Cleveland Indians remain at No. 11 in ESPN power rankings

The Cleveland Indians continue to hover around the .500 mark but still find themselves atop the American League Central for now.

The Cleveland Indians went 2-4 last week, capped off by a disappointing loss on national television. And to think, I thought playing in primetime would lead to great things.

The Indians enter play this week with a 22-23 record, good enough for a measly one-game lead over the Minnesota Twins. The Detroit Tigers are only three games back, even though they are sporting a 20-27 record.

Things aren’t great, but fans shouldn’t be panicking just yet. Even after the rough week the Indians remained in the No. 11 spot in ESPN’s MLB power rankings.

From the article:

"As the Indians keep wallowing around .500 and make a target for the Twins or Tigers (!!!) to catch, where would the Indians be without SS Francisco Lindor and 3B Jose Ramirez? They rank No. 3 and 4 in OPS in May behind Boston’s chart-topping duo, while Lindor is second in homers in May with eight. They’re also among the leading defenders at their positions via defensive runs saved and UZR. — Christina Kahrl, ESPN.com"

The faltering bullpen has been the problem lately, but last week saw the offense score three runs or fewer in three of the six games. That included two losses in Houston in which the Indians combined to score two runs. They scored five in a win on Saturday.

The Indians don’t seem to be playing down to the competition in the Central. Rather, the team is just playing poorly in general, just like the rest of the division.

Things don’t get easier this week as the Indians are set to take on the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros, the last two World Series champions. Not exactly an easy week to get back on track.

Falling to second in the division may be the wake-up call this team needs, even if it frustrates fans and has people wondering if the Indians are even headed to the postseason this year. But maybe things won’t get to that point and the Indians will actually have a great week.

Next: Josh Tomlin finally moved to bullpen

We shall see.