Guardians jump spots in power rankings after an impressive sweep

56 minutes ago 1

The Cleveland Guardians have done their best to stay in the thick of things in the American League Central this year. Surprisingly, they have been fighting with the Chicago White Sox all season long.

Pitching has kept this team afloat this year, as they hold the eighth-lowest team ERA while the offense is waiting to get their big bopper back.

Cleveland has been without Jose Ramirez after he fractured his left hamate bone back on June 13. But without their star in the lineup, some other names have stepped up.

MORE: Guardians draft 6-foot-8 pitcher who throws 100 miles per hour

Guardians jump spots in power rankings after an impressive sweep

Chase DeLauter has been on a mission since returning to the lineup on June 28. He looks to be making up for missed time, and he's been clobbering the baseball.

On top of that, Travis Bazzana has also been playing well this year, stepping up in his first season.

They needed everyone to come together after losing the three-game series to the Minnesota Twins early last week, and the team did. They went on to sweep the Miami Marlins over the weekend, going into the All-Star Break with some momentum.

With the series sweep, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller has bumped the team up from No. 15 last week to No. 12 in this week's power rankings.

"We noted in last week's power rankings that the Guardians had gone six consecutive weeks with a .500 record or worse. Well, they finally got off that schneid by sweeping what had been a scorching hot Marlins team, ending the first half on a four-game winning streak. The offense was still lacking, scoring five or fewer runs in all six games this week. But the starting rotation was on point, especially Joey Cantillo making two starts with a combined 16 strikeouts and just one earned run allowed."

The offense will certainly have to get locked in after the break if they really want to be a postseason contender this year. They'll be an interesting team to watch ahead of the trade deadline.