MLB Power Rankings: Where the league stands with (most) free agency dust settled
The Dodgers are unsurprisingly No. 1 with eight weeks to go before Opening Day
By
Matt Snyder
•
2 min read
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the two-time defending World Series champions and outspend every other team in baseball when it comes to player salaries. They have the best player in the world, three MVPs in their everyday lineup and a pitching staff full of arms capable of being in the Cy Young conversation.
They are not a lock to win the World Series, however, and, boy, I sure wish a good number of baseball world people would dial down the rhetoric a bit.
I did this song and dance last year, too. I suppose you could say I lost since the Dodgers won the World Series. They were definitely, absolutely not the juggernaut they were proclaimed to be, though.
Nor are they this time around.
The rotation is stellar and if everything hits right, will be the main reason the Dodgers are favored in October again. But did everyone forget what a big problem that bullpen was last year? Bullpens by nature are volatile anyway.
As for the lineup, there are plenty of question marks.
- Shohei Ohtani isn't a question mark at the plate. He's also going to be a full-timer (or close to that) in the rotation for the first time with the Dodgers. There's much more an injury risk here than with any other DH.
- Mookie Betts is coming off the worst year of his career at the plate. He hit .258/.326/.406 (104 OPS+). In the playoffs, he hit .229/.333/.314. At age 33, he isn't overly old, but he certainly isn't young.
- Speaking of which, Freddie Freeman is heading to his age-36 season.
- Kyle Tucker just went through an injury-marred 2024 season before his 2025 season sort of fell apart due to the worst slump of his career. It may or may not have been connected to a finger injury, but then he hurt his calf late in the season.
- Will Smith was amazing last season at the plate. Was it an outlier? In his previous four seasons, he hit .257/.348/.456 (120 OPS+) before going to .296/.404/.497 (152) last year at age 30. He might just be good instead of amazing this season.
- Max Muncy turns 36 this year and hasn't played more than 100 games in the regular season since 2023.
- Teoscar Hernández is now 33 and took a huge step back between 2024 and 2025.
It's a damn good lineup. Scary? If everyone is healthy and going right, yeah, it sure could be in spurts. A juggernaut? I don't know about that. It certainly isn't good enough to say this is unfair to every other team. They'll have plenty of downturns, such as when they scored six runs combined in Games 4-6 of the World Series.
We could nitpick every team like this, but the Dodgers are the ones drawing all the fan freakouts, so I'm just hoping to spread the word as best I can that we can still play this season. It'll be fun to watch it play out, and there will be surprises. I promise. Even if the Dodgers have the best chance to win the World Series -- they do, I'm not disputing that one iota -- the chances are still greater that a different team wins it all.
Biggest Movers
5
Braves
5
Phillies
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | In Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani, they have four pitchers capable of looking like a Cy Young winner each time they take the ball. I wonder how Roki Sasaki looks in moving back to the rotation, though? | -- | 93-69 |
| 2 |  | This feels like a big step forward year for Jackson Chourio. I was gonna say "bounce-back" year but he's still only 21 years old, at least until March 11. Anyway, I hated the Freddy Peralta trade, but I would never doubt the Brewers' ability to get the most out of what they have. | -- | 97-65 |
| 3 |  | I liked the pitching staff moves, but I really thought the offense needed to retain Bo Bichette or sign Kyle Tucker in order to fully capitalize on the run last season. Maybe Anthony Santander powers back up? | -- | 94-68 |
| 4 |  | The upside is higher than this, especially in the second half once Justin Steele is ready to rejoin the rotation after his recovery from Tommy John surgery. | 2 | 92-70 |
| 5 |  | The Yankees, of all franchises, have gotten a four-year stretch from a player in which he hit .311/.439/.677 (209 OPS+!) with 210 home runs, 35.9 WAR, three MVPs and zero World Series titles. | 1 | 94-68 |
| 6 |  | The easy and obvious back-bounce team is right here. Just because it's easy and obvious doesn't mean it's wrong. They'll be back in the playoffs. | 5 | 76-86 |
| 7 |  | They aren't likely to get another season from Cal Raleigh to what they got in 2025. Not even close. But there are lots of good pieces here. | 3 | 90-72 |
| 8 |  | I really like the rotation. The offense has a bunch of question marks, but those could be overcome with Jarren Duran bouncing back and a full season of Roman Anthony approaching his ceiling. | 1 | 89-73 |
| 9 |  | They seem better, but how much better? There is plenty of talent here and a lot of question marks. I see them as a playoff team, but not much more. | -- | 83-79 |
| 10 |  | The lineup really falls off after the top three and there are now some questions in the rotation. Remember how the Tigers came up empty, in terms of World Series titles, after four strong years from 2011-15? I'm getting a similar vibe here. | 5 | 96-66 |
| 11 |  | They should be doing whatever it takes to extend him, obviously, but if I'm the Tigers and my choices are trade Tarik Skubal now or let him walk after the season, I'm going with the latter. The AL Central is totally winnable for the Tigers and Skubal is the type of postseason game-changer that could help win a World Series. Flags fly forever. Go for it. | 3 | 87-75 |
| 12 |  | It's an intriguing bunch here. I think I could make an argument here that everything breaks right and they end up winning the AL but could also sell the argument that things fall apart and they have a losing record. | 4 | 87-75 |
| 13 |  | There's still time to add to the rotation on the cheap (Lucas Giolito, Chris Bassitt, Zack Littel, etc.) and they need to do so to round things out behind Michael King, Nick Pivetta and a returning Joe Musgrove. | 1 | 90-72 |
| 14 |  | Last season was just the second ever in which the Royals saw multiple players hit 30 homers (Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez). It previously happened in 1985 with Steve Balboni and George Brett. Now, the Royals are moving the fences in at Kauffman Stadium. Pasquantino and Perez are back, as is Bobby Witt Jr. Jac Caglianone certainly has enough power to get there, too. Might the Royals finally see three players get to 30 homers in a season? | 1 | 82-80 |
| 15 |  | They look no better than third in AL Central to me, and long-time Cleveland fans know this can only mean one thing: Start making plans to celebrate that AL Central title! | 2 | 88-74 |
| 16 |  | This rotation could be stellar (Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore, Jack Leiter, Jacob Lutz, Kumar Rocker) and it's always possible Cody Bradford rejoins the fray in his return from surgery. Can they hit enough, though? | -- | 81-81 |
| 17 |  | The Orioles really needed some right-handed thunder in the lineup and Taylor Ward helps there, but I especially loved the Pete Alonso signing. I said so around this time last year, but I feel like some old-school sluggers have become a bit underrated these days. | 4 | 75-87 |
| 18 |  | One of the Reds' biggest issues last season was power hitting and the front office did nothing to address it from outside the organization this winter. Way to capitalize on that playoff berth, guys. | 1 | 83-79 |
| 19 |  | Just feels mediocre again, no? I suppose you could squint your way to loving Willy Adames in Year 2 and Rafael Devers in a full season along with Matt Chapman and Heliot Ramos, not to mention the nice Harrison Bader signing. From there, Logan Webb and Robbie Ray is a nice top two in the rotation and Tyler Mahle could thrive here. It just isn't overly exciting. Maybe they win 85 games? | -- | 81-81 |
| 20 |  | Here's a fun one. The active MLB leaders in career triples are Starling Marte and Mike Trout with 55. Corbin Carroll is tied for seventh with 43. He's 25 years old. He might well take over the active lead this season. | 2 | 80-82 |
| 21 |  | Sophomore slumps happen. We still see it quite often. But man, Nick Kurtz went bonkers after having a bit of an adjustment period as a rookie. In his last 94 games, he hit .309/.409/.691 with 24 doubles, 35 homers, 80 RBI and 84 runs. Ridiculous. | 1 | 76-86 |
| 22 |  | Thankfully, the Rays are going to be back in The Trop this season. Due to the circumstances last season, the schedule was loaded with road games through the middle part. Sure enough, the Rays went 15-32 from June 27-Aug. 21. | -- | 77-85 |
| 23 |  | How many people noticed the Marlins improved by 17 wins last season? Can they contend? They've got some fun and productive pieces. | -- | 79-83 |
| 24 |  | In grabbing Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn to help the offense, at least they tried to upgrade. There's a lot to like about that rotation, too. | 1 | 71-91 |
| 25 |  | The Cardinals haven't come in last place since 1990 and that's the only time they finished last since 1918. For real. This team might be capable of last in the NL Central in 2026, however. | 1 | 78-84 |
| 26 |  | What a half measure of a "rebuild." I have no idea what they are doing here. Maybe they'll deal Joe Ryan and Pablo López this coming trade deadline. | 2 | 70-92 |
| 27 |  | If someone told you like three years ago the 2026 Angels were gonna have Grayson Rodriguez and Alek Manoah in the rotation, it would've sounded a lot more exciting than ... this. | -- | 72-90 |
| 28 |  | There's some fun stuff here, such as ... The power of Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery. Luisangel Acuña's wheels. Seeing how Shane Smith grows in his second season. | 1 | 60-102 |
| 29 |  | A rebuild on the heels of a failed rebuild is rough, but at least Nationals fans have James Wood and the 2019 World Series title memories. | 1 | 66-96 |
| 30 |  | Trivia: Who holds the record for single-season home runs by a Rockies catcher? It is Hunter Goodman! He hit 31 last year. Before that it was Wilin Rosario's 28 in 2012. | -- | 43-119 |
