We know computers hate the Orioles, and national broadcasters hate the Orioles, but do the folks who make power polls/rankings hate the Orioles? Not as much as they should, honestly.
SI.com: The 30 (5th; Last Week: 4th)
Jonah Keri lowered the O’s down just one slot. Feels like we barely missed a far worse fate.
USA Today Power Rankings (7th; LW: 4th)
The Nation’s Newspaper makes the O’s the biggest loser of the week, down three slots. ”Zach Britton now 37 for 37 in save chances.”
Bleacher Report Power Rankings (8th; LW: 8th)
Slideshow Central keeps the O’s in the Top 10. “Dylan Bundy has proved to be the difference-maker the Orioles were hoping for when they moved him out of the bullpen, as he has gone 4-2 with a 2.76 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and .174 opponent batting average. The question now is how many innings they're willing to tack onto his arm.”
MLB.com (5th; LW: 4th)
MLB.com uses analysts for 75% of their polls’ composition, and fan votes for the other 25%. The experts have the O’s at #5, the fans at #6, so the O’s end up at #5.
CBS Sports (5th; LW: 5th)
Matt Synder drops the O’s just one slot. “Manny Machado homered in each of the first three innings on Sunday, making him the second man ever to do that. I don't know if I've mentioned before that he's fun to watch. I haven't, right? I'm pretty sure it's a no. Hmm …”
Power Rankings Guru (7th; LW 6th)
PRG is an aggregate of several national power rankings/polls, and they have the O’s down one slot to 7th.
reddit’s Power Poll (N/A; LW: 6th)
The community editors over at reddit seemed to have skipped this week. If anyone can find this week’s rankings thread, please post in the comments.
OddsShark.com (20th; LW: 16th)
Ranks are based on rolling past 20 games overall. Since this includes the two Boston games, yeah, I can kinda see it.
The Baltimore Sun's MLB Power Rankings (4th; LW: 5th)
The Sun’s Jon Meoli still has the O’s in the top five. “By virtue of a .500 road trip and the expected bump from a rare day off that followed it, this Orioles team deserves a jump here. Some of their colder bats are turning around, their pitchers are staying hot and they have a healthy dose of home games coming up that should help them carry their division lead into September.”
ESPN.com Power Poll (7th; LW: 6th)
The World-Wide Leader keeps the O’s in the Top 10, but their hold is slipping. “A three-run blast by Jonathan Schoop capped a comeback victory over the San Francisco Giants in the Orioles' final game on the West Coast this season. Schoop's tater salvaged an otherwise disappointing series of games in California, which included dropping three of four to the Oakland A's.” -- Matt Kremnitzer (@mattkremnitzer), Camden Depot
Any egregious slights or wild overestimation of this team? Any polls you’d like to see included? Add your thought down below and hit me up on Twitter @Bill_Duck21804 where you will find way, way too much discussion of politics and MMA for any baseball fan’s liking.