Mets drop 1 spot in this week’s MLB Power Rankings despite good play

In this week’s MLB Power Rankings for FanSided, the New York Mets have dropped a spot. Although they were hardly stagnant by taking three out of four against the St. Louis Cardinals and two out of three versus the Colorado Rockies, they still fall behind two major World Series challengers.

The New York Yankees still have more wins than the Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers have a better winning percentage heading into this week. The Mets handling the Cardinals and Rockies as they did was impressive. The only losses they took on this week came in doubleheaders.

On a day when you play two, the goal should always be to make sure you take at least one. Buck Showalter’s boys were able to accomplish that both times. However, they still go from last week's spot at number two down to three.

The Mets go from number 2 to number 3 in this week’s MLB Power Rankings

The Mets are hanging tough with everyone else in Major League Baseball. Their upcoming schedule will provide them with chances and challenges. Before heading back home, they have to deal with the San Francisco Giants. Then they finish off the month by hosting the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. They’ve faced all three of those clubs before and should have a chance to potentially nail down another number one spot as they did several weeks ago.

Finally, the Yankees look like they may have a weakness. Against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, they lost two games. The White Sox have had their own struggles this year but the Tim Anderson vs. Josh Donaldson incident could have ignited something in them. The weakness they discovered: the Yankees may have just been beating up on mostly bad or down-and-out teams.

The June schedule for the Mets will be a tough stretch run and they’re going to do it without Max Scherzer. Thankfully, the trio of Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, and Taijuan Walker have all appeared to pitch one or two levels above where the club had planned to have them.

Will the Mets be number one next week? Unless a team behind them catches up, they may have some trouble. The Yankees get to beat up on the Baltimore Orioles before facing the challenging Tampa Bay Rays. The Dodgers, meanwhile, deal with the Nationals and then the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Even if all things come out even, a little more distance between the Mets and their National League East rivals could be enough. They do, after all, have a growing lead in the division. Win totals, winning percentage, run differential, and just the overall feel of the team factor in heavily with power rankings. So shall the lead built within the division.