MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – APRIL 09: Willy Adames #27 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates a home run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the fifth inning at American Family Field on April 09, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. MLB Power Rankings (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
This week’s MLB Power Rankings highlight the powerful Milwaukee Brewers and the early troubles of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Last week’s MLB Power Rankings was all about overreacting to three or four games for each team. Clubs have gotten another full week of action under their belts to actually show us what they’re made of.
Through a week and a half of the season, we already see a couple of contenders emerging and a few pretenders right there with them. Every team still has a chance to dig itself out of any early hole it is in. Right now, certain crews look much better than others.
30) MLB Power Rankings: Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are doing exactly what we expected. They’re losing a lot. A last place spot in this week’s MLB Power Rankings is no surprise. They are dreadfully bad and losing 100 games seems inevitable. Let’s keep this brief because if you don’t have anything nice to say it’s best to not say anything at all.
29) MLB Power Rankings: Detroit Tigers
There is a little more to get into with the Detroit Tigers even if the kind words aren’t plentiful. The free agent signing of Javier Baez may, in fact, be one of the worst in modern history. The offense has been slow to start yet again this year. The pitching has been rattled early as well. Murphy’s Law seems to have latched itself onto the 2023 Tigers. It already feels like another year will go to waste.
28) MLB Power Rankings: Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are bad, but their early struggles don’t seem as painful as some other teams. They have a couple of hitters with Victor Robles and Lane Thomas off to impressive starts. MacKenzie Gore has started well while Patrick Corbin remains a burden on the payroll. The Nationals may be slightly ahead in their rebuilding process. They don’t need to win a ton this year. All we ask is that they show competency. They’ve done so thus far.
27) MLB Power Rankings: Kansas City Royals
It hasn’t been a pretty start for the Kansas City Royals. Another team with some young players we all looked forward to seeing, they’ve been slow to start. Poor Zack Greinke is 0-2 after a pair of starts yet the owner of a 2.38 ERA. It seems like the Royals will join the Detroit Tigers yet again this season as the doormat of the AL Central. The only unanswered question is who finishes last.
26) MLB Power Rankings: Miami Marlins
A whole bunch of games early on against the New York Mets didn’t help the Miami Marlins start this season strongly. It’s easy to see them being better than their record says they are. The addition of Luis Arraez might have been one of the best all offseason even if Pablo Lopez has been terrific for the Minnesota Twins as well. Who says both teams can’t win a trade? The Marlins will need to do a lot more before they have a shot at moving up the MLB Power Rankings.