MLB power rankings: In a good spot   

The Cardinals sold off their back-end relievers before arriving at Petco Park on Friday. The Diamondbacks had already been crippled by injury (Corbin Burnes) before moving the likes of Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor and Merrill Kelly ahead of this week’s trip to Chase Field.

There are still challenges on the schedule — the Red Sox at Petco this weekend and the trip to Dodger Stadium the next — but the remaining two months of the Padres’ season is littered with teams who sold at the deadline.

In fact, including this past weekend’s games against the Cardinals, the Padres’ final stretch includes 32 games against teams that either sold significantly at the deadline (D-backs, Giants, Orioles) or waved the white flag long ago (Rockies, White Sox).

After another robust trade deadline, that’s plenty of time and opportunity to strengthen the Padres’ position as the NL’s No. 3 wild-card team and perhaps make a run at the Dodgers atop the NL West.

1   |   Milwaukee Brewers (67-44, Last week: 2)

Pitchers who throw hard spend a lot of time on the injured list, but it’s a random comebacker off his shin that’s forcing the Brewers to make do without Jacob Misiorowski for at least two starts.

2  |   Chicago Cubs (65-46, LW: 1)

Not exactly an all-in move that had Chicago buzzing: A utilityman in Willi Castro and lefty reliever in Taylor Rogers.

3   |   Los Angeles Dodgers (65-47, LW: 6)

Blake Snell is finally back in action and the Dodgers can only hope they can skip to the good part of his season, as he has a 2.32 ERA in his career after the All-Star break and a 3.95 ERA in the first half.

4   |   Detroit Tigers (65-48, LW: 8)

Needing more than just Tarik Skubal in the rotation, the Tigers traded for both Chris Paddack and Charlie Morton. The first time through was encouraging, too, with Paddack throwing six innings of one-run ball in a win in his start and Morton throwing six innings of one-run ball in a tough-luck loss in Philadelphia on Sunday.

5   |   Philadelphia Phillies (63-48, LW: 5)

The Phillies are in a good spot: Atop the NL East with Aaron Nola (ankle, rib) and Alec Bohm (rib) making their way back from the injured list and Jose Alvarado a couple weeks away from returning from his suspension.

6   |   Toronto Blue Jays (65-48, LW: 3)

Did Toronto peak too soon? They’ve lost six of 10 to see their lead over the Red Sox—not Yankees—shrink to three games in the AL East.

7   |   Boston Red Sox (62-51, LW: 11)

The Red Sox will be as dangerous as anyone if the playoffs with left-hander Garrett Crochet — who has 175 strikeouts in 141⅓ innings — fronting the rotation.

8   |   New York Mets (63-49, LW: 4)

Frankie Montas has allowed 12 runs over his last two starts, prompting some straight talk from Mets manager Carlos Mendoza: “He’s got to be better.”

9   |   Houston Astros (62-50, LW: 9)

A stunning trade for Carlos Correa brought home just in time as Jeremy Pena was back on the shelf Sunday with hamstring cramping.

10   |   San Diego Padres (62-50, LW: 13)

“Our best team has Dylan Cease on it,” Padres baseball ops chief A.J. Preller said after hanging onto the enigmatic right-hander at the deadline. And Preller is right, especially if the Cease that showed up Sunday (5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 9 Ks) is the Cease they get over the final two-plus months of the season.

The rest

• 11   |   New York Yankees (60-52, LW: 7)
• 12   |   Seattle Mariners (60-53, LW: 12)
• 13   |   Texas Rangers (58-55, LW: 10)
• 14   |   Cincinnati Reds (58-54, LW: 14)
• 15   |   Tampa Bay Rays (55-58, LW: 15)
• 16   |   San Francisco Giants (56-56, LW: 16)
• 17   |   Kansas City Royals (56-56, LW: 19)
• 18   |   Cleveland Guardians (56-55, LW: 21)
• 19   |   St. Louis Cardinals (56-57, LW: 17)
• 20   |   Miami Marlins (55-55, LW: 22)
• 21   |   Arizona Diamondbacks (53-59, LW: 18)
• 22   |   Los Angeles Angels (54-58, LW: 24)
• 23   |   Minnesota Twins (52-59, LW: 20)
• 24   |   Baltimore Orioles (51-61, LW: 26)
• 25   |   Atlanta Braves (47-63, LW: 23)
• 26   |   Pittsburgh Pirates (48-64, LW: 25)
• 27   |   Sacramento Athletics (49-65, LW: 29)
• 28   |   Chicago White Sox (42-70, LW: 27)
• 29   |   Washington Nationals (44-67, LW: 28)
• 30   |   Colorado Rockies (30-81, LW: 30)