Guardians still viewed highly despite down week

Last week was a bit messy for the Cleveland Guardians. Things got started off on the wrong foot pretty much immediately, being the losers of three straight games to the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks. For a brief moment, it felt like everything was going to fall apart for the Guards following their loss in Friday's doubleheader to the Minnesota Twins. But luckily, they were able to rebound and split the series in Minnesota, capturing the tiebreaker over the Twins along the way, putting a positive note on a trying week.

Even with all the adversity the Cleveland Guardians faced, they are still viewed pretty highly when it comes to their place in the recently published MLB Power Ranking. In Joel Reuter's MLB Power Rankings: Astros, D-Backs Rise, Dodgers Drop as Playoff Picture Takes Shape, appearing on Bleacher Report, the Guardians still find themselves near the top.

Coming in as the number four team, according to Reuter, are the Guardians. The only real positive thing Reuter had to say was that they split the series with Minnesota while mentioning they are still in first place in the American League Central, even if he did make note of their lead being much smaller than it once was.

The Guardians snapped a season-high, seven-game losing streak on Saturday and managed to split their four-game series in Minnesota. However, they have gone from a comfortable six-game cushion in the AL Central standings to a 3.5-game lead

Even though they were 2-5 against Arizona and Minnesota, Cleveland still being ranked in the top five here shows just how favorably they are viewed on the national baseball landscape. Sure, everyone was frustrated with how this past week went, and their recent struggles have been very concerning, although still being considered among the best teams in the game is still noteworthy.

The Guardians have not definitively gotten out of their offensive funk yet, but it seems like better days are in their immediate future. This team has shown time and time again that they are much better than they have performed lately and should be able to prove it rather soon. All it takes is a little run, and everyone will be a little less concerned with how last week played out.