2018 Opening Day Power Rankings!

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

Welcome to your 2018 opening day power ranks! Your voting on the format was heard loud and clear so instead of releasing them one at a time, now they will all be dumped in here TODAY! (Merry Opening Day Eve!) Special thanks this time around to our Guest Ranker - Cork (Nats). He did a great job. We would love to have someone else guest rank with us after the trade deadline when we do out next set of ranks and write ups. One division per post, then the finale… enjoy. And shameless plug for the Wrestlemania Special, check it out! Up first... the AL East!

AL EAST (The Red Sox Division)
All write ups by Tyler (DBacks)

RED SOX - 1st (consensus)
This team is (as usual) just solid across the board. Power from Dozier/Rizzo/Myers, Speed from Marte/Myers/Dozier. The pitching leans a bit on Greinke to carry the top tier SP load, but it seems like his recent groin flare up is nothing overly concerning. While he is a little shallow in the pen, the save and hold numbers are still there and the overall talent in their staff is pretty good. Looks like smooth sailing and another year atop the AL East is in store for them. He also has a staggering 27 pitchers rostered who are in line for MLB innings this season. 27!

BLUE JAYS - 2nd (consensus)
Blue Jays have a very solid offense top to bottom. A little light in the depth department but if everyone stays relatively healthy it won't be an issue. Any rotation with Sale at the top is going to look good, but this rotation has a bit of depth as well. Lack of closer will surely hurt, but that can be remedied midyear if it seems like they are in the hunt. I could see hovering around the AL Wild Card, but I don't know if I'd wager on it with the lack of depth. Definitely not a bad team though.

YANKEES - 3rd (3 3rd, 2 4th)
Moustakas kind of playing for a contract again. Cespedes popping out 30+ HR. Charlie Tilson popping out 25+ SB. Do these things seem within reach? Sure. But it will not be enough to do any significant damage this year. The pitching is solid but unspectacular and very thin depth wise. No closer, no party. I'm thinking another middle of the pack season is in order. I'm not sure how this team gets better either. They have a lot of .... um.... undesirable contracts (Kemp 21M this year and next, Moustakas making 22M next year). It looks bleak. This team needs a makeover.

RAYS - 4th (4 4th, 1 5th)
Oh dear. The effort is there, but the players are not. Unless Moncada turns into 25/25 right now and Pham follows suit this team has very little going on offense. An aging Beltre and no depth will not help. A rotation anchored by Charlie Morton is no going to do them any favors either. No bullpen to speak of. It is going to be a long year in Tampa Bay. Keep rebuilding. Sell more. Start researching for those draft picks now.

ORIOLES - 5th (2 3rd, 3 5th)
Justin Upton is the only player projected to get a full season of at bats (and I guess Kiermaier, but you get the idea). At least Stenzel is on the way soon hopefully. The Rotation is shockingly ok, but the pen is nowhere to be found. I do however enjoy the name Beiber in his minor leagues. Love the Beibs. But still, this team is not good.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

AL Central (The cluster fuck of sadness)
Write ups: Tyler (CHW), Stupid White Oval(MIN), Cork (The rest)

WHITE SOX 1st (3 1st, 2 3rd)
TIM TEBOW IS NOT WALKING THROUGH THAT DOOR. Ok, maybe he is. But this team is built on the new Killer Bs (Bour, Bryant, and ..... Brett Gardner). Its a race to see whois less valuable between Heyward and Bautista, but one of them will get starts in the OF. Plenty of MiLB guys are on the cusp though, so the reinforcements may arrive just in time if they can get a hot start out of one of them. The Lester/CC/Mahle combo should be enough to anchor a decent rotation, and Soria and Treinen can definitely be the cornerstones of a good bullpen. In spite of Tebow stealing the headlines, this team is decent and should compete for a spot in the upper half of the league for sure.

INDIANS 2nd (1 1st, 3 3rd, 1 4th)
KC will be down in the AL Central so someone needs to take the reigns. Sadly it won't be the Indians this year. Hitting will be towards the top of the league but pitching will be near the bottom. There's not nearly enough pitching to compete this year. There are enough good, young hitters on the team but pitching needs addressed. It could be a quick jump if that is improved during or after the season without any huge changes to the batting lineup.

TWINS 3rd (4 2nd, 1 5th)
Writing up Mike's team is super boring after however many years he's been doing this. He has a ton of cost controlled talent, a top 5 system, and a couple of holes that will probably keep him out of the playoffs, as a result of a legit World Series contender coming out of his division (this year it's the Indians, usually it's the Royals). That said, Mike's continuous solid work is bound to be rewarded at some point and his team is good enough for this to be the year.

TIGERS 4th (1 2nd, 2 4th, 2 5th)
The hardest worker this offseason in terms of numbers. It's a good start; I think being active in FA is 60% of what it takes to be good in this league. Whether or not they were smart moves remains to be seen but the effort is there. This season will most likely be a wash as there isn't enough pitching to remain competitive. The offense has holes as well; mainly MI but it's a good start!

ROYALS 5th (1 1st, 2 4th, 2 5th)
The first full rebuild for the KC Royals in awhile or even ever. I don't doubt that BK can pull it off. I thought for a minute that maybe we were switching to a 2-catcher league with all of the catchers drafted this year. A solid MI foundation and a couple long term pitching contracts but the rest are years away. Will KC be committed to the rebuild for multiple years or is it a 1-year stockpile of young assets to work trades? One thing is for sure, the contenders don't have to worry about KC for at least 2018.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

AL West (The basement of the league lives here)
Write ups: Cork (SEA, HOU, TEX), Stupid White Oval(LAA, OAK)

MARINERS 1st (4 1st, 1 2nd)
One of 2018's contenders no doubt. Sharpie'd in as the AL West winner with a good all-around team. Relievers are few but the ones they have are solid. An easy adjustment to make during the season. Future is bright in terms of arms but the bats are lacking in prospects.

ASTROS 2nd (1 1st, 1 2nd, 3 3rd)
Middle of the road in the league as a whole and the AL West. Good, young hitters that all need to perform to make a splash this year but that's not likely. Pitching is just OK as well; not enough numbers to finish above bottom half. There's still a lot of cap space to work with in 2018 if there's a desire to make a run or can use it to gather picks or prospects for the following season.

RANGERS 3rd (3 2nd, 2 3rd)
Strong Wild Card contender for 2018 and will finish ahead of some division winners just not his own. With a lot of expiring contracts, this could be a make or break season for the Rangers. Odor, Ozuna, Votto, Moreland, K. Davis, and Shoemaker all finishing up their contracts in 2018. Which Aaron Judge is the real Judge? I've gone back and forth on this team. It's not very deep but I could see them finishing anywhere between 9 and 18. Not a real contender but will be there towards the end.

ATHLETICS 4th (3 4th, 2 5th)
Bird is in year 37 of his rebuild and if it weren't for some unfortunate luck with his prospecting, he might be further along. There's not a lot of talent on the hitting or pitching side at the ML level, but we're all rooting for him to eventually turn around this moribund franchise.

ANGELS 5th (2 4th, 3 5th)
John sucks and I hate him. This statement may be related to other leagues and how much talent he has in said hypothetical other leagues. In this league, John has a plan, which revolves largely around Ohtani being good and using quantity of prospects to challenge the Astros and Mariners of AL West supremacy. The good news is he's on his way, the bad news is the Mariners and Astros have lots of young cheap talent.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

NL East (By far the best and most competitive division… two different rankers had Nats/Braves as 1&2 in the league overall)
Write ups: Ty

NATIONALS 1st (3 1st, 2 2nd)
The perennial division favorite and defending league champion Nationals will have their hands full this season fending off an incredibly tough division. The Braves, who finally seem ready to re-join the ranks of the league’s elite, Mets and Phillies are all realistic bets for a playoff spot. Despite the competition, Cork has another championship caliber squad. While there’s a lot to like on offense, I think there’s likely some regression in store- I’d be shocked if either DeJong or Lindor (both excellent players) can replicate last year’s power surges, and the newly installed humidor in the desert could Silence the Lamb. On the bump, they’re winning with quantity, which has proven a very viable strategy in the past. There are some upside plays, but Cork will be able to throw more arms than just about anybody. I like their odds in a head-to-head matchup, and they’ll be near the top of the standings when it counts.

BRAVES 2nd (2 1st, 2 2nd, 1 3rd)
Perhaps I’m giving Swo too much credit, but I think he’s got enough, with good health and active management, to make a run for a title this year. I’ve long been a fan of his collection of talent, and there’s no sense in putting it off any longer- this is finally the year he transitions from rebuilding to contention. They’ve got a great combination of speed and power, with depth to spare on offense. The pitching should be near elite, though ideally he’d add a few additional back of the rotation arms. If the injury bug doesn’t bite too hard, and Swo doesn’t spend the summer chasing butterflies, the Braves should find themselves back in the playoffs.

PHILLIES 3rd (1 2nd, 2 3rd, 1 4th, 1 5th)
The Phillies snuck up on me again. After a few years toiling away in a nondescript rebuild, all of a sudden they’ve got one of the more exciting rosters in the league. Gobs of upside on offense and a very respectable pitching staff make them a team to keep an eye on. Unfortunately, in a division as tough as the East, they don’t have enough arms to keep up. If they can add a half dozen mid-rotation starters and decent relievers, they have the star power to stay in the mix for years to come.

METS 4th (2 3rd, 3 4th)
The Mets have a very strong club this year, more so, in my opinion, than in years past. That’s a scary thought considering Barney Buttermaker’s well-earned reputation for taking his Bad News Bears further than they rightfully should. He’s already down 2 SPs, and the competition is stiffer now, but a deep and improved pitching staff and strong, albeit thin, offense should keep things interesting in the East. Ultimately, only 2 teams from the division will be playing September baseball, but wouldn’t shock me a bit if the Mets are one of them.

MARLINS 5th (1 4th, 4 5th)
The Marlins appear to be stuck in a horrific Groundhog Day-like loop with Madison Bumgarner’s freak injuries playing the role of freakishly annoying Ned Ryerson. Not to say that a healthy Bumgarner was enough to make up for the deficiencies on the roster or the incredible competition that comes with residing in the NL East at the moment. They’ve still got 3 huge building blocks that are all young enough to either be a part of the next great Marlins team, or bring in a massive haul of talent if Al decides to take the Jeterian approach to franchise rebuilding. Either way, they’re pretty well positioned all things considered.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

NL Central (Can anyone challenge the Cubs? spoiler alert: no.)
Write ups: Ty (STL), Stupid White Oval(MIL, CHC), Scott (CIN, PIT)

CUBS 1st (4 1st, 1 2nd)
Scott is good at making fantasy teams. He has pitchers and hitters and will compete in most categories. Scott also enjoys long walks, and processing your trades. If possible I suggest you build your roster around Arenado and Harper. Pitching is incredibly deep, if not particularly imposing from a top end talent standpoint. His bullpen is the envy of everyone.

PIRATES 2nd (1 1st, 3 2nd, 1 3rd)
If every position player played 162 games and each starter pitched 200 innings, the Pirates will likely win it all. Unfortunately injuries are not being turned off this year, so I dont see the Pirates winning the Central. If they can accumulate enough stats to make a wild card spot, this team could definitely make a run in the playoffs. Great team but no depth.

REDS 3rd (4 3rd, 1 4th)
The Reds are probably a year away from being a top 10 team. Acuna & Jimenez could get the call this year but I dont think it will be enough to get near a playoff berth. Assuming Mr. Sabadin can get some quality pitching in the years to come, this team should develop into a powerhouse.

CARDINALS 4th (4 4th, 1 5th)
The Cardinals began the offseason as a disaster, and now they’re more of a debacle, which I consider improvement. They’ve added some nice pieces, which fit better as trade bait, given their situation, but regardless they’re in a better spot today than they were a few months ago. They’ve got a long way to go to catch up to the Cubbies, who are well stocked in the short and long terms, but if we extrapolate the improvement we’ve seen recently into the future, there’s plenty of reasons for optimism for the Cards.

BREWERS 5th (1 4th, 4 5th)
The Beer makers have what seems to be the oldest corner infielders in the universe and in 2013 they'd be really good on that basis. That said, its clear they are somewhere on the upward rebuilding curve. Their system is stacked with talent. There's no chance of contending this year, and Layton knows that. Hopefully he'll be able to spin some ML talent for younger talent or prospects/picks.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

NL West (One playoff team gets out of this division alive, will it be the Giants or Diamondbacks?)
Write ups: Stupid White Oval(SFG), Scott (The rest)

DIAMONDBACKS 1st (3 1st, 2 2nd)
The NL West will likely come down to the Dbacks vs the Giants. A St Paddys day trade between these two rivals sent Keuchel from the bay to the desert in return for Adam Duvall, Jose Urena and AJ Cole. Will this end up being the deciding factor? Only time will tell which team will reach that pot of gold at the end of the season (see what i did there?). As of right now, I have the Dbacks finishing behind the Giants but it should be very close - coming down to injuries and in season management.

GIANTS 2nd (2 1st, 2 2nd, 1 3rd)
The offense should produce, as Stanton might be better than 3 or 4 teams offenses in this league by himself, particularly if Longoria can hit well in San Fran. I think the pitching will probably hold them back from a division title, and Adkins path to the playoffs is probably not open through the wild card with the litany of teams out of the NL East vying for that spot.

ROCKIES 3rd (4 3rd, 1 4th)
Two closers, solid bullpen. Decent quantity on SP but quality is lacking with Nelson hurt. If everything breaks right for the offense, this team could compete with the Dbacks & Giants - but I'm thinking it may be a little too early for Marte/Margot and a little too late for Reyes/Granderson.

PADRES 4th (1 2nd, 2 4th, 2 5th)
There is just not enough major league talent on the Padres to compete this year. Rich has some solid pieces on his roster but I think they would be best used as trade bait. Rebuilds may not be fun for everyone but if you have to do it, I think the NL West may be the best place. There are solid teams in front of him, but they can be overthrown in a year or two.

DODGERS 5th (2 4th, 3 5th)
Dodgers came into the offseason in what looked like a full rebuild and then went on to acquire Kershaw, Kelvin Herrera and Jonathan Villar. Luckily, it really only cost money to acquire those players, but unfortunately for the Dodgers, they've now run out of money without putting together a playoff caliber team. It is possible the Dodgers are pulling a Cubs/Lester type move of acquiring these pieces prior to the kids coming up to the show so it'll be interesting to see if Matty can pull it off.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

FULL RANKS!

1. Boston Red Sox
2. Chicago Cubs
2. Washington Nationals
4. Atlanta Braves
5. Seattle Mariners
6. Arizona Diamondbacks
7. Toronto Blue Jays
8. Philadelphia Phillies
9. New York Mets
10. Houston Astros
11. San Francisco Giants
12. Texas Rangers
13. Pittsburgh Pirates
14. Chicago White Sox
15. Miami Marlins
15. Colorado Rockies
17. Cincinnati Reds
18. Cleveland Indians
18. Minnesota Twins
20. New York Yankees
21. Detroit Tigers
22. San Diego Padres
23. Kansas City Royals
24. St. Louis Cardinals
25. Tampa Bay Rays
26. Los Angeles Dodgers
26. Baltimore Orioles
28. Milwaukee Brewers
29. Oakland Athletics
30. Los Angeles Angels

Facts:
Strongest division: NL East
Weakest Division: AL East
Closest Division: NL East
Mose Clear Cut Division: NL Central
Most predictable Team: LA Angels
Least Predictable Team: Houston Astros

Playoff Predictions:
Red Sox, Mariners, White Sox, Blue Jays (WC)
Cubs, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Braves (WC)

Best team out: Phillies (8th)
Worst team in: White Sox (14th)

Both the Cubs and the Nats had more #1 votes than the Red Sox. Even though the Red Sox have the highest average rank.

Three ties this time (2nd place, 15th place, and 26th place). 5 rankers helped I think.

The biggest gaps overall were between the Mariners and Diamondbacks (the elite gap) and between the White Sox and the twitted below them (the good team gap).

Tightest playoff races: NL East bloodbath between everyone but the Marlins and the AL Central rock fight.

Biggest gap between two rankers: 14 places (twice!) Astros were ranked as highly as 4th and as low as 18th and Padres were ranked as low as 28th and as high as 14th.


As always, share your thoughts, comments, gratitude, vitriol, whatever.

[Deleted]

Well played, gents- This was delightful!

[White Sox GM (alligatorchris)]

You guys complete me. Well Done. "Stupid White Oval" HA HA HA

[Mets GM (barnstormers)]

Nice job guys. Always fun and appreciated.

I'm always predicted 3rd or 4th. I'll see someone in September.

Holy shit. Just looked at the Phillies roster. They're better than I thought.

Looked at the Braves roster. They're not.

FYI, on the Braves spread sheet someone typed in "Fuck you Swo" next to Tyler Thornburg's name.

I don't know. Maybe it was Thornburg himself.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

That was me. I think he was editing it at the time. I stand by it.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

Mar 28, 2018 20:07:47 GMT -5 Mets GM (barnstormers) said:

Holy shit. Just looked at the Phillies roster. They're better than I thought.

FYI, the first time I ranked them in the pre-FA power poll, when I just went on instinct before really looking into stuff, they somehow were #1. I liked the Phillies team a lot (if Greg Holland ever signs)

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

Mets fix your damn avatar

[Mets GM (barnstormers)]

I would if I knew how. My youngest moved out, let's see, she turned 25 yesterday, about 6 years ago. I'll get my Grandson on it this weekend.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

Cant tell if satire.

Profile > edit profile

[Red Sox GM (Ty)]

Most definitely not satire, and you're going to need to be more specific.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

Well, someone is going to have to be.

[Dodgers GM (matty)]

At least I was compared to the Cubs

[The Ghost of Swo]

Mar 28, 2018 15:20:45 GMT -5 D Backs GM (Tyler) said:

Playoff Predictions:
Red Sox, Mariners, White Sox, Blue Jays (WC)
Cubs, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Braves (WC)

Obviously, there's still some time, but now seems appropriate to review our predictions

Here's what it looks like today.

AL East - Red Sox
AL Central - White Sox
AL West - Rangers
AL WC - Astros

NL East- Braves
NL Central - Cubs
NL West - Rockies
NL WC - Reds

A lot of the things we jointly said were right. The White Sox finished exactly where we predicted and won they awful division (there may be an asterisk next to his division title banner). The NL East was a bloodbath, the Nationals finished sixth in the league and aren't in the playoff, the NL East had three teams int he top 10, the NL Central had three in the top 11. The NL is a nightmare to make the playoffs right now.

We were also jointly wrong on a number of teams, the Mariners, the Reds, the Diamondbacks.

I'm a firm believer that if you make predictions you must revisit them to show everyone how little you know. We did fine, but aren't Nostradamus.

[D Backs GM (Tyler)]

Let the record reflect that I had the Phillies #1 in my power ranking overall. (this was true)