MLB Power Rankings - three
NOTE: Only games played before Monday, April 17, are taken into account.
It’s still early in the year, and there are a lot of teams playing differently than how we expected them to which is represented in these power rankings. Some teams still made big jumps, some stayed put, and some fell, but this week’s rankings don’t feature as many drastic changes as last week's. After the first regular season power rankings, these teams’ positions are impacted by where I had them last week, to an extent.
1. Tampa Bay Rays (14-2) (Last week: 5-2) (Last week: +0) (Week one: +11)
The Rays tied the MLB record for the longest win streak to start a season with 13 straight, which puts them on par with the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and 1982 Atlanta Braves. People will knock them since the first time they played a properly challenging opponent in the Blue Jays they lost two of three, but they still have the best offense in baseball and their pitching is elite. They’ll need to show a little more weakness before I bump them down.
Fun Fact: Those Brewers didn’t make the playoffs (even though they finished with 91 wins). Those Braves made it to the League Championship Series but got swept.
2. Atlanta Braves (12-4) (Last week: 6-0) (Last week: +3) (Week one: +1)
The Braves have the second-best record in the MLB after winning all of their games last week. They did go against the Reds and the Royals, but winning six straight still isn’t easy. So, after being a top-five team last week, they’re a top-three team this week.
Ronald Acuna Jr. looks absolutely amazing and like his pre-injury self on the offensive side to this point.
Looking ahead, they’ll be making their run for the top spot next week with Max Fried back in the rotation.
3. M. Brewers (11-5) (Last week: 4-3) (Last week: -1) (Week one: +12)
The Brewer’s second week of the season wasn’t as great as their first week, but given how good their first week of the season was and the fact that the teams they played this week were the much-improved Diamondbacks and the Padres I don’t feel like they deserved to be dropped much.
My Brewers pre-season prediction was an extremely hot take, but it’s still looking pretty stupid so far.
4. New York Yankees (10-6) (Last week: 4-3) (Last week: -1) (Week one: +0)
The Yankees are the only team that still hasn’t lost a series in 2023. Their offense hasn’t been anything crazy special, but they have had some amazing pitching to start the year, and they’re stealing a lot of bases.
As I keep saying, it’s early, but I have to point out that Gerrit Cole through four starts is looking like a serious Cy Young candidate coming off of his worst season since 2017.
5. Toronto Blue Jays (10-6) (Last week: 4-2) (Last week: +3) (Week one: +3)
The Blue Jays ended the Rays’ winning streak after it looked like the latter would never lose a baseball game again, and they also took two of three from the Detroit Tigers last week. Which, let’s remind ourselves, is good, you don’t need to do anything more than go two and one against the bottom teams in the league most of the time.
My main issue with this team last week was their pitching, and while things still haven’t been all smooth sailing (Alek Manoah, Chris Bassitt, and Jose Berrios all have ERA’s over 6.95 on the season), they’re headed in the right direction and they have the 11th best team ERA since last week.
6. Minnesota Twins (10-6) (Last week: 4-3) (Last week: +5) (Week one: +7)
The Twins split their series with the Yankees and took two of three from the division rival White Sox. I’ve said that this is going to be one of the teams that improved a sizeable amount for this 2023 season, but early on it seems I might’ve underestimated how much of an improvement they might’ve had.
They’re still 23rd in runs scored, which makes me a little worried, but their pitching has been phenomenal, and they have a +18 run differential.
The sweeper pitch that some of these Twins have added to their arsenals looks to be quite the weapon, but time will tell how the league adjusts.
7. Cleveland Guardians (9-7) (Last week: 3-3) (Last week: +0) (Week one: +5)
The Guardians lost their first series of last week to the Yankees, but as previously mentioned the Yankees haven’t lost a series to anyone so far. One of the losses was close, but the other occurred when Gerrit Cole was pitching for the Yankees and Hunter Gaddis was pitching for Cleveland.
They bounced back by winning their series against the Nationals.
The Guardians have been playing pretty similarly to the Twins, and with the Twins better run differential and record, I had to give them the edge.
The Guardians are proving to me though that they can play 2023-ball really well, as they’re leading the majors in steals.
8. New York Mets (10-6) (Last week: 5-1) (Last week: +1) (Week one: -6)
This Mets team might deserve to be higher, but I’ve decided to only bump them up one spot after a really great week. They beat the Padres in a series two to one and swept the Oakland A’s. One more good week and they will definitely be moving up more spots.
9. Los Angeles Dodgers (8-8) (Last week: 3-3) (Last week: -3) (Week one: -4)
The Dodgers took two of three from the Giants and dropped two of three to the Cubs after going 5-5 the week prior.
They’re a bit above average when it comes to pitching, and their bullpen needs to be improving as that’s the main part of the team holding them back.
The offense is top five in the league in wRC+, and their +18 run differential is pretty good.
They might be .500 in the record book right now but they’re still a good team in my opinion.
10. Arizona D-backs (9-7) (Last week: 3-3) (Last week: +0) (Week one: +7)
The division-leading Diamondbacks also had a .500 week where they struggled against the Marlins but were able to beat the Brewers. Some weird results, but some weird pitching matchups helped to make it this way I think.
The Diamondbacks deserve to be in the top ten due to their record, but neither their offense or their pitching have been anything special, so I’m not sure how long they’ll stay in a position like this.
I’m still high on this team, and it’s still early so you never know, but two weeks in I think they’re due for a bit of a drop as we continue.
11. San Diego Padres (8-9) (Last week: 2-5) (Last week: -7) (Week one: -5)
The Padres followed a really good week with a really bad week, as they dropped series to both the Mets and the Brewers. Both those teams are in the top 10, but they still lost two series this week and they were in the top 10 last week too.
It seems my concerns about the Padres pitching are at least somewhat valid to start the season. What’s surprising though is their offense is really struggling too.
The good news for the Friars though is Fernando Tatis Jr. will be returning later this week, and Joe Musgrove could return this week too.
12. Texas Rangers (9-6) (Last week: 6-2) (Last week: +3) (Week one: +7)
The division-leading Rangers have been impressive to start the season even after Corey Seager went down with a hamstring injury. This past week they won a series against the Royals, but also impressively against the Astros, who even with their struggles, is impressive to say.
The pitching has been a real bright spot for this team, and the bats are doing enough most of the time to win games, but they seem to be a little “all or nothing” to start the year.
13. Baltimore Orioles (9-7) (Last week: 5-2) (Last week: +4) (Week one: +2)
The Orioles had a good week taking three of four from the A’s and two of three from the White Sox. Even though those opponents aren’t that impressive they did what they needed to do.
Like I said last week though, this offense is pretty darn good, but they have terrible pitching.
14. Chicago Cubs (8-6) (Last week: 4-2) (Last week: +5) (Week one: +7)
It was an impressive week for the Cubs winning series against the Mariners and Dodgers. This past week is probably not what you would expect from the Cubs, but they’ve been competitive this year and lots of guys are trying to prove themselves. This seems like a hungry team, and hungry teams are good teams.
15. Seattle Mariners (8-8) (Last week: 4-2) (Last week: -1) (Week one: -6)
WOW! Jarred Kelenic!
As you can tell I’ve deviated from my format because my Mariners prediction for this season was a Jarred Kelenic breakout. He already has four home runs, and while his 220 wRC+ will surely drop, he’s got great baseball savant percentiles and looks to be in for a great season. I will say his strikeouts are still not in a great spot, but my point still stands.
As for the team as a whole, they lost to the Cubs and swept the Rockies.
The pitching has been good so far, but the offense has been disappointing outside of Kelenic, Ty France, JP Crawford, and Eugenio Suarez.
16. Houston Astros (7-9) (Last week: 3-3) (Last week: -4) (Week one: -15)
These Astros have been really disappointing, I’m not worried about this team at all, but it needs to be said that this is a disappointing start to the year. This past week the Astros won their series against the Pirates but lost their series to the Rangers.
The team is just out of sorts right now, but will surely rejoin the top 10, and most likely the top five, fairly soon.
17. Boston Red Sox (8-8) (Last week: 3-4) (Last week: +5) (Week one: +6)
The Red Sox lost four straight to the Rays and then won three straight against the Angels. The Rays have been proven to be beatable, but the Red Sox just couldn’t pull it off.
This team has managed to score a lot of runs, but the pitching has been pretty horrendous.
It feels wrong to put a team under .500 on the week up five spots, but considering who they lost to and who they beat it seemed like the right move to me.
18. Los Angeles Angels (7-8) (Last week: 2-4) (Last week: -5) (Week one: +2)
The Angels beat the Washington Nationals as you would expect, but lost their series to the Red Sox.
Their pitching has been fairly good to start the year, and their offense has sort of been in the middle of the road to good range. Neither one is good enough to push this team ahead though it seems.
Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are doing their things at least.
19. Miami Marlins (8-8) (Last week: 4-2) (Last week: +4) (Week one: +3)
This team beat the Phillies who continue to disappoint and the Arizona Diamondbacks who continue to impress. It was a good week for Miami that’s for sure. They’ll take as many 4-2 weeks as they can get.
The pitching has been around or a little above average, even with Sandy Alcantara disappointing to start the season. The offense is dead last in runs scored, however, and projecting for the future if trends continue; that can’t be good. That’s also the reason I can’t put them any higher despite an impressive week.
20. St. Louis Cardinals (7-9) (Last week: 4-3) (Last week: -4) (Week one: -9)
Despite playing the Rockies and Pirates the Cardinals couldn’t do anything to prove to me that they should be higher than 20. That might be a little harsh, but their offense is bottom 10 in runs scored, and their pitching isn’t good either.
21. Pittsburgh Pirates (9-7) (Last week: 3-4) (Last week: -3) (Week one: +3)
The Pirates dropped two of three to the reigning champs before splitting with the Cardinals.
It was, and still is really, a good start for this Pirates team, but maybe we reel things in a little bit after this week. This team has some bright spots like Andrew McCutchen, Bryan Reynolds, and David Bednar, but yeah, let’s reel it in a little.
22. SF. Giants (5-9) (Last week: 1-4) (Last week: -2) (Week one: -6)
The Giants lost two of three against their rival Dodgers and lost two against the Tigers in a rain-shortened series.
Their starting pitching has been really good at run prevention as they’re tied with the Cubs for third-best starting pitching ERA. Where things go wrong though is these starters aren’t going late into games, and the bullpen has the third-worst bullpen ERA.
The offense isn’t even that bad, they just haven’t been able to make up for the bullpen implosions.
23. Chicago White Sox (6-10) (Last week: 2-4) (Last week: -2) (Week one: -5)
The White Sox couldn’t get it done against the Twins or the Orioles, losing two games and only winning one in each series.
The offense is middle of the road, but the pitching is absolutely terrible, and overall have the third-worst team ERA in baseball.
24. P. Phillies (6-10) (Last week: 3-4) (Last week: +0) (Week one: -17)
These Phillies are really inconsistent in terms of run production and prevention, which you can see if you look at their games over the last week. In terms of win-loss, they took one of three against the Marlins before splitting a four-game series with the Reds.
This team just hasn’t played convincingly good baseball so far this year.
The pitching right now is the fourth worst in the majors in terms of ERA. Pitching is a big issue for this team but you have to think at the very least guys like Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler will improve, which will make the team improve.
For now, this is where they are.
25. Detroit Tigers (5-9) (Last week: 3-2) (Last week: +2) (Week one: +1)
The Tigers didn’t play much baseball last week due to the shortened series with the Giants, and besides that, they lost two of three to the Blue Jays.
Since they avoided the sweep and won those two against the Giants I’ve bumped them up, but they’re still a really bad team who has bad pitching and a bad lineup.
Hopefully, Javier Baez getting benched for his baserunning error against the Jays woke him up.
26. Cincinnati Reds (6-9) (Last week: 2-5) (Last week: +0) (Week one: +1)
These Reds are bad, but they’re part of the reason the Phillies have looked so bad this year. Besides the Phillies series, the week wasn’t as good, as they got swept by the Braves.
The Reds offense is bad but not as bad as some other teams in this section. The pitching has been around as bad as some other teams in this section, but they could be a little better than they’ve been so far.
27. Colorado Rockies (5-11) (Last week: 1-5) (Last week: -2) (Week one: -2)
There’s not much further down to go from 25, but 1-5 week against the Cardinals and Mariners who swept them will bring you down a few spots.
The Rockies right now have arguably the worst offense in baseball, and to say their pitching is better is like comparing Ebola to the Black Plague.
28. Kansas City Royals (4-12) (Last week: 1-5) (Last week: +0) (Week one: -3)
Another 1-5 week team is the Royals who played the Rangers and Braves and managed to get their win against the team from Texas.
Statistically, the Royals might, maybe, possibly, be a little better than the Rockies, but based on last week and who they played this is how they go in my power rankings.
29. W. Nationals (5-11) (Last week: 2-4) (Last week: +0) (Week one: +1)
The Nationals took a game each from the Angels and Guardians, and there is arguably an argument to be made on whether or not they should be above the Rockies and Royals.
If you’re making that argument though, what are you doing?
30. Oakland A’s (3-13) (Last week: 1-6) (Last week: +0) (Week one: -1)
Well, the A’s aren’t last in runs scored anymore! Their offense has actually been trending upward a little bit, which to me is pretty surprising.
However, the pitching has been otherworldly horrific. The team ERA is 7.60.
Remember when I compared the Rockies hitting and pitching to the Black Plague and Ebola. The A’s pitching is as if you took the worst aspects from both and created a new super plague.
I really do feel sorry for you A’s fans.
As for the games this past week, they got one win against the Orioles, but dropped the remaining three to them, followed by a sweep from the Mets.
