There's no question: The Cubs are clearly baseball's best team on paper entering the 2016 campaign. But, of course, there's still six months of baseball to be played, so don't just hand them the trophy yet. Teams like the Washington Nationals, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to throw their hat in the ring to contend with the NL Central - baseball's best division. And that's not even getting into the American League contenders.
With that comes another edition of MLB Power Rankings from CSNChicago.com's Tony Andracki and JJ Stankevitz. Stay with us every Monday from here through October for a fresh set of rankings.
| Rank | Team |
Last Week | Comment |
| 1 | - |
OK, look, being the best team on paper means nothing, but all we have right now is "on paper" and in that category, the Cubs are (preseason) champs. |
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| 2 | - |
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Mets have great pitching. We know (and we're not disputing that at all). But the real question marks revolved around David Wright (can he stay healthy and produce amid a career-threatening back injury?) and Yoenis Cespedes (can he duplicate his power explosion from last year?). |
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| 3 | - |
If ever there was a season the Dodgers needed Puig, it's this one. |
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| 4 | - |
Advanced-stat predictions don’t like the Royals, but we're buying them so long as they continue to field an elite defense. |
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| 5 | - |
It's an even year, and we all know what that means for the Giants! |
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| 6 | - |
A full season of Carlos Correa and Carlos Gomez is mouth-watering, and Ken Giles was a solid addition to shore up a shaky bullpen. |
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| 7 | - |
Last year was a disaster after World Series expectations. But if they stay healthy, watch out. This is still a bonafide contender. |
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| 8 | - |
Could be even better than last year. Gregory Polanco looks primed for a breakout, which would give Bucs arguably the best OF in the game. |
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| 9 | - |
Count the Cardinals out at your own risk. As far as we know, they're still under contract with that deal with the devil. |
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| 10 | - |
They’ll still hit a ton of home runs, but who outside Marcus Stroman can be counted on to succeed out of that rotation? |
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| 11 | - |
David Price was a massive offseason addition, and eventually, this team will stop underperforming — right? |
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| 12 | - |
An under-the-radar contender stocked with baseball’s time-tested recipe for success: Pitching and defense. |
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| 13 | - |
There certainly are offensive weaknesses here, but a solid rotation and good defense should play well in a wide-open American League. |
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| 14 | - |
A.J. Pollock injury a huge, huge blow. May knock them out of contention altogether if he misses the entire season. |
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| 15 | - |
Todd Frazier was a crucial offseason add and Carlos Rodon looks primed for a big year. But will the defense and back of the rotation be good enough? |
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| 16 | - |
If Yu Darvish comes back strong from Tommy John surgery, he and Cole Hamels could power Texas back to the postseason. |
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| 17 | - |
Getting Jordan Zimmermann and Justin Upton this winter were quality moves, but are they enough to bail out an aging, sinking roster? |
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| 18 | - |
Can be a surprise contender. A lot of talent with Stanton, Fernandez, Gordon, Yelich leading the way. |
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| 19 | - |
Does an offense full of players on the wrong side of 30 have another run in it? |
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| 20 | - |
FanGraphs projects 13 Angels position players to be worth 22.7 WAR this year. Subtract Mike Trout from there and it’s 12 players and 14 WAR (1.2 WAR/player). |
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| 21 | - |
Desperately need a starter or two to emerge from a group that is projected to have a collective 4.43 ERA by FanGraphs. |
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| 22 | - |
If Nelson Cruz wasn’t enough to get this team over the hump last year, then where’s the fix? | |
| 23 | - |
Well they certainly didn't win the offseason, so maybe they could contend with low expectations? They do have some decent talent still around. |
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| 24 | - |
A lot to like with Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton, but pitching staff needs to take a major step forward to keep 2015 from being a flash in the pan. |
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| 25 | - |
Outside of Sonny Gray and Josh Reddick, this is a team with a ton of mediocre-to-bad pitching and a ton of mediocre-to-bad fielding. |
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| 26 | - |
Should be a fun offense to watch once again, but they won't be playing in October this season. |
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| 27 | - |
The rebuild is on. Still feels weird to see Braves cashing in another season. Millenials aren't used to a world without Braves as contenders. |
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| 28 | - |
They've officially wasted Joey Votto's prime years. |
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| 29 | - |
Yet another NL team just tanking this season. |
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| 30 | - |
Will be very shocked if they don't wind up with the worst record in baseball. No hope of contention anytime soon. |