Dodgers' blurb in MLB Power Rankings proves exactly why keeping top spot is foolish

The Dodgers suffered a nasty nine-game stretch before their series against the Rockies kicked off on Monday. They lost six of those nine — barely holding off the Phillies, Nationals, and Cubs from sweeps — and imperfections in what was literally the most unbeatable team to start the season revealed themselves.

LA's defense could be their fatal flaw this year, and their pitching depth might not be all it's cracked up to be. Blake Snell's move to the IL immediately punched a hole in the rotation that's been temporarily filled by Justin Wrobleski, Landon Knack, and maybe Bobby Miller soon, but the latter two haven't really been able to hold the fort down. The offense is good, just as advertised, but not everything or everyone is clicking (Max Muncy is batting under .200).

Inexplicably, though, the Dodgers remained at the top of MLB.com's power rankings to forecast the week. Despite ranking them there, Will Leitch wrote, "Lost in the nightmare of what was the Dodgers’ 16-0 loss to the Cubs on Saturday was Roki Sasaki making the longest start of his MLB career so far, going five innings and giving up just one run. The ugliness came after he left, with Ben Casparius, Luis García and, uh, infielder Miguel Rojas giving up 15 runs in four innings. Also, Shohei Ohtani hasn’t homered in a week. What’s going on, man?"

That's not exactly the argument you want to make to convince fans that the Dodgers still deserve that No. 1 spot.

Dodgers weirdly remain at the top of MLB.com's power rankings despite disastrous nine-game stretch

The Dodgers are still the Dodgers — they've assembled one of the most powerful collections of players maybe in baseball history and there's no reason to believe that they won't bounce back from this — but if we're being realistic, it's kind of ridiculous to say that they were the best team in baseball last week. Although we hate to admit it, the Padres, who Leitch ranked at No. 2, were the better team over their last nine games, going 6-3 against the Cubs, Athletics, and Rockies.

At the end of this week, the Dodgers very well might deserve that top spot again, but there's little value in trying to hype them up after their road trip and homecoming against the Cubs. Leitch said it himself; last week was full of "ugliness."

Dodgers fans might have to concede a point to all of the rival fans who cry about LA receiving favoritism from the league, because not even we are buying all of the sunnyside-ing right now.