MLB Power Rankings 3.0: Mets Rise, Yankees Hold Steady

It’s Week 3 of our MLB Power Rankings and both local teams are holding pretty steady.

The 12-4 Yankees continue to find ways to win while the Mets have been one of the hotter teams around the league over the last week and a half after a dreadful 0-5 start.

Big movers include the Kansas City Royals, who the Mets just took two of three from, and the San Diego Padres while we pump the brakes on the Boston Red Sox.

Let’s jump in:

2024 MLB Power Rankings 3.0

Los Angeles Dodgers (Previous #1): Mookie Betts is leading almost every offensive category and Tyler Glasnow looks like a Cy Young Award winner. Just wait until they get into a groove.
New York Yankees (Previous #2): They almost went 6-0 last week but the bullpen collapsed in extra innings, so they had to settle for two out of three against Cleveland.
Atlanta Braves (Previous #3): They’re lucky to get out of Miami of all places with a series win, but the Braves offense appears to be able to turn it on at any time. The bats are a juggernaut, but the pitching has been mediocre — and now Spencer Strider is done for the season.
Texas Rangers (Previous #4): Not a great week for the defending champs, who lost two of three to the Athletics before dropping a series to the disappointing Astros. Major questions are starting to emerge about their pitching staff and another down week could see them drop in our rankings.
Milwaukee Brewers (Previous #9): The Brew Crew continues to churn out good results. They took two of three from the Reds before nearly sweeping the Orioles in Baltimore. Want to talk about a sneaky good offense? They’re leading the majors with 6.5 runs per game.
Baltimore Orioles (Previous #6): We’re still waiting for the Orioles to click it into gear, but a sweep of the Red Sox to start last week helped ease some anxieties. Perhaps Jackson Holliday will be the sparkplug, but it’s been a slow start for him in the majors.
Pittsburgh Pirates (Previous #7): It feels odd writing that the Pirates are 11-5 to start the season, but here we are. They split with Detroit before taking two of three from the Phillies to ramp the excitement up a bit further. Just wait until top prospect Paul Skenes arrives.
Kansas City Royals (Previous #20): The Royals had been one of the hottest teams in baseball, winning seven straight before meeting the Mets in Queens. They lost two of three after the bats went silent, but Cole Ragans looked very good on Sunday. There is concern involving Salvador Perez’s hip/groin, but this is a very different KC team from last year.
Cleveland Guardians (Previous #10): They avoided a sweep at the hands of the Yankees on Sunday after sweeping a quick two-gamer against the horrendous White Sox. Their team ERA ranks fifth-best in the majors while their offense ranks in the top half of most categories.
Chicago Cubs (Previous #8): The Cubs are kind of fun? They went .500 this week, which allowed a couple of teams to pass them on the rankings list, but Shota Imanaga looks like a superstar already. No runs allowed in his first three starts for the 9-6 Cubbies.
Philadelphia Phillies (Previous #11): Bryce Harper is struggling and so is the Phillies’ offense. They rank fifth-worst in the league in runs per game during an unimpressive 8-8 start.
Detroit Tigers (Previous #12): The Tigers are showing that they can make the AL Central a two-horse race alongside the Guardians. All this while getting very small contributions from Parker Meadows and Colt Keith.
Arizona Diamondbacks (Previous #14): I’m not sure how many times I’ll say it this season, but the Diamondbacks are sneaking up on anyone this year. Still, they were given a brutal start to the season in terms of their strength of schedule and they should be able to stabilize now. They went 4-2 last week with series wins over the Cardinals and Rockies.
San Diego Padres (Previous #21): The Padres get a big jump after a strong week in which they took two of three from the Cubs and — much more impressively — two of three from the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Like Jurickson Profar, San Diego will start to be very relevant if they keep this up when they face the Brewers to start the new week.
Tampa Bay Rays (Previous #16): Tampa knocked around Blake Snell on Sunday to cap off a series win over the Giants. They have won six of their last eight even with Randy Arozarena sputtering.
New York Mets (Previous #18): The Mets continue to climb ever so slightly after starting the season ranked 23rd in our rankings. They have won three straight series and have gone 7-3 in their last 10 to get back to within touching distance of .500. This is all happening while Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil are in big-time slumps. That’s what good pitching does for you, though, as the Mets have gotten some solid contributions from the likes of… Jose Butto and Luis Severino?
Boston Red Sox (Previous #5): Did I get a little too caught up in the Red Sox’s start that saw them catapult from the lower half of our initial rankings all the way up to No. 5? Probably. They got swept by the Orioles before taking two of three from the Angels. Monday afternoon saw them lose 6-0 to the hot Guardians.
Cincinnati Reds (Previous #19): The Reds are 9-6 which under normal circumstances at this point of the season will get you a bit higher on this list. But the record is padded by a sweep of a really, really bad White Sox team over the weekend after they lost two of three to the Brewers.
Toronto Blue Jays (Previous #15): Jose Berrios has looked solid while the Blue Jays clawed back to .500 with a 4-2 week against the disappointing Mariners and really bad Rockies.
Houston Astros (Previous #13): The Astros are still considered the class of the American League, but it’s about time they start proving it on a more consistent basis. They took two of three from the Rangers after being swept by the Royals. A big week against the Braves would return things to a normal pecking order.
Seattle Mariners (Previous #21): For a team with such high hopes this season, the Mariners sure look like they don’t know what to do with them. They’ve lost all five of their series and are 6-10.
San Francisco Giants (Previous #17): Blake Snell’s start to life in San Francisco likely has some folks alarmed, and rightfully so. This is the game you play when represented by Scott Boras. Another 6-10 side, I expected more from them in the early portions of 2024.
St. Louis Cardinals (Previous #24): For an offense with Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, the 7-9 Cardinals should not be averaging 3.8 runs per game, which ranks ninth-worst in the majors.
Minnesota Twins (Previous #23): I thought a mediocre-looking AL Central would be there for the Twins’ taking again, but it looks like they want no part of it. A 6-8 start isn’t the worst, but losing Carlos Correa to an oblique injury isn’t great.
Los Angeles Angels (Previous #25): They’re hanging around a slow-starting AL West, which is commendable, but we don’t see it lasting that long once some of the other clubs get going.
Oakland Athletics (Previous #27): The Athletics are 7-9 and Paul Blackburn hasn’t allowed a run in three starts! They’ve won three series in a row! Embrace the chaos!
Washington Nationals (Previous #26): MacKenzie Gore looks good. So does CJ Abrams. This won’t be a great year for the Nats, but there are some pieces here.
Miami Marlins (Previous #29): They won one game two weeks ago and won two last week. Progress? Is that what we’re going to call it? Are our standards that low?
Colorado Rockies (Previous #28): Our standards are that low because the Rockies, with one more win, look a heck of a lot worse.
Chicago White Sox (Previous #30): Is this the point in a video game where you just click the “sim rest of season” button?