MLB Power Rankings: Bull market Braves, Black Monday for the Twins
By Tim Boyle
20) MLB Power Rankings: Los Angeles Angels
If you don’t have a rooting interest in the Los Angeles Angels, the most exciting thing about them is what they could get in return for Mike Trout or Shohei Ohtani this offseason. Those storylines should headline a lot of the chatter about the Angels in the offseason.
For now, it’s time for players to fatten up some statistics! Can Joe Adell finally begin to show that he belongs in the starting lineup? Is Taylor Ward’s successful year going to end more poorly than it began? As for the pitching, do they have something cooking with several talented young arms? As bad as their record says they are, players like Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, and Jose Suarez could help change the narrative.
19) MLB Power Rankings: San Francisco Giants
Some of baseball’s sub-.500 ball clubs are there because they don’t have the pitching. Others lack the offense. The San Francisco Giants will not make the postseason because of the latter.
Joc Pederson’s early power surge has slowed down drastically. Without him swatting home runs, the Giants aren’t a very deep team at the plate. They do have decent pitching but could view this year’s failures as more motivation to sign a big bat in the offseason. If only there was a guy leading MLB in home runs from the area that is available in free agency. You be the “Judge” as to who this is referring to.
18) MLB Power Rankings: Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks have actually become an interesting ball club. Christian Walker’s power numbers have led the offense for most of the year with a little help from Daulton Varsho. However, it’s not those two that have caught the attention of the baseball world.
Outfielders Corbin Carroll and Stone Garrett have arrived to the major league roster and could see themselves joining an up-and-coming roster. The Diamondbacks might not have anything closer to the superstars as others within their division. Next year, though, they have good potential to do something similar to what the Baltimore Orioles have in 2022.
17) MLB Power Rankings: Boston Red Sox
Are the New England Patriots going to be good this year? Asking for Boston Red Sox fans everywhere. The team has laid an egg in 2022. It’s far easier to make excuses than to try to spin it with any positive light.
We were naïve to think the Red Sox would be very good at all even with injuries turned off. Bringing back Jackie Bradley Jr. was a huge mistake. Putting as much trust in Rich Hill for regular starts was asking for trouble. One could say the Red Sox are more of a .500 team than anything else. Their record says they’re far worse.
16) MLB Power Rankings: Minnesota Twins
This might be the biggest collapse of all in MLB this season. The Minnesota Twins were never viewed too favorably as a serious World Series contender. Despite adding Carlos Correa in the offseason and making big trade deadline moves, they’re going to be in a photo-finish for the American League Central at the end of the year.
Even if the Twins do manage to win the division, it will be by the skin of their teeth. Players like Chris Archer came back to earth as the season progressed. In a division that was left wide open for anyone to snatch, the biggest failure by Minnesota was not putting more distance between them and other contenders. Now they might not even make it to the postseason at all. Finishing at .500 could even end up becoming too high of a goal.