Cleveland Indians ranked No. 9 in FanSided MLB power rankings

The Cleveland Indians had an up and down week, but are still considered one of the better teams in the majors according to FanSided’s power rankings.

Today marks the beginning of the first big series of the season for the Cleveland Indians. The team is set for four games against the Minnesota Twins, with a doubleheader to be played Saturday.

The Indians are only one game above the .500 mark, but that is good enough to be just two games behind the Twins in the mediocre American League Central.

This week got off to a rough start with two losses against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but a nice blowout win on Thursday should help give the team some momentum for the big divisional series.

While it wasn’t a great week, the Indians actually jumped up a spot to No. 9 overall in the most recent edition of FanSided’s MLB power rankings.

The article focuses on a slump had by one of the team’s biggest names:

"Lindor batted .309 in April, .245 in May, and is off to a .150 start in the month of June. Many young hitters discover the tradeoff that comes with trying to go from hitting singles and doubles to all fields to hitting 30 home runs. Lindor, like Manny Machado in Baltimore, has gotten too long with his swing, but he will get back on track."

Francisco Lindor is indeed struggling, entering today with a .257 batting average and a .319 on-base percentage. His numbers aren’t horrible, but his production has plummeted since his hot start in April. No one expected him to keep up the pace of the 17 RBI he had in April, but the 10 since are concerning.

A lot of people may forget that Lindor is only in his second full season with the team, so growing pains are to be expected from the young star. And for someone with his ability, don’t expect this slump to last much longer.

The highlight from the week came Wednesday when Corey Kluber became the fastest Indians player to record 1,000 career strikeouts, even though the feat came in a loss for the team.

Next: 3 takeaways from the series vs. the Dodgers

Even after a tough series against the Dodgers, the Indians are in a great position to take command of the division from the Twins. It all starts tonight, so hopefully the team builds off Thursday’s win to keep climbing up the division and these power rankings.