The whirlwind of activity at the trade deadline plus the three series since then have given us increased clarity on how teams view themselves and how they stack up against one another. Of course, that doesn’t make the rest of the regular season any more predictable — last year’s Tigers offer a humbling reminder that there are surely more twists

The line between contenders and non-contenders becomes clearer after the annual trade deadline, but there are inevitably still a handful of teams that will reside on the fringe of contention heading into September.

We’re graduating from our usual MLB power rankings and moving to weekly contender rankings, turning the focus to the teams worth paying attention to down the stretch.