MLB Power Rankings - June 1: Rangers continue to climb; Tigers tumble to No. 9

1. St. Louis Cardinals

Matt Adams' shredded right quadriceps would be much more alarming if the Cardinals didn't already have four of the National League's top-22 hitters in their lineup on a nightly basis. It would probably sting a bit more, too, if Adams had done more than post a .656 OPS (78 OPS+) through 153 plate appearances this season.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

With a heavy heart, the Dodgers parted ways with Juan Uribe last week, shipping the avuncular third baseman to Atlanta to bolster their pitching depth and create more consistent playing time for both Alex Guerrero (.979 OPS, 9 home runs) and Justin Turner (.915 OPS, 4 defensive runs saved).

3. Kansas City Royals

Mired in an offensive slump and lacking in impact talent within the rotation, the Royals have dropped five of their last six games. Seriously, for all their success over the last year, it's probably salient to remember that Jeremy Guthrie, Jason Vargas, and Chris Young comprise 60 percent of their starting corps right now.

4. Houston Astros

Dallas Keuchel hurled his second shutout of the season Saturday, notching a career-high 11 strikeouts to lower his ERA to 1.76 through 11 starts. Since the beginning of 2014, only two American League starters boast a lower ERA than the Astros ace. Those starters are Felix Hernandez and Chris Sale.

5. Washington Nationals

After weeks of speculation over his health, Stephen Strasburg finally landed on the disabled list Saturday, less than 24 hours after being removed from his start in Cincinnati just 16 pitches in. The woebegone 26-year-old hasn't looked right since hurting his shoulder May 5, but the Nationals' rotation still owns a 3.87 ERA (3.51 FIP) with a 3.91 strikeout-to-walk ratio over the last month in spite of his recent woes.

6. San Francisco Giants

The Giants are incapable of being bad, so, naturally, players with uninspired offensive pedigrees have stepped up following the departures of Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse. For instance, Brandon Crawford - a shortstop with a career .669 OPS heading into 2015 - is hitting .299/.371/.506 with seven homers because, clearly, the Giants are magic.

7. Minnesota Twins

Despite their impressive success thus far in 2015, the Twins sure haven't enjoyed life on the road. Away from Target Field this season, the Twins own just a .624 OPS - the second-worst road mark in baseball - and continue to eke out victories by coming through at the plate with men in scoring position.

8. New York Mets

Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen indicated last week that the club will use a six-man rotation into August. Warthen neglected to mention, however, that rookie Noah Syndergaard will occupy all six spots. The 22-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 2.55 on Wednesday with 7 1/3 shutout innings, after all, while also finishing 3-for-3 at the plate with a mammoth home run.

9. Detroit Tigers

For a team with a decidedly stacked lineup, the Tigers' offense sure has shriveled of late. Losers in 10 of their last 15 games, the club's 84 wRC+ over the last two weeks ranks third-last in the AL amid prolonged slumps from Ian Kinsler, Nick Castellanos, and Anthony Gose.

10. Chicago Cubs

With all the attention on Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler, and Addison Russell, it's easy to overlook the continued development of Anthony Rizzo, who ranks fourth in the majors with a .439 OBP through 48 games. The 25-year-old also boasts a career-best .254 isolated power while trimming his strikeout rate by more than seven percent from last summer.

11. Pittsburgh Pirates

With eight wins in their last 10 games, the Pirates no longer look like the scallywags who limped to an 18-22 record to open the season. In fact, six of the club's nine players with at least 100 plate appearances this season are creating runs at least 20 percent better than league average.

12. Los Angeles Angels

What happens when you get Garrett Richards back on the mound, improved command from C.J. Wilson, unprecedented effectiveness from Hector Santiago, and a turnaround from Jered Weaver? Apparently, you get the highest percentage of quality starts among AL teams.

13. Tampa Bay Rays

Despite welcoming Jake McGee back from the DL on May 17, the bullpen has struggled of late, managing a 4.33 ERA with an ugly 10.3 percent walk rate over the last two weeks. Brad Boxberger's recent woes have been particularly costly, as he suffered a pair of losses last week (on consecutive nights) after surrendering homers to Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz, respectively.

14. New York Yankees

Masahiro Tanaka wasn't exactly sharp in his final rehab outing, but the 26-year-old right-hander - set to start Wednesday - will be a welcome addition to a rotation that has allowed 12 home runs in its last 64 2/3 innings (1.62 per nine) while stumbling to a 4.75 ERA in the last two weeks.

15. Texas Rangers

Galvanized, perhaps, by the triumphant return of Josh Hamilton - the dude is 6-for-15 with two homers in his last five games and delivered a walk-off double to close out his first home stand back in Texas - the Rangers are 5-2 since the 34-year-old returned to the lineup May 25.

16. Cleveland Indians

Despite how the Indians' starting corps fared through the early stages of the campaign, the club's electric rotation is finally starting to reap the benefits of its gaudy strikeout numbers. Over the last 30 days, for instance, Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Carlos Carrasco own a combined 3.46 ERA with a 28.3 percent strikeout rate.

17. San Diego Padres

Most every hitter in San Diego would like to forget the last month, but Justin Upton hasn't slowed amid his teammates' recent struggles. Though the Padres managed an ugly .646 in May, the 27-year-old managed a whopping .343/.418/.546 line with six homers last month.

18. Seattle Mariners

Not surprisingly, a lousy offensive team like the Mariners remains a lousy offensive team regardless of the situation. No team in the AL, for instance, is worse at driving in runners from third base with less than two outs than the Mariners, who get the job done just 43% of the time - nine percent worse than league average.

19. Baltimore Orioles

Matt Wieters will make his long awaited return from Tommy John surgery this week, but interim starter Caleb Joseph won't go quietly into that good night. The 28-year-old is tied for eighth among catchers with 0.8 wins above replacement while hitting .254/.340/.405 (106 wRC+) through 40 games. Wieters, for the record, owns a 100 wRC+ since the beginning of 2012.

20. Atlanta Braves

Jace Peterson has so impressed the Braves thus far that the club is starting to see if top prospect Jose Peraza can handle center field. Acquired this winter from the Padres, Peterson ranks 11th among second basemen with 1.0 WAR while managing a .335 OBP and five defensive runs saved in 46 games.

21. Arizona Diamondbacks

Behold, the exhaustive list of players with a better weighted runs created plus (wRC+) than Paul Goldschmidt since the beginning of 2014.

22. Toronto Blue Jays

Josh Donaldson is doing everything in his power to keep the Blue Jays relevant as the heartbreaking losses continue to mount. The dynamic 29-year-old trails only Bryce Harper for the MLB lead in WAR after clobbering six homers last week - each one more timely than the last.

23. Boston Red Sox

It didn't take long for Eduardo Rodriguez to establish himself as Boston's best starter, hurling 7 2/3 scoreless innings in his MLB debut Thursday night. Though the Red Sox planned to ship him back to the minors after his spot start, the club may re-evaluate after watching the 23-year-old author the third-highest game score of any Boston starter in 2015.

24. Chicago White Sox

The White Sox continue to stumble along, but their rotation has improved markedly of late. Chris Sale owns a 1.52 ERA over his last three starts. Jeff Samardzija has more strikeouts than baserunners allowed in his last two outings. Even John Danks is contributing, tossing a shutout Sunday for the first time since 2011.

25. Colorado Rockies

Chad Bettis, the 26-year-old who opened the season with Triple-A Albuquerque, produced the Rockies' highest game score of the season Friday when he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Phillies. No disrespect to Bettis, but that should give you a pretty good sense of how Colorado's rotation has performed in 2015.

26. Cincinnati Reds

Amazingly, bumping Billy Hamilton down in the batting order hasn't turned him into a better hitter. The scuffling 24-year-old is hitting just .263/.256/.263 - that's right, his batting average is higher than his OBP - since being dropped to the No.8/9 spot in the lineup back on May 17.

27. Oakland Athletics

Sean Doolittle was placed back on the DL with more shoulder trouble after making his season debut May 27. That's not the most encouraging news for a bullpen with the worst ERA in baseball and more meltdowns than all but one AL club.

28. Miami Marlins

Which is worse? That Ichiro Suzuki boasts a higher OPS than Christian Yelich, Michael Morse, and J.T. Realmuto? Or that Giancarlo Stanton - hitting just .228 with a .320 OBP - is making contact less often (65.2 percent) than he has at any point in his career?

29. Philadelphia Phillies

General manager Ruben Amaro took some heat last week when he suggested the fans criticizing his conservative approach to handling prospects "don't understand the game." Amaro then proceeded to extol the virtues of RBIs as an instructive statistic.

30. Milwaukee Brewers

Just when it seemed like the Brewers' season couldn't get any more disheartening, Khris Davis tears his meniscus while striking out Saturday. It's yet another blow to a squad that owns the worst record in baseball and the second-worst run differential in the National League.