MLB Top 10 Power Rankings To Open September

Minnesota has remained a strong team all season, playing at a similar pace to last year without the cakewalk of a division to take pressure off of these games. The lineup is deep, the bullpen has some studs up and down, and Pablo Lopez has a 1.92 ERA over his last 8 starts. The problem? Their rotation depth is in shambles, as Joe Ryan could be out for a while, and Bailey Ober has fallen on some hard times after a great summer. David Festa has started to throw the ball better as of late, and Zebby Matthews’ ERA is inflated by one atrocious start, but they’ll need more from some inexperienced arms if they want to stack up with the best teams in the sport. 

After looking like they’d lose the division crown to the Royals, they’ve dusted Kansas City and have continued to stave off a Twins team that’s lurked behind for months. Matthew Boyd has been remarkable for them in his first four starts, posting a 2.38 ERA and striking out 23.3% of batters faced. Gavin Williams is starting to throw the ball a bit better after a rocky start to his season, Alex Cobb has been solid through his first three starts with the Guardians, and Tanner Bibee has been solid all year. If Big Christmas and Kyle Manzardo can give this team a youthful injection offensively, they could be very dangerous.

Unfortunately for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers came into town and slammed the door on their surge toward the top of the division. Their Wild Card lead is just 2.5 games, so they can’t just sit back and know they’ll make the postseason, especially with the Mets taking a series from them at home as well. This team needs to get their mojo back after a torrid stretch because the Mets and Braves smell blood in the water. I still view Arizona as the best team in that bunch, thanks to their offense and bullpen, but the rotation is proving to be a real weakness.

The San Diego Padres have continued to stay hot, and they will get Fernandot Tatis Jr. back to bolster their offense. The pitching staff is rolling, and the team has a superstar in Jackson Merrill, who could win Rookie of the Year. With Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado being red-hot, this offense is fully clicking, and if this team can get into the playoffs and move past the Wild Card round, they could make it back to the World Series for the first time in nearly 30 years.

I’ve been discounting the Milwaukee Brewers for weeks, but they might be finding their role and dominating at a clip that’s hard to deny. No team in baseball has a higher Run Differential (+139), and while their rotation is pretty shaky, they might have enough arms to make a run for the pennant. The offense has been great, with Jackson Chourio looking like a star, and while the injury to Christian Yelich is brutal, they have seen William Contreras heat right back up and look like one of the premier catchers in baseball. This team is on a roll; you have to fear them.

The Houston Astros are back, a terrifying thought for the rest of the American League, who they’ve ruled over for nearly a decade. This team has some excellent starting pitching depth although their bullpen is absolutely putrid, and their lineup has remained incredible without Kyle Tucker in the mix due to a shin injury that he’s working back from. This team needs to stay hot in October, but to even recover from their putrid start is impressive enough. What a turnaround for this Astros team; they are inevitable.

Gerrit Cole has looked great as of late, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are incredible, and some of the supplementary bats are getting hot. Austin Wells, Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm, and Gleyber Torres have looked incredible as of late, and the return of pitchers like Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil should help that pitching staff. The bullpen is leaky but the arms are more than capable, but this team has to stop playing down to competition. They simply haven’t done enough with chances to put this division away; it may end their season once more.

The Baltimore Orioles are an enigma; much like their AL East rivals, the Yankees, they’ve stared at a slumping contender and just haven’t taken advantage. Sure, they’re a flawed team, but Zach Eflin looks incredible, and Corbin Burnes is someone you can bank on to return to glory after some very rough starts as of late. The team has a deep lineup, but the biggest concern is a bullpen that doesn’t have any form of consistency in high-leverage situations. They’re not perfect, but they could get hot at the right time and win the World Series in a similar fashion to Texas last season.

This roster is built for October, and they dusted the Braves this weekend to make sure they held onto their firm grasp of the NL East. A team with a loaded rotation and bullpen needs their star bats to stay hot because lineup depth can be a bit of a problem at times. Philly looks like they’re finally waking up from a gross summer, and this team is more than capable of going on a run on the biggest stage. Red October is almost a certainty, but will they grab a top 2 seed so they can avoid a Wild Card Round?

The Los Angeles Dodgers looked like they would be in a heated NL West battle down the stretch, but they crushed the Arizona Diamondbacks and look like the best team in the National League despite their injuries. Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto aren’t on their active roster and yet they have the best record in the sport, they’re a unit that just cannot be discounted right now. They aren’t by far the best team in baseball, but I feel confident calling them favorites to win it all.