30) Pittsburgh Pirates
29) Baltimore Orioles
28) Detroit Tigers
27) Colorado Rockies
26) Seattle Mariners
25) Texas Rangers
24) Kansas City Royals
23) Miami Marlins
22) Arizona Diamondbacks
21) Cincinatti Reds
20) Philadelphia Phillies
19) San Francisco Giants
18) Chicago Cubs
17) Boston Red Sox
16) Milwaukee Brewers
15) Houston Astros
14) Los Angeles Angels
13) Cleveland
12) Oakland A’s
11) Minnesota Twins
10) Tampa Bay Rays
After falling only two games shy of winning the World Series, the Rays traded former Cy Young winner Blake Snell and let one of their best pitchers in Charlie Morton walk during free agency. That’s not what most teams do after a World Series appearance, but Tampa Bay isn’t like most teams. As long as they continue to try to balance being competitive with spending the least amount of money as possible, these are the kinds of moves the Rays will keep making. That being said, Tampa Bay is still a very good baseball team. They have several young position players who could be all-stars this season along with a solid pitching staff, even after the losses of Snell and Morton. The Yankees and Blue Jays might be the favorites in the division, but the Rays will surely make some noise.
9) St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals had perhaps the biggest splash of the offseason when they traded for superstar 3rd baseman Nolan Arenado to pair with Paul Goldschmidt and starter Jack Flaherty, who is solidifying himself as one of the best pitchers in the game. St. Louis is almost guaranteed to win the NL Central, as the rest of the teams in the division aren’t even in the top half of these power rankings. However, the rest of the National League is stacked, so a deep playoff will be as tough as ever for the Cardinals. Still, they are a legitimate World Series contender after adding Arenado.
8) Washington Nationals
The Nationals are a huge sleeper pick for the World Series. Along with one of the best starting rotations in baseball lead by Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin, they have NL MVP favorite Juan Soto in the outfield. Washington’s infield got a huge boost after trading for Josh Bell early in the offseason who will help fill some of the hole that Anthony Rendon left. Shortstop Trea Turner is one of the most underrated stars in the league as well. The Nats will have a lot of competition in the division with the Braves and Mets, but they cannot be counted out of winning the World Series as they did only two years ago.
7) Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays certainly had an active offseason. After being in the mix for just about every free agent on the market, they came away with a couple of stars in George Springer and Marcus Semien. Toronto is hoping these two will mesh well with their young core made up of Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio. While their offense looks great, the Blue Jays’ pitching staff has some question marks behind Cy Young candidate Hyun-Jin Ryu including rookie Nate Pearson, who the team is hoping can make a big impact right away. Even though they are in the same division as the Yankees, the Blue Jays are one of the top teams in the American League and seem ready for a World Series run.
6) Chicago White Sox
The White Sox are here. After years of rebuilding, their top prospects are now in the big leagues and the money that they have spent has brought them some great talent. Reigning AL MVP Jose Abreu leads the potent offense that has a surprising amount of depth. Hitters one through nine in the lineup are all good to great hitters. As for pitching, Lucas Giolito should be a Cy Young candidate and Chicago added starter Lance Lynn and elite closer Liam Hendriks in the offseason. If the White Sox live up to expectations, we’ll be seeing them in the World Series.
5) New York Mets
If the Nolan Arenado trade to the Cardinals wasn’t the move of the offseason, the Mets’ trade for Francisco Lindor was. Similar to the Blue Jays, the Mets were connected to almost every free agent and trade candidate this offseason. Also like Toronto, the Mets got some big names. New owner Steve Cohen went to work right away adding Lindor, James McCann and Carlos Carrasco to an already good roster. The pitching staff is one of the best in the league in perennial Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom and stars Marcus Stroman and Noah Syndergaard, as well as Carrasco. The Mets’ competition is so good that they might not even be the best team in their division or even their own city, but just like their rivals, the Mets have enough to win it all.
4) New York Yankees
The Yankees’ health or lack-thereof could put them at any spot 1-20 in these power rankings. They added some much needed starting pitching depth this offseason in Jameson Taillon and Corey Kluber and re-signed AL MVP candidate DJ LeMahieu. Other than that, there wasn’t much they needed to do. Their season, as in years past, will depend solely on their health. They have all the offensive firepower any team can ever want and now a good pitching staff too. If the Yankees can stay healthy, they are more than capable of winning the World Series.
3) San Diego Padres
Some great offseasons were recently mentioned, but none of them compare to what the Padres did. They signed promising young infielder Ha-Seong Kim, traded for two Cy Young candidates in Blake Snell and Yu Darvish and another solid starter in Joe Musgrove, and locked up the face of their franchise and possibly all of baseball Fernando Tatis Jr. to a team-friendly 14-year deal. San Diego also managed to sign some good depth pieces and keep all of their top prospects in the process. The only problem for the Padres is that they are in the same division as the Dodgers. If San Diego does win the World Series, which they very well could, their World Series competition will be a breeze compared to what they are up against in their own league.
2) Atlanta Braves
The Braves came so close to the World Series last season, having a 3-1 lead against the Dodgers in National League Championship Series. That was without their ace pitcher Mike Soroka, however, who could be back for Atlanta by mid-April. They also signed starter Charlie Morton, so their starting pitching will presumably be more capable of closing out a series in 2021. Offensively, the Braves still have one of the best lineups in the league featuring reigning MVP Freddie Freeman and stars Ronald Acuña Jr, Marcell Ozuna and Dansby Swanson. Atlanta is facing as good a competition as any team this year, but they are ready to finish what they fell short of last year.
1) Los Angeles Dodgers
This Dodgers team is one of the most stacked teams of all time. The reigning champs re-signed their biggest priorities, added to the bullpen, and signed Trevor Bauer, the reigning Cy Young winner, to a record breaking deal. The Dodgers now have three MVPs and three Cy Young winners on the team as well as Corey Seager, Walker Buehler, Will Smith, Max Muncy, and more. The extent to how talented this team is cannot be understated. They have some good competition, but anything less than another World Series trophy would be a massive underachievement for the Dodgers.