No. 1 in Power Rankings is no shock. But after that …

The season is lower than two weeks outdated, and with so few video games crossed off the schedule, our rankings are the place they all the time are this time of yr – in every single place.  

It’s method too early to glean a lot from the standings, besides to state the apparent: Preseason expectations don’t all the time match up with early returns. That seems to be the case once more this yr, with presumed contenders such because the Astros, Mariners and Cardinals off to pedestrian begins, whereas the Pirates and D-backs, non-contenders lately, have had good runs to open 2023.

Biggest leap: The Rays jumped a whopping 10 spots, from No. 11 to No. 1. They’re off to a scorching begin, and the offense has had quite a bit to do with it – they’ve 24 homers of their first 9 video games of the season. In 2022, they didn’t attain that mark till their twenty seventh sport.

Biggest drop: Three groups dropped 5 spots: The Astros (No. 1 to No. 6), Phillies (No. 8 to No. 13) and Mariners (No. 9 to No. 14). The Mariners have had solely two opponents to this point – the Guardians and Angels. They opened the season dropping three of 4 to the Guardians, however they received again on monitor somewhat bit over the weekend, taking two of three in Cleveland.

1. Rays, 9-0 (final week: 11)

The Rays are off to top-of-the-line begins in historical past; after handily beating the A’s on Sunday, 11-0, they improved to 9-0 and matched the 2003 Royals for the longest profitable streak to start out a season within the Wild Card period. Tampa’s +57 run differential is the best in trendy historical past for a group’s first 9 video games, surpassing Cleveland, which had a +44 run differential over the identical stretch in 1999. The Rays have taken benefit of a weaker schedule and made it work for them – solely six of their first 32 video games are in opposition to groups that had profitable data in 2022 (Toronto, Houston).

This early within the season, it’s clearly much less concerning the tangible first-week outcomes than the monitor data of a handful of groups – the Braves included. Given the accidents they’re coping with, and the energy of their division, the Braves will gladly take their prime placement within the NL East. They began off sturdy, sweeping the Cardinals earlier than dropping three of 4 in opposition to the Padres. Individually, Matt Olson is off to a scorching begin, logging eight hits in 15 at-bats over his previous 4 video games heading into Sunday’s finale.

We’re accustomed to seeing the Dodgers within the prime 5, given they’ve been a powerhouse for greater than a decade with organizational depth that has helped maintain them related on a constant foundation. But by Los Angeles requirements, this hasn’t been an amazing begin, and that may be attributed principally to pitching. The Dodgers simply dropped three of 4 to Arizona, and within the closing two video games, Dodgers pitchers yielded 23 runs. If the arms meet up with the bats, they’ll be OK — coming into their 11-6 loss on Sunday, the Dodgers led the NL in homers, runs and slugging.

Though the slate is cleaned with the beginning of a brand new season, generally a streak that continues from one yr to the subsequent is value noting. Including his 3-for-4 efficiency on Sunday, Aaron Judge has reached base safely in a career-high 42 consecutive video games, relationship again to August 2022. That matches Mark Teixeira (2010) and Luke Voit (2018) for the longest on-base streak by a Yankee since 2009. Judge carried out as anticipated over the weekend in Baltimore, homering twice within the Yankees’ 5-3 win within the finale. Since the beginning of the 2020 season, Judge is hitting .383 (31-for-81) with 15 homers at Camden Yards.

It’s most likely too early to label any street journey, or homestand for that matter, as “key.” So let’s simply say the Padres did effectively within the first half of a difficult swing away from Petco Park, taking three of 4 in Atlanta earlier than heading to New York, the place they’ll open a three-game set with the Mets on Monday. Individually, Juan Soto is displaying indicators that he is perhaps beginning to warmth up after a gradual begin. He homered within the Padres’ win over the Braves on Saturday and doubled to guide off the fifth inning in Sunday’s victory.

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