Ultimate MLB Power Rankings Week 2: And MLB Predictions & Betting Picks

WagerTalk MLB handicapper Tony Finn gives us his weekly MLB power rankings after an exciting week to open the 2023 MLB season. Which teams are climbing up and falling down his power rankings? Read his MLB betting advice now! Also, check out WagerTalk’s ultimate guide to betting on baseball.

1.  Atlanta Braves
Record: 7-4
Week 1 ranking: 4The Braves played their way to the top of the National League East without the services of Cy Young hopeful and starting pitcher Max Fried (out / hamstring).

Young guns Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd, a pair of left-handed top prospects, made their major league debuts over the past week, both fell well short of their top-of-the-ticket prospect status.

Shuster, a former first-rounder in 2020 let his nerve get the best of him in his 2023 debut in Washington. Shuster surrendered four runs and walked five while striking out just one across 4.2 innings of work.

Monday night found 23-year-old rookie Bryce Elder opposed the young Graham Ashcraft. Elder was allowed to throw 103 pitches through 6.1 innings of work which resulted in the rook allowing six hits, and zero runs while striking out seven (7) and walking one.

The front office and Braves’ coaching staff announced on Monday that Kyle Wright will begin the defense of his top MLB win total on Tuesday. Wright and his 21 wins started the season on the IL and will debut Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds.

2. Tampa Bay Rays
Record: 10-0
Week 1 ranking: 2

Following a 1-0 victory over the Red Sox on Monday night the Rays have pitched and played their way to three consecutive shutouts.

Monday night’s hard-fought win by Tampa, a 1-0 victory and shutout of the Red Sox was the Rays’ first win by fewer than four runs through their first 10 contests.

The Rays became the first major league team since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers to open the season with 10 straight wins.

To all the early success that Tampa has experienced in the first two weeks of the season critique has pointed to the Rays’ schedule. The combined record of the four teams that Tampa has squared off against this early 2023  season is 13-27.

Tampa Bay Rays opponents during the team’s 10-0 beginning to the season:

• Detroit 2-7
• Washington 4-7
• Oakland 2-8
• Boston 5-5

Three of the four clubs (Detroit, Washington, and Oakland) that the Rays have played this season sit at the bottom of the division standings. Fourth place Boston is a slot ahead of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.

3.  Los Angeles Dodgers
Record: 6-5
Week 1 ranking: 5

Manager Dave Roberts has done a poor job of accessing his bullpen core in the early stages of the 2023 season.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff surrendered double-digit runs in consecutive games in Week 1. The last time Los Angeles allowed 10-plus runs in back-to-back games was nearly 10 years ago.

4. San Diego Padres
Record: 6-5
Week 1 ranking: 8

The Padres have reorganized since beginning the season 0-2 winning six of their last nine games. San Diego has a Hollywood list of player personnel and on their worst day are better than 90 percent of the league.

5. Milwaukee Brewers
Record: 7-3
Week 1 ranking: 14

The Brewers won two of three from the Cardinals in a matchup between the past two NL Central champions. The favorites to take the Brewers to the wire this season has been who I thought they would be. St Louis’ starting rotation is either injured, pitching injured or has forgotten what the definition of Quality Start is.

The Cardinals’ first five have recorded only one quality effort through 10 games this season. Former Top Gun and the Redbirds’ No. 1 in the rotation, Jack Flaherty, has walked 13 batters in 10 innings.

6. Texas Rangers
Record: 6-4
Week 1 ranking: 1

7. Houston Astros
Record: 5-6
Week 1 ranking: 7

8. New York Yankees
Record:  6-4
Week 1 ranking: 9

9. New York Mets
Record: 6-5
Week 1 ranking: 3

10. Toronto Blue Jays
Record: 6-4
Week 1 ranking: 12

11. Cleveland Indians
Record:  7-4
Week 1 ranking: 10

12. Minnesota Twins
Record:  6-4
Week 1 ranking: 6

13. Los Angeles Angels
Record: 5-5
Week 1 ranking: 13

14. Chicago Cubs
Record: 5-4
Week 1 ranking: 18

15. Chicago White Sox
Record:  5-6
Week 1 ranking: 16

16. Philadelphia Phillies
Record:  4-6
Week 1 ranking: 15

17. Seattle Mariners
Record:  4-7
Week 1 ranking: 17

18. St Louis Cardinals
Record: 3-7
Week 1 ranking: 11

19. Pittsburgh Pirates
Record: 6-4
Week 1 ranking: 25

20. Baltimore Orioles
Record:  5-6
Week 1 ranking: 21

21 Arizona Diamondbacks
Record: 7-4
Week 1 ranking: 19

22. Boston Red Sox
Record: 5-5
Week 1 ranking: 20

23.  San Francisco Giants
Record:  4-6
Week 1 ranking: 22

24. Miami Marlins
Record: 4-7
Week 1 ranking: 23

25. Colorado Rockies
Record: 5-6
Week 1 ranking: 26

There have never been two teams in all of baseball that were more dependent on the advantages of the home field like the Cincinnati Reds and the Colorado Rockies. If Great American and Coors Field could only pitch, hit, and run.

26. Cincinnati Reds
Record: 4-5
Week 1 ranking: 24

The Reds will not go on any extended winning streaks this season. Scoring runs outside of Great American is an issue for the current Cincinnati 26-man roster. When they find themselves with a lead entering the top or bottom of the ninth there is not a single arm in the bullpen that can be relied on to close out a victory.

27. Washington National
Record: 4-7
Week 1 ranking: 28

The Nationals are years away from contending for a Fall Classic wild card slot. Even when, or if, the Nats become a contender on the Senior Circut, exiting the Grapefruit League and entering the regular season with series openers against the Atlanta Braves and Tamp Bay Rays is just not fair.

Tuesday night finds the best of the Washington pitching staff in search of a grip on his four-seamer that can induce swings and misses. Josiah Gray will test the newest piece of his arsenal against Ohtani and Trout. What is the definition of insanity again? Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results?

28. Detroit Tigers
Record:  2-7
Week 1 ranking: 27

The Motor City squad began the season with a six-game road trip. The Tigers were swept by the Rays in Tampa Bay but followed the winless series in Florida by winning two of a three-game set in Houston against the reigning world-champion Astros.

The season-opening home series found the Tigers dropping all three of the team’s weekend set to the Boston Red Sox.

The Detroit faithful, those who have supported the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Motor City; always remember and never forget that in a minute the Red Wings and upstart Lions will be dropping the puck and kicking off the 2023 regular season.

29. Kansas City Royals
Record: 3-8
Week 1 ranking: 29

The Royals are not the favorites to finish in the basement of the AL Central this 2023 season but that will projection will change quickly if Kansas City can’t figure out which direction home plate is.

Surprisingly the KC starting rotation has held its own 10 games into the new season. Jordan Lyles is the lone Royals’ starter to surrender more than two runs in a start. Veteran closer Aroldis Chapman has been focused but the KC bats of Franmil Reyes and Matt Duffy have not. The KC Rat Pack that includes Michael Massey, M.J. Melendez, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Bobby Witt Jr. ended the first weekend of the season with a slash line of .136/.239/.237 that started on Opening Day through Sunday’s close of the season’s Opening Weekend Series.

30. Oakland Athletics
Record: 2-8
Week 1 ranking: 30Does Las Vegas want to open its arms to the team that is remembered more for being the AL West’s most likely club to finish in the basement of the division, year in and year out?

The young 2023 season for Athletics has been filled with lows. The last time the A’s won was a week ago Tuesday when they defeated the Cleveland Indians by a 4-3 final. The attendance for that Tuesday’s victory was a heartbreaking 3,407 fans.

The Coliseum can hold nearly 50,000 with standing room only. JJ Cooper of Baseball American reported that 11 MLB farm affiliates drew more on Tuesday than the A’s.