Cleveland Indians up to No. 7 in ESPN power rankings

The Cleveland Indians got swept over the weekend, but still had a good enough week overall to move up in ESPN’s MLB power rankings.

Cleveland Indians fans have a sour taste in their mouths after the team was swept this past weekend by the Minnesota Twins, but the entire week wasn’t too bad.

The Indians picked up three of four from the Baltimore Orioles early last week, which came after a four-game sweep of the Twins in Minnesota. It just seems difficult for this Indians team to do well at home, but perhaps Mike Napoli being on the field tonight will work some magic for his old team.

The Indians did drop out of first place in the division, but were able to move up one spot up to No. 7 in the latest edition of ESPN’s MLB power rankings.

From the article:

"What a difference an ace makes. While Trevor Bauer, Josh Tomlin and Mike Clevinger have combined for just two quality starts in 13 June turns, the Indians can’t be happier to have staff ace Corey Kluber back. In five starts this month Kluber has gone 3-0 with an AL-best 1.29 ERA, allowing just 27 baserunners in 35 innings while striking out 52 men. — Christina Kahrl, ESPN.com"

Corey Kluber did so well in his two starts last week he was named the American League Player of the Week.

No earned runs in 16 innings is insane, making it frustrating that his defense and offense let him down on Saturday in a game the Indians lost by a score of 4-2 even though Kluber struck out 13 batters.

The starting pitching outside of Kluber and Carlos Carrasco has struggled all season, but the offense only scored two runs over the weekend, being shutout twice. It doesn’t matter how the pitching does when the offense disappears like that, which has unfortunately become a common theme during the 2017 season.

The returns of both Michael Brantley and Brandon Guyer, who were activated off the disabled list today, should help provide some spark to one of the most inconsistent offenses fans have seen in recent memory.

Next: 5 players the Indians should consider at the trade deadline

Guyer has not had a great start to the year in limited action, but Brantley was one of the team’s best hitters when he left the lineup earlier this month, so he should be able to step right back in and form a dominant trio alongside Jose Ramirez and Edwin Encarnacion.