MLB Power Rankings: Biggest Question Facing Every Team
The time has come for a reality check. One week after praising each team’s unsung hero, now comes the flip side of the coin. Every club has blemishes (some more than others), and with just over five weeks left in the regular season, a sense of urgency exists to find solutions for pressing needs. In this week’s rankings, let’s dig into the biggest question facing each club.
30. Pittsburgh Pirates (Last Week: 29)
There are more questions than answers about the Pirates. Their pitching staff ranks 26th in the Majors with a 5.96 ERA and their offense ranks dead last in OPS (.595). The plights of Josh Bell (.200/.241/.300 slash line with two home runs) and Gregory Polanco (3-for-43 with 22 strikeouts) have been especially sad to witness.
29. Seattle Mariners (Last Week: 28)
We’re currently in the Dark Ages for first basemen production, and the Mariners are leading the charge. Seattle first basemen are hitting a combined .133/.207/.313, good for a 43 wRC+ and a combined -0.5 fWAR (both league worsts). Rookie Evan White, a consensus top-100 prospect before the season started, has struggled after hitting .293/.350/.488 in the minors last year.
28. Boston Red Sox (Last Week: 26)
The story of Boston’s 2020 woes begins and ends with pitching. Red Sox pitchers have the worst combined fWAR (-0.6) and second-highest ERA (6.01) in the majors. Their starters are averaging the lowest innings per start (3.88), and they’ve already used 11 of them through 26 games. Red Sox starters have pitched more than five innings just seven times this season, and Thursday's outing from Nathan Eovaldi marked the first time a Boston starter has reached the seventh inning.
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27. Detroit Tigers (Last Week: 23)
Tigers starters have the worst combined ERA (7.73) and fWAR (-0.6). The group has been particularly abysmal during Detroit’s current nine-game losing streak, posting a ghastly 11.05 ERA in just 29 1/3 innings. Former stalwarts Matthew Boyd and Michael Fulmer have been ineffective, but perhaps top prospect Casey Mize can bring about some hope after Wednesday’s encouraging debut.
26. Los Angeles Angels (Last Week: 21)
From a macro perspective, the Angels’ biggest question mark is the same as it’s been for much of the past decade: Are they really going to waste Mike Trout’s prime? A shortened season and expanded playoffs seemed like ideal conditions for Trout to return to the postseason, but the Angels’ 8-18 start is the worst through 26 games in franchise history. For any hope of a turnaround, the pitching needs to improve mightily, which has been the case for some time now. Angels starters have a combined 5.81 ERA, third-worst in the majors.
25. San Francisco Giants (Last Week: 27)
With a projected 11.6% chance of making the playoffs, only the Pirates have worse playoff odds than the Giants among National League clubs, according to Fangraphs. That being said, San Francisco has seen a surprising amount of offensive punch from journeymen and late-bloomers such as Mike Yastrzemski, Donovan Solano, Austin Slater and Wilmer Flores, who all boast OPS marks above .900. Could the Giants take advantage of a barren trade market and dangle any of those players for prospects who could aid their rebuild?
24. Kansas City Royals (Last Week: 24)
For the rebuilding Royals, getting the most out of their young core is paramount. The biggest concern right now is Adalberto Mondesi’s bat, which so far has regressed for the second year in a row. Mondesi’s defense and speed remain strong, but he continues to make weak contact, and strikes out far too much (31.9%) for someone with limited power (no home runs and just six extra-base hits in 91 plate appearances).
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23. Texas Rangers (Last Week: 20)
What’s up with Texas’s power outage? The Rangers have scored the fewest runs and hit the fewest homers of any team in the AL, and this is a roster with Joey Gallo on it. Unsurprisingly, several Rangers regulars have struggled through the first four weeks of the season. One bat the team is desperate to have wake up is that of Willie Calhoun. The centerpiece of the Yu Darvish trade is batting .172/.206/.224 through his first 63 plate appearances.
22. Miami Marlins (Last Week: 18)
The once high-flying Fish have fallen back to sea level. A five-game losing streak, during which they scored just 11 runs, has them back at .500. Can the reinforcements—which include Sandy Alcantara, Jorge Alfaro, Miguel Rojas, Caleb Smith and José Ureña—arrive back from their coronavirus-related absences soon enough to maintain some of the momentum they had early on?
21. Baltimore Orioles (Last Week: 19)
The upstart Orioles also came back to earth a bit this week, dropping six of their last seven contests to fall a game under .500. To get things back on track, John Means will need to rediscover his form from 2019. He’s managed just 7 2/3 innings in three starts with a 10.57 ERA.
20. New York Mets (Last Week: 15)
Will any of Brodie Van Wagenen’s offseason pitching acquisitions pan out? Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha and Dellin Betances have all severely underperformed, and Wacha is now on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. The rotation has recently been making the bullpen look stable, which is saying something.
19. Toronto Blue Jays (Last Week: 22)
The Blue Jays have won five straight and six of their last eight, including a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies on Thursday that featured a seven-run comeback in the second leg. The biggest question mark for Toronto is the back end of its rotation. Hyun-Jin Ryu has pitched well, but the trio of Matt Shoemaker, Tanner Roark and Nate Pearson have combined for a 5.50 ERA with 14 home runs allowed in 54 innings (2.3 HR/9).
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18. Arizona Diamondbacks (Last Week: 25)
Are Madison Bumgarner and Robbie Ray broken? Bumgarner’s velocity is several ticks down, while Ray has walked 20 batters in 22 innings. If MadBum continues to rock an ugly ERA after he returns from the injured list, Arizona could have an $85 million problem on its hands.
17. Philadelphia Phillies (Last Week: 16)
The Phillies’ pitching staff owns the highest ERA (5.58) in the National League after blowing a 7-0 lead on Thursday. Philly’s bullpen was and is the main culprit, sporting an MLB-worst 7.92 ERA.
16. Milwaukee Brewers (Last Week: 17)
Is Milwaukee’s offense going to wake up, or is Christian Yelich’s reshaped supporting cast just not good enough? The Pirates are the only National League team with fewer runs scored per inning. Much has been made of Yelich’s slow start, but his .818 OPS actually leads the team.
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15. St. Louis Cardinals (Last Week: NR)
It’s too early to officially hit the panic button here since the Cardinals have still only played 14 games—six of which were seven-inning affairs—but Matt Carpenter hasn’t bounced back after a lackluster 2019 campaign. He’s struck out 15 times in 45 at-bats, and is slashing .222/.300/.333 even after hitting a grand slam against the Cubs on Wednesday.
14. Washington Nationals (Last Week: 13)
Washington’s most pressing concern is the health of World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg, but that’s out of their control. Top prospect Carter Kieboom, who has 17 strikeouts and zero extra-base hits in 40 at-bats, may feel like he’s running out of chances to establish himself this season with Asdrubal Cabrera and the freshly called-up Luis Garcia both raking at Kieboom’s possible positions.
13. Cincinnati Reds (Last Week: 14)
Cincinnati’s bullpen is only slightly better than Philadelphia’s, ranking 29th with a 6.17 ERA. The malaise has even spread to closer Raisel Iglesias, who blew his first save Thursday by allowing the first four Cardinals runners to reach base before balking home the tying run. Nate Jones entered and promptly served up a walk-off single to Kolten Wong. The Reds rotation (NL-best 3.15 ERA) deserves better.
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12. Colorado Rockies (Last Week: 7)
The Rockies have lost 9 of their last 11 games, including a four-game sweep in Houston this week. The pitching staff allowed 79 runs over that span after an encouraging start. The team’s core four starters (Kyle Freeland, German Marquez, Jon Gray, Antonio Senzatela) have each had a superb season and an awful one over the past two years. Which showing is closer to the truth for each of them?
11. Chicago White Sox (Last Week: 12)
The White Sox are winners of five straight thanks to a strong week from the offense. Chicago’s young core has delivered all season, leading a lineup that’s tops in the majors in combined fWAR (5.7) and second in slugging percentage (.459). The veteran bats—namely free-agent signings Yasmani Grandal and Edwin Encarnación—have slumped, with Grandal slugging just .317 and Encarnación batting .169/.258/.390 with a career-worst 32.8% strikeout rate. If those two pick up the pace, the White Sox offense will do even greater damage.
10. Atlanta Braves (Last Week: 8)
Atlanta’s rotation is an absolute mess behind Max Fried, who’s the only starter with a win to his name. Touki Toussaint and Kyle Wright, the only other two locked-in starters, both have ERAs above 7.00 and have struggled with control. That’s especially true of Wright, who has more walks (16) than innings pitched (15).
9. San Diego Padres (Last Week: 9)
Well, we know the Padres can hit grand slams. This is Slam Diego’s best offense since Petco Park opened, but the Padres still don’t have a firm answer at catcher despite possessing two former top prospects in Austin Hedges and Francisco Mejia. This is not exactly the heyday of offensive-minded catchers, but their lackluster production (Mejia is 3-for-38, Hedges is 7-for-42) still stands out.
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8. Cleveland Indians (Last Week: 11)
It’s strange to say starting pitching is Cleveland’s biggest question mark when Indians starters lead the majors with a combined 4.4 fWAR and 2.49 ERA. But Cleveland’s rotation situation is quite murky with Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac currently left off the active roster after breaking COVID-19 protocol. However long the pair remained sidelined, the burden will be felt with the rest of the starters.
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7. Houston Astros (Last Week: 10)
Don’t look now, but baseball’s villains have kicked into gear. Houston has won its past eight games and appears deserving of a spot among the league’s elite. A lingering concern, though, is Jose Altuve, who has yet to find his stride. Altuve’s striking out a career-worst 20.4% of the time, and his rising ground-ball rate (52.7%) has led to a power outage, as his .114 isolated power is his lowest since 2014. The Astros are talented and deep enough to succeed without him, but an Altuve resurgence could vault them to the next level.
6. Chicago Cubs (Last Week: 3)
Plenty of bandwidth has been used to talk about Chicago’s bullpen woes, which have actually cleared up a bit lately. We’ll use this space to ask whether David Ross will continue to keep Kris Bryant (.594 OPS) in the leadoff spot upon his expected return from wrist soreness this weekend. Is the Cubs skipper an SI Power Rankings reader? He took our advice from last week and had Ian Happ lead off twice in Bryant’s absence. Happ responded by reaching base four times on Tuesday and kicking off Wednesday’s doubleheader with a homer.
5. Minnesota Twins (Last Week: 4)
Prior to Thursday's strong outing, the advanced stats painted a pretty grim picture for José Berríos, who had allowed harder contact (89.5 mph exit velocity) and posted his higher FIP (5.03) since his rookie season. But Berrios tossed six shutout frames against the Brewers, with one hit allowed and nine strikeout—hopefully a sign of things to come. He's added a tick to his fastball, which averages 94.5 mph so far this year, but it’s led to drastically worse results. Even after Thursday's gem, opposing batters are hitting .387 against the heater with a .871 (!!) slugging percentage.
4. Oakland Athletics (Last Week: 5)
Two of Oakland’s more experienced starters—Sean Manaea and Mike Fiers—have underwhelmed to this point, and if there’s anything that can kill a team’s playoff run, it’s a blow-up outing from a starter. Manaea’s diminished velocity has impacted his ability to miss bats, though increased changeup usage has yielded strong results, producing a .174 batting average against. Fiers’s outlook is a bit more dire, as his strikeout rate has plummeted to a career-low 9.8% while he’s allowed seven homers in 25 2/3 innings.
3. New York Yankees (Last Week: 2)
The Yankees drop from the No. 2 spot for the first time all season, thanks to getting swept at home by the Rays. Currently, the Bombers’ biggest concern is health, with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu and Zack Britton all on the injured list. The situation grew more bleak on Thursday, when shortstop Gleyber Torres (hamstring) and starting pitcher James Paxton (left forearm/elbow) exited the loss to the Rays mid-game. The Yankees boast plenty of depth throughout its roster, and it’s about to be stretched to its upmost limits.
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2. Tampa Bay Rays (Last Week: 6)
The Rays jump all the way to No. 2 after winning 11 of their past 12 games, a run that includes five straight wins against the Yankees. Tyler Glasnow is still figuring things out, though, while trying to rediscover the magic from his dominant first half in 2019. His most recent outing against New York was encouraging, and his increased fastball velocity (averaging 97.1 mph) and career-best 36.8% strikeout rate are signs that a breakout is right around the corner.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers (Last Week: 1)
Dodgers fans don’t have much to complain about right now as supporters of MLB’s highest-scoring offense and second-best pitching staff by ERA (2.72). Even reigning MVP Cody Bellinger seems to be emerging from his slow start after cranking four home runs in his last seven games. The weak spot on the roster appears to be Ross Stripling, who leads Los Angeles with 25 1/3 innings pitched but could be headed back to the bullpen soon if he doesn’t improve his 5.61 ERA.
