Cleveland Indians remain at No. 4 overall in ESPN power rankings

The Cleveland Indians have likely climbed as high as they can go in the ESPN MLB power rankings given the dominance of the teams at the top.

The Cleveland Indians lost one game last week and it came on a day when Jim Thome’s number was retired. So it wasn’t a total loss of a day.

The Indians easily handled both the Cincinnati Reds and the Baltimore Orioles to improve to 71-52 before the showdown with the Boston Red Sox. Some fans may be putting a lot of importance on this series but it is just like any other August series.

The only thing of note is that Boston is the only real competitive team the Indians face between now and the end of the season. The two teams meet up again in Cleveland in late September.

Boston is the best team in baseball and currently sits atop ESPN’s MLB power rankings. The Indians come in at No. 4 overall, the same spot they were a week ago. The Houston Astros are in second while the New York Yankees are in third.

It is going to be hard for the Indians to climb any higher in these power rankings, barring a total free fall from either the Astros or Yankees. The Indians may even get passed up by the Oakland A’s if that team keeps up the chase toward the top of the AL West.

One big takeaway from these rankings is that the Indians may be ranked fourth, but are higher than any National League team. So for all the people complaining that the team has not played at a high enough level, 71-52 is tied with the Cubs for the best record in the NL. The Indians aren’t doing too bad.

The series against the Red Sox starting tonight will be fun but I wouldn’t look too much into it. The postseason remains a much different animal than the regular season.