These Are The 9 Best Teams In MLB
Monday means MLB Power Rankings and this week's probably the hardest one we've had all year:
There's a lot of healthy takeaways with just a handful of weeks left in the season and the playoff picture coming into focus.
A good starting point would be the first 5 teams out:
1. Blue Jays: lost games in remarkable fashion despite a remarkable roster. Only two series wins in August with another bad 2-4 week. They're too good to be sloppy.
2. Diamondbacks: lost 9 straight to start August only to go 12-3 in the next 15. It's been a bizarre stretch but they're surging at the right time.
3. Cubs: consistently the most unlucky team by Run Differential compared to W-L record. They've scored the 5th most runs in MLB but remain steadily behind the Brewers despite a 5-2 week. Today begins a 3-game home-series with Milwaukee that will drastically influence where this goes.
4. Giants: horrible run for almost 3 weeks. Then you look at the schedule over that time. Specifically, since August 11th they've played (number of games in series): Rangers (3), Rays (3), @Braves (3), @Phillies (3), Braves (3). They've gone 5-10 in this stretch and have cupcakes coming in September.
5. Red Sox: probably the hardest team to figure out in MLB. They're 8-1 against the Yankees but 1-7 against the Rays and 20-26 against the National League. The lineup can bang, scoring more runs than the Orioles and Phillies for reference. But sometimes it doesn't do shit. Even so, my baseball instinct gravitates to Boston's resiliency. They drop 2 in Houston then win 2 to stave off a nose dive before Mookie's homecoming. And despite being 3-5 in August rubber matches, they're still in the hunt. Each stumble has been followed by a surge and there's a gauntlet of a schedule this September with 7 of 10 series against playoff caliber clubs. All this to just to say I wouldn't be surprised if they can squeeze in a two week heater to close the year.
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Maybe next week for these 5.
For now, they're outside because the other 9 teams are simply better right now.
It's a fluid situation so remember this is a snapshot at this moment.
Some general observations:
- The Orioles lost their best pitcher last week due to UCL injury, so I'm inclined to dock them in the rankings. But same time, the Orioles have repeatedly reminded me at every moment this year to NOT doubt them. They win and win and win regardless of what I've thought. And now with a titanic disruption to the pitching staff, I'm re-inclined(?) to ride out their goodwill. And as Castellani emphasizes on the show, they can manage the remainder of the season and make you feel good into October. But the playoffs is where this will really hurt the Orioles because Cano/Bautista were looking like a 9-out tandem. That sucks but they're still 3 until they show otherwise.
- The Braves and Dodgers are miles and light years ahead of everyone else at this point. That's a good thing to remember when looking at your club. The top tier of baseball right now is extremely limited - more a testament to those two clubs than the next group. Obviously no guarantees come with this for October but kind of scary to think that both teams will improve before next spring training.
- Klemmer wanted the Mariners at 3. We struck a bargain for them to be 4th, which took an unbelievable amount of effort in the show. Maybe the hardest we've thought all year. The Mariners deserve recognition for their 2nd half climb and right now that says the 4th best team in MLB. JP Crawford continues to be the most underrated SS in the American league and nobody wants to see that pitching staff in October. Great turnaround for a franchise that couldn't stomach a .500 season after last year's dramatics.
- Rangers nose dive sucks but that's gonna happen. They're still a good team just enduring a bad stretch. We can move them down without a drastic overreaction.
- The Brewers are playing perfect Craig Counsell baseball. They don't hit. They don't hit for power. They don't score and they're not sexy, but they just keep grinding out good baseball. That's basically Craig Counsell's 16 year career in a nutshell: .344 slugging percentage, two world series titles, and almost 5,500 plate appearances throughout the entire steroid era. Very sneaky. Very underwhelming. Extremely effective. This guy.
Daniel Shirey. Getty Images.- Craig Counsell will not be managing the Brewers next year. Strong hunch so enjoy this last run while you can Brewers fans.
- Last thing on Counsell that deserves attention. These are the guys he played for:
Don Baylor - Rockies
Jim Leyland - Marlins
Davey Johnson - Dodgers
Buck Schowalter - Dbacks
Bob Brenly - Dbacks
Ned Yost - Brewers
Bob Melvin - Dbacks
Ken Macha - Brewers
A season of Ron Roenicke and John Boles is in there somewhere. Whatever. Point remains that those are amazing influences.
- Astros. Also, whatever.
- Many should prefer to avoid the Phillies in the playoffs. They're red hot this week going 5-1 and outscoring the Cardinals 22-3 in a 3 game series. Bryce Harper is slashing .361/.446/.721 in 101 August plate appearances with 16 extra base hits while Zack Wheeler has made 8 quality starts in his last 9 outings. It's getting to be that time in Philly. You can feel it.
- Cristopher Sanchez is an undersized lefty starter for the Phillies that came into this season with a 5.47 ERA in 22 career games. He's made 13 starts in 2023 and in 9, he's only surrendered just 2 or less runs. There's another 3 starts of 3 earned runs and a 5-1 strikeout:walk ratio in 70.2 innings. He's worth familiarity now because you know Rob Thompson's throwing his ass out there in October, bases loaded, nobody out kinda situation. It's been done before.
- We're waiting for the Rays to fall apart. It would appear that will come later in the season, if not at all. How they do this with a majority of their starting pitchers out is a remarkable feat. So remarkable that I am having an impossible time understanding it.
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These are the MLB Power Rankings 1-9 effective August 28th.
Five weeks left in the season and the tightest playoff picture I can remember. For that I would like to thank Theo Epstein. Everything he's done out of the commissioner's office has worked and the game's only getting better.
More this week. Follow along here:
