Instead of including all 30 teams, this week’s MLB Power Rankings points the finger directly at 12 teams with a reason to panic.
This week’s MLB Power Rankings will ignore more than half of the league. Only 12 teams will be looked at because 18 of them don’t have much to panic about.
We have teams like the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates giving fans forgotten excitement. Then there are clubs like the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals progressing as expected. We even have the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins leading their divisions with ease.
Those teams won’t get ripped apart or praised this week. Instead, we head to the basement to check the panic meter. It’s these 12 ball clubs with the most to worry about as we begin the second full month of the season.
12) MLB Power Rankings: San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants shouldn’t be too panicked simply because expectations weren’t exactly setting them up for massive success this season. They were arguably the biggest losers of the offseason. Instead of Carlos Correa or Aaron Judge, they signed Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger. The Giants were set for about 80 wins at best. They’ll be lucky to get there.
Many of the offseason decisions the Giants ended up making have gone horribly. Ross Stripling hasn’t pitched well. Taylor Rogers has been nothing like his twin and teammate, Tyler Rogers, with an ERA bad enough to have fans questioning if they actually are related. There’s also Sean Manaea who looks ready to bounce around the league for the rest of his career.
The Giants were already a subpar ball club with even more not-so-great players added into the mix this offseason. Panic might not be the best way to describe where this team is. Downtrodden might be more fitting because it doesn’t feel like the Giants are close to climbing out of the hole they’re in.
11) MLB Power Rankings: Houston Astros
Houston Astros fans don’t need to be on a hunger strike, but if they were hoping for a cakewalk to the postseason they’ll need to think twice. This division is far more competitive than it has been in recent years. The Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels aren’t making it easy on the defending champions. With the American League East looking so powerful, winning the division is pretty important.
The last time the Astros missed the postseason was in 2016. Fans have gotten used to seeing them go far. There hasn’t been an ALCS from 2017-2022 without them.
This year is a little different. They’ve been playing without Jose Altuve. Alex Bregman has slumped early. The pitching staff isn’t as deep as it was last year. Astros fans know better than to panic too quickly. This season may include a little more heartbreak than usual. They barely make it into this week’s MLB Power Rankings. If things continue down this path, they’re likely to move up.
10) MLB Power Rankings: New York Mets
Following the New York Mets and panicking seems to be a requirement. Fans aren’t in all-out panic mode right now. However, the mystery of what Justin Verlander will be when he finally does step on the mound and exactly how much Max Scherzer has left has crept into the minds of many.
There are two ways to look at the Mets. They’ve overcome some major injuries. With a lineup that scares no one, they’ve scored runs quite regularly. There are some gigantic roster holes at the moment. The rotation is a patchwork of depth pieces and the bullpen has at least a few guys in it even diehard baseball fans didn’t know before the season began.
Panic can set in for fans once the Atlanta Braves get a slightly bigger deal. Even then, you’ll find enough who believe this is the year where it’s the Braves who collapse and not the other way around, which always seems to happen.
9) MLB Power Rankings: Boston Red Sox
This year’s Boston Red Sox look like they can handle themselves against bad or mediocre teams. The problem is they play in a division with four other clubs expected to at least compete for a playoff spot. Although they aren’t the leaders in terms of panic within the American League East right now, fans shouldn’t get too cocky about this ball club.
Starting pitching is a major issue for the Red Sox and without it, they have no chance at competing. The bullpen hasn’t been anything special either. Heck, even the offense has been relying on some ugly losses by the opponent to sneak away with the win.
Jarren Duran is helping to ease some of those worries with his hot start since getting promoted. The Red Sox are an average-at-best ball club playing exactly up to those expectations. Why panic? Nobody wants to get their heart broken. This season feels like one where the Red Sox will inch to .500 then slightly over and back again. The bigger concern is what they do in the future. Their farm system isn’t loaded with future aces. Enjoy the wins. Don’t expect much more than a couple of victory laps.
8) MLB Power Rankings: Los Angeles Dodgers
This might be one of the weaker Los Angeles Dodgers teams in recent years. It’s something that hasn’t caught too many people off guard. They had a low-key offseason where they settled on veterans like David Peralta, Jason Heyward, and Noah Syndergaard. The belief that this can help them nab Shohei Ohtani in the future does little to help the panic meter right now.
The Dodgers are still in the upper echelon of the National League. We can thank Clayton Kershaw and his continued dominance on the mound for this even when he probably should be slowing down. The Dodgers are a good club but not a guaranteed playoff team this season. Much like some of the other teams in this week’s MLB Power Rankings, they need to realize there are new competitors.
The division hasn’t been lost and the Dodgers have a talented enough roster to make up ground at any point. Something about them, though, feels incomplete. After getting bounced by the San Diego Padres quite easily in last year’s postseason, expectations for this weaker team in 2023 are definitely lower.
7) MLB Power Rankings: Kansas City Royals
What do the Kansas City Royals have to panic about? It’s a little different than some of the other ball clubs on this list.
The Royals aren’t a very good ball club and that’s an evergreen statement for many seasons throughout the last 30+ years. The panic for this team is how long the ongoing rebuild will take. They have a lot of young players. None are giving fans all that much confidence that they’re on their way to building anything special.
Not so much panic-inducing but more frustrating is how Jordan Lyles and Zack Greinke have combined to go 0-9 with almost identical ERAs of 6.11 and 6.10. At this point, the Royals should just hand those innings over to younger players in or even outside of the division. Take a flier on a guy and see if he can turn into something special. Stop wasting time.
6) MLB Power Rankings: Cleveland Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians are having a tough time hitting this year and it shows in their performance. Josh Bell is not carrying his weight. Similar to so many other recent seasons in Cleveland, it’s Jose Ramirez doing the bulk of the work.
A little different is how the pitching staff has looked. Yes, Shane Bieber is looking fantastic. The same goes for Emmanuel Clase. A few other arms are performing but this isn’t one of those classic Cleveland teams from recent seasons where they had a stacked pitching staff.
The Guardians definitely benefit from playing in a weak division. The Minnesota Twins get those same benefits and they’re prepared to separate themselves as much as possible from the Guardians. It’s early, but if you do have your doubts about the Guardians, you’re not crazy.
5) MLB Power Rankings: New York Yankees
The panic meter is growing in the Bronx. Naturally, if the New York Yankees don’t go 162-0, you’re going to find some fans ready to burn a jersey. No one expects more from their team than Yankees fans. Unfortunately, they’re playing from behind already.
The American League East is as powerful as ever. The Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles have unexpectedly dominated. The Toronto Blue Jays are doing exactly what many expected. The only difference is they’re always playing catch-up alongside the rival Yankees.
Carlos Rodon has yet to step on the hill and the lineup has a couple of guys who don’t have major league swings any longer. This feels like one of the weaker Yankees rosters in a long time. The only saving grace is the expanded playoffs that could still allow them to make the postseason even with a fourth-place finish in the division. They may actually need it.
4) MLB Power Rankings: San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres have been a frustrating team this year. A trip to Mexico City livened up the bats this weekend. It hasn’t completely convinced fans to start putting faith back in the Padres.
Fortunately, the Arizona Diamondbacks are good but not great. The Los Angeles Dodgers are doing enough to make their fans panic, too. The difference between those clubs and the Padres is how stacked this roster looked at the start of the year. They could be a sleeping giant. They may also end up as an epic disaster.
Lively hitting is what the Padres need more of. Some surprisingly good teams early on in 2023 may make it a little more difficult to squeak into the postseason with a Wild Card spot. As top-heavy as the National League is, all it takes is one surprise ball club like the Pittsburgh Pirates or Chicago Cubs to knock off a heavy hitter like the Padres from postseason contention.
3) MLB Power Rankings: Seattle Mariners
The loss of Robbie Ray is devastating for the Seattle Mariners. It shouldn’t be a deathblow to their chances, though. They still have Luis Castillo and George Kirby pitching well. In fact, none of the panic really comes from the pitching staff. This is a struggling team not getting much from the offense.
The offseason additions of Kolten Wong, Teoscar Hernandez, and AJ Pollock have done nothing to move the needle. We could even say those three are holding the ball club back. Just about every hitter other than Jarred Kelenic has slumped at some point in April. The bench might also be one of the worst in baseball.
Panic mode for the Mariners is huge right now. There is no sleeping allowed in the American League West this year. They’ve had their heads on the pillow for most of the season. Before they know it, an opportunity to head back to the postseason may pass them by.
2) MLB Power Rankings: Chicago White Sox
Andrew Benintendi was the big addition for the Chicago White Sox this past offseason. It’s almost laughable when you think about it. He wasn’t the best fit for what this club needed. Early results are proving they needed much more. They can’t even get Luis Robert to hustle to first base on the first pitch of the game.
The White Sox have been a massive disappointment for much longer than most fans outside of Chicago may realize. Their young crop of players have failed to meet expectations. Everything’s coming together for the White Sox to become one of this summer’s biggest sellers.
Creating a little more panic for the White Sox is how well the crosstown rival Chicago Cubs have played. This was a year when the Cubs should’ve been making improvements and not actually competing early on; that’s what the White Sox were meant to do. The 93-win season from 2021 already feels like ancient history. Fans should panic. This might be the beginning of another rebuild.
1) MLB Power Rankings: St. Louis Cardinals
Nobody should be in panic mode more than the St. Louis Cardinals. This was a team built to contend for a championship before the offseason even began. Rather than put all of the chips into the center of the table and build a much better ball club, the Cardinals put a ton of faith in their young players to execute. It hasn’t gone so well mostly because of their atrocious pitching.
Starters and relievers had a rough time on the mound for the Cardinals in April. There doesn’t seem to be any real help on the way. Steven Matz might be one of the biggest bust free agent signings the team has made in recent memory. The Miles Mikolas extension now a little over a month old looks like a massively premature decision.
The Cardinals are a good ball club on paper, however, with three other teams playing significantly better and even the Cincinnati Reds looking like they’ve improved, the Cardinals face an uphill battle nobody should be so confident they can climb up in time. If you feel sick to your stomach with how this team has performed, you’ve been paying close attention.