John McGrath’s MLB rankings: Cardinals remain on top

1. St. Louis Cardinals (1): Yadier Molina’s triple last week was his first in 2,071 at-bats.

2. Kansas City Royals (2): Despite injuries to starter Jason Vargas and left fielder Alex Gordon, GM Dayton Moore is approaching trade deadline with no-panic prudence.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (3): Third baseman Aramis Ramirez is returning to a much healthier franchise than the one that traded him 12 years ago.

4. Los Angeles Angels (6): Matt Joyce’s prolonged slump is accelerating search for a left-handed hitting outfielder.

5. Los Angeles Dodgers (4): Dodgers went into weekend with 15 shutouts. Their legendary 1966 staff, built around Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Don Sutton, finished season with 20.

6. New York Yankees (8): Yanks seized control of anything-goes division with sweep of Orioles in New York.

7. Houston Astros (9): Farm-system depth paid off with their stretch-rental acquisition of A’s starter Scott Kazmir.

8. Minnesota Twins (7): Since return from 80-game suspension for You Know What, pitcher Ervin Santana has been lights out.

9. Washington Nationals (5): Nats in middle of a 15-game stretch against starters with a collective 2.64 ERA.

10. San Francisco Giants (12): Buster Posey putting up numbers comparable to his 2012 MVP season.

11. Chicago Cubs (11): A bit more than three months after Kris Bryant’s debut, the rookie third baseman’s No. 17 jersey ranks as MLB’s second-most popular.

12. New York Mets (11): Mets hoping Double-A call-up Michael Conforto will provide booster shot for anemic offense.

13. Toronto Blue Jays (13): Hard-luck knuckleballer R.A. Dickey has gotten 24 runs of support in his 10 losses.

14. Detroit Tigers (14): David Price not certain his Thursday start vs. M’s was his last with the Tigers, but the standing ovation he heard sounded like “Thanks for the Memory.”

15. Tampa Bay Rays (13): Former M’s starter Erasmo Ramirez has solidified spot in Rays’ rotation.

16. Cleveland Indians (17): Bright and introspective Trevor Bauer at wit’s end on why right-handed hitters are murdering his right-handed pitches.

17. Baltimore Orioles (15): GM Dan Duquette will earn his salary returning phone calls this week.

18. Rangers (20): Deep farm mitigates pressure to make deadline trades for prospects.

19. Atlanta Braves (19): Starting pitchers keeping Braves’ wild-card hopes alive.

20. Arizona Diamondbacks (21): Big-league debut of starting pitcher Zack Godley was, well, Godley.

21. Chicago White Sox (22): Jeff Samardzija on the real possibility of pitching for his fourth team in two seasons: “I understand the business and how it works.”

22. Seattle Mariners (23): Congratulations, Randy Johnson. You’re going into the Hall of Fame as a Diamondback, but you learned how to pitch as a Mariner.

23. San Diego Padres (24): Tyson Ross set a club record Thursday by extending his string of starts without allowing a homer to 16.

24. Oakland A’s (26): As usual, GM Billy Beane broke the buyer-seller logjam with the Scott Kazmir trade.

25. Cincinnati Reds (25): Reds GM Walt Jocketty on trade-deadline philosophy: “We’re not going to give away any players.”

26. Milwaukee Brewers (28): Aramis Ramirez trade was first of many for team looking to unload contracts.

27. Colorado Rockies (27): Reliever LaTroy Hawkins, 42, is old enough to have faced Michael Jordan as a Double-A pitcher in 1994.

28. Boston Red Sox (18): Nothing like a weeklong losing streak to suck the wind out of the All-Star break breather.

29. Miami Marlins (29): Dan Haren’s Friday start was almost certainly his last for the Marlins.

30. Philadelphia Phillies (30): Chaotic front-office dynamic — who’s in charge? — not ideal for team looking to dump salaries this week.

This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 7:28 PM with the headline "John McGrath’s MLB rankings: Cardinals remain on top."