MLB Power Rankings: Top 10 teams three weeks away from Opening Day
With right around three weeks from Opening Day, some MLB teams are beginning to look really good. Others are hopeful that they can turn it on when the calendar flips to the regular season, but Spring Training has been quite good for many so far. Here are the best teams right now as Opening Day inches closer.
Best teams in MLB as Opening Day gets closer
10) New York Yankees
The pitching has been pretty bad, as outside of Gerrit Cole and Marcus Stroman, no one looks like a safe bet. On the other hand, the offense, led by Juan Soto, has been absolutely excellent.
9) Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies don't look likea bottom-feeder right now. At 9-6, they have one of the better records in baseball for Spring Training. The NL West is as vaunted a division as there is, so they might not compete, but they look good for now.
8) Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds were close to being a playoff team last year, and the early returns suggest they've improved. They're 8-5 so far and everybody pretty much looks good. They got a little younger and their top prospects have more experience.
7) Texas Rangers
They are the defending champions for a good reason. They have an elite roster full of talented players, so being 8-7 in spring doesn't matter too much. They'll eventually have a rotation that boasts both Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom to go along with a great offense, so they're again going to be one of the best teams.
6) Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels might get Blake Snell, and they look pretty good in Spring Training so far. This doesn't mean they'll finally have a contender for Mike Trout, but 11-6 so far is hard to ignore. Maybe they'll be better than expected.
5) Boston Red Sox
The lack of healthy pitching options is certainly concerning, but the Boston Red Sox are 10-6 so far in spring. That means they might be a stronger unit than their last place predictions might suggest. If they can address the pitching, they might be sneakily good.
4) Kansas City Royals
This does not mean that the Kansas City Royals are suddenly World Series contenders, but their Spring Training success does suggest that they'll be a much better team than anticipated. It's hard to go 11-5 even when minor leaguers are playing big roles for everyone.
3) Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves don't need a great Spring Training to know they're going to be one of the best teams in baseball, so a 7-7 start isn't very concerning. They just need Chris Sale to get up to speed and everything else should be fine as they have no major injuries to recover from and no major newcomers to try and acclimate.
2) Los Angeles Dodgers
The spring session matters very little for most of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They won over 100 games and added Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It's good for the latter two to get ramped up, but success now doesn't mean much when they're the World Series favorite, and yet, they're 12-3.
1) Baltimore Orioles
The American League should be terrified. The Baltimore Orioles are 14-2, and they're using prospects that genuinely could make it to the MLB level this year. Several of their top prospects are expected to debut, and all of them look really good so far.