MLB Power Rankings of why each team won’t win the World Series. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
MLB Power Rankings of the one reason why each of the 30 teams won’t win the 2023 World Series.
Thirty teams enter. One team leaves victorious. It’s how every MLB season goes. Twenty-nine ball clubs will fall short. This week’s MLB Power Rankings takes a direct look at why each club will fail.
How are they ranked? It’s based on how big of a problem they have on their hands. The lower the number the teams received, the more of a roadblock they have on their way to becoming a champion.
30) MLB Power Rankings: Texas Rangers need to suffer a little more first
The idea that a team needs to sip from the playoff cup of coffee before getting a championship caffeine hit is very true. Teams don’t suddenly break a playoff drought and win a championship.
This way of thinking could have the Texas Rangers falling short. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2016. Even the 2005 Chicago White Sox had a shorter drought before winning it all. The Los Angeles Angels managed to pull it off with a 2002 World Series after missing the postseason every year from 1986 onward. The Rangers need to be outside the norm.
29) MLB Power Rankings: Tampa Bay Rays will outsmart themselves
The Tampa Bay Rays can outsmart everyone, even themselves. What will stop them from winning a World Series is how intelligent they believe they are. By not making some more traditional moves at the trade deadline, they can catch themselves without enough firepower to get them through the final weeks and the playoffs. They’ve been smart in the past about at least trying to find appropriate short-term rentals even if guys like Nelson Cruz haven’t performed.
Stick with it. Stay smart but rely a bit more on your brawn than your brain.
28) MLB Power Rankings: Los Angeles Dodgers will face a team that’s cheating if they make it
Ain’t that a stinker? The Los Angeles Dodgers had the unfortunate task of taking on the 2017 Houston Astros and then the 2018 Boston Red Sox whose cheating scandals might have cost them some banners.
They did win it all in 2020 but that can get an asterisk with it as well due to the shortened season. If the Dodgers make it to the World Series, there’s no doubt whoever they face will have some sort of scandal revealed years later.
27) MLB Power Rankings: Atlanta Braves rule the regular season, not the playoffs
Kings of the regular season, the Atlanta Braves rarely actually come out on top. Their most recent championships came in 2021, 1995, and 1957. That’s a lot of distance between parades. The Braves should have little issue with capturing the National League East title again this season. What will get in their way is a red-hot team.
26) MLB Power Rankings: Toronto Blue Jays will have too big of a postseason gauntlet
The Toronto Blue Jays aren’t going to win the American League East which means they have a gauntlet to face in the postseason. They’ll have to win three series just to get there. And when they do, unless they’re the ones using black magic against the Los Angeles Dodgers, they will fall short.
Teams who have to play the Wild Card round have an even greater uphill battle than ever before with an additional win needed to snatch a championship. The Blue Jays won’t be able to fly high enough this season to get there.