With the 2024 season fast approaching we’ve taken stock of how all the teams line up against each other. We’ve compiled a power-ranking list based on roster talent, recent performance and potential. Here’s how we think it shakes out.
30. Oakland Athletics
The Athletics are simply very bad. They do not have much legitimate MLB talent on the roster. Last year they had only one qualified player with an OPS over .800 and only two qualified hitters with an OPS+ over the 100 league average. Zach Gelof, a former second-round pick who shined with a .840 OPS in 300 PA last year could be a lone offensive bright spot, but with no protection around him, we’re not optimistic. The pitching is not much better, last year they had the second-worst team ERA, behind only the Coors-dwelling Rockies. Needless to say, no additions have been made by the miserly ownership group that is in the midst of uprooting the team to Vegas. The final year in the Bay will likely be a despicable one.
29. Colorado Rockies
Playing in an altitude doesn’t help, but the Rockies’ pitching got absolutely lit up last year. This year they’ll start without German Marquez and Anthony Senzatela, which will not help that cause. So far the Kris Bryant signing has been an absolute disaster, he’s yet to play a total of 162 games combined. Nolan Jones had a breakout rookie campaign last year. If he grows into a real ballplayer, Bryant comes back healthy, and Blackmon has a drink from the fountain of youth they might be able to get something cooking at the top of the order, but we’re not holding our breath.
28. Washington Nationals
Much like the Athletics and Rockies, the Nationals do not have a lot of positives to talk about coming into the 2024 season. The team has fallen off a cliff since the 2019 World Series win. None of their prospects have become the MLB players they hoped, and most of the signings they’ve made did not pan out either. Their best player last year was Jeimer Candelario who is now on the Reds. Corbin will likely throw 33 more starts of batting practice this year as well, which should help keep their team ERA+ near its woeful 2023 mark of 86 (100 is the league average) again. The team failed to be sold and made no real moves to improve. With the Braves and Phillies strong, and the Mets looking to bounce back, the election will only be one huge pain point in DC this fall.
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27. Los Angeles Angels
The Angels are a broken husk of a franchise after Ohtani walked away. Rendon is robbing them blind, openly discussing how little he cares about playing. They have no pitching. They have not had a prospect turn into MLB talent since Trout. Speaking of Trout, he’s still struggling to stay on the field. If Trout once again fails to play 100 games like he has two of the last 3 years, this will be a tough, tough year for the Angels.
26. Chicago White Sox
The White Sox had a terrible 2023 with 101 losses, and it doesn’t look any better for 2024. Anderson is gone, so the lineup is even weaker than it was last year. This team does have a little bit of upside however. If Robert can stay healthy and emerge into the monster they want him to be, and they don’t trade away Cease, there is potential for a record closer to .500. However, most projections (like Fangraphs ZiPS) seem to have Chicago in the basement again.
25. Miami Marlins
The Marlins were a playoff team last year, but this season are not in the same place. They lost their manager Don Mattingly, who had consistently helped a weak roster over-achieve and lost their GM Kim Ng as well. They will not have stud pitcher Sandy Alcantara due to Tommy John surgery. They acquired Tim Anderson in free agency but lost Jorge Soler, Yuli Gurriel and David Robertson. Chisolm is a health question mark, and the rotation is also up in the air. Perhaps if Arraez wins the batting title again, and Sixto Sanchez pitches to his prospect potential the team could be in a decent place, but overall it doesn’t look great.
24. Pittsburgh Pirates
Same old story for Pittsburgh, they’ve got no pitching. Even if O’Neil Cruz, Brian Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes all come out of the gate soaring, the upside of this team is completely kneecapped by having one of the worst rotations in baseball. The only off-season addition was a very old Aroldis Chapman, who once again looked very shaky in the playoffs. While some of their young talent will provide some excitement for fans in the Steel City, they can’t expect much in the win column.
23. Kansas City Royals
The Royals have improved on paper this off-season. They added veteran pitchers Wacha and Lugo to buff up the weak rotation and brought in Hunter Renfroe and Adam Frazier to fill out the lineup. If Whitt Jr. can find his ceiling they may be able to scratch out a halfway decent season. As it stands though, we’ve got them near the bottom of the pack.
22. Boston Red Sox
The BoSox finished at the bottom of their division last year and on paper, the team has only gotten worse. Their biggest off-season acquisition was bringing back Theo Epstein, but that will not make an impact this year. Justin Turner is gone and Verdugo was traded to the rival Yanks. Sale was traded to the Braves as well. Clearly, the Sox are doing at least a short-term rebuild. The lineup still has some juice, but in a tough division, things could get ugly quickly with a rotation led by a last-chance Lucas Giolito.
21. San Diego Padres
The Padres have lost Hader and Soto, and seem poised to lose Snell as well. A team that already underperformed significantly last year is now a lot worse on paper. Of course, the Machado, Tatis Jr. Boegarts combo means they always can get something cooking, but the lineup outside of those 3 is a question mark. The rotation is not much better with Wacha and Lugo also gone, and Darvish coming off the worst year of his career. The 2022 season may have just been a positive blip on the radar for the Padres, who may now be back into mediocrity.
20. Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers no longer have their two best starters and most of their rotation depth. That is a bad place to start for a team that doesn’t have the strongest offense. Rhys Hoskins adds some pop and fixes a musical chair’s situation at first base, however, from there, it gets a lot worse. We’re relying on William Contreras to carry a lot of the freight, which is not an auspicious prospect. Yelich is the ultimate wildcard here, at MVP caliber he could lift this team a few spots down the list, but if he has a 2021-like performance they’ll be even worse than 20th.
19. Minnesota Twins
The Twins did a little payroll contraction to the detriment of their squad this off-season. They let Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda walk, and now have staff that consists of Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober (who did have a strong 2023) at the front. This team is relying on Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa to play 155+ games to succeed. We don’t like those odds.
18. Detroit Tigers
While we don’t blame you for not noticing, the Tigers had a strong second half last year. They actually played five games over .500 from June 15th onwards. A bunch of their young players are coming good on their prospect potential like Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter. If Baez can wake up and play to his contract, they’ll have a sneaky-solid lineup to put out there in the post-Miguel Cabrera era. The pitching is a bit lacking, Losing Eduardo Rodriguez hurts the Tigers, but Tarik Skubal could break out after pitching through injury to a 3.23 ERA in his last 36 starts over two years. Reese Olson also had a decent rookie campaign, and will hopefully show the Detroit faithful something in his sophomore season. In a weak division, anything can happen.
17. Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians have a strong rotation with 3 rookies pushing out great seasons last year in Bibee, Allen and Williams, and an ace in Shane Beiber looking to come back from a not-so-great 2023. The lineup definitely leaves something to be desired, but if Gimenez and Kwan come back towards 2022 numbers it starts to look a lot better. Jose Ramirez pushing MVP numbers wouldn’t hurt either. In a weak division, it’s anyone’s chance, but without Terry Francona, it’s hard to put the Guardians above 17, despite the promising roster.
16. Cincinnati Reds
The Reds have a lot of young talent like the electric Elly De La Cruz and former Rookie of the Year winner Jonathan India. However, what they don’t have is pitching. The Reds were sixth worst in team ERA last year and have done nothing to improve that. Hunter Greene has the potential to break out, but has yet to really put together even a few good consecutive starts. Otherwise, that rotation is pretty barren. Even still, the Reds were able to hit their way to a winning record last year, so we’ll see where they finish this year.
15. San Francisco Giants
The Giants had arguably the third-best off-season after the Dodgers this year. They got former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray in a trade from the Mariners, but he won’t be ready until the All-Star break at the earliest. They replaced Joc Pederson with Jorge Soler, and they added Korean star Jung-Hoo Lee to add a big bat in the middle. They also brought in Jordan Hicks and plan on transitioning him to a starting pitching role. We see the Giants as a dark horse team to make some waves on the back of these moves.
14. Seattle Mariners
The Mariners have done a massive roster shuffle but the key pieces like Julio Rodriguez and George Kirby are still in place. The return of Mitch Haniger could be fruitful, provided he bounces back from a terrible 2023. Trading away Robbie Ray could have some consequences towards the end of the season however, if the M’s need an arm towards the deadline, they’ll probably kick themselves over that one. With so much in flux, it’s hard to say the Mariners are worse or better than last year. We’re putting them towards the middle for now.
13. New York Mets
The Mets had a brutal 2023 after a great 2022. They reloaded the farm system at the deadline trading away future Hall of Famers Scherzer and Verlander. A huge piece of that downfall was the poor play of McNeil and Alonso, who are both set to bounce back. If Marte can stay on the field the core five of Lindor, Nimmo, Alonso, McNeil, and Marte can take this team places. Those places could be pretty far if Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty can have breakout years as well. However, the rotation is a cast in doubt. Severino has had success in NY but has not been good in a while, Manaea has never fully realized his potential, and hanging over all of this is a Senga shoulder injury that has him shut down for Spring Training. If the pitching is right, the Mets should be in a much better spot than last year, otherwise, expect more of the same.
12. Chicago Cubs
After reuniting with Bellinger and adding Craig Counsel as manager, the Cubs look to be in a pretty decent place to make a run at the playoffs. Suzuki has become a legit MLB hitter, and Swanson should bounce back from a weak first season on his big contract. With most of the division as a question mark, the Cubs have about as good of a roster as their longtime rival, the Cardinals. Speaking of…
11. St. Louis Cardinals
The Cards had their worst season in decades last year but are ready to bounce back. They added Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn to reload a brutal rotation. A huge piece of last year’s struggles was owed to poor performance (compared to their standard) from future Hall of Famers Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, who will almost certainly return to form and propel the team higher. The Cardinals will need Jordan Walker’s strong rookie campaign to not be a fluke, but in a rather open NL Central, the Cardinals should be able to return to former glory and make a charge to the playoffs yet again.
10. Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays had a strong season last year but could not get it done in the playoffs. The team is largely the same, with Turner added and Belt subtracted. If Bichette and Vlad Jr. can finally reach their promised heights, this team will go far on the back of its strong rotation. As of now, we’ve got them as good but not great.
9. Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays have taken a massive hit due to the disgusting conduct of their star shortstop Wander Franco. Still, the team is strong. Isaac Paredes has flown under the radar as an up-and-coming star, and Yandy Diaz may be breaking out into an elite hitter. Randy Arozarena can always provide a spark and Lowe and Lowe are just begging for a Chris Berman nickname. The question now lies in the rotation with Mclanahan out all year due to an elbow injury and Glasnow gone. That Rays pitching lab is always cooking something good up, and we won’t be surprised if they pull a couple of 3.50 ERA pitchers out of thin air.
8. Philadelphia Phillies
After two deep playoff runs the Phillies have established themselves as one of the best teams of the moment. While they did not get Ohtani or Yamamoto this offseason, they also were able to keep Aaron Nola, and not lose anyone else important to the success of the team. As such, as long as Harper can stay healthy, and Nola and Suarez can stay solid on the mound, the Phillies will be in the mix for a title yet again.
7. Arizona Diamondbacks
The reigning NL Pennant winners have only improved their squad this off-season, adding Eduardo Rodriguez to fill in the rotation and Eugenio Suarez and Joc Pederson to the lineup. With the lineup deeper and the back half of the rotation protected the D-Backs’ problem is not from within, it’s whether they can hold up against the division-rival Dodgers.
6. Baltimore Orioles
Hot off of a 101-win season, the O’s look to get right back to it. The addition of Corbin Burnes makes this team even stronger than it was last year. If the young stable of Rustchmann, Henderson and Mountcastle can continue to grow, this team is poised to do damage for the next several years.
5. New York Yankees
The acquisition of Juan Soto propels the Yankees near the top of the league. With a rotation bolstered by Marcus Stroman and a healthy Carlos Rodon (led by reigning Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, of course) the pitching is in a better place than last year as well. If Judge, Stanton and Soto all get 600 PA, this team is going to be an absolute bear to deal with.
4. Texas Rangers
The World Series Champs are looking good coming into the season. Scherzer nicely fills out the rotation, even if Montgomery does not return. The lineup is in a great spot, especially if Evan Carter can carry his performance from 2023 on to this season. As long as they can stay near the playoffs by August (which we expect they will do), they’ll also be able to unleash Jacob deGrom off the IL for a massive shot in the arm. Their biggest problem is their Lone Star rival, coming right up next.
3. Houston Astros
The Astros remain one of the best organizations in the sport, even after a cheating scandal. Their lineup features absolute monsters like Alvarez, Altuve, Tucker and Bregman. Reunited with Justin Verlander, who shows no signs of slowing down, they appear to be in an even better place they were last year when they won the NL West. Houston, the AL’s got a problem, and it’s with you.
2. Atlanta Braves
The Braves are loaded. Locked up young talent up and down the lineup including the reigning MVP Ronald Acuna. A potential breakout ace in Strider along with Fried and Morton already composed one of the best rotations in baseball before they added Chris Sale via trade. This is a terrifying team, and would sit at number one, if not for an even scarier team out west.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
I don’t think anyone is too surprised here. The Dodgers added the two most coveted free agents in the Japanese duo of Ohtani and Yamamoto. They also added one of the next best pitchers available in Glasnow, kept future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw on staff and added a strong corner outfielder in Teoscar Hernandez. They already won 100 games last year, and while they may experience a little bit of expectation related jitters at the start of the season, they should be a monster by the end of it. This is by far the best team in baseball on paper, maybe the best team on paper of the century.
However the chips fall, we hope all these teams have great seasons, free of injury and hardship. Here’s to a great season of baseball!
