There are a lot of interesting squads who make up our top 10, and while the team who's holding onto the number-one spot isn't a huge shock, the team right behind them is.
Rank | Team | nERD | Record | Playoff Odds | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 | Chicago White Sox | 1.18 | 2-3 | 8.3% | +15 |
9 | Tampa Bay Rays | 1.28 | 5-3 | 19.5% | +8 |
8 | Washington Nationals | 1.39 | 4-3 | 76.0% | -4 |
7 | Chicago Cubs | 1.69 | 5-2 | 94.3% | -6 |
6 | New York Yankees | 1.78 | 3-4 | 19.1% | +9 |
5 | Arizona Diamondbacks | 1.89 | 6-2 | 28.6% | +19 |
4 | Cincinnati Reds | 2.14 | 5-2 | 8.0% | +25 |
3 | Minnesota Twins | 2.16 | 5-1 | 11.4% | +25 |
2 | Los Angeles Angels | 2.28 | 5-2 | 30.0% | +16 |
1 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 2.38 | 4-4 | 73.5% | +6 |
Let's get this out of the way: the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox, two more rebuilding teams, won't be here much longer. The Arizona Diamondbacks got off to the kind of start they were hoping for in 2016, but better late than never, right?
It'll be interesting to see how the Minnesota Twins perform moving forward. Sure, they lost 103 games last year and Byron Buxton doesn't look good thus far, but they still have Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer and have gotten a strong start from Miguel Sano.
Let's break up the Los Angeles Angels, though! They didn't make many waves during the winter but had a sneaky-good offseason and seem to have an outside shot at contending. However, a lot will depend on the starting rotation, which was decimated last year. Garrett Richards is already back on the disabled list, and he'll be crucial to how the Angels ultimately performs this year.
And, at least for right now, we can look at the power rankings without the Cubs at the top, which may not happen all that often throughout the year.