Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Power Ranking Every MLB Team!

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

Visit https://www.directv.com/jomboy to learn more!Go to http://shadyrays.com and use code TALKIN for 35% off polarized sunglasses.Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JMBASEBALLUse code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALK.... Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Talkin' Jake and Coach Trev give their 1-30 Power Rankings for Major League Baseball. Do you agree or disagree with them!? 0:00 Intro4:20 Where Jake and Trev differ8:00 Rankings 1-1031:54 Rankings 11-2045:37 Rankings 21-30 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Power is power. We are doing the first power rankings of the season today. Let's get fiscal. Let's talk ball. Hmm. I got no one. Both Luis Castillo's.

Jacob Wilson. Swinging at everything. Ooh, the kid. And a knock. He's swinging. He's swinging. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Presenting you by Seat Geek Code.

Talk in 2020. My name is Jake Storelli. I go by the moniker at Talking Jake Online. That's Trevor Plouffe, who goes by the moniker at Trevor Plouf. BVD is filling in for Uncle Bob today. We got the original core here right now. Coach Trev, how are you doing? I got a story to tell.

This is a true story, okay? We're going to get into the power rankings. It's going to be a fun episode. I'm so happy BBD is here to hear this story. day I'm sitting out there. My son, Jimmy Clausen's son, out there playing in the water. Random kid.

You know, they're on a beach full of people. He's also swimming with them. My kids start coming in. That kid stays out there. And all of a sudden I see his head just dangling above the water. And you know what I had to go do? Save the kid's life.

And I did it. And I'm very happy that. I'm not like, I'm just happy that I was there in the moment because saved his life? The, The dad was fishing like 200 yards away. It would have no idea, man. So like I got that kind of riding right now, man.

I'm just happy that I was there, to be honest with you. Because it was a little scary. I didn't really know what to do. I just took the shirt off, lifeguarded it up. Baywatch style rand dove in, got the kid, man. So I'm not, I'm not going to chop you down. Thank you for, thank you for your service. I again, I don't know how close.

Where do I rank in the power rankings now? Hi. I don't know how close we were to life and death there, but I'm glad. I'm glad that it's not a different story. So thank you. Right. Okay. I do have a little, I won't say jealousy, but I had a, one of our buddies we grew up with, he moved to like a Jersey Shoretown.

And we hadn't seen him in like a year. And then he's like, oh, dude, how you doing? He's like, oh, this and the other. He's like, yeah, I don't know, a little while back, like kind of. save this kid, and we're like, oh, all right.

It was like a whole deal. Like he was on the news. It was in the newspaper. And we were like, what? Like you didn't tell us about this? So yeah, one of our buddies,

also a hero. I love that. I just announced it on talking baseball. All right. Well, I'm over it. Let's talk power rankings. Trev.

Power is power. I know that that gets both of us going because we get in our game of throne. CERC mode. And yeah, it's something we did a little bit last year and we're like, hey, everyone else kind of does their version. Let's do our version. And yeah, I don't know if it's going to, I doubt it's monthly, but I don't know,

maybe four times a year just to check in. And I think it gives us a pulse of where we're at on teams. And Trev, one of the dumb things I like to do regularly, you know, we're like 16, 17 games in, that's a 10th of the season. We're one-tenth of the way there. I know it doesn't feel like it, right? But a 10th is like a real thing. Like, oh, a 10th of our season, we were bad, Braves.

I get what you're about to say. This is what this is measurement. This is where I, you know, I love doing the power rankings, but there was a little bit of a struggle at some point because I'm like, okay, where do you put the Braves who have started out horribly? Like you just said, like, I don't think they're a bottom five team, but like they've played like a bottom five teams so far. So that's where I struggle with my rankings.

Like am I going where do I actually think these teams are or where are they at right now? I kind of mixed it up a little bit if we're being honest. So my rankings might be a little all over the place. Yeah, Trev, the early returns on a couple teams that it seems were the most separated on are those Atlanta Braves. I have them a little bit higher than you currently. I put them at 17. If we're being honest, I told you I wanted to open up this episode

with a little bit of foreplay for the people of, and fellas, you should start there, by the way. Yeah, take your time. Take your time. Don't be in a rush. Both have needs. I put the Atlanta Braves at 17. You put them at 23, Trev, which I...

Again, it's... It's everything you just laid out. It's tough because what the product's been bad and a couple of the games I lost, it felt worse. But yeah. It just hasn't been a lot of, there hasn't been a lot of positives coming out of Atlanta.

I mean, Sean Murphy getting glasses and being great is, I'm into that. Spencer Strider coming back. Obviously, that helps a lot. But I just figured if we're doing it right now, I got to get, I got to capture the moment.

And it's going to be, I do believe the Braves will end up being a top 10 team in this league. But I think it's okay now to say they just haven't been that. And I'm going to put them where I believe they deserve to be. Like I don't have a problem ranking them where I haven't ranked and saying, hey man, like the angels have played better baseball than you. And like I want to give the angels some credit. So that's kind of where my head's that. Yeah, the angels also on the list of you and I being pretty far apart.

You had them 16. I have them 22 right now. I'm just tough, tough to be bought in Halo fans. And if you want to wear that against me, I'm fine with it. I put them at 16 because I believe a 500 record would be, like they'd be ecstatic about that this year.

But I put them at 16 to give them a little bit of something to fight for, Jake. I don't want to put them at their ceiling. And Angels fans have said, like basically said, shh, don't talk about the Angels good start. that's rule number one. Don't talk about it. So hopefully it continues.

So I wanted to give them a little bit of wiggle room. 16. I mean, they played a good ball. They've had some guys really step up for them. I know. I know. They've hurt me many years that it's going to be hard to believe

until I see them after the trade deadline. If I see them in the playoffs, maybe. All right. We're not just going to randomly hop around the whole episode. I got one more random one. Okay. Where we hit perfectly together.

other symbiotic relationship actually learned that at bush gardens yesterday what that means uh 26th ranked team in the big leagues yeah my minnesota twins they have played a horrible ball and i feel terrible you know like i picked them to win the division i thought the roster was there but they lose matt walner carlos carrae last night paula lopez has been on the aisle nothing has gotten right for them not a thing um so i'm actually happy that we took them down because i think they need to be brought down a little bit, hit rock bottom and maybe they can climb their way back up when things start to warm up, I guess. I'll give them that a little bit, but they've just played bad ball. And I'm happy that you've noticed that as well. I feel like I needed to like give a little

talking to, you know what I'm saying? Like they need this. That's great. And I just want to tell our listeners, hopefully that's the last twins talk. It is, it is funny to see the ones that we just randomly hit on the nose about, the San Francisco Giants coming up. We both had the same. This is the first time me and Trev, we each, instead of coming to a consensus, which we did a couple times last year, we wanted each of our lists and see the differences and talk it out, because that's the other part.

That's what we do. Communication is the key to success. We both had the Blue Jays at the same number coming up later in the episode. And it looks like another big disagreement is the Houston Astros. Let's start chopping down the list, Trev. And it's with our friends at Shady, Rays. Get ready for the season ahead with quality shades built to last. Our friends at Shady Ray's have you covered with premium polarized sunglasses.

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Go get yours. Now, Coach Trevor Plu. I think there's two teams that if you're making power rankings for whatever website, YouTube, TV, around baseball, there's two teams that had to be sorted out at the top.

We landed with the same top two. Would you like to announce it to the people? Yeah, so officially one-tenth of the way through the season, the power ranking number one team, the San Diego Padres. who have just done everything, right? Everything that we like asked of them to do, they've done it. Like, for instance, keep the pitchers.

They talked about trading in the out season. They've been able to do that. Nick Povetta's been incredible for them. Randy Vasquez offers, you know, a change of pace of a five-pitch mix, keeping guys off bounce. I'll call him my soft contact king right now. The bullpen we knew was going to be good. It's been lights out.

And then the core players, you know, even with Jake Croninworth, with Jackson Merrill on the IL right now, actually spoke to Jake last night via Instagram DM, talked about our ribs. Tatease has been great. You know, like everything that we thought they could be, they've been so far,

and they've won series, and they've done it in just kind of every different way imaginable. They have starting pitching, bullpen offense, everything's been great. So I thought they were almost a no-brainer for number one. Yeah, it's, and if you're,

if you have no idea, we both have the dot. I mean the Dodgers are still the Dodgers. They're 13 and 6, even though they've been on a slight series struggle bus of recent. But yeah, I mean, for me it was the Padres, there's a couple things you could hold against them. They've played a ton of home games, which, again, for early on in these power rankings, they've played 12 home games, six road games, where there's some other teams that are flipped or even worse than that. So that was something that was tough to juggle early on.

I guess the other thing that I could spin if I wanted to. Don't do it. Don't do it. What? You're going opponents, aren't you? So over 500 and under 500, there's something there with the Padres. They're nine and one against teams under 500, but it's so early they've made these teams. So I'm not as hard on that.

I guess something I just want people to note. And again, this is currently good news for Father's fans. 11 and O versus right-handed starting pitching this year. Three and four versus the lefties. So again, I'm not not knocking them. I also had them at one. Just a couple of my notes of why, how you could be critical of them,

because otherwise everything's amazing. Yeah, that's great. The Dodgers were a team that I kind of struggled with because I think right now, again, we're doing like current state power rankings. You could have moved them down to four or five. But in the end, they really haven't played. this is crazy and they really haven't played great baseball all year long they were they were

coming back from deficits every single game so you could chalk that up as being great for them as we always call them inevitable or you could say well you know they've been like looking beatable but it could be a little bit scary for everyone that they have still compiled they got off that fast start you know still with a nice record although i believe they're in third place in the nOS right now but they haven't put everything together they really have have not. So it's going to be interesting to see if there's just this other gear and then they do take off and they run away with everything like we said. But I mean, it's hard not to put that roster, you know, up at the top of the rankings or near the top.

They're still the Dodgers. Power is power. That's the one that that's that's what power is power means. The Dodgers. Also, though, Chris Taylor's in center field last night. He made a great play. So maybe I shouldn't be saying it in a negative play. Their defense has been a little weird, and there's still some of these Dodgers' versatility times that I'm looking around,

and I see Muki at Short and Chris Taylor in center, and something feels slightly off about it. Again, they have everything else to overcome that, even Snell being hurt. Like Bobby Miller used to be your guy guy. He's getting a spot start today. but you know the pitching depth is already being tested there where man things things for the Padres are going as smooth as they can in a baseball life

Trev moving down so it's an NL party if people don't understand we've been discussing it but you have your first six team we each have our first six teams as National League we do have one team missing from that. Trev, your number three team. I have at number eight, so why don't you tell the people about the New York Mets? That's interesting you have them down at eight

because this is a thing, Jake. They've answered the question again about their starting pitching. Everyone has been great. Everyone has been great. You know, Sanga, McGill, Peterson, like, they've been able to do it. And it's gotten me thinking, like, what, like, we can't do it anymore. I know, I guess it's 10 game or, excuse me, a 10th of the way through the season. But those are the questions we had going into the season with the Mets.

We knew the offense was going to be there, even though a couple of the guys who, you know, who we thought maybe have established ourselves like a Mark Vientos has struggled. They've had plenty to make up for that. But the starting pitching has been there. So that was like my question mark coming into the season. They've answered it again. And so I have them high. You know, will it continue, I guess, is the question.

But for me right now, they look about as good as any team out there. Yeah, I have them at 8th and we'll sort through the list to get there. There's a strength of schedule stat on baseball reference. It has them with the fifth easiest schedule so far. I don't live by that stat, but again, I'm the guy arguing against them right now. And hey, against 500 teams, they've been the best. Seven and two against teams over 500. They are four and four against teams under 500,

so they're a little backwards right now. Where I can't argue with you, Trev, is I said before this season, this is my big year to find out, do the Mets just pitch now? Are they one of those teams? And that's what Stearns was supposed to bring from Milwaukee. It looks like it. It looks like it, right?

like their bullpen who after Diaz, the names don't jump off the page, their bullpen's been pretty damn good. That, okay, isn't that what we used to say about Milwaukee every year? So you are right there. If this team does pitch like this for the whole season, because the lineup hasn't fully clicked yet, although Soto's starting to go, that, yeah, there's a potential upside to this team,

especially if the Braves are going to have another choppy season, that, yeah, three's a little high for my blood, but the Mets are really good, and they're one of the teams that has changed my perspective of them into this season. If Lidor at the top of the lineup gets going, even, you know, just career norms

or even a little bit below career norms, the way Pete Alonzo is driving in runs right now, it would, they don't even need the pitching to be what it can be. Like, they're going to put up runs this year. I truly do believe in this lineup, but if they're going to, like you said, become the next brewers where they're finding diamonds in the rough of the bullpen.

I believe there's like six guys with a whip under one in that bullpen. And again, the Clay Holmes experiment has gone incredible. The McGill brothers continue to just do, just dominate in the bigs. To me, they're a very well-rounded team right now. So I had to put them up. The other NL teams that we can chip through pretty quickly. I had the Phillies at three still. I think for their start of the season,

they have still displayed who they are. A little bit of power is power. And then I went D-BACs giants where Arizona, I mean, the Giants, by pure impressiveness of what's been shown on the field, they probably have the best argument for third, which is insane because then you're starting off with three NLS teams. I think the dimebacks have shown that they are still the dimebacks, that offense is still going to play

with a little more rotation depth that I went Phillies, D-backs, Giants. You went Phillies Giants' D-backs and it is splitting hairs a bit. Yeah. I probably give the Phillies too much credit like I always do. I just like that team. I believe in that team. I agree with you. The Giants have

probably put themselves in that spot. I have them ranked fifth, one behind the Phillies. And Arizona like you hit it on the head, man. Offensively, they're incredible. I believe that like the starting pitching is going to be even better than it has been, where all these teams are kind of right in that same realm.

And I don't think any, like you and I, if the Phillies, the Giants or the Diamondbacks went on this run and ended up in the World Series, I don't think, well, the Giants, I guess we would be a little bit surprised, but not after watching the first couple weeks of the season. Going into the season, yes, but they, I believe we said they'd be happy with 500 this year. Didn't we say that?

I think so. And things have... Maybe a little more... I don't know. I'd have to see the tape. Yeah. I know. We said wild car.

We said wild car. I mean, Junghu Lee being who he has been massive to this season. And hey, if I'm going to home road other teams, the Giants have gotten a lot of their work done on the road. Eight and three included in an East Coast roadie. So the Giants deserve the love.

Yeah. The lineup is long. We love the starting pitching. We love the bullpen. They're fundamentally sound. They can find different ways to win. Yeah. They've grown on me a lot over the first couple weeks of the season.

All right. I have a team to circle back on a second. But let's finally get to the American League, which like I mentioned, we both have them at seven. You have two teams at seven and eight. I have these two teams at seven and nine. Trev Yes You put the Texas Rangers

And then the New York Yankees At 7 and 8 I went Yankees 7 Rangers 9 Are you just being salty on me or what I'm not being salty on you I mean right now I'm looking at this This Rangers lineup And you know Josh Chung you know only eight games play

But if you include him We got seven guys with OPS Pluses over 100 That's a long deep lineup Jacob de Grom has looked really good Tyler Mali has looked incredible. Like I'm very happy for him. He's back on the mound pitching through four games, a 0.92 ERA. Got 21Ks already.

And then, you know, some of the are one of the best stories in all of baseball right now, Jake. And this is what I always kind of look to to, you know, hey, is this team going to go place this year? Jack Leiter being the guy that he's been. Like what a difference that makes in that rotation. So, you know, I think that was where we. Again, you don't have to have five starters deep in your rotation for us to like your team, but obviously starting pitching depth helps. Eivaldi, Maldi, DeGrom, lighter.

What's not to like right there? So you pair that with the offense. It was difficult. Where do you put the first American team? And it's pretty crazy because we did talk about that in the aisle season. Like, is this just the National League's year? Like, it just seems like these teams are on paper much better. And then, yeah, again, through the first two weeks, I feel like almost the entire baseball world is thinking along the same lines where, yeah, it's the National League.

And we, what do we? I'm at seven with my first American League team. Is that what to this? Yeah. So, I don't know. Between Texas and the Yankees, I feel, I feel like the Rangers are a little bit more complete. That's why I have them above. I like the Rangers.

I put them as my, my World Series AL team to start the year. Again, the AL just hasn't separated at all. I did put the Yankees on top of them just because seeing the talent, it's there. There's big talent on the field for the Yankees. They went to the World Series. I know they lost Soto, but their young guys are playing out of their dome,

which is incredible. It can change your whole, your organization's outlook. Like, Ben Rice is leading in baseball savant categories. Volpe has looked. solid. Austin Wells has looked really good. Paraza and Cabrera. Dominguez, the Martian feels like he's coming into his own that that's, if those five young guys are major leaguers, never mind if some of them have plus in there, that changes your season's outlook. 100%. That was my question part where the Yankees going in. They have young guys. Who is going to be the guy to step up?

are any of them going to step up? Is it going to be a sophomore slump thing? And then, yeah, like you mentioned, Ben Rice has been incredible. Wells has been great. Martians put up incredible abats. You know, will that continue throughout a season? And I guess time will tell as the book gets out a little bit more and more on these guys. But so far, like, if you're just watching them, like, the abats have been of the quality variety.

And like, I don't know. I believe a little bit more in the Yankees than I did coming into the season. I definitely had questions about them. We talked about it during their TPP. but they look pretty good. The young guys, like you said, that changes, that changes the outlook. Because you have the established vets,

you can kind of place, hey, you know, this guy is going to be around his career norms. The young guys, the rookies, the second year guys, that's where teams can start to either go take a step forward or take a step back. And the Yankees have done the former, man. They look good.

Juan Soto mentioned it. The best hitter in the world plays on the Yankees. So that helps. Trev, same top nine. And I had this team at six and you had them at nine. The Chicago Cubs

who I... What do you got? This one's a little tough for me because I do think they're playing like incredible baseball and they're a well-rounded team. The only reason I put them down is because of the loss of Justin Steele. I kind of regret it. After I sent it, I kind of regretted it because I do believe they will go make a move.

I guess a couple of reasons. Justin's Steele being out really hurts. again, I do think they will go attempt to price Andy away or maybe they go get one of the twins pitchers. I'm not really sure. They're going to make something happen. Also, the bullpen has been very, very shaky early on. So that's kind of why I had them down besides Porter Hodge.

I mean, they have guys there, but they really haven't stepped up just yet. I do expect a lot out of this team. But yeah, I feel like nine was right. It's, they're interesting. Can you mentally wash those first two games and take two losses off the schedule? Not how it should work, but you kind of can, right? And then the bullpen thing, I'm, again, if you like the Cubs or don't like the Cubs, which I think I'm jumping on the Cubs bandwagon a little bit,

the bullpen's the easiest thing to fix, or one guy gets hot, or Ryan Presley clicks, and then the rest of it sorts out. And I, okay, Cubs fans turn off your ears for a second, A little Jake Johnboy credit. Matt Shaw just got sent down. The batting stance was just a lot for a kid trying to make. Wasn't we crush again spring training with that batting stance? Yeah, I don't know.

Again, it was the old man sensor going off. I still, Matt Shaw's defense was awesome. It's going to happen. Let's see that develop. Trev rounding out the top 10 And then we'll start chewing through the list in chunks a little bit You went with Detroit who I had at 12 I went with the Astros which I might have just unked myself

Because you had them a little bit lower on the list Yeah so Detroit for me They have also answered the question I had I questioned the starting pitching I thought there was enough question works Obviously school is going to be a guy I love Jack Flaherty. I was curious to see how he was going to look this year,

and he's been really good. Mize has been great Job. They've answered my question in that regard. And they've hit more than I thought they were going to hit, Jake. So I had to put, you know, they're by far my highest ranked AL Central team. We'll get into that a little bit later. But they've been impressive to watch. You know, when they need to score runs, they can score runs.

I think their defense can play well enough. And the biggest question I had coming into the year, we know the bullpen was going to be great. but what were going to get out of some of these starting pitchers? I thought there was, you know, at least a little bit of variance in where they could end up, but they've all looked really good so far. Yeah, I also had them as my highest sale central team. I do think sorting between them and the Guardians,

it feels like a conversation that's on repeat year after year. And even the Royals, who we both had a little further down, but, you know, a good week or bad week from those guys, Royals just happen to run into the buzzsaw That is the Yankees I guess for myself Trevor Houston Houston's still rent free bro

They're still in there man Like they went to the dance They just got scoobled Who you know Is going to win Or won the Cy Young And has a really good chance to win it again And then they got Tigers

Pitching Chaos And a three game set They lost two games Otherwise Houston made the dance again, and they were there. And I love the Kyle Tucker move for Chicago, but like I've said a lot, Paredes is bawling out.

And Cam Smith made the team. Wisniews in the rotation. That trade could end up being pretty damn good for Houston too, with other Hunter Brown looks incredible. He's had, I believe I saw stats since May of last year. He's one or two in ERA in all of the big leagues. He's turned into an absolute workhorse. like stud so i i mean this this portion of the list call it 12 through 18 could have went any

single way for me they really can because every team in this tier i believe has question marks some of it's pitch related some of it's hitting related uh they're all kind of right there together uh this is where i struggled the most but yeah the astros almost similar to um i felt like they needed to hear it a little bit like it's time to step up your play You're going to, when did they, when do they take over the AOS? It was in May of last year. So this is nothing unfamiliar to them. And maybe they'll go on that run again.

But this is my kind of way of being a dad to them saying, hey, if you don't pick it up a little bit. I'm going to have you below, you know, the rays and the angels even. How about that? I've talked about that a little bit. Like the changing. Listen, man, listen. The AOS, like it's, it's up for grabs. Like, I don't think it's the.

Astros division. It doesn't really feel like that this year. The Rangers who I have ranked seventh overall, like I like them. Can I see them going on having a 10 and 15 month or 10 and 16 month and then all of a sudden, you know, the Mariners, like they're all kind of there together. So just saying they don't feel as dominant or they doesn't feel inevitable this year, Jake, with the Astros. I guess right now it doesn't. There is. a chance we open our eyes in a month. Are you really? You're back in on because I have, last year we all saw

it and I was very, there was like no doubt that something was going to change. I think this year's different. I do. Love the starting pitching, but it just feels different to me. I kind of don't. Like could that lineup be really strong in the top? Altuvae Paredes, Yordan, Christian

Walker, Pena, Yiner. Like that's, I got past the top. can the Astros pitch? They've sneaky done that for a while. Framber, Hunter Brown, Blanco, West Nesky. Right now, your guy, Gusto in there. They also have the bad man on the back end. Like, Josh Hader's still that guy for me, dude.

And he's been off to one of his best starts ever, and as good of a start as you can get to that, like, yeah, I'm, I, they haven't been taken off the bad man pedestal for me. Okay. I kind of have them off. last year. I have them off right now. Maybe they have to have a week and show me something for it to change.

But right now I do not feel the same way I felt last year. Well, I feel pretty good about DirecTV because today's episode is sponsored by DirecTV. If you're ready to experience baseball like never before, DirecTV is the ultimate destination for baseball fans bringing you right into the heart of America's favorite pastime. Bottom of the night, base is loaded. Your team star steps up to the plate with DirecTV's M-O-West. be covered, you can catch those thrilling moments. You can watch your MLB games completely

satellite free with DirecTV. You heard that right. No satellite required. Baseball isn't a sport. It's a passion. Direct TV is your home for baseball. Bringing the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd right into your living room. If you're ready to transform your baseball watching experience, head to directtv.com slash John Boy or scan the QR code on the screen to learn more. Coach Trev, like you already preface, this is the grindiest part. Yes. That I don't want us to get too bogged down. How about this?

I will introduce your 10 through 20. Or let's do 10 through 15 and you walk me through your thoughts. You put, as we mentioned Detroit, we just talked about, the Milwaukee Brewers, which were very tricky for this exercise, the Red Sox, the Mariners, the Cleveland Guard, dogs and the Toronto Blue Jays that I mentioned before we both landed at the same spot. Them in the 15th hole is very interesting. So walk me through that. It is interesting. You know, the team I think I struggled the most with was my number 20 team,

the Reds. Like I want to give them a ton of credit. I think they can be much better than that. But maybe this exercise is, or what I think this exercise is done for me is, I think there's a lot of like good teams in baseball. There's a few bad teams. in baseball. There's a few bad teams. There's a lot of good teams and then there's a few really good teams. But there's a lot of that like just good tier.

You know, a little bit of flaws on them. They could go on runs. And that's kind of what I have in this tier. Detroit to me, like they're probably one of my, the teams that's impressed me the most early on in the season. You know,

from where I started, you know, having them at 10. I think Milwaukee just has ways to win. They have their, they have their style of baseball playing. in good defense. And I just think that for that, for me,

they are still on that Astros. They feel inevitable, you know, situation. So that's why I have them at 11. Boston kind of needs to figure it out. I believe in them so much I have in the World Series. I couldn't really put them that much lower. But they look a little flawish to me.

Mariners is almost the same sort of situation that we've seen over the last. How many moons, Jay? They're still throwing the ball. They're still not really hitting the. ball. Jorge Polanco has been great for them and, you know, they just, they need to find that consistent offense. Cleveland, I feel almost the same way as the, the brewers where they can beat you in a bunch of different ways. The names on the roster don't pop out at you, but they're going to be there. I think they have one of the higher floors in baseball. And the Blue Jays, I wanted to give a little

bit of credit. I feel like everyone kind of wrote them off, you know, early on or even before the season. I think they've played better ball, Jake. I wanted to give them a little pep talk, like a little pat on the butts. And you guys are doing pretty good. Yeah, they deserve a little bit of credit, man. And there's, there's still a lot of names on that team you recognize. And it's, you know, it's funny, Vlad's. And it looks like they're going to keep everyone together, too. That's kind of the thing. Right. That, I don't know, that kind of matters if you're playing baseball together as a team, right? Like you're not looking at everyone in the clubhouse like a vagabond or you're going to be traded in a couple months. A very important start for them. And Vladdy hasn't, like I mentioned,

he's got a little Homer streak or not Homer streak going right now. But the pitching has settled down. Their bullpen was brutal last year. And Jeff Hoffman has been significant in changing that. You know a lot of the names in the rotation that, yeah, I'm not driving the Blue Jays hype train, but I am driving the fact that they're going in this expanded wild card. Like the Blue Jays are going to be at least lurking, I think, all year, if not to the deadline. It's going to be interesting to see what they do with some of these pitchers. Like if Bassett's got up to such a strong start, do they look to capitalize on that as he's in his walk year? Like, are you really going to keep everyone together and really make a run for it?

Now that they have Laddie locked up long term, that actually makes me think that they don't have to act that way anymore. We thought they needed to go it all in to keep Vladdy there in the offseason. That's done. He's going to be there. So now you can act almost more like you would in any other season. And you got a pitcher in his walk year going lights out. The Cubs who I just mentioned lost Justin Steele. Everyone's always looking for starting pitching.

Is Bassett a guy that could be available? But yeah, they've gotten out to a good start, 10 and 8 right now. George Springer's had an incredible start to the year. Very happy for him. and you mentioned Jeff Hoffman, who looks like to be one of the best signings of the entire offseason. So a little bit of love to the Blue Jays.

You see his Thanos tattoo? It's pretty, it's intense. What's Thanos? Okay. My 10 through 15 was Houston, those Cincinnati Reds, you mentioned. I'm in. You are in.

I am too, Jay. I just didn't know where to put them, dude. It's tough, but dude, they're pitching. They're arguably pitching better than anyone in baseball. Their rotation and their bullpen that I think that Reds lineup is going to kick in. They pitch in such a hellish ballpark. Hunter Green is the guy. I like them at 11.

Good for you. Good for you. Thank you. Reds and the Giants. My dirty little secret. I'm in on them until they hurt me again. And then Tigers Guards, again, splitting hairs there. The Red Sox, there's so much talent and crochets that guy.

and it feels, it just feels like it hasn't happened yet. It does feel like we're going to wake up and they're going to win eight out of nine or something like that. But the defense is just bizarre. The errors are, the errors are tough. My 16 through 20, I went Royals. I put the Braves in. Like, I still believe in that talent.

It's a bad start and teams have that. 17 is also you telling them. damn. It ain't working right now. Figure some stuff out. I mean, they're a team that with the right start, we would be arguing them for first. Like the Braves and the Padres coming into this season. I went Brewers. You're right, and I'll probably regret this the next time we check in. I haven't felt it yet. And maybe it's too much of that opening weekend of the Yanks seeing them get mashed around, but they've been pretty good since then.

The Orioles were really tough for this exercise. And then I, put my Mariners just because I'm always in a tough spot with them until they prove me wrong. I had the Orioles at 21. And for me, number one, they've gotten off to a horrible start. I believe they're 6 and 10 or 6 and 11,

whatever it is. But they had questions in the off season. They did not address them, and it's going back to bite them right now. They need starting pitching, and they haven't gotten that. Offensely, they've looked okay at best. So I want them to prove it to me.

I don't think they I don't think that we can just say Yeah, they're going to come back And they're going to do it Like I need to see it I think both us feel that way The two things The two teams I fell in love with

Right before the season Were the Braves when we did their TPP And I was the Braves and the Orioles I was like both those teams felt like they had meh last years And still won a ton of games That I was like, ooh, watch out Moyland mentioned it a little bit

And again, he's attached to the Braves So I don't know if he wants me Throwing him under the bus with you and your twin situation. But he was like the Braves had needs that they didn't really address this off season. Like we all did the whoa when they signed ProFar and now that's ended up in an area nobody could have expected. But like they lost Max Fried and Charlie Morton and everyone was just like, okay, Braves.

And like they didn't have a perfect last year last year. That yeah, I guess those two teams I came around on on the start, I'm not nervous. It's April 16th. but let's get some good juice going. I mean, I don't know. I think if I had to rank my most disappointing team so far, I think it has to be, it has to be the Oriole.

Because at least we're getting reinforcements, or maybe my twins, excuse me. I think my twins might be number one. For being really honest. Again, we're good. Yeah, okay. Twins mentioned again, we're good. But the Braves still have their guy.

Like, Striders coming back. Acuna's not back yet. Like, when that has, happens and the pro far thing sucks because that he was supposed to be you know their guy like you put put him in this is the lineup this is what we have i don't think they had a bunch of needs i'm curious i'm curious to hear what peter thinks the needs were that they didn't address you know the starting pitching sure you're getting strider back um so i still think we haven't seen them at full force i guess you could say the same thing about the aurels and grace and rodriguez but

to me i i did have some decently high expectation for the Orioles and they just don't look. I call them identity list and I think that I hate saying that works and what does it even freaking mean? But it looks like uninspired ball to me right now. Like someone's got to like closed door team meeting,

take a shot together before the game. I don't know. Something's got to happen. Because it looks, it just doesn't look like just good team baseball right now. How about that? Yeah, I think there's some.

Yeah. Whoa. It's early. It's early. But yeah, the Braves depth, you know, some of the guys you're seeing in there in a nightly basis now. You don't like Nick Allen at short?

I think defensively he's great. And I believe he's married to Aaron Boone's niece. So maybe Brett Boone's daughter? I might need research and development on that. So he's a good guy like that. Orioles, 30th and starting pitching ERA, and it's a staff we looked at and we weren't looking in a lichen and they've had the injury bug that that's that's got to figure itself out

because right now Morton Kramer Shigano-Povich, I can't promise you any of those guys are going to shove on a given day. 19th in team OPS as well. So yeah, I mean they kind of deserve to be where they're at in our rankings. Identityless. Do we have Nick Allen update? Okay, so, you know, I'm excited for, I'm excited to see those kids just dominate. Does that move the Braves up a little bit in your rankings?

It moves the Braves up. I will move them up. Actually, I won't because the Royals, I think are a good baseball team. Trev, let's go, again, I gave mine years, year 15 through 20 for those keeping track. And I think we'll get a graphic out after this. You had your angels at 16, Ray's at 17, Astros, Royals, Reds, and then Orioles at 21. So I guess the teams we haven't got there.

Let's talk about one specific team. I'll give you, right. Okay, talk about the Cardinals. I don't know, I do not know how to rank this team. Should we be more in? They were the toughest team to place. We might have to. Right now currently third in baseball in OPS, Jake.

I did not have that. Right. Did not have that. coming into the year. Brenna Donovan's been great for them. I had a very difficult time ranking this team. And I had them at 22. And you had them at 23.

So you had them rank lower than I did. Okay, in one spot. I mean, I guess coming into the season, the expectations were low. Some of the things being set around the organization, like retooling, rebuilding,

it was this year. And maybe, just maybe, you're in that clubhouse. You're like, this sucks. We're not going to do that. They've actually played decent ball to start the year. They're probably more deserving of a, maybe closer to the middle of the pack ranking than we gave them. They definitely got hurt by their past couple years' reputation.

That, yeah, offensively, at first and average, first and on base percentage, your St. Louis Cardinals. And then I, you know, people were commenting because I was given the lineup a little bit of love. They were like, hey, man, the rotation's been fine, like not problematic. No, it's been phenomenal for that. And when you look at it, you got six guys that you've seen throw major league innings in gray, fetti, Matt's, Payante, Michaelis, and Libertori, that it's like, oh, okay, Hellsley on the back end, Mayton has been a breath of fresh air.

that yeah, right now they're getting, they might be getting ding the hardest by their past couple years. And their off season where they did nada. Yes. I think that's where it was for us, you know, coming in, we still had that offseason vibe,

but they look great. Plante is one of the nastier pitches, pitchers in the big league when he's on. I think about like getting in the box against season. I don't want to get in the box against him. And Sunny Gray continues to be just criminally underrated as far as starting. pitchers. He came to the twins. Everyone loved him.

Talked about his professional. Professionalism. He's like, he's ace adjacent still at 35 years old. So yeah, their starting pitching has been great. They have high end top, back end of the bullpen type guys. And then offensively, they've just got it done so far. So I think I think that's going to be one spot where we get a little bit of pushback when this graphic comes out.

It's Cardinals fans are saying, we deserve more credit, and they probably do, Jake. They might. I know they've been hurt just as much by their past couple seasons, so maybe they won't, but they have to be happy with what they've seen so far. Trev, let's start rounding it, rounding it down, because you're 21 through 30,

Orioles, Cardinals, Braves, talked about them. And then here comes the slop a little bit. athletics, marlins, twins, nationals, pirates, white socks, Rockies, what really has to be said about that and not about the twins? I like watching the A's play baseball

and I think they can eventually move more to the middle of the pack of these rankings. I think they have, I mean, so it's a bunch of young dudes playing like fun ball out there. At times it gets a little sloppy. We know the park that they're playing. at like i think they're going to have to like try to outslug teams that come in there um but

that's one team that i think like we could see kind of i said in our tvps if we were in july or august and we saw that the a's were in the wildcard hunt i wouldn't bat and i still really really feel that way even though i have them ranked 24th in all of baseball um i just there are a lot of fun man i don't think enough people are talking about jacob wilson and the other X Muncie playing high school ball together and now playing up the middle together in like kind of the big leagues. It's a minor league park, but kind of the big leagues. That's a lot of fun, man. That's a really cool story.

So I think they have a chance. I mean, Sodorstrom, I believe, leads all of baseball and homers right now. So they're getting like some fun performances, you know, out the gate. Overall, like, are they a top 10 team or can they ever be a top 10 team in baseball right now? probably not. But they can go on runs. I think there's a young, if you want to, like,

latch on to a young fun team, I think they're one of the teams that you can say, yes, that's who they are. Yeah, I think everyone want to see just a little more from the pitching. The rotation, not fully bringing it,

the bullpen, not fully bringing it. How much of that is the field, which now, okay, now we're getting excited about the young hitting, so how much of that is that? Hey, Soderstrom, leading baseball and home runs. And I think you're right. I think that was a good analysis.

of like, if this Oakland team is going to be 500 or competitive, it's looking like they're going to have to hit a lot. And it's just tough to buy into all of these young guys hitting a lot. But maybe they will because I can also talk myself into, you know, a chunk of the lineup, like one through six might be able to hit this year. They got a guy coming up to Nick Kurtz, who's everyone is just drooling over this guy. If he comes up in his difference. Right.

then that changes everything. LinkedIn's the lineup, put him in that stadium, see what happens. Someone likened him to a young Jim Tomey, which is, that's obviously massive shoes to fill. But he's got power. He doesn't strike. Oh, okay.

Who's that? That was a friend of mine. He operates online under John Boy. Oh, you know, does he want to come and give his power rankings right now? It's a silent ball. He sure doesn't. Ask him where the A's rank in his power rankings. Already out of the room.

Okay. Well, look, they have a chance to go up. So 24 seems right for them right now. Maybe we get them at 16 later on in the year. Rockies, hopeless, White Sox, a little bit of the same. Pirates fans, yikes, we both had them as the third worst team. And you've heard us talk about the frustration, and you guys are probably frustrated as well.

Marlins rarely mentioned, they're often. to an okay start. Urbus and conine getting it done. No, right. There's been some performances. You know, Sandy's back. That's great. How is he going to be there all year?

That's obviously a storyline that we've had last, well, I guess not last year, but coming into this year. So we'll see how they go. Yeah, it's where they belong, Jake. I don't think Miami fans are going to be mad about being 25th. They're probably happy. I'm above my twins.

buying my national stock for next year. Hey, people, per usual. You guys know your team more than us. Let us know what we missed, what there should have been more or less of. And for early power rankings, especially in that middle area. What do you do with the raise right now? It's grindy.

But God, I love it. Baseball's so back. Trev, let's start wrapping it up with Bet in the Cycle, our new weekly tradition at Talkum Baseball, where Draft Kings helps us bet the cycle. We start off with something light that'll help us be a lock. Get this one in. Cash it.

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See dkng.com. slash audio. All right, Tref. Draft Kings bet the cycle. You want a bad lead off? I need you lead off. I want a bad lead off and I like the three of the four that we have here.

I got to be honest with you. We'll start with our single. We're going to take the over in the Angels Angels Rangers game that's on Thursday. Kahanowitz has a 5-7-4 on the years, three homers and three stars this year. Kumar Rocker has been getting hit a ton. He's letting people on base 194 whip. in three starts. So let's take the over. A lot of people are going to be on base, maybe some homers. We talked about the Rangers lineup and the depth that it has. And maybe Kyron Paris hits a grand

slam and the over, boom. Single. Oh my God. You love them. Good. I do. My double. Danesbee's doubles, baby. And we're going for two plus total bases against the Padres. And Pivotta, who I've been high on full pension Piv this year. But Dansby saw Povetta earlier this season, two for two with a homer on April 5th. So give me two plus bases. Maybe it's a single and double. Maybe he goes yacker first at bat and it's gone. Love that one. That could have been our single, Jake, but we'll keep it as a double. This triple one, this is where I'm a little iffy on. Spencer Schrader comes back. First game back, he's going to record 10 plus Ks in his first game back. In his last rehab start, he did pitch five in a third inning. He threw 90 pitches, so he is

built up. He struck out 13 batters. But to me, there could be a little bit too much excitement for Carl Spencer and maybe he doesn't get deep enough into the game to strike out 10 plus people in a major league game. So this one's iffy to me, but maybe a little sprinkle as our triple. Maybe he, I don't know. Maybe he strikes out 20 people. Right? Spencer Shreder thinks he's got to save the Braves himself. He might, he could be aiming for closer to 1415.

Something tells me he's going to walk some people. I don't know why. Just little nerves, too much excitement, you know, the adrenaline is back. It's a sick puppy, man. Uh, the home run, and I can't believe this lands here. And we should tell the people, Dalton helps us out with this. He has the brave sweeping the twins this weekend. So I don't know if you just want to line that up as a little parlay.

Braves win, Braves win, Braves win. Um, Braves have won eight straight versus the twins, Trev. I told you. I mean, there's a bunch of guys injured. They've underperformed. Like nothing is really going right for the twins. whatsoever. So I don't hate this one. Although the Braves aren't exactly playing banner baseball either. But if I had to pick one team to win the series and possibly sweep, I'd pick the Braves.

Banner Baseball, baby. That was Draft Kings bet the cycle. Make sure you use code J.M. Baseball. Excited to dive deeper. We will Friday morning. We'll be doing series recap episode. I'll be from our warehouse. Make sure you guys go check all of that out. And again, let us know how bad. our power rankings were, bro. Where does John Boy have the athletics? Comment below. We appreciate you guys. Thanks to BBD. Plug in holes.

That's what he does. Seen it. On and off. What does BBD stand for anyway? I've heard... I suck. Heard different conflicting reports on that.

Big, big what? Mm. Yeah, you down to the beach. I almost had Olivia come. She walked by in this beautiful bikini, but she's, she didn't want to do that. I saw you get distracted and I knew it could only be one thing.