1. St. Louis Cardinals (100-62, Last Week-1): A remarkable season for the Cardinals especially after going through plenty of adversity with injuries and the death of Oscar Taveras.
2. Toronto Blue Jays (93-69, Last Week-3): They blew their chance to have home field throughout the playoffs by losing to Tampa two out of three times. They should feast on the Rangers starting pitching in the ALDS.
3. Pittsburgh Pirates (98-64, Last Week-2): Almost let the home game for the wild card slip away but won their last game of the season, which will make a big difference. Cole will pitch against the Cubs on Wednesday.
4. Chicago Cubs (97-65, Last Week-5): They will have Arrieta on the mound in the biggest game of the season. If he continues to pitch like he has and can get some runs, the Cubs will head to St. Louis for the NLDS.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70, Last Week-6): Kershaw hit 300 strikeouts on the season, which is the first time that has happened since 2002. It’s funny that people were worried about him earlier in the season.
6. Kansas City Royals (95-67, Last Week-4): The Royals will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and will be a big advantage because three of the four other teams in the AL hit plenty of home runs and Kauffman is a big ballpark.
7. New York Mets (90-72, Last Week-7): A bit of a slide to finish the season, but it does not discount how great they were this season. This should be the first of many playoff runs for the Mets.
8. Texas Rangers (88-74, Last Week-9): Needed to go to game 162 to clinch the division after an epic collapse on Saturday against the Angels. Still, it’s truly remarkable that the Rangers were able to overcome so many injuries to win the division.
9. New York Yankees (87-75, Last Week-8): Tanaka will get the ball for the wild card game in his first taste of playoff baseball. A-Rod, McCann, Beltran, and Teixeira all showed that some veterans can still get the job done.
10. Houston Astros (86-76, Last Week-10): The Astros will make the playoffs for the first time in ten years. To celebrate, I will run around on State Street chanting “SÍ, SÍ, SÍ!”
11. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (85-77, Last Week-11): Disappointing for the Angels to not make the playoffs after winning 98 games last season. They will be back next season, but need to build around Trout and Pujols.
12. San Francisco Giants (84-78, Last Week-13): They had a nice retirement ceremony for Tim Hudson, who has been a class act his entire career.
13. Washington Nationals (83-79, Last Week-14): It was a very disappointing season for them and Matt Williams has been fired.
14. Minnesota Twins (83-79, Last Week-12): Great season for the Twins that ended in disappointment. Miguel Sano looks like the real deal, and Twins fans should be excited about this team’s future.
15. Cleveland Indians (81-80, Last Week-15): They were able to finish strong and they have a shortstop who may win the Rookie of the Year award in Francisco Lindor.
16. Baltimore Orioles (81-81, Last Week-17): After sweeping the Yankees, they were able to clinch a .500 season which is a moral victory.
17. Boston Red Sox (78-84, Last Week-16): They had a very strong finish this season and with Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley, Jr., and Xander Bogaerts, they will have a solid group of players to lead them into the future.
18. Tampa Bay Rays (80-82, Last Week-18): A quality first season for rookie manager Kevin Cash and the Rays. They went through a lot of injuries and could be dangerous next year.
19. Arizona Diamondbacks (79-83, Last Week-20): Many predicted them to be one of the worst teams, so it has been a good season. With a core of Pollock, Peralta, Inciarte, and Goldschmidt, they will score plenty of runs over the next few years.
20. Seattle Mariners (76-86, Last Week-19): A disappointing season in Seattle to say the least, but they have a strong core in the lineup. They have got to have a better supporting cast if they want to compete next year though.
21. Chicago White Sox (76-86, Last Week-22): After acquiring Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche, David Robertson, and Jeff Samardzija, expectations were very high on the South Side, but they finished well below .500.
22. San Diego Padres (74-88, Last Week-21): They put themselves in a worse position compared to last year at this time as a result of A.J. Preller’s questionable moves.
23. Detroit Tigers (74-87, Last Week-23): One of the few highlights this season for the Tigers was Miguel Cabrera winning the batting title once again.
24. Miami Marlins (71-91, Last Week-24): The Marlins disappointed this season largely due to the injury to Giancarlo Stanton and incompetence in the front office.
25. Milwaukee Brewers (68-94, Last Week-25): An awful start ruined their season early, but some good trades has greatly improved their farm system.
26. Oakland A’s (68-94, Last Week-26): One of the worst seasons for the A’s in recent history, but that was due to an atrocious record in one-run games.
27. Atlanta Braves (67-95, Last Week-29): They were finally able to give Shelby Miller, who was excellent all season, enough run support to get him his first win since May.
28. Colorado Rockies (68-94, Last Week-28): Once again, the pitching struggled and they had some solid performances from the offense.
29. Cincinnati Reds (64-98, Last Week-27): Joey Votto is back, which is encouraging for the Reds as they try to figure out what’s next in Cincinnati.
30. Philadelphia Phillies (63-99, Last Week-30): They clinched the number one pick Saturday, and it would have been somewhat of a disappointment if they did not get it.
Sources:
mlb.com