MLB Power Rankings: Ranking the 30 MLB Teams through 4/9
The 2011 MLB betting campaign is just a handful of games old, and here at Bang the Book, we’re making our MLB picks and ranking the teams from No. 1 to No. 30!
1: Philadelphia Phillies (6-2): When you’ve got the best pitching staff in the game, you’re just not going to get beaten all that often.
2: Texas Rangers (7-1): That three game sweep of the powerful Red Sox at the start of the season really did show that this is a team that won’t just be lying down this season now that it has tasted what the top is like.
3: Cincinnati Reds (6-2): Was Dusty Baker’s club a fluke last year? A 6-2 record right out of the chute doesn’t suggest as such.
4: New York Yankees (5-3): Mariano Rivera still hasn’t allowed a runner to get into scoring position on the season, but unfortunately, he’s the only man in pinstripes that can say anything near that.
5: Colorado Rockies (5-2): Resigning all of those kiddies in the offseason might prove to be a prudent move for another Rocktober this coming season.
6: San Francisco Giants (4-4): We’re not quite ready to write the defending champs off yet, as they just got back at AT&T Park for the first time this season.
7: Los Angeles Dodgers (5-3): Manager Don Mattingly is off to a great start to his first season calling the shots in Tinseltown.
8: Boston Red Sox (1-7): We’re not quite ready to push the panic button on the Red Sox… yet… talk to us after the Rays come to town this week.
9: Baltimore Orioles (6-2): There’s a point that we have to realize that Buck Showalter is doing the best managerial job in baseball.
10: Chicago White Sox (5-3): The Sox hope to take three out of four against the Rays by taking down Sunday’s encounter.
11: Cleveland Indians (6-2): Give the Tribe some credit for rolling off six straight wins. They could be legit this year with pitching this solid.
12: Toronto Blue Jays (5-3): The Jays are off to that start again that makes us wonder whether they’ll stick around in this division race for the whole year… We’ll learn otherwise eventually.
13: Florida Marlins (5-3): Josh Johnson and the Fish are off to a great start this year.
14: Minnesota Twins (3-5): Poor Tsuyoshi Nishioka did everything right when he stood in there with the diving Nick Swisher coming his way on a double play ball. Unfortunately for the Japanese star, he broke his leg in the process.
15: Detroit Tigers (3-5): Detroit has a lot of work to do with its pitching staff, but everyone’s numbers look bad against the Yankees right now.
16: Atlanta Braves (4-5): The aura of Brandon Beachy has certainly gone away after he was rocked by the Phils.
17: Milwaukee Brewers (4-5): Thank goodness for Chris Narveson, or this team would really be in the dumps right now.
18: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (4-4): Manager Mike Scioscia is trying his best, but just staying at .500 seems like a legitimate possibility in the long run for the Halos this year.
19: New York Mets (4-4): We’re still willing to bet that you can’t name a member of the Mets rotation that is healthy right now.
20: Oakland Athletics (3-5): Oakland hasn’t lost a game by more than two runs since the second day of the season.
21: Chicago Cubs (4-4): When Matt Garza is allowing five extra base hits in a game, things aren’t going to go well for the Cubbies.
22: St. Louis Cardinals (2-6): We should’ve known that something was wrong with St. Louis when Albert Pujols grounded into three double plays on Opening Day.
23: San Diego Padres (3-4): Without Adrian Gonzalez, the Pads just don’t look to have a legitimate lineup this season.
24: Arizona Diamondbacks (3-4): Enjoy this view of almost being at .500, Arizona. In a few weeks, you’ll never be this close again.
25: Kansas City Royals (5-3): Please don’t be serious if you think that this team is finishing anywhere near .500 this season.
26: Tampa Bay Rays (1-7): Manny can take a pee in the Green Monster, but that’s just Manny being Manny. Manny gets busted with drugs for a second time and promptly retires, and that’s just Manny being stupid. The Rays are in big time trouble.
27: Pittsburgh Pirates (5-4): Look, they’re still the Pirates.
28: Washington Nationals (3-5): Let’s see… One RBI in eight games means that Jayson Werth is on pace to have 20 RBIs on the season… Just what we want to see out of our $126 million dollar man!
29: Seattle Mariners (2-6): Who knew… those first two wins of the season and all of those runs scored were nothing but a farce for the Mariners… They’ve lost six straight since and look like last year’s anemic bunch.
30: Houston Astros (1-7): One of these days, the ‘Stros really have to figure it out, but it doesn’t look like it is going to be this year.
Adam Markowitz
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