The Cleveland Guardians were the best team in baseball — until last weekend.
They have the best record in MLB since July 7, but they couldn’t keep the momentum going against the struggling Atlanta Braves.
That’s why it’s not a surprise to see that they’ve dropped a couple of spots in the power rankings.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report moved them down from No. 11 to No. 13.
“After five straight weeks of climbing in our weekly power rankings, the Guardians fell two spots after an ugly weekend series with the Braves where they were outscored 17-5 and swept for the first time since dropping three in a row to the [Detroit] Tigers on Fourth of July weekend. Cade Smith has tossed nine scoreless innings with three saves and three wins in August, helping to ease the loss of closer Emmanuel Clase to suspension,” Reuter wrote.
Smith’s recent performances may have saved the season.
Not having Clase for the final stretch of the season could’ve ended their playoff hopes, but the Guardians had a star in the making just waiting to step up.
Unfortunately, the rest of the team wasn’t up to that level against Atlanta.
While the Braves are a much more talented team than one could tell by their record, they were 15 games below .500 entering that series, and there was simply no excuse to drop three in a row to a team like that.
The Guardians had won five consecutive series and were inching closer not only to the final AL Wild Card spot, but also to the top of the AL Central.
They still have a chance in both of those races, but they can’t afford to get into a prolonged slump, like what happened in June, if they want to keep their postseason hopes alive.
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