MLB Power Rankings: Yankees among the best around, Mariners let us down
By Tim Boyle
20) MLB Power Rankings: Cleveland Guardians
Things aren’t going too well for the Cleveland Guardians. How they managed to convince Jose Ramirez to sign an extension is one of the game’s great transactional mysteries. Hopefully, for his sake, he gets some help.
There isn’t much to say about the Guardians that hasn’t been said about every average team in Major League Baseball history. They have one superstar in the lineup, a couple of decent guys, and a whole bunch of nothing. On the pitching side of things, they can win a few games by keeping runs off the board. It’s clearly not enough, though. Cleveland is not winning a championship this year.
19) MLB Power Rankings: Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins are another one of those teams that started the year strong but had reality set in the more games they played. They’re now looking more like the sub-.500 club they were expected to be. Even with some nice performances from young players, the 2022 campaign doesn’t look to be a miracle season for this team.
Miami does feel a little directionless ever since Derek Jeter left. They brought in a handful of free agents but that hand wasn’t very big. Avisail Garcia is not going to turn them into a contender. They, once again, appear on pace to finish below .500.
18) MLB Power Rankings: Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers may have whiffed the most this offseason with the additions of Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. It hasn’t even been a story this year because of how unproductive this double play duo has been. Clearly, the Rangers needed far more in order to compete.
Texas could be a team to keep an eye on to make a nice run in the summer months. The front office will need to do a little bit of work. They don’t quite have enough pitching to be taken seriously at the moment.
17) MLB Power Rankings: Arizona Diamondbacks
While the Rockies have slipped down the MLB Power Rankings, the Arizona Diamondbacks haven’t quite given up. It’s only a matter of time, though. They play in a division with three very good teams and have plenty of matchups versus better clubs from the other divisions.
The Diamondbacks kind of have the opposite problem as the Rangers. They outplayed expectations early and now seem to have fizzled in recent weeks. Pitching has kept them relevant. A bad week might be the morale killer to put any hopes to rest.
16) MLB Power Rankings: Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies continue to be the definition of average. For all of their good qualities, they have a bad one. The starting pitching has been productive but lost because of the inconsistent bullpen. Their offense has been decent at times yet overlooked because of some slumps and the poor defense that loses them games.
Philadelphia will need a little bit of luck and a fantastic few weeks from Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber to get anywhere near the top ten. Flawed beyond reason, they’ve been about exactly what anyone could expect: good one week, terrible the next.