The top shelf and the bottom of the barrel

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

This will hopefully be the first in a weekly series where I break down the best and worst five teams in the MLB. Hopefully we'll stir up some conversation because my picks won't always be the popular ones. So let's get down to it.

Top shelf
Tampa Bay Rays
Sure, Dallas Braden just made history against them, but that's exactly what makes Braden's accomplishment that much more impressive. No one has even thrown a no-hitter against a team with a better winning percentage than the Rays have, let alone a perfect game. Only one team in baseball is in the top 3 in both pitching and runs and that's Tampa Bay.

New York Yankees
Much like Tampa Bay, the Yankees have been dominant against the toughest division in baseball at 11-2. They won five in a row, including two games in which they blasted the Red Sox at Fenway Park before losing the last game of the three-game series last night. Robinson Cano is having the kind of season people have been waiting for since he came up to the bigs and that could result in an MVP award at season's end.

Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies had a rough end of April, losing five of its last seven games against teams that frankly they shouldn't have lost to, but have righted the ship early in May. Roy Halladay has been an absolute animal, winning six of his seven starts. He's gone the distance in three of those starts and twice he finished those complete games with a shutout.

Minnesota Twins
I seriously thought about putting St. Louis ahead of Minnesota because of the fact that 14 of the Twins' 21 wins have come against a weak AL Central. But the fact that Minnesota has played as well outside their new friendly confines as they have at Target Field made me reconsider. The Twins have been getting consistent efforts from their starting pitchers, from one to five with Francisco Liriano regaining the ace-like form he lost a year ago. And while Ron Gardenhire blew smoke at the beginning of the season about a bullpen by committee, Jon Rauch has filled the void Joe Nathan left behind.

St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis was cruising until it ran into a buzz saw called the Philadelphia Phillies last week. After winning the first game, 6-3, St. Louis was held to three runs over the next three games, all of which were losses. Granted, two of those losses came against Cole Hammels and Roy Halladay. Still, the Cardinals need to find more consistent offense to back what has to be considered one of the strongest rotations in baseball. Jaime Garcia has proved to be a nice addition to a rotation that already includes Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. With a 1.18 ERA and .195 batting average against, Garcia has been far better than his 3-2 record would indicate. In his two losses, he has given up one run and struck out 12 in 13 innings, but only received one run's worth of support from his offense.

Bottom of the Barrel (The absolute worst is, of course, at the bottom)

Pittsburgh Pirates
They're dead last in the league in pitching and haven't done enough with the bat to make up for their shortcomings. Garrett Jones is the only Pirate on pace to drive in more than 100 RBI this season and that's not likely to keep with him sporting a .230 average and .396 slugging percentage.

Seattle Mariners
Seattle finally won its first game of the month of May on Sunday, snapping an eight-game losing streak. Seattle is batting a paltry .229 as a team on the season and is tied for second to last in all of baseball in runs scored.

Cleveland Indians
Only one team has scored fewer runs than the Indians this season. As mentioned above, they are second to last in that category, but fall below Seattle in the rankings because the Indians' pitching has an ERA nearly a run worse.

Kansas City Royals
You need look no further than Greinke to find an example of how bad the Royals are. Greinke is ninth in the league in ERA at 2.51 after six starts, but currently sits at 0-4 on the season.

Baltimore Orioles
While they have the worst record in baseball, there are enough reasons not to put the O's dead last. Baltimore won just five games in the month of April, but have already won four this month and have won two of their last three series against some decent teams in Boston (whom the O's swept) and Minnesota.

Houston Astros
Houston lost 11 of its last 13 games and hasn't won consecutive games since it swept a three-game series against Pittsburgh on April 23-25. Lance Berkman has offered to waive his no-trade clause in an attempt to get out of dodge. There is not one thing going right for this team. The guys the Astros were hoping to lean on, namely Carlos Lee, Hunter Pence and Berkman, have hit for a combined .213 with seven homers and 26 RBI in 286 at-bats. If things don't perk up soon, some people may be finding their way towards the door.