With the season coming to such an exciting finish, I look at the good and bad for each team.
The Washington Nationals were the biggest riser, going up 6 spots from 20th to 14th. The Boston Red Sox were the hardest faller, falling 8 spots from 2nd to 10th.
Records are final. A game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals was rained out and not made up, so those two teams have played only 161 games. The other 28 teams have played the full 162.
SLR = team’s record Since Last Rankings | Prev = Previous Rankings from April, May, June, July and August.
1) Philadelphia Phillies (102-60 | 16-14 SLR | Prev: 1/1/1/1/1)
Good: The league’s best record, one of the best rotations in baseball and the likely favorite heading into the playoffs.
Bad: Hardly any of those matters come playoff time. An offense that isn’t usually firing on all cylinders could still prove to be a failing if one of the Big Four has an off night or two.
2) New York Yankees (97-65 | 16-12 SLR | Prev: 5/8/2/3/3)
Good: Curtis Granderson has emerged as an MVP candidate and the Yankees coast to another AL East title. Indirectly helping Boston choke away the Wild Card probably pleases its fans as well.
Bad: Outside of CC Sabathia and rookie Ivan Nova, New York doesn’t have much of a rotation which may cause them trouble should they advance to a 7-game series.
3) Texas Rangers (96-66 | 19-6 SLR | Prev: 6/14/10/5/7)
Good: The offense is scoring runs at will and the team heads into the ALDS against what could be an emotionally drained Rays team.
Bad: While their starting pitching has held its own throughout the year, one has to wonder how well they’ll fare in the postseason this year without Cliff Lee.
4) Milwaukee Brewers (96-66 | 15-10 SLR | Prev: 12/7/8/7/4)
Good: Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun are an excellent one-two punch on offense while John Axford’s excellent year as their closer could prove vital in the postseason.
Bad: Can Yovani Gallardo and Zack Grienke, among other Milwaukee pitchers, hold off an explosive Arizona offense? The offense outside of Fielder, Braun and Corey Hart is also suspect.
5) Detroit Tigers (95-67 | 20-6 SLR | Prev: 26/13/7/11/8)
Good: With Justin Verlander’s Cy Young season, Miguel Cabrera’s stellar year and excellent contributions from mid-season acquisitions Doug Fister and Delmon Young, the Tigers blew away the AL Central in September.
Bad: Most of their winning came against what ended up being a helpless AL Central. The Yankees will be the first difficult opponent the Tigers will have faced in over a month. The rotation outside of Verlander and Fister is very shaky as well.
6) Arizona Diamondbacks (94-68 | 16-9 SLR | Prev: 24/5/9/8/6)
Good: The Diamondbacks finally realized their potential and ran away with the NL West thanks to strong hitting and a stabilized pitching staff.
Bad: They have to play three of five games in Milwaukee, who possesses baseball’s best home record.
7) St. Louis Cardinals (90-72 | 18-8 SLR | Prev: 7/3/11/10/11)
Good: The Cardinals got hot in September and played just well enough to pass Atlanta for the NL Wild Card.
Bad: A team that aided St. Louis by defeating Atlanta time and time again, Philadelphia, will be the Cardinals’ NLDS opponent.
8) Tampa Bay Rays (91-71 | 17-10 SLR | Prev: 9/10/6/12/9)
Good: After dumping all of that salary in the offseason, being 9 games behind Boston in the Wild Card earlier in September and down 7-0 to the Yankees in the final game of the season with the playoffs on the line at the time, the Rays pulled off the incredible and won that game and took the final playoff spot.
Bad: It was surely an emotional moment for the restocked Rays, but they only get a days rest to recompose themselves before they head off to face Texas, who have been blazing hot themselves.
9) Atlanta Braves (89-73 | 9-18 SLR | Prev: 18/11/3/4/5)
Good: Those five first months were pretty good, with Craig Kimbrel having emerged as Atlanta’s closer of the future alongside a young Braves core.
Bad: Losing an 8.5 game lead to St. Louis thanks to an inconsistent offense and a bullpen that was too overworked to be effective any longer. Well at least it wasn’t the worst collapse this year!
10) Boston Red Sox (90-72 | 7-20 SLR | Prev: 23/6/4/2/2)
Good: Dustin Pedroia had an MVP season… uh, Adrian Gonzalez had a good year too… Josh Beckett was pretty great when he wasn’t hurt. There’s that.
Bad: Injuries and terrible starting pitching (not mutually exclusive from one another) sent Boston on a September tailspin from which they just could not recover. Jonathan Papelbon picked the worst time to blow his second and third saves of the year, both against Baltimore. Hopefully the overreaction to the mess (and yes, even THIS can be overreacted to) doesn’t take out the men that led Boston to titles in 2004 and 2007, though I fear it just might.
11) San Francisco Giants (86-76 | 14-11 SLR | Prev: 14/9/5/6/12)
Good: Well, last season was great, anyway. Plus, the starting rotation remained solid, not to mention healthy.
Bad: The anemic offense alongside Brian Wilson getting hurt last month contributed to the Giants fading away from the playoff picture down the stretch.
12) Los Angeles Angels (86-76 | 13-13 SLR | Prev: 8/16/15/9/10)
Good: Jered Weaver has established himself as an ace. Alongside Ervin Santana and Dan Haren, the Angels have a rotation among the best in baseball.
Bad: Vernon Wells. Kendry Morales being unable to return this year with his career perhaps in jeopardy. Fernando Rodney. Letting Mike Napoli leave so he can help Texas win the division over your team. All in all, a ‘close but no playoffs’ season for the Angels.
13) Los Angeles Dodgers (82-79 | 17-9 SLR | Prev: 13/20/24/24/17)
Good: Clayton Kershaw is the leading candidate for the Cy Young, and Matt Kemp is a strong MVP candidate as he leads the NL in home runs and RBI.
Bad: Everybody else on this team, though as it was the Dodgers were still very hot in September and finished with a record above .500. Also, Frank McCourt.
14) Washington Nationals (80-81 | 17-10 SLR | Prev: 21/28/17/22/20)
Good: Stephen Strasburg pitched well in his month back in the majors and it seems like the team is building itself together nicely for a strong 2012 campaign following a strong September.
Bad: Of course, fans had to endure the 2011 season in order for all of that to happen. The team plays a lot better just from having Strasburg on its roster, it seems.
15) Toronto Blue Jays (81-81 | 13-13 SLR | Prev: 15/15/19/13/15)
Good: Jose Bautista may easily win the Most Outstanding Player award mistakenly disguised as a Most Valuable Player award. His offensive season was matched by nobody in the AL.
Bad: Despite that, the Blue Jays finished exactly at .500 anyway in what was granted a difficult AL East. Well, “MOP” doesn’t have a nice ring to it like “MVP” does.
16) Cleveland Indians (80-82 | 12-17 SLR | Prev: 2/2/12/16/13)
Good: Those first 45 games in the season. Asdrubal Cabrera’s strong season.
Bad: The rest, including all the injuries the team sustained throughout the latter half of the year and not being able to finish at .500 despite going 30-15 to start the year. Ubaldo Jimenez ended up being a complete non-factor.
17) Cincinnati Reds (79-83 | 12-14 SLR | Prev: 10/17/14/18/16)
Good: Joey Votto still had a strong year, anyway.
Bad: The term ‘disappointing’ fits perfectly for the Reds, who were never able to get anything consistent going for them all season long, from the offense to their pitching.
18) Chicago White Sox (79-83 | 11-17 SLR | Prev: 29/22/18/19/14)
Good: Changes are coming to help alleviate the supposed stagnation the franchise has enveloped itself in. Some White Sox also had good seasons. Some.
Bad: Getting completely annihilated by Detroit earlier this month alongside several problems on offense completely derailed this team’s chances at a division title.
Adam Dunn: So bad, he gets his own category. Wasn’t the transition to the hitter-friendly AL supposed to help his power-heavy numbers? What the hell happened to him?
19) New York Mets (77-85 | 12-16 SLR | Prev: 25/21/16/15/18)
Good: Jose Reyes has the NL batting title, regardless of how he ‘secured’ it. Now, people don’t think of them as quickly when the words “baseball wild card chokes” come to mind.
Bad: Looks like its rebuilding again for the Mets, as rumors over whether the team will trade either Reyes or David Wright persist.
20) Oakland Athletics (74-88 | 14-12 SLR | Prev: 17/18/25/23/23)
Good: Gio Gonzalez had a pretty good season, so did Josh Willingham. Their bullpen was strong as well.
Bad: Outside of Willingham, Oakland’s scrappy offense was pretty poor all season long, and really needs to be overhauled if it’s to be any effective next year.
21) Colorado Rockies (73-89 | 9-16 SLR | Prev: 3/23/20/21/19)
Good: Well, they didn’t pull their fans along for a fruitless ride by getting real hot in September before falling apart late.
Bad: Instead, they just fell apart the entire season. Key injuries and the continued ineffectiveness of once-ace Ubaldo Jimenez (who got traded to Cleveland) prevented the team from really going anywhere.
22) Kansas City Royals (71-91 | 15-10 SLR | Prev: 11/26/29/25/27)
Good: They finished the season strong and avoided last place in the AL Central. Jeff Francouer has fit in quite well with the Royals.
Bad: Yet, it was same ol’, same ol’ for Kansas City as they just can not find a way to compete all season long.
23) Florida Marlins (72-90 | 12-15 SLR | Prev: 4/4/26/17/25)
Good: With a new manager in Ozzie Guillen coming in, and a new stadium and a new identity (the “Miami Marlins”), 2012 looks to be an exciting year for Marlins baseball
Bad: With several excruciating losing skids throughout the year, the 2011 Florida Marlins were completely forgettable. Also forgettable are those supposed logo designs for next year’s Miami Marlins that have leaked on the internet.
24) Pittsburgh Pirates (72-90 | 10-16 SLR | Prev: 22/19/13/14/24)
Good: Joel Hanrahan proved to be one of the best closers in baseball for a team that did pretty well for the first three and a half months.
Bad: Ever since that fateful 19 inning loss to Atlanta, the Pirates fell into their old ways, and hard. Even acquiring the likes of Derrek Lee couldn’t stop the free fall.
25) Chicago Cubs (71-91 | 12-13 SLR | Prev: 20/27/28/27/21)
Good: Matt Garza did alright. Carlos Pena’s contract was for only one season.
Bad: It was a pretty ho-hum season for Chicago overall, with probably the worst thing happening being the antics of Carlos Zambrano who will likely not be back.
26) San Diego Padres (71-91 | 11-14 SLR | Prev: 28/25/22/26/22)
Good: Closer Heath Bell is committed to the Padres, and the Padres him. The starting rotation is also very underrated.
Bad: Though it was extremely hot for a time following the All-Star break, San Diego’s offense was the worst in the National League which isn’t surprising in the least.
27) Baltimore Orioles (69-93 | 15-13 SLR | Prev: 16/24/23/28/29)
Good: Baltimore finished their season strong, humiliating Boston in the last couple of weeks while also scoring five runs off Justin Verlander inbetween. The young pitching staff will likely continue to improve.
Bad: How can’t Baltimore keep that up for an entire season? Well, for starters, their bullpen isn’t so great and their offense is full of aging veterans and youth that haven’t been developing as well as planned.
28) Seattle Mariners (67-95 | 9-18 SLR | Prev: 19/12/21/29/26)
Good: Felix Hernandez, of course, but Michael Pineda has risen as a strong #2 in Seattle rotation.
Bad: Their offense is once again worst in the league. It’s so bad, it skewed Doug Fister’s record enough to where Detroit was able to steal him away from them for a couple of supposed prospects. Its so bad, now even Ichiro couldn’t escape its effects, having one of his worst seasons in his MLB career.
29) Minnesota Twins (63-99 | 6-20 SLR | Prev: 30/30/27/20/28)
Good: Well, they avoided 100 losses at least.
Bad: When Minnesota hit July 31st, they were 50-58, so they didn’t bother becoming sellers. Thanks to most of their decent players either getting hurt or being traded away afterward, however, Minnesota went 13-41 which included only two series victories (the last of which helped them avoid 100 losses). Will just getting healthy really help Minnesota’s woes for next season?
30) Houston Astros (56-106 | 9-16 SLR | Prev: 27/29/30/30/30)
Good: They still have Wandy Rodriguez. For now.
Bad: Everything else. Over the last few seasons they’ve traded away everybody of note aside from Wandy as well as the oft-forgotten Carlos Lee. Laying down and letting the Cardinals ravage them 8-0 on the final day of the season pretty much sums up this team.