Welcome, baseball fans, to Stan the Fan’s MLB Power Rankings. Can you believe that this marks my 10th year of sharing the insights I have on a week-to-week basis?
The rankings will be released around noon every Monday starting April 5. On a weekly basis, I’ll have comments on my top 10, and on three occasions — at the beginning, middle and end of the season — I’ll have a comment on all 30 teams.
Let me start off by saying that while the Dodgers may be further ahead of any second-place team in the nine previous iterations of these rankings, Nos. 2-12 have never felt closer, and even teams like the Royals (No. 17), Marlins (No. 18), Astros (No. 19) and Angels (No. 20) are very solid teams clearly with chances to make the postseason.
Just a few brief insights on things that struck me …
- The AL Central is the only division in baseball to have three teams in the top 10. And just behind the White Sox, Twins and Indians are the rapidly improving Royals. Not sure which is the more noteworthy feat by Kansas City GM Dayton Moore — winning a World Series with the size of his market and budget or this on-the-fly rebuild, which looks to be a year away from producing another perennial contender in KC.
- The Cubs are at No. 14 but show some signs of life in their rotation, which is headed by Kyle Hendricks, Zach Davies and the hero of their World Series season, Jake Arrieta.
- At No. 19, the Astros are finding it just a tad tougher to hit the ball when you aren’t banging on trash cans and don’t know what pitch is coming.
- Of course, myriad problems can come along to trip up any team, but if I had to pick it now, I’d see a return of the Dodgers to the Fall Classic, and they’d be battling the Yankees in a throwback World Series.
Without fanfare and without comments, here are my second preliminary MLB power rankings:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. San Diego Padres
3. New York Yankees
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Minnesota Twins
6. St. Louis Cardinals
7. Atlanta Braves
8. Oakland Athletics
9. Cleveland Indians
10. New York Mets
11. Toronto Blue Jays
12. Tampa Bay Rays
13. Washington Nationals
14. Chicago Cubs
15. Milwaukee Brewers
16. Boston Red Sox
17. Kansas City Royals
18. Miami Marlins
19. Houston Astros
20. Los Angeles Angels
21. Seattle Mariners
22. Philadelphia Phillies
23. San Francisco Giants
24. Arizona Diamondbacks
25. Cincinnati Reds
26. Detroit Tigers
27. Baltimore Orioles
28. Texas Rangers
29. Colorado Rockies
30. Pittsburgh Pirates