MLB Preseason Rankings

The fact that spring training is right around the corner excites me every year. So with spring training just within our reach, it’s time to rank every MLB team from worst to best. This list is based off of a number of factors including last year’s performances and offseason transactions. Remember, this is just my personal opinion. Please feel free to comment on any discrepancies your personal list may have from mine.

 

 

30) Minnesota Twins – In a game where pitching and defense wins games, they aren’t winning many games with their ace being a washed up Ervin Santana. They ranked 16th in batting, but that means nothing when both your pitching and defense were ranked 29th.

 

29) San Diego Padres – Again, no pitching equals few wins. 23rd in pitching + 28th in defense + 21st in batting = under .500. Wil Myers lead the team in every single batting category……….

 

28) Atlanta Braves – Defensively and offensively they don’t look horrible on paper, but two of their listed starting pitchers are over the age of 40. Freddie Freeman is wasting his prime in Atlanta. Brandon Phillips might light a fire under this team’s asses to increase that 29th ranked offense and 23rd ranked defense.

 

27) Tampa Bay Rays – At this point I definitely sound like a broken record but you need good pitching to be a good team. They do have a solid outfield trio though in Colby Rasmus, Kevin Kiermaier, and Scott Souza Jr.

 

26) Arizona Diamondbacks – Zack Greinke isn’t a bad ace to have, but the next guys in line are iffy, and I’m not sure they have the bullpen to clean up a potential mess. Even being 10th in batting, they were 30th in pitching. This demonstrates how crucial good pitching is to this game.

 

25) Oakland Athletics – Their ace is coming off a rocky season and the rest of their rotation is average at best, ranking 25th last season. Their field players as a whole are sub par, ranking 28th in batting.

 

24) Miami Marlins – The death of Jose Fernandez ruins this team’s chances of breaking .500

 

23) Philadelphia Phillies – Their rotation consists of two guys who didn’t quite work out with their old teams, and three young guns who still need to prove themselves. Freddy Galvis, Michael Saunders, and a washed up Howie Kendrick highlight their field players who were ranked 30th in batting last year.

 

22) Milwaukee Brewers – Not too shabby of a pitching staff which ranked 13th in the league last year. The addition of Travis Shaw will help their 25th ranked offense.

 

21) Chicago White Sox – An okay pitching staff that ranked 14th consists of a washed up James Shields and a dwindling Derek Holland. Jose Abreu highlights their batting lineup which ranked 20th last year.

 

20) Pittsburgh Pirates – This team is the epitome of average with an 18th ranked pitching staff and 13th ranked offense.

 

19) Cincinnati Reds – a promising team currently in its rebuilding stage, the Reds have a lot of young talent in all departments and could even make a playoff run if they get into a good groove. Middle infielders Jose Peraza and Dilson Herrera highlight these youngbloods.

 

18) Colorado Rockies – decent pitching staff that underperformed in 2016 accompanied with a very solid, underrated batting lineup who ranked 2nd behind the Red Sox. Defensively solid.

 

17) Los Angeles Angels – Their top two pitchers are coming off Tommy John surgery, so they very well could do better than what I am ranking them right now, but only time will tell. Adding Danny Espinosa and Luis Valbuena adds value to their infield. It’ll be interesting to see which of the two newly acquired outfielders will start: Ben Revere or Cameron Maybin.

 

16) New York Yankees – Getting Aroldis Chapman back as their closer is huge because Dellin Betances wasn’t quite getting the job done. The rest of their team is fairly average with a 22nd ranked offense.

 

15) Detroit Tigers – With a solid pitching staff lead by Justin Verlander, and the long time slugging duo of Cabrera and Martinez, this is pretty much the same old Detroit. K Rod finished the season with a whopping 44 saves, so more than half of their wins were closely contested battles.

 

14) Seattle Mariners – Pitching staff is alright lead by a Felix Hernandez coming off a 3.82 ERA season. When your ace is almost letting up 4 runs a game, it’s gonna be tough to make it anywhere passed the wild card stage even with last year’s 6th ranked offense. That is if they even make the playoffs in the first place.

 

13) St. Louis Cardinals – With a solid 12th ranked pitching staff lead by veteran Adam Wainwright and up and coming Carlos Martinez, the addition of Dexter Fowler to their already 6th ranked offense will help this team tremendously.

 

12) San Francisco Giants – A definite playoff contender yet again with a solid lineup on all fronts. Two of their pitchers were in the top 5 in the NL in ERA last year (Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto) and as a team, they ranked 4th. They’ve gotta find their bats though, as they only ranked 19th at the end of the season. Hunter Pence and Buster Posey lead them on that front.

 

11) Kansas City Royals – Another solid lineup all around, the Royals have sluggers in Hosmer and Moss as well as speediness in Cain and Escobar. Their 17th ranked pitching was lead by returnees Darren Duffy and Ian Kennedy.

 

10) Baltimore Orioles – With basically the same team as last year the Orioles are yet again a contender, although Matt Wieters just signed with the Nationals and they are stuck with big boy Welington Castillo. Solid lineup and decent rotation topped with a talented closer in Zach Britton makes this team a force to reckon with.

 

9) Toronto Blue Jays – Losing slugger Edwin Encarnacion was tough, but they replaced him with Kendrys Morales, who hit 30 long balls last year for the Royals. This team will rely on the rest of their big hitters all season just as they did in the previous season.

 

8) Los Angeles Dodgers – With a great rotation lead by future Hall of Famer Kershaw, they’re backed with the best bullpen of 2016 lead by phenomenal closer Kenley Jansen, who amassed 47 saves. They’ve also got a solid young outfield accompanied with a rock hard infield highlighted by middle infielders Corey Seager and Logan Forsythe.

 

7) Texas Rangers – A solid pitching staff accompanied with their forceful offense, the Rangers could make it to the ALCS this year. They ranked 7th overall in batting, but will need a little more out of their pitchers, who only ranked 22nd last year. This lineup has no holes from top to bottom.

 

6) Houston Astros – Decent 11th ranked rotation lead by 2015 Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel, they have a decent bullpen to back them up. Their field players are very young and will be playoff contenders for many years to come. Among these young guys to look out for are Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, George Springer, and of course Jose Altuve.

 

5) New York Mets – This team has potential to be something very special. If their rotation can keep their act together and avoid injury, they’d arguably be the best rotation in baseball, with the best closer from 2016 behind them. Their outfield trio of Yoenis Cespedes, Curtis Granderson, and Jay Bruce is amazing. The veteran middle infield combo of Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker is a force. David Wright and Lucas Duda are two great sluggers at your corners, and you’ve got Travis d’Arnaud behind the plate topping off a threatening New York Mets.

 

4) Washington Nationals – The second best rotation of 2016 accompanied with the second best relief team is not something to overlook. The addition of Adam Eaton improves their already dynamic outfield. Their infield as a whole is also solid and the Nationals can definitely make a World Series run if they can gel. The recent Matt Wieters acquisition strengthens that catcher position drastically.

 

3) Boston Red Sox – This rotation has three aces on it. Just think about that. Rick Porcello, David Price, and the newly acquired Chris Sale have all proved themselves worthy enough to be a number 1 guy on any team, and they have a solid bullpen topped by closer Craig Kimbrel. They have a very young and talented outfield trio, one of which (Andrew Benintendi) is MLB’s number 1 prospect. The signing of Mitch Moreland lets Hanley Ramirez move from 1B to Ortiz’s sacred DH spot, and Pablo Sandoval says he’s coming back healthier than ever. The Red Sox also have three talented catchers, so none of them have to worry about wearing out over the course of the season. This is obviously very important as catchers need their rest days. The Sox could very well make a return to the World Series this year.

 

2) Chicago Cubs – They broke the curse of the goat, and there is a very strong argument that they could repeat. Kyle Hendricks ranked number 1 in ERA with Jon lester right behind him. Their 4 starters that they have retained were in the top 12 in the NL for ERA. They were number 3 in hitting, but lost Dexter Fowler who was a big piece of last year’s puzzle. They’ll most likely fill in his position with youngblood Albert Almora Jr. as opposed to veteran Jon Jay. Retaining most of their team is quite impressive, but it’ll be interesting to see if they try to weasel Kyle Schwarber back into the lineup after missing the whole regular season due to an ACL tear.
1) Cleveland Indians – Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar are returning to what was an already dominant pitching staff. These guys know how to hit their spots, and that’s a big reason they made it to the World Series in the first place. Michael Brantley also returns to the lineup after missing the whole regular season, and they added slugger Edwin Encarnacion to the DH position to hit some long balls. They were number 5 in hitting, number 7 in pitching, and 12 in fielding last year. They have very good odds of making it to the World Series again.

 

 

Written by Cam Simes