Orioles in Power Rankings - Week 17

We know computers hate the Orioles, and national broadcasters hate the Orioles, but do the folks who make power polls/rankings hate the Orioles? The national media isn’t exactly bleeding Orange and Black this week.

SI.com: The 30 (6th; Last Week: 3rd)

Jonah Keri brings the Orioles down three slots, with the Indians and Blue Jays (who are still suspiciously behind the O’s as of Thursday afternoon) moving ahead of our Bird.

USA Today Power Rankings (7th; LW: 4th)

The Nation’s Newspaper wants to dwell on the shrinking of the O’s lead instead of the fact they kept a lead at all with a rough patch after the All-Star Game. “5 1/2 game lead in AL East on June 29 down to a half game.”

Bleacher Report Power Rankings (14th; LW: 2nd)

Slideshow Central sends the Orioles down a dozen slots to 14th. Suffice it to say, they weren’t impressed by Dan Duquette’s deadline moves. “In a wide-open AL East race and with the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox both failing to make a deadline splash, the Orioles missed a golden opportunity to separate themselves from the pack.

Even something like trading for Andrew Cashner and Jeremy Hellickson would have been enough to make them significantly better, and there's no one in their minor league system who should be deemed untouchable.”

MLB.com (7th; LW: 5th)

MLB.com uses analysts for 75% of their polls’ composition, and fan votes for the other 25%. That lands the Orioles two slots lower than last week at 7th..

CBS Sports (4th; LW: 1st)

Matt Synder still likes the O’s better than most, but even he couldn’t ignore last week. “Five straight losses last week, four of which came after the O's took the top spot in the Official Power Rankings. You know the drill. The curse lives!”

Power Rankings Guru (7th; LW 3rd)

PRG is an aggregate of several national power rankings/polls, and they have the O’s as the biggest downfall of the week.

reddit’s Power Poll (9th; LW: 6th)

The community editors over at reddit now have the O’s behind the Blue Jays AND the Red Sox. The standings, they still mean nothing, I suppose. “Dylan Bundy's 29.3% K% as a starter is lower than only Jose Fernandez, Kershaw, Scherzer, Strasburg, and Syndergaard. He's looked good. The offense, not so much. Since the All Star break, the O's are hitting .213/.269/.336 with a .175 average w/RISP and averaging 2.941 runs per game. Somehow, they've gone 8-9 over that span and swept the Indians. And are in 1st place in the East. No, I don't understand it either.”

OddsShark.com (24th; LW: 21st)

Ranks are based on rolling past 20 games overall. And yes you read that right, OddShark has the O’s at 24th. This is for professionals betting actual money. They live in a different world than you and I.

The Baltimore Sun's MLB Power Rankings (N/A; LW: 2nd)

The Sun’s Jon Meoli skipped his Power Rankings this week.

ESPN.com Power Poll (9th; LW: 6th)

The World-Wide Leader at least has the O’s in front of Boston, but five slots behind the Blue Jays. Whatever, ESPN. “The Orioles have been a team of streaks lately. Before an extra-inning win on Sunday to escape Toronto with a slim first-place lead, the O's had the following stretch: won four, lost four, won five, lost five. Baltimore's offense was surprisingly bad in July (13th in runs scored with 89), but perhaps Adam Jones' much-needed three-run blast in the 12th inning Sunday will jump-start a struggling lineup.” -- 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.