Mitch’s MLB Baseball Power Rankings as of April 16, 2012

Well the first week of the MLB Baseball season is over and everyone has had their home opener. Here are my first power rankings of the year and these are based upon what we have seen on the field, not by potential or where I feel they should end up:

1)      Texas Rangers – Have been to the World Series for the past two seasons and look to have a team who could get there again.

2)      Los Angeles Dodgers-May need to make a few moves but this team was under rated going into this season but tough to argue with a six game winning streak.

3)      St. Louis Cardinals-Last season’s World Series Champions look ready to make a run at a repeat.

4)      New York Yankees-They could be anywhere between four and 10 but at home they are closer to four.

5)      Detroit Tigers-This lineup is downright scary but it looks like after Verlander and maybe Porcello the starting pitching is a weakness.

6)      Washington Nationals-This team can win on the road as well as at home and with their pitching and clutch hitting they look like an early contender.

7)      Arizona Diamondbacks-They were a surprise a year ago and they are no surprise now. Kirk Gibson simply knows how to win baseball games.

8)      Boston Red Sox-Struggled on the road to start the season but they found their bats at home and even with missing players they can score.

9)      Toronto Blue Jays-The Jays have played well at home and on the road and the team that blew all of those saves last season gets a second chance this year.

10)   Chicago White Sox-Have played the Rangers and the Tigers in two of their first three series and have a winning record, not an easy feat.

11)   New York Mets-Who knows how long they will last in this spot but if we look solely by what has transpired on the field they deserve to be here today.

12)   Tampa Bay Rays-Swept the Yankees at home and then went on the road for a brutal road trip going to Detroit and Boston. Should be very tough the rest of the way.

13)   Atlanta Braves-Quietly playing decent baseball out of the gate. Where have we seen this before?

14)   Cincinnati Reds-We haven’t seen the best this team has to offer but locking up Votto and Phillips they can concentrate on baseball now.

15)   Baltimore Orioles-Buck Showalter has his team playing competitively and believing. I will join the believers if they are still here in June.

16)   Philadelphia Phiilies-Probably the leading candidate to shoot up the list but with Cliff Lee not winning and the bats dead this is where they are right now.

17)   Los Angeles Angels-Putting them in this spot based on their paly this year is actually over rating them. I suspect we will see better things going forward.

18)   Seattle Mariners-Stranger things have happened than the Seattle Mariners being competitive but they have played Oakland in three series already.

19)   Cleveland Indians-Looked to be struggling badly but nothing a three game road trip to Kansas City couldn’t cure.

20)   San Francisco Giants-Finally scoring the runs they couldn’t score last season but not getting the pitching they have gotten the past two years either.

21)   Colorado Rockies-The starting rotation is suspect but there is nothing suspect about the heart of their batting order.

22)   Milwaukee Brewers-They don’t look like the team that won the Central last season and it is clearly the starting pitching that isn’t getting it done right now.

23)   Houston Astros-It’s clear the Astros aren’t nearly as bad as they were last year and while they aren’t a contender yet they are at least competitive.

24)   Miami Marlins-This team is too loaded to be this bad but Ozzie Guillen’s act is already old and without them winning he may not last long.

25)   Pittsburgh Pirates-Any young team with this much talent is fun to watch but at a certain point it all has to come together and it hasn’t.

26)   Oakland Athletics-Once they stop playing Seattle every series we’ll get a better chance to see exactly what they have.

27)   Kansas City Royals-One of the biggest disappointments in the early going as the starting pitching is a big issue.

28)   Chicago Cubs-If Theo Epstein needs to tear them down and build them up this looks like the tear down phase.

29)   San Diego Padres-Another one of MLB’s rebuilding teams but after trading away so much it’s to see where the building part of that comes in.

30)   Minnesota Twins-The Twins stunk it up last season and they stink again. This team has a lot of holes to fill.