Cardinals Being Disrespected in ESPN's Latest Power Rankings

The St. Louis Cardinals have been one of the hottest teams in the MLB this season. At 25-18, the Cardinals hold the top spot in the NL Central by a 3.5-game lead over the Chicago Cubs. Taking that into consideration, you would think that they would be getting more respect than they already are.

ESPN is the latest critic to doubt St. Louis in their latest MLB power rankings. Last week, the Cardinals came in at the No. 4 spot, however, they've since dropped to No. 11. How ESPN went from considering them a top-5 team a week ago to being outside of the top-10 now is nothing short of disrespectful.

St. Louis Cardinals Power Ranking

The only silver lining to ESPN's latest power rankings is that the Cardinals are the highest-ranked NL Central team. The Chicago Cubs (No. 16), Milwaukee Brewers (No. 17) and Cincinnati Reds (No. 18) are all within striking distance of one another.

St. Louis has been close to being a top-10 statistical team on both sides of the ball this season. The Cardinals are scoring an average of 4.49 runs per game (13th) while allowing 4.02 (11th). Third baseman Nolan Arenado has also been everything as advertised in 2021, recording 10 home runs and 31 RBI on the campaign already. In total, St. Louis has six players who already have 18 or more RBI, which means opposing teams might have trouble keeping up with their offense as the season progresses.

The Cardinals currently have the 8th-best odds to win the World Series at +2000, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. St. Louis still has a ways to go before becoming the top championship contenders. Nevertheless, they're already on their way there and it's time that the doubters stop doubting them.

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