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Welcome to the NBC Sports EDGE MLB Power Rankings, a weekly feature that will run every Tuesday through the end of the 2022 regular season. These rankings are not fantasy-driven in any way, though I do tend to sprinkle in fantasy-relevant nuggets here and there. Who’s hot, who’s not, who to watch -- that sort of thing. Send any and all complaints to me on Twitter: @drewsilv.
Please believe me when I tell you that I do not hate your team.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
Record: 110-50
Last Week: 1
It’s been nearly three weeks since the Dodgers clinched the NL West, and they still have another week of waiting before Game 1 of the NLDS gets underway. But there is a bit of history to perhaps be etched in this final and mostly meaningless series against the visiting Rockies. With just one more win, Los Angeles would move out of a tie with the 1909 Pirates for the second-most regular-season victories in National League history. The highest such NL mark still belongs to the 1906 Cubs at 116.
2. Houston Astros
Record: 104-56
Last Week: 2
Houston planted a flag early last week on the No. 1 seed for the American League side of the postseason bracket and will finish with the second-most regular-season wins in franchise history, behind only the 107-win team from 2019. Justin Verlander is going to take the mound on Tuesday against the Phillies for one final victory lap as he sews up the 2022 AL Cy Young Award. The veteran right-hander stands 17-4 with a 1.80 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and 175/28 K/BB ratio through 170 innings.
3. Atlanta Braves
Record: 100-60
Last Week: 4
The defending World Series champs swept a three-game weekend series from the Mets to take over sole possession of first place in the NL East standings, but their magic number to clinch the division remains at one (1) after they fell 4-0 to the Marlins on Monday night. Michael Harris II was named NL Rookie of the Month for September -- his third time winning that award this year -- after he slashed .324/.343/.569 with six homers, four steals, 19 RBI, and 20 runs scored in what was a 26-game stretch.
4. New York Mets
Record: 98-61
Last Week: 3
Monday’s scheduled series opener against the visiting Nationals was postponed due to rain and the Braves then suffered a surprising loss at Miami, so the Mets are still technically alive in the National League East title hunt. Eduardo Escobar will look to stay hot in Tuesday’s twin-bill versus Washington after claiming NL Player of the Month honors for September. The veteran third baseman earned that award by batting .340/.393/.650 with eight home runs and 24 RBI in a span of 26 games.
5. New York Yankees
Record: 98-61
Last Week: 5
Aaron Judge tied Roger Maris for the single-single season AL home run record (61) last Wednesday in Toronto, the night after the Yankees clinched the AL East. The stage was set for Judge to pass Maris over a celebratory weekend in the Bronx, but the Orioles walked him six times in that three-game series and he recorded only one hit -- a single -- in his seven official at-bats. Judge’s quest for 62 has now shifted to Arlington, Texas, where he went 1-for-4 with a single and a strikeout on Monday.
6. Toronto Blue Jays
Record: 91-69
Last Week: 6
José Berríos tossed six innings of one-run ball and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched his 32nd home run of the year as the Blue Jays grabbed a rain-shortened 5-1 win over the Orioles on Monday night in Baltimore to lock in the top AL Wild Card spot. They’ll host a best-of-three series beginning this Friday, probably against the Mariners. Alek Manoah, the projected Game 1 starter, was named AL Pitcher of the Month for September after posting the best single-month ERA (0.88) in club history.
7. St. Louis Cardinals
Record: 92-68
Last Week: 7
St. Louis wrapped up the NL Central title a week ago in Milwaukee, but Albert Pujols is still chasing history. The 42-year-old future inner-circle Hall of Famer slugged his 703rd career home run on Monday night in Pittsburgh and in the process passed Babe Ruth for sole possession of second place on the all-time RBI leaderboard with 2,216. Pujols has more home runs (16) than any other MLB hitter since August 14. Yes, even more than Aaron Judge (15) and Mike Trout (15). Legendary stuff.
8. San Diego Padres
Record: 88-72
Last Week: 8
Yu Darvish was named NL Pitcher of the Month for September after registering a 1.85 ERA and 44/8 K/BB ratio in six starts covering 39 innings. It’s not fully set in stone where the Padres will be playing their best-of-three Wild Card Series, nor what team they’ll be facing, but you’d have to think that Darvish will get the nod in Game 1 on Friday either way. The veteran right-hander has a 2.68 ERA and 149/22 K/BB ratio over his last 134 1/3 innings (20 starts) dating back to the first week of June.
9. Cleveland Guardians
Record: 90-70
Last Week: 9
Steven Kwan earned AL Rookie of the Month for September after batting .323/.391/.452 with three homers, two doubles, two triples, seven stolen bases, 14 RBI, and 21 runs scored in a span of 28 games for the AL Central champs. And closer Emmanuel Clase claimed AL Reliever of the Month for September with 10 saves, a 2.25 ERA, and 16/4 K/BB ratio in 16 frames. Up next for Cleveland is a best-of-three Wild Card Series matchup at Progressive Field, likely against the visiting Rays.
10. Seattle Mariners
Record: 87-72
Last Week: 10
The longest postseason drought in North American sports officially came to an end on Friday night as Cal Raleigh belted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Mariners a 2-1 win over the Athletics. After a grueling 21-year wait, the Mariners are again dancing. And they have Julio Rodriguez back in the fold with a best-of-three Wild Card Series showdown fast approaching. Recovered from a lower back strain, he went 3-for-4 with an RBI double in his return Monday.
11. Philadelphia Phillies
Record: 87-73
Last Week: 12
Aaron Nola took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and Kyle Schwarber cranked two home runs out of the leadoff spot as the Phillies earned a 3-0 shutout win against the Astros on Monday night at Minute Maid Park to clinch their first postseason berth since 2011. Nola, the likely Game 2 starter in the best-of-three Wild Card Series, finishes the regular season at a 3.25 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 235/29 K/BB ratio in 205 innings. Schwarber leads all NL hitters in homers by a comfortable margin with 46.
12. Tampa Bay Rays
Record: 86-74
Last Week: 11
They lost again Monday night against the Red Sox and have now dropped 10 of their last 14 games, but the Rays are assured of playing in a best-of-three Wild Card Series and have to feel good about what they’ve seen from Tyler Glasnow since his return from Tommy John elbow surgery. He worked three innings of one-run ball last Wednesday at Cleveland and then struck out seven of the 15 batters he faced over 3 1/3 scoreless frames Monday in Boston while working his pitch count up to 64.
13. Milwaukee Brewers
Record: 85-75
Last Week: 13
The Brewers rallied to beat the visiting Diamondbacks on Monday night, but they were officially eliminated from postseason contention just moments later when the Phillies completed a shutout win in Houston to clinch the last remaining NL Wild Card berth. As of the August 2 trade deadline, this team was three games up on the Cardinals for first place in the NL Central standings. Since then, they’ve allowed the eventual game-winning run to score in the eighth inning or later 11 different times.
14. Baltimore Orioles
Record: 82-78
Last Week: 14
With their 3-1 defeat of the Yankees on Sunday, the Orioles locked in their first winning season since 2016. A remarkable turnaround after they posted a brutal 52-110 record last year. Felix Bautista‘s emergence is certainly part of the newfound enthusiasm in Baltimore, though word came down Monday that he is being shut down a bit early due to minor left knee discomfort. The rookie closer delivered an overall 2.19 ERA and 88 strikeouts across 65 2/3 innings. He earned 13 second-half saves.
15. Chicago White Sox
Record: 80-80
Last Week: 15
Tony La Russa made it official in a public statement Monday that he is stepping down from his short tenure as White Sox manager because of health concerns. In that statement, the 78-year-old Hall of Fame skipper did not skirt the disappointing on-field results in his second season at the helm: “I understood that the ultimate responsibility for each minus belongs to the manager. I was hired to provide positive, difference-making leadership and support. Our record is proof. I did not do my job.”
16. San Francisco Giants
Record: 80-80
Last Week: 16
Camilo Doval won NL Reliever of the Month honors for September with a 1.38 ERA and nine saves in nine chances. Overall this season, the hard-throwing 25-year-old right-hander has worked to a 2.53 ERA with 80 strikeouts through 67 2/3 innings along with a saves total of 27. There is a whole lot for the Giants to sort over the winter after they went from a franchise-record 107 regular-season wins in 2021 to a barley .500 finish in 2022, but they quite clearly have a long-term answer at closer.
17. Minnesota Twins
Record: 77-83
Last Week: 17
With all due respect, the only story still worth paying attention to here is Luis Arraez‘s pursuit of the American League batting title. Then again, he has been inactive for the last two days, and three of the last four, because of what’s being called a nagging hamstring issue. The updated batting average leaderboard has Arraez at the top with a .31550 mark and Aaron Judge in second at .31083. Judge would have to go something like 7-for-12 the rest of the way if Arraez does not take another at-bat.
18. Boston Red Sox
Record: 76-84
Last Week: 18
There is some tricky math involved in this observation given the multiple phases of MLB realignment, but the Red Sox finished in last place just once from 1933-2011 and are now set to finish in last place for the fifth time in 11 years. Granted, they do have a tendency to bounce back in a big way from rock bottom. Over that same 11-year stretch, Boston has achieved four first-place finishes in the AL East and two World Series titles. Let’s see what Chaim Bloom and company have in store this winter.
19. Arizona Diamondbacks
Record: 73-87
Last Week: 19
Zac Gallen has enjoyed a full-on breakout here in his age-27 campaign and will get to put one final bow on it when he toes the slab Tuesday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee. The right-hander currently boasts a 2.46 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and 186/44 K/BB ratio through 179 innings (30 starts) this season. And since the All-Star break, he has pitched to a ridiculous 1.27 ERA and 97/16 K/BB ratio while allowing only 43 hits in 85 1/3 frames. His overall 5.8 H/9 is tops among all MLB starters.
20. Los Angeles Angels
Record: 73-87
Last Week: 20
It came to an end on Monday night in Oakland, but the Angels rattled off six victories last week as part of a season-high seven-game winning streak. It was their first seven-game winning streak since April 2018, and they earned their first sweep of a homestand of six-plus games since July 2016. They also got a big offseason line item out of the way on Saturday in locking up Shohei Ohtani at $30 million for 2023, what would have been his final year of salary arbitration. He can be a free agent in 2024.
21. Chicago Cubs
Record: 73-87
Last Week: 23
Chicago’s season-best seven-game winning streak came to an end on Monday in Cincinnati, but Hayden Wesneski turned in six strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball in that one to cap off a highly encouraging first cup of coffee at the MLB level. A sixth-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Sam Houston State, the 24-year-old righty will end up with a 2.18 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and 33/7 K/BB ratio in his first 33 big league frames. On the pitching side of things, the future looks bright for the Cubs.
22. Miami Marlins
Record: 68-92
Last Week: 22
It has been a foregone conclusion for a while now that Sandy Alcantara would be crowned the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner, and he put one more glowing stamp on that hardware in his final start of the season last Friday night against the Brewers, tallying eight strikeouts over eight innings of one-run ball. The 27-year-old right-hander finishes with a 2.28 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and 207/50 K/BB ratio in 32 starts covering an MLB-high 228 2/3 innings. He logged six complete games and one shutout.
23. Colorado Rockies
Record: 67-93
Last Week: 24
Basically the only move the Rockies made ahead of the August 2 trade deadline was inking 37-year-old closer Daniel Bard to a two-year, $19 million contract extension. It was funny at the time, and still is pretty funny given the state of this franchise, but Bard has been no-joke dominant all season long. He fanned six batters over two scoreless innings Sunday at Dodger Stadium to earn his 33rd save of the year and carries an overall 1.82 ERA with 69 strikeouts through 59 1/3 total frames.
24. Texas Rangers
Record: 66-93
Last Week: 21
It came in an eventual loss to the Yankees and with some rather spotty command, but Martín Pérez capped his career-best season on Monday night with six innings of one-run ball to lower his ERA to 2.89. He is just the second Rangers pitcher since 1980 to finish with an ERA below 3.00 over at least 195 innings. The other: Yu Darvish. Word is there might be mutual interest in working out an extension for Perez that would cover 2023 and beyond. This club could sure use the rotation stability.
25. Detroit Tigers
Record: 66-93
Last Week: 27
Somehow, someway, the Tigers have won 11 of their last 13 games. That includes series wins over the Orioles, White Sox, Royals, and Twins. They earned a 4-3 victory against the postseason-bound Mariners on Monday despite a starting lineup that featured zero hitters with a season OPS north of .700. Akil Baddoo: .561, Riley Greene: .679, Javier Baez: .677, Miguel Cabrera: .620, Harold Castro: .684, Jonathan Schoop: .566, Kody Clemens: .486, Tucker Barnhart: .557, Victor Reyes: .639.
26. Kansas City Royals
Record: 65-95
Last Week: 25
This has been a season filled with terrific performances by rookies, so Bobby Witt Jr. is maybe flying under the radar. He stole his 30th base of the season on Monday night in Cleveland -- part of a 5-2 extra-innings victory for the Royals -- while further adding to a first-year stat line that also includes 20 home runs, 31 doubles, 80 RBI, and 82 runs scored in 148 games. His on-base skills are still very much a work in progress, but the 22-year-old shortstop looks like a franchise cornerstone in Kansas City.
27. Cincinnati Reds
Record: 61-99
Last Week: 26
With a nod to Chad Dotson of Cincinnati Magazine for pointing this out, the Reds are going to finish the 2022 season with the lowest attendance mark at Great American Ball Park since the stadium opened in 2003. They lost 98 games in 2015 but still outdrew this year’s operation by more than one million fans. “Where are you gonna go?” was the response from club president Phil Castellini back in early April when asked about fan frustration and requests to sell the team. Well, he got his answer.
28. Pittsburgh Pirates
Record: 61-99
Last Week: 28
Oneil Cruz drew a walk-off walk in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday versus the Cardinals as the Pirates again managed to high-step the 100-loss mark with a 3-2 victory. Cruz just recently accrued enough plate appearances to qualify for the rankings pages at Baseball Savant, and the results are pretty wild. He is in the 100th percentile of all MLB hitters in max exit velocity and 98th percentile in sprint speed, but also just 37th percentile in xwOBA and first percentile in strikeout rate.
29. Oakland Athletics
Record: 58-102
Last Week: 29
With a lackluster offensive showing in their final two games of the 2022 campaign, the Athletics could very well match the second-lowest full-season combined team batting average since 1920 -- commonly referred to as the live ball era. They’re at .216 as of Tuesday afternoon, just behind the 1972 Rangers at .217. Surprisingly enough, it’s the 1968 Yankees who hold the worst such mark at .214. Oakland also carries the lowest combined OBP (.281) and OPS (.628) of all 30 major league clubs this year.
30. Washington Nationals
Record: 55-104
Last Week: 30
Paolo Espino will get the ball in the nightcap of Tuesday’s doubleheader versus the Mets, looking to finally notch his first win of the year. He’s made 18 starts and 23 relief appearances at a total of 113 innings and has an 0-8 record to show for all of it. But at least he’s not Patrick Corbin, who became the first MLB pitcher since 2016 to suffer 19 losses in a single season when he got lit up again on Sunday against the Phillies. Corbin is owed $24.4 million in 2023 and $35.4 million in 2024.