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MLB Power Rankings
Ranking the 30 Major League Baseball teams at the conclusion of April
So, you want a monthly breakdown of where your precious team falls--or stands--in the battle for baseball supremacy? Well, then, by all means, take it. At the end of each month, ProBaseball-fans.com will gladly provide you with your recommended dose of periodical positive affirmation or harshly delivered tough love (or, if we really can’t decide, a delicious combination of both), as dictated by your favorite club’s recent play. We’ll try to be gentle, but seeing that we hold no obligation to hide the sometimes brutal truth, it would be ignorant and downright irresponsible of us to guarantee you won’t go back to patronizing ESPN.com after you see our version of the rankings.
Now, without further ado…
1. Arizona Diamondbacks (20-8)
Make no mistake-- Arizona is baseball’s best team and should be for a majority of the six-month marathon that is the MLB season. With one of the game’s youngest rosters--one already seasoned from the sting of a NLCS loss a season ago--the Baby Snakes have all but slithered their way out of the gates and threaten to leave the rest of the NL West in their wake, perhaps by midseason. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Instead, chew on this: the D’Backs are second in the NL in runs scored (5.89 runs/game) and first in team ERA (3.25).
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (18-11)
The Halos seemed to have once again established themselves as the team to beat in the AL West, despite a slow start. While fans anxiously wait for Vlad the Impaler and Gary Matthews Jr. to heat up, the team that apparently has two homes has received ample production from 1B Casey Kotchman and newcomer Torii Hunter. Meanwhile, a pitching staff that boasts two five-game winners (who also happen to be undefeated) doesn’t seem too distraught over the absence of last season’s 18-game winner Kelvim Escobar and what may prove to be his lengthy stay on the DL, due to a tear in the labrum of his throwing shoulder.
3. St. Louis Cardinals (18-11)
The Cards are definitely a candidate for baseball’s biggest surprise team one month into the season. Surprising not because of what they have accomplished, but because they have done so without the use of smoke or mirrors. Surprising not because the team recently set a franchise record for most wins in the month of April, but because the five-headed monster that manager Tony La Russa utilizes in his outfield (Rick Ankiel, Brian Barton, Chris Duncan, Ryan Ludwick and Skip Schumaker) has performed so well. The group has posted the league’s second-best OPS (combined on-base and slugging percentage) and continues to compliment the presence of Albert Pujols, who can’t seem to buy a pitch anywhere near the strike zone.
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4. Oakland Athletics (17-12)
Like St. Louis, it remains to be seen whether the A’s can continue to defy less than lofty pre-season expectations. As for now, the Boys from the Bay are quietly posting the league’s best ERA (3.22) and playing the role of juggernaut outside of the AL West. Oakland is a combined 14-7 against the rest of the league--including 10-4 against the heavily regarded Central--but only 3-5 against its own division. That number will have to change if the A’s hope to linger through a long, grueling summer.
5. Chicago Cubs (17-10)
As is customary this time of year in the North Side of Chicago, hope springs eternal with the advent of another season, and die-hard Cubbies fans shun past discretions, in hopes that ‘this is the year’ their team at long last breaks the Curse of the Billy goat/Steve Bartman/Moises Alou’s short arms, etc. At the same time, the rest of the baseball world wouldn’t mind seeing the jinx enjoy its 100th birthday. Unfortunately for them, in particular the rest of the NL Central, it appears this Cubs’ team is better equipped as any to finally put an end to all the shenanigans that have cast a cloud over the franchise since the pre-Great Depression Era.
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6. Tampa Bay Rays (15-12)
I wouldn’t go as far as to declare a changing of the guard in the AL East just yet, but if April is any indication, these Rays definitely resent the fact that they have been picked once again to do the divisional bottom-feeding. And the frustration showed in a recent three-game sweep of the defending champs. In fact, that Boston series gave the Rays their 13 th intra-divisional win (they had 29 all of last season). Seems all the high draft picks that have been the result of several years of lousy baseball in St. Petersburg are starting to develop. Time will tell whether this Tampa team is for real, or if they’ll buckle under the pressure and run back down to the cellar to hide.
7. Boston Red Sox (17-12)
The defending champs have certainly looked the part at times this season. 
Other times, well, they look like they don’t belong in what is supposed to be the most competitive division in baseball. In all fairness, injuries have ravaged the front end of the rotation, and David Ortiz has had to hit with one working leg. But simply retrace back to April 11, a 4-1 loss to the hated Yankees, and you’ll get a perfect sense of how helter-skelter Boston’s season has been. Following that game, the Red Sox proceeded to win ten of their next eleven, during which time they scored at least four runs in every game. An April 23 loss to the Angels began a subsequent five-game losing streak. At the back end of that streak was a three-game sweep in Tampa Bay, a series in which the Sox scored a total of five runs.
8. Chicago White Sox (14-12)
While a .538 winning percentage may not warrant any fuzzy feelings across Chicago’s South Side, the fact that the White Sox have managed to tread water while their staff ace Mark Buehrle (1-2, 5.65) has struggled to stay afloat garners some sliver of hope for the coming summer months. You just wonder if the Chi Sox will have enough in the tank to compete once the Indians and Tigers finally decide to wake up.
9. Florida Marlins (15-12)
Apparently low attendance figures don’t have an adverse affect on the Fish. Thanks in part to lackluster play across the board in the sagging NL East, the Marlins have crept their way to the top of the division, albeit to the delight of just under 15,000 fans per game at Dolphins Stadium, a number that ranks dead last in the National League and nearly mirrors the league’s smallest payroll. And though Florida likely won’t end the season in first place, all early signs indicate this group may possess the talent to potentially threaten its more affluent, deeper pocketed divisional foes.
10. Detroit Tigers (13-15)
Spare me the logic. Maybe a sub .500 team doesn’t belong this high on the ladder. But take into consideration that the Tigers started their ’08 campaign losing 10 of their first 12, and then perhaps you’ll begin to see it my way. Since then, Detroit has gone 11-5, and its inexplicably stagnant offense has received a much needed shot in arm with the return of leadoff man Curtis Granderson. His presence at the top has allowed for the rest of the lineup to settle in. Now all Jim Leyland’s club needs is for the pitching to stop underachieving and then they can begin their 144-game winning streak to close the season.
11. Los Angeles Dodgers (14-13)
Manager Joe Torre got off to bit of an inauspicious start at his new post before his Dodgers began a five-game winning streak, including a series sweep of the suddenly hapless Rockies. The Los Angeles front office thought they had pulled off a shrewd move to compliment the signing of Torre when they signed Gold Glove-winner Andruw Jones. $14.5 million dollars and an endless number of frustrated fantasy managers later, Jones is still batting a smidgen above .150, with one home run, four RBIs and a woeful .250 slugging percentage to boot.
12. Baltimore Orioles (15-12)
The O’s can thank the M’s for their above average start. Coming over to Baltimore in the trade that sent starting pitcher Eric Bedard to Seattle, OF Adam Jones and converted closer George Sherrill have been critical to the Orioles early season success. Jones has shown flashes of brilliance and the potential of being a future five-tool player. He even stuck it to the team that so rudely passed on him, going 3-4 with 3 RBIs in an 8-7 win over Seattle on April 24. Getting the save in that game was Sherrill, now a perfect 10 for 10 in save opportunities this year and on pace for a whopping 51.
13. Milwaukee Brewers (15-12)
Thank God for the sausage races at Miller Park. Picked by many to be a contending force in the NL Central, the Brewers have had trouble getting out of the gate. Prince Fielder, who hit 50 home runs a year ago, didn’t hit his first bomb this season until game no. 15 and is batting a paltry .250. Staff ace Ben Sheets once again finds himself battling with injury--this time it’s a bothersome triceps muscle. And to top it off, the bullpen has struggled to find leadership. And it all came to a head in an ugly 19-5 whipping from the Cubs at Wrigley, where four relievers gave up a combined eight runs in just 4 1/3 innings.
14. Philadelphia Phillies (15-13)
No one could have possibly predicted fifteen wins in April. After all, the Phils have failed to win more than eleven games during the first month of the season each of the last four years. And Philly fans have one person to thank for this early, unfamiliar production--2B Chase Utley. Putting together what may prove to be an MVP effort, Utley checks in no worse than fourth in nearly every offensive statistical category in the National League and is tops in home runs, on-base percentage and total bases. And from the looks of it, the Phils will need Utley to continue to carry the load, as teammate Ryan Howard will likely continue to lead the league in strikeouts.
15. Seattle Mariners (13-15)
The Mariners are talented as any team in the American League but have failed to play up to that talent thus far. For the sake of argument, we’ll blame it on Eric Bedard’s $7 million-dollar inflamed left hip. Before landing on the DL on April 15, the M’s big off-season signing was 2-1 with a sparkling 1.82 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 24.2 innings. When healthy, Bedard and fellow starter Felix Hernandez form of the league’s fiercest duos, and both will be counted upon to carry a team that is hitting only 253.
16. Minnesota Twins (13-14)
The Twins, like the White Sox, have ridden sub-par play that has been masked by the even greater early season struggles of division favorites Cleveland and Detroit. Former batting champion Joe Mauer, despite batting over .300, has battled to find his stroke and is virtually unprotected in the Twins’ lineup, with the exception of former league MVP Justin Morneau (6 HR, 24 RBIs). A blue collar rotation has performed admirably but needs to go to deeper in games. Closer Joe Nathan is nearly perfect this season, posting nine saves in eleven appearances and an ERA under one.
17. New York Mets (14-12)
Heralded starter Johan Santana has been as good as advertised (3-2, 3.12), although his numbers may not warrant any premature Cy Young Award discussions. But he is not the only Met making a splash in the media cess pool that is New York City with his favorable play. Catcher Brian Schneider (.309) and RF Ryan Church (.324, 4 HR, 22 RBIs) have more than justified the previously scorned decision to send Paul Lo Duca and Lastings Milledge to Washington, and--perhaps, just perhaps--have deflected some of the media and fan’s attention away from an aging Carlos Delgado.
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18. Cleveland Indians (13-15)
Cliff Lee: Whatever you’re on, please share it with CC Sabathia. Cleveland’s lanky lefty has been nearly untouchable (5-0, 0.96 ERA) and features a strikeout-walk ratio of 16:1. But as good as Lee has been, Sabathia has been as equally as bad. Over his first six starts, Cleveland’s not so lanky lefty has allowed an average of almost five runs per outing, causing his ERA to balloon out of control.
19. San Francisco Giants (13-16)
A new era has begun in San Francisco. And if the Barry Bonds-less Giants hope to makes some noise in the NL West, they’ll have to do it with solid pitching and good defense. Leading a young rotation is 24 year-old Tim Lincecum (4-1, 1.73), who may be the National League’s version of Cliff Lee. Lincecum’s only hiccup of the season came against the Rockies, a game he lost despite allowing only three runs over seven innings. The Giants aren’t going to scare anybody with their bats these days, so it’s imperative that someone step up to compliment Lincecum, and that includes the pitcher formerly known as Barry Zito.
20. Houston Astros (13-16)
Regardless of his true age, new Houston shortstop Miguel Tejada has provided the lineup with some much welcomed punch, while incumbent first baseman Lance Berkman continues his offensive assault on the rest of the NL. The one aspect that has held the ‘Stros back has been the starting pitching. The foursome of Roy Oswalt, Brandon Backe, Shawn Chacon, and Chris Sampson has combined for five wins versus nine losses and carries an ERA of 5.17 into the month of May.
21. New York Yankees (14-15)
Hank Steinbrenner can deny it as long as he wants--or as long as his inflated payroll will allow--but the Yankees are not a playoff-caliber team, not if April is any indication. New York’s two young, heralded starters, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes, have done nothing to refute the notion that they belong in the minors at least another year, and both Andy Pettite and Mike Mussina are entering the stretch run of their respective careers. Elsewhere, no one has emerged as the outstanding presence in the lineup in the aftermath of A-Rod’s trip to the DL following a strained quadriceps.
22. Atlanta Braves (12-15)
The Braves pitching staff is rapidly beginning to resemble the patient list at an infirmary. John Smoltz recently became the latest casualty, with a rotator cuff/biceps injury, and now joins five other Atlanta hurlers on the DL, three of which are relievers. Shortstop Yunel Escobar has the look of a superstar in the making. His solid offensive numbers are enabling Braves’ fans to forget all about the departed Edgar Renteria, while his slick fielding has benefited whatever pitchers remain in the Atlanta clubhouse.
23. Cincinnati Reds (12-17)
Initial analysis of this Reds team may not necessarily bring back favorable results for this season, but it does reveal an incredibly bright future for the Queen City. Once the growing pangs have subsided for twentysomethings Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey, Cincy will have themselves a trio of potential 20-game winners for years to come. Throw in young offensive talent the likes of Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto, Jeff Keppinger and Edwin Encarnacion and you got yourself an impressive nucleus that should be in the NL Central mix for quite some time.
24. Kansas City Royals (12-15)
What happens when you win three consecutive games against a heavily favored divisional opponent and consensus World Series pick to begin the season after being the divisional doormat for so many years? You jump the gun. Such is the case with the Kansas City Royals. After sweeping the Tigers on the road to open up the year undefeated to the delight of an enthusiastic fans base, the Royals lost nine of their next fifteen and now find themselves in an all too familiar position in the AL Central--last place.
25. Colorado Rockies (11-17)
The reigning National League Champions are beginning to find out how tough it can be to defend a title, especially when a roster that was a picture of perfect health a season ago begins to incur injuries to key players. 2007 Rookie of the Year runner-up Troy Tulowitzki will be out anywhere from 8-12 weeks with a tear of his left quadriceps. The club is optimistic he will return before the All-Star break. The only thing tougher than replacing Tulo’s offensive and defensive production will be digging out of the nine-game hole the Rockies have dug for themselves.
26. Toronto Blue Jays (11-17)
The Toronto pitching staff ranks no lower than fourth in every major statistical category, most notable of which would be overall ERA. The Jays’ team ERA of 3.45 is good for second best in the league. So, then why are they mired in the AL East six games below the break-even mark? They also rank no higher than 11th in any offensive category. But hey, they come in at 5th in the AL with 25 stolen bases, so things could be worse for the Jays’ “O,” I guess.
27. San Diego Padres (11-17)
The light-hitting Padres rank dead last in the league with a .231 average. Not helping that number any is the $8 million man Jim Edmonds, who is hitting only .153, with one home run through the first month. But despite his struggles, Edmonds is by no means San Diego’s most disappointing off-season acquisition. SP Mark Prior was placed on the 60-day DL in late March and has yet to throw a pitch for the Padres.
28. Washington Nationals (11-17)
The Washington organization opened up a new era this season with a three-game sweep of the Braves in their state-of-the-art stadium. Then they reminded their fans that a new home does not a different team make. Since that series, the Nats have won a measly eight games and scored the second fewest runs in the NL. Meanwhile, the pitching staff is evidently having trouble adjusting to the shoebox that is Nationals Park after getting used to the spacious confines of RFK. Washington pitchers have allowed 33 home runs, good for third worst in the NL.
29. Pittsburgh Pirates (11-16)
Faced with the possibility of making history in 2008, the Pirates have done little to indicate they will avoid their record-tying 16th consecutive losing season. The starting rotation is void of an ERA below five, and 33 year-old Matt Morris has allowed 24 runs in just over 22 innings. The lone bright spots in an otherwise dull and lifeless start have been the offensive output from RF Xavier Nady (.342, 4 HR, 30 RBIs) and the emergence of young Nate McClouth, who has hit nearly as many home runs in the first month (7) as he did all of last season (13).
30. Texas Rangers (10-18)
Josh Hamilton has started every game this season at center for the Rangers, and he appears ready to assert himself as the primary run-producer in the middle of the lineup. The 26 year-old Hamilton, who was acquired from Cincinnati in December, is second in the AL in hits (39), tied for fourth in home runs (7) and leads the league in both total bases (69) and RBIs (33). Conversely, the Rangers rank dead last in team ERA (5.18). If only Hamilton could pitch.
**Note** Each team’s record posted to reflect games played prior to May 1.
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
by Ryan Faller
ProBaseball-fans.com Staff Writer
Ryan Faller works for MLB.com in addition to providing baseball articles for Pro Baseball Fans.
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