Ben Verlander takes you through his MLB postseason bracket series by series until he crowns the 2024 World Series champion. Will it be the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles or a different team all together?
For the third straight week, a new Major League Baseball team has taken the top spot in Newsweek’s Power Rankings, while many of the league’s big spenders have continued to fall.
And almost a month into the season, the biggest question on everyone’s minds persists: What’s wrong with the Houston Astros?
Here are the latest Power Rankings as the end of April nears:
Atlanta Braves (16-6)
Cleveland Guardians (17-6)
Baltimore Orioles (15-8)
New York Yankees (16-8)
Milwaukee Brewers (14-8)
Philadelphia Phillies (15-9)
Kansas City Royals (14-10)
Chicago Cubs (14-9)
Los Angeles Dodgers (14-11)
Texas Rangers (12-12)
Cincinnati Reds (13-10)
Boston Red Sox (13-11)
New York Mets (12-11)
Detroit Tigers (14-10)
Pittsburgh Pirates (13-11)
San Diego Padres (13-13)
Toronto Blue Jays (13-11)
Arizona Diamondbacks (12-13)
Seattle Mariners (12-11)
Tampa Bay Rays (12-13)
San Francisco Giants (12-13)
Washington Nationals (10-12)
St. Louis Cardinals (10-14)
Minnesota Twins (9-13)
Los Angeles Angels (10-14)
Houston Astros (7-17)
Oakland Athletics (9-15)
Miami Marlins (6-19)
Colorado Rockies (6-18)
Chicago White Sox (3-20)
Philadelphia Phillies (+7): The Phillies could not have had a better week of baseball. They won seven straight games before finally losing to the Reds on Tuesday night and have catapulted all the way to the top of the National League East, just behind the top team in these rankings, the Braves.
New York Mets (+5): This past week was clearly a good one for the NL East. The division’s third-place Mets also had a stellar week, including a six-game winning streak dating to the middle of April.
Biggest Fallers
Houston Astros (-5): The Astros have an entire starting rotation on the injured list, and are playing some of the worst baseball we’ve seen from a club that’s made seven straight American League Championship Series. They were swept by the Royals and Braves, and most recently lost a series to the Nationals. Houston, you have a problem.
Los Angeles Angels (-5): Before a win against the Orioles on Tuesday, the Angels had lost five straight games. They also lost leadoff hitter Anthony Rendon to a hamstring injury after he had settled into a role after losing the previous two seasons to injuries. His seven-year, $245 million contract somehow keeps getting worse for the team.
San Diego Padres (-5): The Padres have had an up and down season that was perfectly summed up last week. They won three games in a row against the Dodgers and Brewers, before immediately losing three games in a row against the Brewers and Blue Jays. They just need to find more consistency.
Pittsburgh Pirates (-5): The Pirates lost six straight games from April 15-21 before finally breaking that streak by winning the first two games of their series against the Brewers. After getting off to a scorching-hot start this year, they’re starting to come back down to earth.
