MLB Power Rankings - Week Two
NOTE: Only games played before Monday, April 10, are taken into account
Welcome to week two of power rankings, also known as the hardest week to do power rankings. That’s because after the first power rankings teams start to play, and when teams play the results aren’t always what we expected. Due to the small sample size, these results will get overblown in these rankings.
The thing about power rankings though is that they are meant to be a representation of the present. Not of the past or the future.
So while things might not look like this as the season continues to play out, this is how I rank the teams after a week of games.
1. Tampa Bay Rays (9-0) (+11)
I even said last week that the Rays always work their magic, yet I put them 12th.
NEVER. DOUBT. THE. RAYS.
It is very early, but very early on the Rays have looked amazing. They are the only undefeated team left in the majors, they have won all their games by at least four runs and overall have a +57 run differential. According to Jeff Passan and ESPN Stats and Info, the Rays are the first team since 1884 to have a run differential of at least +50 over their first nine games. 1884 was the first year pitchers could throw overhand.
In this small sample of baseball, they’re hitting far better than anyone and pitching just as good as anyone else. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to these Rays as they start to face tougher competition
2. Milwaukee Brewers (7-2) (+13)
It seems the brewers read my pre-season predictions, listened to the episode of the Binging with Babblers podcast I was on, or read last week’s power rankings because they are playing like it’s personal. Outside of two losses the Brewers have been pretty dominant. Their most impressive series was against the Mets, they swept the team and outscored them 19-0 over the first two games before a closer game three. The pitching has been amazing despite a slow start from Corbin Burnes, and the offense has been seeing contributions from unlikely faces which might mean this is just a hot stretch, but for now, they’re the second best team in baseball.
3. New York Yankees (6-3) (+1)
The Yankees have gone 2-1 in every series so far this year, and that’s the name of the game. Despite their injury situation the Yankees are playing really well and getting good contributions from pitchers like Jhony Brito who has a 0.90 ERA in his first two MLB starts. Aaron Judge doesn’t appear to be slowing down, and Gleyber Torres is tied for second in steals in the MLB (extremely early in the year, but who would’ve expected that) with a 219 wRC+.
4. San Diego Padres (6-4) (+2)
The Padres had a disappointing first two games of the season as they lost both to the Colorado Rockies, but they won the next two games before splitting a two game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks and winning three of four against the Atlanta Braves which is what earns them this fourth spot. The pitching has been overall pretty meh as I expected, but they’re doing what they need to do to win games, and Seth Lugo has actually looked great through two starts, but because of his peripherals I’m not sold on him yet. Reinforcements in the form of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Joe Musgrove will come soon.
5. Atlanta Braves (6-4) (-2)
We run into the first droppers at number five with the Atlanta Braves. They looked to be on a role to start the year but then ran into the Padres and could only come away with one win from the four game series. Just because they lost to the Padres doesn’t mean they’re a bad team, they’re still very good, and it’s still very early. This team has been late to get it going in recent history and still have had plenty of success so I’m sure they’re not worried.
6. Los Angeles Dodgers (5-5) (-1)
Despite being 5-5 the Dodgers have a +16 run differential, one of the best in the MLB, they also are second in wRC+ and runs scored. While the pitching has just been middle of the road in terms of ERA, there has been an amount of bad luck. The Dodgers have only played the Rockies and the Diamondbacks so far this year, and they went 2-0 against the Rockies. That means they went 3-5 against the Diamondbacks, which isn’t great, but the Diamondbacks are a good team this year, and losing to them like this isn’t as embarrassing as it would’ve been at the beginning of last year. The team definitely has some stuff to figure out, but they should be alright.
7. Cleveland Guardians (6-4) (+3)
The Guardians also only have played two teams this year and one of those teams is the Mariners who they are beating in the season series 4-3. Their other opponent was the Oakland A’s. Pretty much all of the Guardians games have been close, four have gone into extras, and it seems they just squeaked out their wins. That might sound like a backhanded compliment, but I genuinely think the Guardians can win like this (maybe just with a little less extra’s drama). Manager Terry Francona is legendary, and this team is set up to play 2023 baseball with speed and defense.
8. Toronto Blue Jays (6-4) (+0)
The first team I have staying put is the Toronto Blue Jays, but just because they haven’t dropped doesn’t mean it’s been smooth sailing. The Jays pitching needs to be better, as I keep saying though, it’s early, which means I’m not worried, it’s just something that needs to be pointed out. The pitching staff and defense have allowed 58 runs already, fourth most in the majors. That’s been mostly offset by scoring 54 runs already, fifth most in the majors. Not everyone on offense is clicking, but Matt Chapman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, and Bo Bichette are raking, just at an unsustainable level. Once more guys start to hit and the pitching improves this team should still be around this area, if not a little ahead, even with the big three slowing down a little.
9. New York Mets (5-5) (-7)
The first power ranking of the season after opening day is always full of over the top change, but there was only so far I could let the Mets fall while still having a .500 record. The Mets went 5-2 against a Marlins team that isn’t anything special, but still going 5-2 is what you want. What really messed the Mets up was their three-game series against the Brewers where they were swept, shoutout in two games, and overall outscored 26-6. The Brewers have good pitching, but they made one of the best lineups in baseball look silly for two games. Although the team had a bad time in Milwaukee, I can’t hold it against the Mets toooooo much as those two games make their season look much worse, and they bounced back against the Marlins.
10. Arizona Diamondbacks (6-4) (+7)
The Diamondbacks are big risers for me after taking five of eight early season games against the Dodgers and going 1-1 against the Padres in close games. The Diamondbacks were expected to be good this year, but maybe not like this. Stretches like this obviously do happen though, it’s just compared to thoughts on other teams entering the season this is as high as I can put the Snakes. This is another team that is suited for 2023 baseball thanks to all their speed, and they currently hold the MLB lead in steals with 17 which certainly is helping them fight the Dodgers and Padres as their offense and pitching haven’t been anything special.
11. Minnesota Twins (6-3) (+2)
The Twins swept the Kansas City Royals to start the year, then lost two of three to the Marlins, but then won two of three from the slow-starting Astros to give them a 6-3 record. The way they’ve gotten to 6-3 is less impressive to me than how the Diamondbacks got to 6-4 which is why I have them behind, but they’ve still started the season on the right foot. They have the second best ERA in the MLB behind the Rays at 2.48, however, they’re 23rd in runs and wRC+.
12. Houston Astros (4-6) (-11)
It hasn’t been a good start for the Houston Astros, they split their first series with the White Sox, and lost series’ to the Tigers and Twins. Their offense has struggled out of the gates and their injuries aren’t helping them as I said last week. Their pitching at least is decent right now. I’m confident everything will improve for this team, but for now, this is where I feel I have to rank them.
13. Los Angeles Angels (5-4) (+7)
The Angels in Angels fashion wasted a great opening day start from Shohei Ohtani against the Oakland A’s, but after that won the series in powerful fashion before taking two of three from the Mariners, and although they lost the series 2-1 to the Blue Jays, they played them close. Both Ohtani and Trout have started the season amazingly, and a lot of the guys have been playing pretty well too. The AL West will be interesting this year, and the Angels could make a race for the playoffs, but I’m not going to overreact to that extreme after one week.
14. Seattle Mariners (4-6) (-5)
Luis Castillo has looked AMAZING over his first two starts, and the rest of Seattle’s arms have been pretty good too for the most part. The offense has kind of struggled to start the season, but this is a good team that I expect to be higher than this as the season progresses.
15. Texas Rangers (5-4) (+5)
Four AL West teams in a row here, with the Rangers rounding out this mini-section of the power rankings. The Rangers swept the Phillies to start the year and scored 27 runs in the first two games. Since then, things have kind of mellowed out, and they’ve lost series to the Cubs and Orioles.
16. St. Louis Cardinals (3-6) (-5)
The Cardinals have struggled, but they’ve struggled against the Braves and a hot Brewers team. When they played the Blue Jays they win the series. The offense has been pretty good overall but inconsistent and the pitching hasn’t been that great but they’ve gone against three good lineups. I’m not super high on the Cardinals but they’ll be fine.
17. Baltimore Orioles (4-5) (-2)
The Orioles stopped the Texas Rangers hot streak and got a win from the Yankees in a series where they weren’t too far behind. They did lose two of three from the Red Sox which keeps them from being higher, and those are games they probably should’ve won, with mistakes that shouldn't happen actually happening. The team has played sort of how we thought early on, good offense, but the pitching makes it hard.
18. Pittsburgh Pirates (6-3) (+6)
The last 6-3 team to go over is the Pirates. They are 6-3 and you can’t take that away, however, they haven’t played teams that are that good, as they’ve only played the Reds, Red Sox, and White Sox. Bryan Reynolds has been playing out of his mind so far but the rest of the lineup overall hasn’t been anything special, and the pitching also hasn’t been anything special. They’re 6-3 so credit to them for that, but it’ll be harder for them going forward, especially with Oneil Cruz expected to miss around four months.
19. Chicago Cubs (4-4) (+2)
The Cubs won on opening day against the Brewers before losing the next two, taking one of two games against the Reds, and taking the first two of three from the Rangers. The pitching and defense have both been around average, but they have some standouts like Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ, Marcus Stroman, and Justin Steele over the first eight games.
20. San Francisco Giants (4-5) (-4)
Up until two games ago the Giants were doing a play bad one game, play good one game, flip-flop sort of thing. The team that broke their streak, and not in a “they won two in a row” type of way was the Kansas City Royals which is disappointing. Before the Royals, they played the Yankees and won one, and played the White Sox and won two. When the Giants were on a good day their offense was really good, and their pitching was good enough, but inconsistency has been a big thing for this squad early in the season.
21. Chicago White Sox (4-6) (-3)
The White Sox started the season decently splitting a four game series with the Astros, but then lost two of three to the Giants and Pirates. The White Sox are sixth in runs and wRC+, but their pitching has been terrible and they have the third worst team ERA in the MLB early in the season.
22. Boston Red Sox (5-4) (+1)
The Red Sox won two of three from the Orioles but then got swept by the Pirates. They bounced back and swept the Tigers, but the Tigers are pretty horrendous. The offense has been a bright spot, but now with Adam Duval out with a broken wrist things aren’t looking as good as they were beginning to. Of course, the pitching hasn’t been good over this stretch either, but most of the damage was done by the Orioles to be fair. We’ll get more clarity about this team as the season goes on.
23. Miami Marlins (4-6) (-1)
The Marlins were able to take two of three from the Twins, but are 2-5 against the division rival Mets early in the year. The offense has been poor to start the year, and the pitching really hasn’t been anything special.
24. Philidelphia Phillies (3-6) (-17)
This just feels so wrong but I didn’t know where to place the Phillies after such a bad start to the season and I just decide that this made the most sense to me, but really I’m not sure. The Phillies’ -22 run differential is third worst in the MLB. The Rangers sweeping them was a terrible way to start the season, especially considering how those first two games went. The Rangers aren’t a bad team this year, but you don’t expect them to do that to this team. They lost two of three to the Yankees, who to be fair, are very good. They won their first series of the season, but that was against the Reds. The Rangers series sticks with me a lot and it’s a little harsh to have them this low but their start to the season hasn’t been good. They’ll be making their way back up the rankings soon enough though, and I still like this team and think they can go far.
25. Colorado Rockies (4-6) (+3)
The Rockies were able to split a four game series with the Nationals, that’s something you expect. Something you don’t expect is the Rockies splitting a four game series with the Padres. That’s what happened though, and at the bottom of the rankings, that’s enough to land them in the 25th spot.
26. Cincinnati Reds (4-4) (+1)
The Reds took two of three from Pirates, one of two from the Cubs, and one of three from the Phillies to end up 4-4. This team is bad, but some guys on offense are having a nice start to the year and Nick Lodolo is the real deal.
27. Detroit Tigers (2-7) (-1)
The Tigers got swept by the Rays to start the year, which in a way helps them. They won their series against the Houston Astros, but the Astros have started really slow, and the Tigers showed just how bad they are by getting swept by the Red Sox.
28. Kansas City Royals (3-7) (-3)
The Royals kind of did what the Tigers did, just in a less impressive fashion. They got swept by the Twins to start the year, won a game against the Blue Jays, and beat the Giants in a three game series.
29. Washington Nationals (3-7) (+1)
All I got to say is that it’s impressive you can move up while going 2-7 in between power ranking installments.
30. Oakland A’s (2-7) (-1)
Not only are the A’s tied for the least runs scored so far this year, they’re also leading the league in runs allowed. You can only go up from here… but they probably won’t.
