MLB Power Rankings: Orioles, Mets and Nationals chasing the Cubs for No. 1 spot
The Cubs still sit at the top, but how do the rest shake out?
We're about a week and a half into the 2017 baseball season and most teams have had their home opener festivities, so now we're getting up on the grind. The special, hopeful "clean slate" feelings from Opening Day have worn down and we get right into the marathon portion of the season that true die-hards embrace. We can probably distance ourselves from the overreactions and start to react a bit -- all the while keeping in mind just how much season is left and realizing that personnel eventually settles. As the saying goes, water finds its level.
So, no, I don't expect the Reds, Angels, Diamondbacks and Twins in the playoffs while the Blue Jays and Cardinals remain awful. The Cubs at 5-2 seems about right, though, just as the Mets and Nationals being tied for first in the NL East does.
Overall, though, we can't go overboard with what we've seen. We're starting to react and judge without forgetting everything we thought we knew before the season started. The Blue Jays still have more talent than the Phillies. The Cardinals are still far more likely to push for a playoff berth than the Reds. I'm pretty confident in saying the Indians won't finish behind the Twins, too.
Still, how fun has the upside-down start been? In my last preseason edition of the Power Rankings, I worried that baseball was becoming too predictable on a season-by-season basis. The consensus seemed to be that the Red Sox, Indians, Astros, Nationals, Cubs and Dodgers would be the division winners with a few obvious wild cards (Blue Jays, Mets) hanging around.
Given that, a week and a half of seeing teams like the Reds, Diamondbacks, Twins and Angels thrive has been awfully fun. Think about the fans, too. I mentioned above the "clean slate" feeling. Think about the Twins last year, starting the season 0-6. You know lots of Twins fans were envisioning something similar this season. Instead, they jumped out to a 5-1 start and fans were probably ecstatic.
That's pretty cool. I'm all for any fan base getting to have some fun, even if it's fleeting.
As for the rankings below, we have to start to give credit (or blame) for what we've seen without going crazy. Even with the Indians being swept by the Diamondbacks, for example, I don't think the D-Backs are better than the Indians. Sorry. We're still a few weeks away from judging only what we've seen during the season.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | As if they don't have enough strengths, the Cubs secret weapon so far has been their pitchers at the plate. Cubs pitchers are hitting .313 so far this season. | -- | 55-39 | |
2 | Possibly overranked, especially in light of how poorly the Blue Jays are playing against everyone. | 7 | 43-50 | |
3 | Jay Bruce will probably keep hitting like an MVP, right? | 5 | 54-41 | |
4 | Feeling pretty good about my Bryce Harper MVP prediction. Then again, he might lose out to Daniel Murphy. | 1 | 38-56 | |
5 | They're better than they are playing. | 1 | 56-39 | |
6 | The Indians are 4-0 against the AL, but what's with being swept by the Diamondbacks? | 4 | 44-49 | |
7 | So far, so good as they try to squeeze out another season of contention with their old nucleus. | 8 | 59-36 | |
8 | Chris Sale probably thought his run support-challenged days were over when he was traded. Yet here he is, with a 1.23 ERA and an 0-1 record in two starts. | 3 | 51-45 | |
9 | Great starts for Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers equal great news for the Astros moving forward. | 3 | 55-39 | |
10 | The offense is awesome and will continue to be, but the run prevention will likely prove troublesome at some point. Still, I'm officially keeping my eyes wide open here. There's real talent. | 12 | 46-49 | |
11 | Between the big Danny Espinosa home run, the Sunday comeback and the Tuesday comeback, not many teams had nearly as wild a first week as the Angels. | 8 | 46-48 | |
12 | Comeback player of the year favorite? Greg Holland is five for five on saves and has a 0.00 ERA so far. | 8 | 22-72 | |
13 | I really thought Byron Buxton turned a corner last September. If he doesn't get things going in a hurry now, he might be headed back to the minors. | 12 | 46-48 | |
14 | Manager Bryan Price said he's not managing his bullpen based upon who will get the save or any other stat and instead just trying to win. I wanted to hug him for that, but then I thought: Why is it such a big deal? Shouldn't the 30 men managing the MLB teams all do this? Why manage to a stat? | 14 | 48-47 | |
15 | Steven Souza was the main piece the Rays got in the three-way trade that landed the Nationals Joe Ross and Trea Turner while the Padres got Wil Myers. Many might believe the Rays got the short end of the stick there, but so far this year, Souza is hitting .370/.485/.593. | 3 | 50-45 | |
16 | Marcell Ozuna is off to a stupid-hot start. He's been hot before. He needs to show he can sustain a full season of consistency now. | 8 | 42-51 | |
17 | Adrian Beltre's setback hurts and so does the leaky bullpen. There's downward mobility here from the the defending AL West champs. | 4 | 47-48 | |
18 | Holes in left field and at the back of the rotation with a shallow bullpen and now Buster Posey is on the DL with a head injury? Danger zone early for the Giants. | 7 | 52-43 | |
19 | It's shaping up like 2017 is the Kendall Graveman breakout. | 8 | 39-57 | |
20 | Two convincing wins in a row after that awful 1-4 start, but Masahiro Tanaka can't be much worse and Gary Sanchez is hurt. | 4 | 53-41 | |
21 | The 1-6 start is the worst in franchise history. | 14 | 55-39 | |
22 | Andrew McCutchen is hitting .214 without any extra-base hits. Uh oh. | 8 | 38-57 | |
23 | Yes, it's only been eight games with 154 to play, but it's getting ugly early for the playoff hopefuls in St. Louis. | 11 | 50-45 | |
24 | Manuel Margot was already an exciting leadoff man, but now he's off to a hot start. | 6 | 51-43 | |
25 | They sit last in the AL in on-base percentage. It's hard to score many runs without getting anyone on base. Case in point, Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas have combined for seven home runs. All seven have been solo shots. | 8 | 46-49 | |
26 | The Mariners already have the longest playoff drought, but then a 1-5 start with a six-run blown lead to conclude the first week was simply cruel and unusual punishment the fan base. | 16 | 49-45 | |
27 | Eric Thames was one of the most intriguing players heading into the season based upon his not-great history in MLB but then tearing up Korea for a few years. So far, he's been very good. Nice cheap find, Brewers. | 1 | 54-40 | |
28 | That 17-3 win over the Nats was set to ruin the effectiveness of judging the Phillies by their run differential for a bit, but then they were destroyed by the Mets on Tuesday night, 14-4. See how well baseball evens itself out? | 1 | 54-40 | |
29 | If you can't find a DH better than Cody Asche, it might not end up being a good season. | 8 | 32-63 | |
30 | It wasn't supposed to be this way! | 7 | 41-52 |