Final Power Rankings before postseason starts
We have come to the final week of the MLB regular season, which means, after Sunday, we will say goodbye to 18 of the 30 teams in these rankings. Most of them have already been eliminated; the rest will fall away as the week goes along. But they all still have stories: They all have their own tales to tell. In the final Power Rankings with all 30 teams of the regular season, we’ll give you a little season recap for each team. The teams still with World Series hopes? Well, their stories are yet to be told as well. But everybody’s got a story.
These rankings, as always, are compiled from rankings from MLB.com contributors whose names you can find at the bottom of this (and every) piece, but the words are mine. If you dislike the rankings, yell at all of us. But if you dislike the words, feel free to yell at me
The Dodgers have had one goal since the season began, the reason they made all their offseason moves, the thing they’ve been building toward. It’s World Series title or bust for the Dodgers. It has been an excellent season. But other than Shohei Ohtani’s historic numbers, the real story of the season will be told in October..
The Phillies have a team stacked with veterans who have put together terrific careers full of accolades and honors. But other than Kyle Schwarber (2016 with the Cubs) and Trea Turner (2019 with the Nationals), none of them have won a World Series. They may have no better opportunity to do so than they have right now.
Can you be a true Yankee if you’ve never won a World Series? You probably can’t, right? Aaron Judge has had one of the best seasons in Yankees history, but this is still a team that, as you may have heard, has not made a World Series in 15 years — far, far too long for this franchise. So much has been built around this year being their ideal breakthrough. Let’s see if it is.
The AL Central champion Guardians didn’t look appreciably different on Opening Day than they did during their disappointing 2023 season, but the results sure have been different. They haven’t reached the ALCS since their World Series season of 2016, despite four different postseason bites of the apple. It’s a dogfight in the American League: With an improving AL Central, is this the best shot they’ll have in a while?
