Guardians Disrespected by Latest ESPN MLB Power Rankings (May 5)

The Cleveland Guardians have finally settled into a groove and now only sit 3.5 games out of first place in the American League Central with an 11-13 record. Early MVP candidate Jose Ramirez is off to a blazing hot start, yet his team is still being disrespected in ESPN's latest MLB power rankings.

MLB Power Rankings: Has a new team surged to our No. 1 spot? https://t.co/juMpcStI4I
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) May 5, 2022

Cleveland Guardians Power Rankings

The Guardians check in at No. 20, which places them behind the Minnesota Twins (No. 11) and Chicago White Sox (No. 17) in the division. It is also one spot lower than what they were ranked at last week, which has to be a surprise given how well this entire lineup is looking at the plate as of late.

Cleveland is currently tied for fifth in the majors in runs per game (4.63) and sixth in team OPS (0.714). The Guardians' ability to get on base has led to a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics and a doubleheader split with the San Diego Padres over their last five games. That's not bad at all.

Just think about what this team is capable of if Ramirez continues to play as well as he has. The three-time All-Star is slashing .341/.421/.707 so far and has racked up 7 home runs, 7 doubles and 28 RBI. Those are all career-high marks for Ramirez through the first 22 games of a season.

What seems to be holding the Guardians back right now is a lack of pitching star power. They rank 20th in team ERA (3.91) and no starting pitcher has accumulated more than one win. The good news is that ace Shane Bieber is starting to heat up and Triston McKenzie is making batters swing & miss.

Cleveland currently has odds set at +7500 to win the World Series, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.