MLB Team Power Rankings: L.A. Is Running the Show
Teams Ranked 30th to 21st
Since we're working with such a small sample size at the moment, we're going to see a lot of teams here who many think are going to end up being pretty good in 2017. So, that's why it's good to have their playoff odds accompany the nERDs and records for everyone. This way, we have an idea of how optimistic or pessimistic we should feel.
| Rank | Team | nERD | Record | Playoff Odds | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Toronto Blue Jays | -2.44 | 1-5 | 37.3% | -24 |
| 29 | Kansas City Royals | -2.41 | 2-5 | 6.9% | -6 |
| 28 | Seattle Mariners | -2.25 | 2-6 | 31.4% | -18 |
| 27 | Pittsburgh Pirates | -2.16 | 3-3 | 12.8% | -8 |
| 26 | Baltimore Orioles | -1.80 | 4-1 | 33.4% | -14 |
| 25 | St. Louis Cardinals | -1.57 | 2-5 | 45.6% | -17 |
| 24 | Cleveland Indians | -1.56 | 3-3 | 80.4% | -21 |
| 23 | Milwaukee Brewers | -1.26 | 2-5 | 2.6% | +3 |
| 22 | New York Mets | -1.00 | 4-3 | 45.7% | -11 |
| 21 | Colorado Rockies | -0.89 | 5-3 | 17.8% | 1 |
Talk about a quick fall from grace for the Toronto Blue Jays, right? It doesn't look pretty right now, but the regular season also won't be finishing next week -- they've got a few months to figure things out. They also got off to a slow start last April and fought their way back into the postseason, so this is not an unfamiliar spot for manager John Gibbons and his club.
The Cleveland Indians were flying high after a season-opening three-game sweep against the Texas Rangers, but quickly came back down to reality by immediately losing three straight to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are much higher in our maiden voyage of the 2017 MLB power rankings.
Clearly, the one team that doesn't fit here is the Baltimore Orioles -- they have the best winning percentage of these 10 clubs and did see their playoff odds increase from 28.9% in the preseason version of our rankings, yet they dropped 14 spots. The offense is underperforming a bit (86 wRC+ at the moment), but the pitching staff is performing quite well, boasting a 3.64 ERA and 3.67 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) as a unit.
While Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy are anchoring the rotation, it's hard to have a ton of faith in a starting staff that also includes the likes of Ubaldo Jimenez and Wade Miley.
