It seems like the Los Angeles Dodgers have been leading the pack when looking at MLB Power Rankings across different media outlets.

And, well, they've earned that spot thanks to back-to-back World Series championships.

But The Athletic, which some Dodgers fans might not read ever again, has decided that the Dodgers are not worthy of leading the baseball world at this time. Earlier this week, the outlet released its weekly MLB Power Rankings data.

Since the Dodgers are now No. 3 among the outlet's 30 MLB teams, who is now in the No. 1 spot? One of the team's old nemeses, the Atlanta Braves. 

While the Dodgers slipped behind the Braves and New York Yankees, The Athletic's Zack Meisel showed some love to Shohei Ohtani. Not for his hitting, mind you, but for his pitching.

"There were, unsurprisingly, a lot of choices here," Meisel wrote. "Justin Wrobleski, strikeouts be damned, logged a 1.50 ERA. Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were fantastic. The offensive catalysts, as expected, were… wait, Max Muncy, Andy Pages and Dalton Rushing? OK, then."

After running through some Dodgers players names, Meisel then turned his attention to the Great Shohei and what he's done on the mound this season.

"Yeah, Ohtani has been great at the plate," Meisel wrote. "Some home runs, a bunch of walks, the usual, whatever. Can we talk about his pitching? His 0.60 ERA? He went exactly six innings in each of his first five starts and allowed a grand total of two earned runs.

"Ohtani the pitcher would carve up Ohtani the hitter if the two met on the field in April," Meisel added.

Yes, Ohtani deserves the recognition for what he's done on the mound. In case you didn't know, Ohtani uses a full-sized restaurant menu of pitches. One minute, Ohtani might throw a four-seam fastball. In another minute, he might throw a batter a sinker or cutter.

Hitters might size him up, thinking that they are going to get that four-seam fastball. But Ohtani will pull out a slurve or sweeper and fool the hitter badly.

Take a look at the Statcast Pitch Highlighter from Baseball Savant, which has mapped out every single Ohtani pitch this season. The graphic on the left gives you specific locations of where his multi-arsenal of pitches landed at the plate.    

Speaking of the Braves, they're going to be at Dodger Stadium this weekend for a three-game series. This should be some must-see TV for MLB fans, along with Dodgers and Braves fans, of course.

Los Angeles might have a little more incentive to handle its business against Atlanta, using the MLB Power Rankings' listings for some extra leverage. They'll play Friday and Saturday nights, then wrap things up with a Sunday afternoon matchup.

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