MLB Power Rankings: Padres get a facelift, Cubs buried in dirt
By Tim Boyle
20) MLB Power Rankings: Miami Marlins
For better or worse, the Miami Marlins held onto Pablo Lopez. It’s probably for the better. Many teams weren’t willing to pay a high price tag for controllable young pitchers. In the offseason, that might change.
Miami was a subtle wild card contender earlier this season only to fade as more games got played. They half-heartedly attempted to add to the roster in the offseason with additions like Avisail Garcia and Jorge Soler coming back to bite them. It’ll be tough for this low-budget franchise to overcome mistakes like those. Thankfully, they can still laugh at the 2022 Nationals.
19) MLB Power Rankings: Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers might have some minor regrets about what they did at the trade deadline: basically nothing. Trade candidates such as Martin Perez and Matt Moore stayed put. It’s not because Texas believes they can do anything special this season. More likely, they’re hoping to continue the relationship.
The Rangers never seemed to quite have enough to hang with the better teams in the American League. A few players short of being a true contender, there’s a lot of pressure on Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Jon Gray to live up to their contracts. A strong finish from those three could convince the front office to make some extra moves for next season in anticipation of better results.
18) MLB Power Rankings: San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants have fallen a lot in the second half. Once viewed as a favorite for a wild card spot and even briefly a challenger for the division title, the Giants are going to regret not selling Carlos Rodon and Joc Pederson at the trade deadline.
San Francisco never had the same talent level as other teams in the National League. Was it complacency with how well they performed in last year’s regular season? They were built similarly for this run with much different results. Finishing with even a winning record is going to be tough.
17) MLB Power Rankings: Boston Red Sox
A lot of what was said about the Giants could be copied and pasted for the Boston Red Sox. The difference is they started badly, surged, and then fell. This might make it more painful. The Giants only fell once. The Red Sox might end up doing it twice.
It has been a strange week for the Red Sox. They traded players away but also acquired Eric Hosmer. It’s looking like a retool more than anything else. Finally, some good news for Red Sox fans. They aren’t dumping their best players. They’re just taking a step back and keeping their fingers crossed for a better 2023.
16) MLB Power Rankings: Chicago White Sox
Again, we have a team stuck in the bottom half of the MLB Power Rankings that fell short of expectations this year. The Chicago White Sox aren’t out of the postseason chase. But that’s the sentiment every week. The White Sox began the year as a favorite for many to capture the American League Pennant. It’s almost foolish now that we look back at it.
The White Sox could end up as a contender to add a superstar in the offseason. With Juan Soto no longer available, that could mean going after Shohei Ohtani. The better move might be to load up on multiple quality players than a single trade to help sell tickets. The White Sox, as they have discovered this year, are further than they’d like to admit.