Remember all that offseason consternation and some incredibly premature “best team of all-time!” talk? I even already had someone ask me if the Dodgers would be No. 1 in Power Rankings all season. It was as if spotting Bigfoot would’ve been more likely than seeing the mighty defending champions ever fall from their lofty perch at the top. And yet, the ballyhooed Dodgers ultimately couldn’t even hold the top spot through the first full week.
The Dodgers are awesome, obviously, and still a good bet to finish with the best record in baseball. They are a decent bet to win the World Series, too. Still, anyone who has paid attention the last, well, entire Wild Card Era, knows that the playoffs are a total crapshoot and that more teams getting in means more possibility for chaos.
As for how things currently stand, I’m looking at the Dodgers’ record of 9-2. They have the most wins. And yet they’re not even in first place in their division; that title goes to the 8-1 Giants. Outside of the West, the best winning percentage in the National League belongs to the Phillies at 7-2.
And wouldn’t you know it, those two teams just played each other head-to-head. The Phillies won two of three.
Head-to-head victories aren’t a hard-and-fast rule in the rankings, given how many variables there are over the course of 162 games. The Phillies didn’t get to start their ace, Zack Wheeler, in the series, for example. And yet they still took two of three. They were at home, sure, but I’m looking at the body of work here and while the Dodgers came in 8-0, they have now lost a series. The Phillies haven’t.
The Phillies’ schedule before this series sure looks like it was easier, having played the Nationals and Rockies, but the Dodgers swept the Braves. I do think the Braves will end up being good, but they are 1-8 right now. If anyone is concerned about run differential (you shouldn’t be yet), the Phillies are +16 while the Dodgers are +22, and that includes the latter’s two extra games. In other words, the difference is negligible in this tiny sample.
Finally, I’ve noted before that early in the season, I still put a lot of weight on how good I believe the personnel is on each team (the ol’ “good on paper”) argument. Remember, it’s still an incredibly small sample. Perhaps this means I should just leave the All-World, Vaunted Dodgers on top?
Perhaps. But the Phillies were my No. 2 team in preseason and last week. And they’ve gone 7-2 without losing a series. They beat the Dodgers head-to-head.
Your No. 1 team right now is the Philadelphia Phillies.
Biggest Movers
|
Rk |
Teams |
Chg |
Rcrd |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
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There’s obviously another major threat in the division (no, not the Marlins), but the Phillies are already six games up on the Braves and now travel to Atlanta with the chance to put the Braves nine games behind them. Even this early in the season, that’s a big deal. | 1 | 7-2 |
2 |
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How about the Tommy Edman power surge? The only player with more homers so far is Aaron Judge. | 1 | 9-2 |
3 |
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One of the main reasons I loved the Rangers so much heading into the season was that I expected the offense to be among the best in baseball. It actually hasn’t been very good at all so far and they’re still 8-2. Watch out, AL. They are better than this. | — | 8-2 |
4 |
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Well how about that? With Sunday’s walkoff win, the Giants move into first place in the NL West. Not the Dodgers, not the Padres, but the Giants! In fact, the Giants have the best record in baseball. Was it an easy schedule? Not necessarily. I think heading into the season if you looked at a schedule that went: 3 at Cincinnati, 3 at Houston, 3 vs. Seattle you’d say that was pretty tough. Their only loss was by one run, too. I don’t think they keep this up, but you gotta give them their due. | 18 | 8-1 |
5 |
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It was a rough weekend in Chicago overall, but they battled back to win on Sunday and, at the end of the day, 8-2 is a stellar start to the season. | — | 8-2 |
6 |
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Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 on Sunday, dropping his slugging percentage all the way down to a paltry .892. | 2 | 6-3 |
7 |
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Francisco Lindor hasn’t done anything, Juan Soto is capable of better, Mark Vientos is completely lost and the Mets are 6-3. I’d say that’s pretty encouraging overall. | 4 | 6-3 |
8 |
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After a four-game losing streak, they have come alive. It’s a nice illustration of how quickly things can change this early in the season. | 5 | 6-4 |
9 |
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The five-game winning streak as bookended by two games where the Cubs blew a four-run lead. There’s a lot to like here, especially the boost Kyle Tucker gives the offense. | 5 | 7-5 |
10 |
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The Tigers weathered a very tough road trip to start the season and then took care of business upon returning home against an inferior foe. And just like that, they’re in first place. A fun week lies ahead with the Yankees coming to town before the Tigers head to Minnesota. | 6 | 5-4 |
11 |
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We are all systems go for the Hunter Brown breakout season. | 5 | 4-5 |
12 |
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Even if a few of them might be past their primes, the Diamondbacks starting pitchers shouldn’t be a huge weakness and, in fact, should well end up one of their strengths. So far, D-backs starters have a 5.96 ERA. | 5 | 5-5 |
13 |
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They were 0-4 in March and are 5-1 in April so far. The Brewers just don’t do March. That’s all. As an IU men’s basketball fan, I’m far too familiar with not doing March. | 4 | 5-5 |
14 |
|
That Lucas Erceg and Carlos Estévez combo at the end of games can be lethal while Hunter Harvey has been just as lights out. We’ll hold off on comparisons to the HDH law firm so ridiculously early, but it’s worth monitoring. | 1 | 4-5 |
15 |
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The rotation is terrible. Who could have possibly foreseen such a thing? Apparently not Mike Elias. | 7 | 4-6 |
16 |
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A lot of teams that weren’t in on Jeff Hoffman should’ve been. Good on the Blue Jays for grabbing him relatively cheaply. | 4 | 5-5 |
17 |
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Logan O’Hoppe has homered in four straight games and the Angels have won six of eight since the Opening Day debacle. | 9 | 6-3 |
18 |
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They’ve now lost four of five since that excellent first weekend and Sunday in particular was a total bloodbath, starting with Ryan Helsley’s rare meltdown. | — | 4-5 |
19 |
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The 3-6 road trip certainly isn’t ideal, but the Guardians are the only team (literally the only one out of 30) to have not played a home game yet. Their home opener comes Tuesday against the White Sox. | 9 | 3-6 |
20 |
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The Twins are now 2-1 against the White Sox and 1-5 otherwise. Gulp. | 1 | 3-6 |
21 |
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They went 3-4 at home and then got swept — allowing two walkoffs — in San Francisco. We could elaborate, sure, but let’s just leave it as a pretty terrible start to the season for a hopeful contender with a new manager. | 12 | 3-7 |
22 |
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This is bound to happen a lot in the early going, but the Rays are difficult to assess right now. They’re playing in a minor-league ballpark, won series — without sweeping — over two bad teams and lost a series on the road to what looks like a great team. And those three losses to the Rangers weren’t blowouts, either. They were competitive. | 1 | 4-5 |
23 |
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Just an absolute disaster of a start to the season and there’s no disputing that. It looked like after that tough west coast trip to start the season, maybe the Braves had a “get right” game with the 10-0 win over the Marlins. Then they lost 4-0 the next night. I still firmly believe this is a playoff team and they’ll get hot at some point. They do, however, have to climb out of a big hole both in the standings and these Power Rankings. | 11 | 1-8 |
24 |
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Yes, I strongly believe the Braves are better than the Marlins and, yes, the record is a small-sample mirage driven heavily by starting 3-1 against a lackluster Pirates team. They deserve a small bump and nothing more at this point. | 3 | 5-4 |
25 |
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Rough start for Dylan Crews, but he had a good game in a Nats win Sunday. Maybe that propels him. | — | 3-6 |
26 |
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It is far, far, FAR too early to believe there’s a trend here, but it would be hilarious if the A’s were good on the road (4-3 so far) and brutal in Sacramento (0-3 to this point, though against a good Cubs team). Remember, they refuse to even acknowledge in their branding that they’re in Sacramento. They are just the Athletics, a la Madonna or Cher or something. | 2 | 4-6 |
27 |
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It’s only been 10 games, but the offense has been a cause for concern. They’ve scored 39 runs and the average isn’t horrible on the surface level, but 25 runs came in two games. That leaves 14 for the other eight. That won’t cut it. | 4 | 3-7 |
28 |
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You know what’s cool, in the midst of all the bad (and the great Paul Skenes)? Andrew McCutchen is hitting .316/.409/.526 so far. | — | 3-7 |
29 |
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It’s nice to see Germán Márquez back in a full-time role in the rotation and he’s looked pretty good through two outings. Where would you guess he ranks in terms of Rockies history in wins, strikeouts and innings? If you said third, FIRST and fifth, you win. Yes, he’s the all-time leader in strikeouts by a Rockies pitcher. Second place is Jorge De La Rosa. | — | 2-7 |
30 |
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The White Sox are on pace to go 36-126. Uh oh. | — | 2-7 |
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