We’re one month into the 2018 season.
The Astros are really good, like we knew they’d be. The Royals are really bad, like we knew they’d be. But the other 28 teams in between? Quite a few surprises.
Let’s dive into this month’s power rankings:
MLB Power Rankings
1. Houston Astros (Last month: 1)
The reigning World Series champions are better this year than they were last year, with a full season of Justin Verlander and the addition of Gerrit Cole to baseball’s best rotation. They have the best run differential in baseball. They have the best middle infield in baseball, with Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. At 20-10, they don’t have baseball’s best overall record, but they are comfortably in the top spot in these power rankings.
Fun fact: As a group, Houston’s starters have a 2.44 ERA — only five non-Astros starters in the AL have individual ERAs of 2.44 or better.
MORE: Astros best Yankees in first of ALCS 2017 rematch
2. Boston Red Sox (5)
In the AL, only the Astros have allowed fewer runs and only the Yankees have scored more runs than the Red Sox. And no team has won more games than this balanced squad; Boston’s 21-7 record is tops in the majors. Chris Sale has been Chris Sale, and Rick Porcello has been more 2016 than 2017, which is an excellent development for a team that will have to be at the top of its game all season to stay atop the AL East.
Fun fact: The Red Sox have five hitters with at least 50 plate appearances and a batting average of .330 or better.
3. New York Yankees (4)
That nine-game winning streak sure was impressive, wasn’t it? In that stretch, they outscored their opponents 64-18 and cut Boston’s division lead from 7.5 games all the way down to 2.0. Didi Gregorius has been unreal — 10 homers, 30 RBIs and a 1.156 OPS, and Aaron Judge is following up his amazing rookie campaign with a .317/.453/.584 start to the season.
Fun fact: Gary Sanchez has 20 hits this year, and 15 are for extra bases — eight doubles and seven home runs. That’s insane.
4. Arizona Diamondbacks (7)
The temporary loss of starter Robbie Ray to the 10-day DL (strained oblique), on top of the loss starter Taijuan Walker for the year (Tommy John surgery) keeps the Diamondbacks at the No. 4 spot this month, even though they have MLB's second-best record at 20-8. Even with those losses, this is a damn good team. A.J. Pollock is back to his All-Star form of 2015, after injuries limited him to 124 games the past two seasons; he hit three more home runs on Monday night — he’s up to nine on the year — and leads all NL position players with a 1.7 fWAR. Paul Goldschmidt is back to form after a slow start and David Peralta (.914 OPS) is having a nice season, too.
Fun fact: Lefty Patrick Corbin, who entered the year with a career K/9 ratio of 7.9, is up to 12.4 through six starts — 55 strikeouts in 40 innings.
5. Chicago Cubs (9)
The pitching staff allowed just four runs during their current five-game winning streak — four against the Brewers, one against the Rockies — and that’s gone a long way toward easing concerns that were starting to arise about the effectiveness of the rotation, specifically Yu Darvish and Jose Quintana. Those two combined to allow just five hits and one unearned run in 13 innings in the sweep of Milwaukee at Wrigley Field. The offense isn’t exactly humming yet, they scored just 12 runs in those five games, but Anthony Rizzo isn’t going to hit .149 all season. This was an up-and-down first month, no doubt, but the Cubs finished it where most people expected, in first place in the NL Central.
Fun fact: Jose Quintana has two starts with at least six shutout innings and two starts where he’s allowed at least six runs.
6. Cleveland (3)
The rotation is so damn good. Corey Kluber could easily win another Cy Young this year, Carlos Carrasco remains criminally underrated nationally (3.39 ERA/3.23 FIP since start of 2015 season), Trevor Bauer is off to his best start and Mike Clevinger has a 2.56 ERA in his first five starts after posting a 2.84 ERA as a starter last year (21 starts).
Fun fact: After an ice-cold start to the season (.086 average in 10 games), Jose Ramirez is batting .357 with a 1.094 OPS and six home runs in his past 17 games.
7. New York Mets (8)
The Mets have to be pretty pleased with Mickey Calloway’s first full month as the manager of the squad, with a spot atop what has been a surprisingly competitive NL East. Co-aces Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard have been outstanding — 94 strikeouts and 60 hits allowed in 74 innings — and the primaries in the bullpen have been reliable. Now on to the second full month of Calloway’s tenure …
Fun fact: Yoenis Cespedes, who is second in the NL with 25 RBIs, has a 1.035 OPS with runners in scoring position and a .489 OPS with the bases empty.
8. Los Angeles Angels (10)
The Angels scored just five runs and were swept in a three-game series at home by the Yankees, not exactly the finish they wanted to an otherwise strong opening month. But a healthy Mike Trout is fun to watch, isn’t he?
Fun fact: Among players with at least 40 plate appearances, Shohei Ohtani is eighth in the majors with a 1.065 OPS.
MORE: Follow Albert Pujols' quest for history with SN's hit tracker
9. Pittsburgh Pirates (19)
Not sure anyone expected the Pirates to play quite so well this opening month, not after an offseason that saw the front office trade away Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole. They’ve gotten production from unexpected places — such as rookie Nick Kingham taking a perfect game into the seventh inning of his big-league debut — and they’re near the top of the NL Central. The three-game sweep of the Cardinals in Pittsburgh was impressive.
Fun fact: Pirates catchers Francisco Cervelli and Elias Diaz are hitting a combined .358 with a 1.025 OPS so far this season, numbers that are easily best in the bigs.
10. St. Louis Cardinals (11)
The Cardinals have guys performing like All-Stars — hi, Carlos Martinez, Tommy Pham, Jose Martinez, Bud Norris and Jordan Hicks — and veterans performing way under their career levels — looking at you, Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong and Dexter Fowler. The team’s play on the field has reflected that. The Greg Holland experiment has been a disaster so far, but he’s still basically in spring training when it comes to competition.
Fun fact: Since a forgettable Opening Day outing in New York, Carlos Martinez has a 0.54 ERA in his five most recent starts.
11. Philadelphia Phillies (17)
The Phillies already had a legitimate top-of-the-rotation guy in Aaron Nola, and then they added Jake Arrieta. They have several young players on the verge of becoming stars in this league. It’s OK to be excited about 2018 instead of waiting for 2019, Phillies fans.
12. Seattle Mariners (15)
The Mariners’ rotation has a combined ERA of 5.62, which ranks 30th of all 30 teams. Yet, they’re still 16-11 and in an advantageous position to push for their first playoff berth since 2001. You have to feel like guys Felix Hernandez (4.96) and James Paxton (5.12) are going to be consistently better, and an offense with Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, Mitch Haniger, Dee Gordon, Jean Segura and Nelson Cruz is going to be pretty good.
13. Washington Nationals (2)
I still believe the Nationals will be one of the top competitors for the NL’s spot in the World Series, but I just can’t keep a team that’s three games under .500 in the top 10 of the power rankings. So here they are.
14. Toronto Blue Jays (14)
The bullpen has been really good. The starters have, well, struggled. If you would have told Blue Jays fans their team would be 16-12 at the end of April and Marcus Stroman (8.88 ERA), Marco Estrada (6.00) and Jaime Garcia (5.40) would be struggling so much, they would have taken it and expected those starters to improve to career levels.
15. Atlanta Braves (22)
These guys can hit. Freddie Freeman is Freddie Freeman. Nick Markakis still grinds out base hits. Ender Incarte leads MLB with 13 stolen bases. Ronald Acuña has been crushing the ball since his arrival. The guy you really should be paying attention to? Ozzie Albies, the 21-year-old second baseman who has nine homers and a .988 OPS so far.
16. Colorado Rockies (12)
Know who’s been fun to watch in 2018? Adam Ottavino. He has 30 strikeouts in 16 innings, and he’s allowed just eight base runners (four hits, four walks). He teams with Wade Davis to be a pretty darn effective back-of-the-bullpen duo, but most of the other relievers have struggled: Bryan Shaw (6.75 ERA), Antonio Senzatela (6.23) and Jake McGee (4.76).
17. Milwaukee Brewers (13)
They had a chance to establish themselves atop the NL Central last week, rolling into Chicago with a 16-9 record. Instead, they were shut out three times and swept in a four-game series at Wrigley Field.
18. Los Angeles Dodgers (6)
I would not be at all surprised if the Dodgers rally and make a run to not only the playoffs but the World Series. But they have not been very good this year — they’re 12-16 — and on Monday they found out All-Star shortstop Corey Seager is done for the year. I expect this team to be much better, but for now, they’re way down here at 18.
FAGAN: Could the Dodgers make a run at Manny Machado?
19. Oakland A’s (18)
You probably haven’t noticed the phenomenal season Jed Lowrie is having for the A’s. The veteran infielder is hitting .339 with six home runs, 27 RBIs and a .979 OPS. No, really. At 34 years old, he’s on pace (yes, it’s still early) for his best offensive season. Very cool.
20. San Francisco Giants (20)
Johnny Cueto chose not to opt out of his contract because he didn’t think he would be able to find a better deal on the free agent market. He was probably right, and his return is paying dividends for the Giants. Cueto has a nifty 0.84 ERA, with only 16 hits allowed in 32 innings.
21. Tampa Bay Rays (26)
The Rays have won 10 of their past 12 ballgames, a feat even more impressive when you consider that Kevin Kiermaier is on the DL and ace Chris Archer (6.61 ERA), closer Alex Colome (6.00 ERA, two blown saves) and Carlos Gomez (.559 OPS) are struggling this year.
22. Minnesota Twins (16)
Minnesota signed a couple of free agents for far below what most people thought they’d get at the beginning of the offseason, but neither Logan Morrison (.503 OPS) nor Lance Lynn (8.37 ERA) has been very good. Add Byron Buxton’s injury and a closer (Fernando Rodney) who has an equal number of converted and blown saves (three each) and you have a team that’s struggled massively out of the gate.
23. Detroit Tigers (28)
Miguel Cabrera, Michael Fulmer, Francisco Liriano and Nicholas Castellanos have been excellent, and most of the youngsters have had their moments. But this is a rebuilding team.
24. Texas Rangers (24)
Bartolo Colon has been fun to watch, but it’s been mostly an otherwise frustrating start to the season. Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor are all on the DL, three lineup regulars are hitting under .200 and the club is just 11-19.
25. San Diego Padres (30)
Franchy Cordero and Christian Villanueva have combined for 14 home runs; the rest of the Padres have 14, combined.
26. Chicago White Sox (21)
The season has been a struggle. Flashes of potential mixed with moments of youthful mistakes. About what was expected. The future’s still bright, it just hasn’t arrived yet.
27. Baltimore Orioles (25)
Manny Machado has been outstanding. Dylan Bundy has been great. Aside from those two, the highlight are few and far between.
MORE: What's next for the Orioles?
28. Miami Marlins (27)
Rookie reliever Tayron Guerrero is fun to watch, with that 100 mph fastball of his. He’s made 15 appearances covering 14 1/3 innings, and he’s struck out 27.
29. Cincinatti Reds (23)
They’ve already won more games for new manager Jim Riggleman (four of 11) than they did under old manager Bryan Price (three of 18). That’s a plus.
30. Kansas City Royals (29)
This quote from manager Ned Yost last week tells you all you need to know about Kansas City’s 2018 season: “I don't look at our record, and thank God because I thought we were 5-20, and we're only like 5-17. So we're better than I thought we were."
