Philadelphia Phillies: How are the New York Mets 10 spots better according to ESPN MLB Power Rankings?
The latest ESPN Power Rankings has the Philadelphia Phillies in the 22nd spot and the New York Mets in the 12th. How can that be? The Mets have faltered out the gate early with a record of 8-11 while the Phillies have stayed steady with a 9-9 record? What makes the newest ESPN Rankings so disrespectful is that fact that the Mets have lost 4 straight games while the Phillies are on a 4-game winning streak. Not to mention that in their last 10 games the Mets have gone 2-8 while the Phillies have gone 6-4.
But yet, they are 10 spots better.
To be fair, the Mets have taken 4 of 6 from the Phils, including a 3- game sweep early on. However, I didn’t know that Power Rankings were solely based on early season wins. Did ESPN forget to factor in the come-from-behind wins the Mets had against the Phillies or what about the 2 of 3 the Phils just took from the Mets just this past week?
What I see in terms of ESPN– is favoritism. The Mets have the household names or at least the better-known names. How many baseball fans are stacking their fantasy lineups with the likes of Yoenis Cespedes, Neil Walker, and Jay Bruce at the plate, compared to Michael Saunders, Maikel Franco, and Freddy Galvis? The Mets pitching staff is the talk of baseball with Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, and Jacob DeGrom. The Phillies will counter with Jeremy Hellickson, Aaron Nola, and Clay Buchholz. It’s clear the Phillies names are not respected but at least show some for their record.
To many, Power Rankings mean nothing but to me, it’s viewed as a measuring stick for a team’s performance each week.
To add more salt to the wound is the fact that the younger, cheaper and less experienced Phillies have more hits, scored more runs, more stolen bases– just to be blunt, they are a better offensive team than the Mets. As for pitching, this is the area where the Mets should dominate over this patchwork Phillies staff. That’s one area where the Mets deserve high praise but still– 10 spots higher?
The Philadelphia Phillies are unlike me– they may not have any concerns over their ranking but to see blatant disrespect for a team because they don’t have household names and MLB is a bit surprised at their early success is crazy. ESPN should be ashamed of themselves for this.
Give the Philadelphia Phillies their respect or stop doing Rankings.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
