Some say the most wonderful time of year is the holiday season. Others know it's Opening Week in Major League Baseball. Each of these 30 teams has precious, glorious hope right now, with no scar tissue built up yet from the painful losses that are sure to come. So on the eve of this magical new beginning, it's time for the first installment of our MLB Power Rankings for the 2024 season!
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1. Atlanta Braves
It's hard to find a flaw on this roster. The Braves don't necessarily need Jarred Kelenic or Chris Sale to be any good, but what if they completely unlock both? With Ronald Acuña Jr. setting the tone and Austin Riley and Matt Olson lurking behind him as MVP dark horses, the Braves have all the tools at their disposal to bulldoze through another baseball season.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
No one knows how the Shohei Ohtani/Ippei Mizuhara gambling payments saga is going to play out, but the Dodgers have enough talent to weather the regular season storm under any and all circumstances. All that counts in L.A. is what happens this postseason, and maybe this is the year the Dodgers' combination of youth and experience on the pitching staff can claw its way through their fierce N.L. foes.
3. Baltimore Orioles
Morale hasn't been this high in Charm City, at least on the baseball side of town, since the glory days of Eddie Murray and Jim Palmer. They already had more than enough young talent to make their fan base giddy, but Jackson Holliday and some friends of his are still waiting in the pipeline hungry to make an impact this season. Best of all, the sale of the team to David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti, coupled with the trade for Corbin Burnes, are signals that the penny-pinching days of Orioles teams' past may be fully eradicated.
4. Houston Astros
It's a shame Alex Bregman's post-division clinching speech eventually became a punchline because it really was a remarkable achievement for the Astros to win the AL West in spite of all their dry spells last season. Look for the ‘Stros to come out guns blazing in pursuit of an eighth straight (!!) ALCS appearance. They make the top five in the MLB power rankings.
5. Philadelphia Phillies
If they gave out trophies for vibes (shoutout Alex Cora), the Phillies would easily be preseason World Series favorites. There's no team in the MLB more connected with their city than the Phils, and that's because they're simply a fun and lovable group to rally behind. It is Philadelphia, though, so the love-fest won't last forever if this team can't eventually break through at the end of October.
6. Texas Rangers
If we aren't going to rank the defending champs at number one, we might as well be fully honest about where this team stands as the season begins. There's no question Texas could climb the mountain once fully healthy in October again, but the Opening Day pitching staff is made out of papier-mâché. Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford could easily finish 1-2 in the Rookie of the Year voting, though.
7. Tampa Bay Rays
Yes, a lot of the pieces that helped carry them last year are no longer around, but this team won 99 games last year. It's always hard to see how the puzzle is going to come together in St. Pete every year, but the simple fact is it always does somehow coalesce. Be very afraid of Ryan Pepiot, Amed Rosario, José Caballero and anyone else the Rays might trade for between now and October.
8. Seattle Mariners
We know this team can pitch. We know they did their best to address their offensive shortcomings over the winter. At the end of the day, though, it's all down to how far Julio Rodríguez can carry his Seattle teammates–and in turn, how well they fall in line around him.
9. Arizona Diamondbacks
Making a World Series berth against all odds earns you, at bare minimum, a spot in the preseason top ten in the MLB power rankings. The D-Backs did only win 84 games a year ago, however, and were league-average in most categories. Eduardo Rodriguez starting the year on the IL is a big blow to the pitching staff, as well.
10. New York Yankees
It's the Yankees, so the preseason hype train is whirring in full gear. Adding Juan Soto is unquestionably going to make this team better, even if he only stays for a year. But Gerrit Cole's injury leaves the already-thin rotation without its workhorse. And if things go bad, we know from a year ago that the vibes in the Bronx can go south at any moment.
11. Minnesota Twins
The Twins flew under the radar in the offseason disappointments conversation, but this was a team that secured their first playoff series win in two decades and their first response was, “hey, let's go ahead and cut that pesky payroll!” Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda were extremely reliable rotation arms and the Twins are counting on Chris Paddack, who has thrown 27 innings in two years, to take up the slack. They're still the favorites to take home the AL Central, but they could have done so much more to supplement their exciting young core.
12. Toronto Blue Jays
The Jays need Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to be much closer to the 2021 version of himself than what he's shown lately in order to resurrect this once-promising playoff window that has yet to bear fruit. The rotation is on par with the best in the game, especially if top prospect Ricky Tiedemann is all he's built up to be. But if Vladito and Co. aren't holding up their end of the bargain, there are too many other good teams in the AL for Toronto to get by on pitching alone.
13. Milwaukee Brewers
On paper, it's hard to see how the Brewers could or should be viewed as NL Central favorites. Yet, they've built up a blind trust over the past half-decade as a team that always gets more out of their roster than the sum of its parts. Big-time pressure rests on the shoulders of rookie manager Pat Murphy and first-time ace Freddy Peralta to fill the shoes of the men they're replacing.
14. San Francisco Giants
Adding Blake Snell to the rotation was the wake-up call the rest of the league needed that the Giants are taking this season very, very seriously. Jung-hoo Lee is the ultimate X-factor—we simply don't know what he's bringing to the table as a big leaguer until he shows us on the field. If he can be an offensive catalyst at the top of the order, this team will have the chance to do damage.
15. Chicago Cubs
If the Cubs are going to be significantly better than last year, it will be largely because Craig Counsell is worth every cent of his $40 million deal. Beyond Justin Steele, the rotation is interesting, but laden with question marks. They've got to get more offense out of the bottom third of the order as well.
16. San Diego Padres
Trading for Dylan Cease on the eve of the season certainly improves the outlook of this Friars season, but relying so heavily on rookie contributors on both sides of the ball is a sketchy proposition. There's every opportunity for San Diego to make this ranking look silly, but there are a lot of teams in the middle third of this MLB power rankings list we could say the same for.
17. New York Mets
Bringing in J.D. Martinez was a brilliant late-spring move. But, there are too many question marks in the rotation to break into the top half. Kodai Senga can't come back soon enough for the Mets or their fans.
18. Cincinnati Reds
If you like rosters made almost exclusively out of third basemen, this is the team for you. Noelvi Marte's suspension is terrible for Noelvi Marte, but likely opens up at-bats for Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnaction-Strand to get the full run they deserve. It's all down to whether a team that plays in the worst pitcher's park in the league can pitch enough to allow the young talent to shine through.
19. St. Louis Cardinals
The Cards would have been a few spots higher before the Sonny Gray injury news left their rotation in a similar state of limbo it became all too accustomed to a year ago. There's so much talent from top to bottom in this lineup that it's hard to envision things going so spectacularly wrong in St. Louis again. But they have to prove 2023 is a thing of the past before we can treat them with that respect.
20. Detroit Tigers
The only second-place team to finish below .500 last season, the Tigers are doing a convincing impression of a team that thinks it can take the leap to being playoff contenders. It's not a fearsome rotation beyond Tarik Skubal, though, and unless Javier Baez stops swinging at sliders in the lefty batter's box, the lineup will continue to have some automatic outs baked into the pie.
21. Cleveland Guardians
For what feels like the 500th consecutive year, the Guardians enter the season with an exciting young pitching staff and a lineup that's iffy on a good day. It's a younger group than pretty much ever before, with a lot of weight resting on the shoulders of Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio and Tyler Freeman. If any of those three pops this season, this team could scrap their way back into October.
22. Miami Marlins
Miami's spot in the MLB power rankings won't please Fish fans coming off their team's playoff appearance, but it's hard to envision the current roster repeating Miami's 84-win performance. They went a ridiculous 33-14 in one-run games, allowing them to attain the lowest run differential in history for a playoff qualifier (-52). The entire rotation seems to be hurt, which is not a great sign before the season even starts. Plus, they made no effort to replace Jorge Soler in the middle of their already light-hitting lineup.
23. Boston Red Sox
The lineup once again looks promising, but the good vibes (sorry, Alex, we did it again) end there for the diehards in Red Sox nation. Lucas Giolito's injury leaves this rotation with no depth, so the pitching staff could fully collapse down the stretch, just as it did in 2023. The main issue, though, is that ownership is sending the message that they don't care enough about the current team's success to spend like a contender. There's potential for full-on mutiny at Fenway this summer.
24. Pittsburgh Pirates
There is at least hope that the Buccos will be able to hit enough to keep them around .500 this season. The lineup isn't star-studded, but there's a chance for it to be deep and well-balanced. The pitching staff, however, is still devoid of quality major league talent beyond Mitch Keller and David Bednar.
25. Washington Nationals
The Nats are a tough team to judge because they played reasonably well last season considering how early in their rebuild they appeared to be. But make no mistake, this is still a rebuild. Once Dylan Crews and James Wood roll into town, we can start thinking about the 2025 hype train.
26. Los Angeles Angels
The season ended on a very sour note in Anaheim, as they essentially lost their two best players in one $700 million contract. There's hope for this lineup, though, as Logan O'Hoppe, Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and Mickey Moniak look to collectively take the next step in their careers. Ron Washington is exactly the type of leader the Halos needed to re-establish a winning culture. That starting rotation sure is dicey, though…
27. Kansas City Royals
Yes, there's been a surprising amount of hype around the Royals, and they most certainly did show a commitment to taking a step forward with the roster additions they made this winter. However, we're still talking about a team that lost 106 baseball games a year ago. They've got to showcase their improvement on the field before they can rise up these MLB power rankings too much higher.
28. Chicago White Sox
This is the first of the teams you could make a very strong case belongs in the bottom spot. Garrett Crochet, who has 72 big-league appearances without a start, was recently named the Opening Day starter. Even if the Sox meet the sunniest of their offensive projections, they're going to give up a preponderance of runs in 2024.
29. Oakland Athletics
The A's avoiding dead last is about the only accomplishment they can aspire to at this time in their franchise's history. But at least some of the young talent on both sides of the ball is intriguing and Brent Rooker, Ryan Noda and Zack Gelof form something resembling an offensive nucleus. Any improvement on last year's 112 losses would be considered a win here.
30. Colorado Rockies
The Rockies might be the only team that can compete with the A's in terms of dysfunction and lack of vision. They also have, on paper, one of the worst starting rotations ever assembled–and that rotation has to pitch at Coors Field! It's going to be a long, long season for Colorado in the NL West. They sit in last in our MLB power rankings.
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