American League Power Rankings: May 26th

Toronto and Seattle remained in the #1 & #2 slots respectively this week, and the following list entails how the American League has performed for MLB bettors at BetUS Sportsbook through the first three weeks of the MLB betting season….

1) Toronto Blue Jays (14-6, +$733) (LW: 1) The Jays have been the epitome of consistency so far this season, as they have gone 5-2, 5-2, and 4-2 in their first three weeks of the ’09 season. The offense is still doing it all, as the unit ranks 1st in runs per game (6.20), 2nd in batting average (.298), 3rd in OPS (.861), and 2nd in home runs (29). Dropping 31 runs in four days like they did this week helps those stats quite a bit.

On Deck: @ Royals, vs. Orioles

2) Seattle Mariners (12-7, +$594) (LW: 2) For the second time in as many weeks, Seattle posted winning series against the Angels. What made this week all the more impressive was the fact that the series was in Anaheim, not at Safeco Field, and that winning that series came on the heels of taking two out of three with the defending AL Champs. RF Ichiro Suzuki appears to be just fine now that he’s back in the lineup full-time, as he is batting .333 and is already 2nd on the team in dingers after just 11 games.

On Deck: @ White Sox, vs. Athletics

3) Boston Red Sox (13-6, +$362) (LW: 10) After the first $$$ Power Poll, the Sox were ranked 13th of 14 American League teams, but courtesy of a ten game roll, are back up to #3 and snipping at the heels of the Jays for the top spot in the AL East standings. Everything is rolling right now for the boys from Beantown, as they are both scoring runs (8.0 per game during this winning streak) and pitching well (3.6 runs per game during this winning streak). The L/9 have been at home, though. Let’s see how the Sox fare on the road.

On Deck: @ Indians, @ Rays

4) Detroit Tigers (10-8, +$192) (LW: 5) Detroit erased the memories of losing three out of four games by doing something that few teams have been able to do this season… go into Kauffman Stadium and leave with a better record than when it came! The team ranks 12th in the majors in home runs with 21, but 17 of those 21 bombs are by 3B Brandon Inge, CF Curtis Granderson, and 1B Miguel Cabrera.

On Deck: vs. Yankees, vs. Indians

5) Kansas City Royals (9-9, +$162) (LW: 3) Kansas City’s offense still ranks amongst the worst in the majors (20th or worse in every major category), but with pitching performances like the L/2 that Zack Greinke gave out will make even the worst offense look like Murderer’s Row. Greinke hasn’t allowed an earned run in 43.0 innings of work dating back to last season, and has thrown a pair of complete games in his L/2 starts to boot. Unfortunately, he can’t pitch every day.

On Deck: vs. Blue Jays, @ Twins

6) Baltimore Orioles (9-10, +$20) (LW: 6) The Orioles have crashed back to earth and back towards the bottom of the AL East standings where they belong after another rough losing week. The tasks at hand aren’t going to get any easier this week for a bullpen that ranks 27th in the majors (6.37 ERA), as the Halos and the team with the #1 offense in the land are on deck.

On Deck: vs. Angels, @ Blue Jays

7) Chicago White Sox (9-9, -$5) (LW: 4) Since taking three out of four against the Rays, the White Sox haven’t been much to write home about. They’ve dropped four of their L/6, including an embarrassing 14-0 loss to Toronto on Friday. Seven of Chicago’s L/9 games have gone ‘over the ‘total’, which isn’t generally good news for an offense that only ranks in the middle of baseball in production (4.89 runs per game).

On Deck: vs. Mariners, @ Rangers

8) Texas Rangers (8-10, -$166) (LW: 11) The Rangers headed east last week and split six games in Toronto and Baltimore. The impressive ‘W’ came against Roy Halladay on Tuesday, as Texas became the first team to beat Toronto’s ace this season. The reward for Rangers bettors was big fat victory at +192. The story never changes with this team, though. It averages 6.11 runs per game (2nd in MLB) but has a team ERA of 6.10 (29th in MLB).

On Deck: vs. Athletics, vs. White Sox

And the rest…

9) Minnesota Twins (9-10, -$180) (LW: 7)
10) Oakland Athletics (7-10, -$249) (LW: 8)
11) New York Yankees (9-9, -$302) (LW: 9)
12) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (7-11, -$419) (LW: 13)
13) Cleveland Indians (7-12, -$602) (LW: 14)
14) Tampa Bay Rays (7-12, -$627) (LW: 12)

By Mike Rose of BetUS.