/p>\n 13. (8) Detroit Tigers (43-38): <\/strong>Are the Tigers at their ceiling? Their best players \u2013 Verlander, Cabrera, Martinez, etc. \u2013 are all playing great ball. But the team is a so-so five games over .500. The Tigers just aren\u2019t deep enough to be much better than this.<\/p>\n 14. (13) Arizona Diamondbacks (44-38): <\/strong>Looks like the Diamondbacks will remain relevant all season. Management publicly stated this week that the team will be a buyer in July.<\/p>\n 15. (17) Chicago White Sox (39-42): <\/strong>Miraculously just four games out of first in the AL Central. This is still the division\u2019s deepest, most talented team. Only a matter of time before the lead belongs to the Pale Hose. Imagine if Adam Dunn played like something other than a bench player? [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n 16. (11) Cincinnati Reds (42-40): <\/strong>Joey Votto may have another MVP on his shelf by season\u2019s end but the Reds don\u2019t look like division champion material this time around.<\/p>\n 17. (24) Pittsburgh Pirates (40-39): <\/strong>The Pirates are over .500 at almost the halfway point! This is almost…awkward. What do we say about them?<\/p>\n 18. (22) Colorado Rockies (39-41): <\/strong>I suppose we don\u2019t have to worry yet. The Rockies are almost due for their annual second-half tear.<\/p>\n 19. (18) Toronto Blue Jays (40-41): <\/strong>As usual, they\u2019d be in the thick of the playoff race in almost every other division. But they\u2019re simply fourth-best in the AL East.<\/p>\n 20. (19) Washington Nationals (40-41): <\/strong>Raise your hand if you knew that Jordan Zimmermann had a 0.85 ERA in June. This guy is a stud and no one knows about him aside from fantasy baseball nuts.<\/p>\n 21. (27) San Diego Padres (37-45)<\/strong> We’re nearly halfway thru the 2011 MLB gambling season. It\u2019s time to NOW bring your best\u00a0baseball betting<\/a> hat to the table for gambling on baseball. Cappers Picks all season long provides\u00a0MLB baseball gambling<\/a> predictions, so check back often.<\/p>\n Shea Matthews\u2019s weighs in with another edition the the 2011 MLB power rankings. The Phillies are in top spot this week\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":24462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[48291,108,12218,66497,683,3775,1015],"class_list":["post-39908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-baseball","tag-2011-mlb-baseball-power-rankings","tag-baseball-handicapping","tag-baseball-power-rankings","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-handicapping","tag-mlb-odds","tag-power-ratings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39908"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40177,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39908\/revisions\/40177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/mlb-baseball-power-rankings.gif\" "\\"mlb-baseball-power-rankings\\"")
\n22. (5) Minnesota Twins (34-45)<\/strong>
\n23. (14) Oakland Athletics (36-45)<\/strong>
\n24. (25) Los Angeles Dodgers (36-46)<\/strong>
\n25. (15) Seattle Mariners (39-42)<\/strong>
\n26. (28) Chicago Cubs (33-48)<\/strong>
\n27. (30) Florida Marlins (35-45)<\/strong>
\n28. (26) Baltimore Orioles (35-42)<\/strong>
\n29. (23) Kansas City Royals (33-48)<\/strong>
\n30. (29) Houston Astros (28-53)<\/strong><\/p>\nCLICK HERE TO GRAB OUR BEST Picks Packages for 2011 MLB Betting! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"