All-Stars Power Texas Rangers, Braves in Latest MLB Rankings

Only one team had more All-Stars than the Texas Rangers.

And that team also happens to sit atop the latest Power Rankings from MLB.com, signaling a change at the top for the first time since April. The Atlanta Braves have leapfrogged the Tampa Bay Rays, who had a stranglehold on No. 1 for more than two months.

As for the American League West leaders, the Rangers are holding steady at No. 3. Per MLB.com:

The fans rewarded the Rangers for their impressive first half by voting in four of their players to start next week’s All-Star Game. Corey Seager and Josh Jung will hold down the left side of the infield, while Marcus Semien will start at second and Jonah Heim will be behind the plate. It was announced on Sunday that Texas’ starting quartet will be joined in Seattle by Nathan Eovaldi and Adolis García.

But as impressive as the six All-Stars for Texas – only Atlanta had more with eight – the Rangers made headlines with the first significant trade of the season.

Along with having six All-Stars in this year’s game, the Rangers acquired seven-time All-Star reliever Aroldis Chapman from the Royals this week in an attempt to further solidify their grasp on the AL West. That division lead shrank to four games after dropping two of three to the Astros this weekend.

Chapman made his Texas debut in Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the Houston Astros. He threw one scoreless inning and hit 101 mph on the radar gun.

As for the rest of the AL West in the rankings: Houston Astros (9), Los Angeles Angels (15), Seattle Mariners (21) and Oakland Athletics (30).

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