Cleveland Indians move up once again in ESPN power rankings

The Cleveland Indians maintain a huge lead in the American League Central and have moved up once again in ESPN’s MLB power rankings.

The Cleveland Indians moved past the halfway point in the season on Sunday with a victory in Oakland to improve to 45-37 on the season.

And while it wasn’t exactly a great week, the Indians did move up one spot to No. 5 overall in ESPN’s latest MLB power rankings.

The Indians have the benefit of being a division leader, which helps explain this ranking. It is just a bit surprising considering teams like the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers come in behind the Indians when all three of those teams are arguably playing better baseball right now. That is especially true for the Mariners who have won seven straight and are just 0.5 games back of the Houston Astros in the AL West.

What the Indians do have going for them is being in the worst division in all of baseball. There is also the allure of seeing the talent, on paper, and determining the team to be more dominant than the standings show.

It is hard to argue with how great the starting rotation is and getting Carlos Carrasco back will help the group be even stronger.

The key for this team, as has been true all season, is just consistency. The offense can’t shut down like in did for a few games in St. Louis and Oakland. The problem is that I’m not sure anything can be done to fix that other than the players simply being better.

Fans don’t want to see a repeat of the final three games of the 2017 ALDS.

Next: Sunday’s roster moves and injury updates

But right now, the Indians are ranked among the best teams in all of baseball and have what should be an easy three-game series against the Kansas City Royals that begins tonight. Winning this series could push the lead in the division up over 10 games.