With the Wild Card Round behind us, it’s time to look ahead to the Divisional Series. Eight teams remain as the push for the World Series continues on Saturday with the start of four matchups. Let’s take a look at the MLB Postseason Power Rankings for the Divisional Series.
Matchups:
Atlanta Braves vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland Guardians
New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays
MLB Postseason Power Rankings
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
Of course, the back-to-back World Series Champions kick off these MLB postseason power rankings. The Dodgers are only one of two teams in the whole league with a 100-win season. Everyone is penciling them in for another World Series appearance. With that being said, this version of the Dodgers might be the most vulnerable one yet. For the first time in a couple of years, they don’t feel unbeatable, but at the same time, that’s what makes them so dangerous.
Despite injury concerns or inconsistent play, the Dodgers lineup still consists of guys at the top like Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Kyle Tucker. Any one of those names could get hot in an instant or several at the same time, making it a potential nightmare for any opposition.
Their strength lies in the rotation, which is still the best in the majors when healthy. They already had names like Yoshinobu Yamamoto at the top of the rotation, followed by Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, but they added the two-time reigning AL Cy Young, Tarik Skubal, at the MLB trade deadline and now enter the postseason with him and Yamamoto as the best 1-2 punch in the game. Nobody wants to face these names, and they showed why in the past.
The Dodgers will try to overcome their bullpen injuries, which could be a concern in the postseason, but for this team, it might not be. They have enough depth with their pitching staff to cover innings if they need to and even use some starters out of the bullpen like Roki Sasaki. Plus, the relief talent that they have available can get the job done.
Even with the potential vulnerability of the back-to-back champions, their talent all around and the fact that they are going for a three-peat just makes them the team to beat by far.
2. Milwaukee Brewers
The Dodgers might be the team to beat, but the Brewers come into the MLB postseason as the best team in the regular season, fielding a league-best 103 wins, a franchise record.
The question over the past several years now has been if the Brewers can get over the hump, and the answer has always been no. This is their eighth playoff appearance in the last nine seasons, and they’ve tallied 90+ wins in six of those appearances, including 100+ this season. If any year is the year, it HAS to be this one. They had the best record in baseball, having one of the best offenses in the league. Milwaukee was tops in on-base percentage (.341), tied for the best batting average (.258), the second-most runs per game (5.14), was top-five in stolen bases (152) and top-10 in slugging percentage.
On the pitching side, the Brewers finished with the second-best ERA in baseball (3.51) while placing fourth in WHIP (1.17). They have the top arm in baseball with Jacob Misiorowski, who tallied league-bests in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252) and WHIP (0.80). He also lights up the radar gun like no one else. He has Logan Henderson behind him, who had a 2.47 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. The rest of their rotation is questionable, but they have a great bullpen, ranking second in ERA with a 3.22.
Their front end of the rotation, to go along with their elite bullpen, gives them the upper hand over most teams. The one question is if their offense can come through. They might have some of the best overall numbers, but their lack of pop is a concern and has been throughout the last several years. This team overall is better than in years past as Milwaukee seeks their first championship in franchise history.
3. Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays finished with the best record in the American League at 98-64. While the American League overall underperformed, the Rays stayed atop and became one of the best teams in all of MLB. They are a pleasant surprise and are serious World Series contenders.
Junior Caminero led the way for the Rays as an MVP candidate. He tallied 43 home runs with 101 RBI and a .525 slugging percentage, all near the top in the AL. At one point in the season, Caminero hit a home run in six consecutive games, becoming the youngest player in the modern era to do so.
He was far and away the Rays’ best hitter, but behind him are the likes of reliable Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda, who both had 20+ home runs with 85+ RBI. They also have the AL stolen-base leader in Chandler Simpson (46). The offense might not have the pop, but they have the best batting average in the MLB and the fifth-best on-base percentage.
The offense is accompanied by one of the best rotations in baseball led by starter Drew Rasmussen, who has a 2.67 ERA with 174 strikeouts. He’s followed by Nick Martinez, Shane McClanahan, Griffin Jax, and Freddy Peralta, who all have a 3.53 ERA or lower. The Rays have some great peices in the bullpen as well with Tyler Wells, Cam Booser, Kevin Kelly, and the MLB leader in saves, Bryan Baker.
Tampa Bay has all the makings of a run to get to the World Series as the class of the AL, trying to capture their first World Series title.
4. New York Yankees
Right next to the Rays as contenders in the American League are the Yankees, who swept a convincing two-game series against their rival Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Round. The Yankees had the second-best record in the AL at 93-68, and nobody behind them had 90 wins. We all know that the Yankees offense is always one of the best in the league in terms of the long ball, as suggested by their “Bronx Bombers” nickname, but their pitching has been just as good, if not better.
The Yankees rank second in all of baseball in home runs with 223 and are top-10 in slugging percentage (.409). This has been without Aaron Judge pretty much all season, who only played 66 games due to injury. The offense has been carried by the breakout of Ben Rice, who had 41 home runs and 98 RBI. They also have Cody Bellinger, who is a dangerous left-handed presence in the postseason. The Yankees have really good complementary pieces who, if they get hot, can make this offense click as they did against the Red Sox.
A healthy Judge would obviously put this offense over the top, but if he can’t go or isn’t healthy, they will be looking for others to pick up the slack like they have all season.
On the other hand, the pitching can pick up the slack if the offense stutters without Judge, or even with him. The Yankees have the best starting pitching ERA along with the best bullpen ERA in all of baseball. It all starts with Cam Schlittler, who had an amazing 1.95 ERA with 239 strikeouts and a 0.919 WHIP. He continued his dominance in the Wild Card Round when he went 6.1 innings with 10 strikeouts while only giving up two hits in Game 1.
While Gerrit Cole hasn’t had the season everyone expected, he still sports a 3.61 ERA with 131 strikeouts. He has the ability to turn into the Cole we know come playoff time. The Yankees also have the likes of Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Ryan Weathers and Will Warren as rotation options.
They could also use a couple of those arms out of the bullpen, which is already another strong part of this overall pitching staff. The Yankees have a bullpen ERA of 3.13, and that’s because of arms like Ryan Yarbrough, Brent Headrick, Paul Blackburn, and closer David Bednar. Weathers and Warren are the arms possibly coming out of the bullpen, with Warren already doing so last round.
The Yankees come into the Divisional Series looking like a real threat against any team in the AL and will have their toughest test against the Rays.
Power Rankings 5-8:
5. San Diego Padres
6. Atlanta Braves
7. Cleveland Guardians
8. Chicago White Sox
Main Image: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
