So I waited til the end of the second week to make my power rankings, and only because to be honest it was a small sample size that a person could argue the Marlins were going to face the Astros for the World Series. Some teams have played some damn good teams and have lost some rough 1-run games, some teams have not played to the level they’re capable of playing.
I am still working on how I want to construct my spreadsheet for team power rankings, so this is all still on my bias. To my own credit, i have watched something close to 30 whole baseball games and watched parts of at least 20 others, I can say I did not watch the Yankees hosting the Sox this weekend, mostly because I couldn’t give two cents about either team and I think it is silly how they try to sell that series which always falls on a weekend like it is the super bowl, I wonder how Mets fans deal with putting up with that crap year in and year out. I did watch a good episode of Game of Thrones tonight though. I am not doing a division rankings this week, and before I do another division ranking, I want to see more interdivision goodness. I will say that the AL central is playing some sloppy ass baseball right now. Anyhow without anymore delay, my full rankings. I stopped this and finished it Monday Afternoon. Expect my rankings to come out on Sundays or Mondays for now on.
- Milwaukee Brewers (Previous Rank: n/a): I hate to put them all the way on top out of nowhere, but they lost their first series to the Braves one game to two, but since then swept Boston and Philadelphia on the road, and swept the Pirates back home. Boston has not lived up to the hype so far this season, and the Phils look like a 500 club this year at best, but the Pirates seem like they will have a promising year. The Brewcrew has the bats, but if they can get career replica years from Yovani Gallardo, Kyle Lohse, and Matt Garza, they could easily make the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The Cardinals roll into town tomorrow, then they tango with a few other solid clubs, and should judge rather the they are the real deal or not.
- Atlanta Braves (Previous Rank: 11th): The only team to have beaten the Brewers and in Milwaukee, and have since then beat up on their division rivals, most notably the Nats. Freeman has look great as well as Harang, and Santana. I still see this as a team that will lead the NL in striking out over the Mets, all the same they still have pretty good pitching despite all the injuries, you also do not see them making any excuses for all the injuries, but more on that later.
- Oakland A’s (Previous Rank: 14th): My apologies to the A’s for putting them at 14th. Their rotation is pretty sound, but their offense is inconsistent for the moment. They have won on the road like all the teams mentioned above, the only thing holding them back is I want to see them compete against a functional team other than the Mariners. i do like Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir Leading the rotation.
- St Louis Cardinals (Previous Rank: 1st): The Cardinals have played 9 games between the Reds and the Pirates, and their only series loss was to Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh. Granted they manage to give away a game to the Cubs and one to the Reds. 13 of their next 17 games will be against the Brewers, Pirates and Nats, and most of which will be road games, if they continue to roll like they did the past two days they should be fine and could even dethrone the the Brewers from having the best record in baseball (in which I mean causing the Brewers to lose enough games so that any other team, not specifically the Cardinals, but any other team than the Brewers will have the best record).
- Tampa Bay Rays (Previous Rank: 5th): Maybe the BBQ in Kansas City does not agree with the Rays seeing how they cannot manage to win a series in that city, granted the the Royals do have some good pitching. After their series in Baltimore which may be easier than I am guessing, they get to feast on the Yankees, Twins and White Sox, which is four series against teams with questionable pitching staffs, so they should have no issues hanging onto first place in that division this month.
- Los Angeles Dodgers (Previous Rank: 4th): Yes the Dodgers have the second best winning percentage, but they have yet to win a series against a team that made the playoffs from last year or any team that currently holds a 500 record or better. On top of that they have feasted on the Dbacks for the most part so the quality of wins is not there.
- Detroit Tigers (Previous Rank: 3rd): Seems like they almost need to shut out their opponents to win games. Miggy seems to be in a slump, at least by his standards. Would anyone here have guessed that they would drop a series to the Padres ranked 29th for runs scored in the majors? That is probably the biggest reason for why they dropped this week, Scherzer has also yet to record a win in three starts, maybe he is human after all.
- San Francisco Giants (Previous Rank: 15th): The only team to lose a series to the Dbacks, although they did beat the Dodgers so that balances out some. Maybe the theories that say they only play 500+ ball in even number years is true. I am not fully sold on this team just yet. Their pitching staff still bothers me almost as much as Lincicum’s molest-stache, Hudson was a good pick up though so far despite being as old as he is.
- Washington Nationals (Previous Rank: 7th): Alright everyone we can stop baseball and just hand the Nats the World Series Trophy right now, I mean after all they have beat the Marlins and the Mets right….. but wait a second, the calendar says they have been beaten like red-headed stepchildren by the Braves. Sadly we will not get to see what the Nats really are until May, the last notable team they face for the rest of the month is the Cardinals, unless they flatout tank. If you want to talk about someone with talent that is new to the Majors, you can give Rendon some credit, the kid can hit. One of the ESPN “experts” wrote an article that made me laugh as a Cardinals fan. Basically said article is all the injuries will cost the “talented” Nationals a shot at making the playoffs, which sounds like a crummy nattitude to have. I do not see the Braves crying, the Reds, the A’s, or even the Rangers crying about injuries. I also do not remember the Cardinals crying about injuries the last three seasons that had deep playoff runs. I really wish I could put the Nationals lower. This just in Mike Rizzo on the Braves matching up against his Nats: “[I've] seen great games," Rizzo said, "They’ve come on the winning side of it more often than we like, but we feel confident against this team. We feel we’re better than this team. We respect them, we respect the organization, but we don’t fear them. We think we’re the better team and we think at the end of the day we’re going to come out on top." To that I respond with a paraphrased quote from former Reds Manager Dusty Baker, “Say what you want to say, feel how you want to feel, but the numbers don’t lie.”
- Pittsburgh Pirates (Previous Rank: 6th): Getting swept by the Brewers knocked them down and put them back to square one with a 500 record. They did beat the Cardinals on their home turf, now other than that they have just demonstrated how well they can take 2 of 3 from the Cubs. They get two full weeks of playing the Reds, Cardinals and Brewers, and it will be interesting to see how they play out. Last year the NL central sent three teams to the playoffs, but there is no way four teams will make it., my money would say they finish Cardinals, Pirates, Brewers, and Reds in what will be one really strong division rock paper scissors affair. Biggest shocker so far is Volquez giving better showings than Liriano so far.
- Seattle Mariners (Previous Rank: 13th): Pretty good pitching for the most part so far. They have only played the A’s and Angels though so far. When Paxton and Iwakuma come back from the DL they should be more formidable. Their offense has either slowed by facing too much A’s pitching or maybe they think it is still last year where they lacked an offense. They do have some exciting young players that are more enjoyable to watch than Harper, but no one ever seems to talk about them.
- New York Yankees (Previous Rank: n/a): The Yankees lost a series to the Astros, granted the Astros probably won't lose 100+ games this year like they have become known to do, they still will finish last in their division. The payroll difference of the two teams is like the difference of owning a Corvette and owning a car given to you by your parents that they have driven around for the last 15-20 years. Moving on from that one series, their pitching could be better seeing how their top three pitchers are paid more than all of the Astros. Beltran has heated up over the Weekend and started at 1B, and they thumped the Red Sox pretty good. As for the Pine Tar, someone has to get caught being obvious about it I guess. Tanaka has given up 2 homers in 2 starts, give it another month and I bet he is giving up 2+ per every nine innings pitched.
- Texas Rangers (Previous Rank: 8th): The Rangers cannot seem to stop breaking, they did get Darvish back though who has delivered two of the best starts by any pitcher so far in baseball, including one game to the Astros which seems to be another near perfect game scenario. All the same Darvish went 8 shutout innings just for the Rangers to need extra innings to get their act together. They are also only playing 500 ball, I will not write them off yet, but trading for Feilder is looking a bit ridiculous right now, more so with Kinsler having better production value thus far this season.
- Chicago White Sox (Previous Rank: n/a): They have played better than expected and I am not fully sold on them just yet. I still think Cleveland and the Royals are more complete teams, but what would I know? If you want to look at a team that makes Cuban players look pretty damn good, this is your team right here. I would say Ramirez and Abreyu are having great starts to this season. The White Sox at least gives the City of Chicago something to watch this year.
- Boston Red Sox (Previous Rank: 2nd): They have had a rough start and seem to be losing at home and on the road. If they can get clicking they should easily compete this year, and it is not a question of how, but win they will start winning series. Sizemore has been fun to watch, and if he keeps going at this pace and plays a little more often, he could be the AL comeback player of the year this season.
- Cleveland Indians (Previous Rank: n/a): To say their pitching has struggled is a total understatement. They also have some bats that need to heat up, on the brightside, Nyjer Morgan has seemed to grow up and gone out and has made himself an asset. Brantley has also been a bright spot in the lineup. Aside from one bad outing, Axford has been solid so far too. If they can become more regular than they could easily finish no worse than third.
- Miami Marlins (Previous Rank: n/a): They got beat up on by the Nationals, in DC but they get a chance for some payback the next few days. They have more than enough young and exciting players including Stanton and Fernandez, and I could see them competing in the years to come. I could see them giving 2nd or 3rd in that division a serious run.
- Colorado Rockies (Previous Rank: n/a): Charlie Blackmon has been amazing thus far as well as the whole outfield. Tulo is also having a good start to the year. They have been bipolar as a team though, you could easily take 2 coins for every start label one pitching and one offense, flip them both and heads determines a good night and tails determines an off night.
- Philadelphia Phillies (Previous Rank: n/a): Chase Utley has been on a tare, Howard has shown some life, and Rollins is looking a little bit younger, but how long will they hold up? They have a track record of being an old and fragile team. I will give them another week before I give them more credit.
- Toronto Blue Jays (Previous Rank: n/a): I am not fully sold on this team yet, but they have shown some signs of life. Buehrle has been terrific so far and Melky Cabrera has been on base pretty much every game. if they get some momentum they might be relevant through the All Star Break, but can anyone see them lasting six months at or above 500?
- Los Angeles Angels (Previous Rank: n/a): Pujols is having his best start for the Angels and it looks like Trout is heating up, but as a whole the Angels pitching is still pretty lousy. I do not see them making the cut this year, but they can thank the Astros for keeping them no lower than 4th place for the season.
- Kansas City Royals (Previous Rank: 10th): They have had some electric pitching, but they cannot seem to generate runs. Moustakas had me fooled going into this season, and I am back to thinking he is not fit to be at this level anymore. The offense has generated one homer so far and that is somewhat alarming. I just feel kind of bad for Salvador Perez, that guy has too much talent to not see ball in October. Ventura will be a good fantasy grab if you need some pitching.
- Cincinnati Reds (Previous Rank: 9th): Their Starting pitching has been good for the most part, but their bullpen has had significant issues. They have yet to win a series, granted three of their four series have been against the Cardinals and Rays, but they should have no excuse for losing two to the Mets. Their offense has also been quiet too many times this season and leadoff rookie Billy Hamilton is no Choo, and until he hits for a higher average I do not see him stealing 100 bases in the majors (factoring for when he does hit triples and doubles, or people behind him hit on the first pitch, or the fact he struggles to get on board). Ludwick has performed better than most so far this year and Cueto is looking good. Bailey seems like a bad investment in the long haul if it means losing Cueto, Latos, or Chapman to free agency in the near future.
- Minnesota Twins (Previous Rank: n/a): i am not sure how long their offense will keep winning them games, their pitching for the most part has been blah at best. They should also start seeing better teams which will directly be their litmus test this year.
- New York Mets (Previous Rank: n/a): I think they have played better than people were expecting, but they have played some sloppy ball on some nights and have been amazing on other nights. I still think Daniel Murphy is underrated. They should can Valverde just for the fact he takes about 1 minute per pitch, he is incredibly boring to watch and last time I checked not only did he put me to sleep, but he also blew a lead agains the Angels. I cannot wait to see Bartolo Colon have to run the bases this year.
- San Diego Padres (Previous Rank: considered for 15th): No reliable offense. Cashner has been good, and they do have good enough pitching to keep them in most games, but where is the offensive spark. They did manage to beat the Tigers, but I am not impressed so far.
- Baltimore Orioles (Previous Rank: 12th): Can you say Pitching woes? Same story as 2013, solid offense, but terrible pitching. It was nice to see Chris Davis hit his first homerun the other night. It was crummy seeing Jimenez blow up my fantasy leagues last week…..
- Houston Astros (Previous Rank: n/a): This week in DAMN IT ASTROS: By going 12 innings the other night, the Astros cost me higher payouts of about a total 50 bucks on draft kings. They have played better than more recent years, and Feldman can pitch, no he i no Darvish, but he has been the best arm the Astros have had in a good while now.
- Chicago Cubs (Previous Rank: n/a): The Cubs front office has already declared this another rebuilding year and expect to see October three seasons from now, good luck. I will say that they still have some talented pitchers that get fewer wins from a lack of run support.
- Arizona Diamondbacks (Previous Rank: n/a): This team is making Mike depressed. If you ever wanted to know what a team with junk pitching that plays in a hitter's paradise record would look like, well then here is your answer. All eyes on Goldschmidt, because sadly there is not much else to see here.