After first weekend (4/5/2021)... the Athletic has the Astros at #8: 8. Houston Astros Record: 4-0 Every empire falls. The question is how much hardware they can accumulate before the erosion of time and the complication of money or power deal that final blow. Justin Verlander is 38 and still likely out for the year after Tommy John surgery. Zack Greinke is 37. Carlos Correa is in a contract year, and an extension seems more unlikely than ever. George Springer and Josh Reddick are already gone, and last year ended with questions about Jose Altuve as well.
That reads like it was written before spring training or by someone who didn't watch any of the games this weekend.
More like 1-3. They conveniently left off young players like Yordan, Tucker, all the pitchers just to fit their crumby narrative
Yup, 8th in MLB and 4th in the AL seems about right for a team that has (checks notes) 2x the run differential of anyone else, is the only 4-0 team, and was already picked to be 2nd in the AL by every model and Vegas sportbook. But, hey, "the White Sox might be a very good team" ... don't let that 1-3 start get in the way of putting them at 6. P.S. The Rays at 9 might be even worse.
Here's the rest of the quote below it: "But hey, Alex Bregman is in his prime, Yordan Alvarez looks to be on the verge of his, they just swept the A’s in a four-game series in Oakland, and there are exciting reinforcements on the way, so… are we really seeing the end of an era or just a dynasty’s transfer of power?"
They also put the Yankees (1-2), Braves (0-3), Twins (2-1) and the Mets (0-0!!) ahead of the Astros too
CBS has us at 2 "That was emphatic. Good lord, what a series. I see you, Houston." https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...anis-angels-tatis-padres-yankees-and-red-sox/
**** like this is the reason why I refused to give them $1 a month for subscription. Instead of talking about sweeping 4 games series against the A’s, they talked about who’s leaving after this year.
That first list is exactly why I don't care about power rankings. Anyone that has the Astros that low after this weekend has their blinders on. Or you know, it's in spite because of something that happened years ago.
I think national writers are right to be skeptical of the rotation, but if power rankings are based on what we have seen of the season to date, we should certainly be higher. But the same logic would have Baltimore near the top; I think we can all agree that they don't belong even though they are also undefeated.
Power rankings in general try to capture how good a team is at that point in the season. While recent games usually influence a ranking, it isn't a 1 to 1 correlation. Personally, my views on the Astros weren't changed much based on the last 4 days except that they have to win 4 less games. To me, the big things besides the winning were it was big seeing the ball fly off the bats with great EVs for Brantley and Gurriel. I've not seen Brantley hit the ball this hard this often in an Astros uniform. For Gurriel, he's getting up there and it is nice seeing that age hasn't robbed him of much power.
I wasn’t expecting an Athletics trashing for opening weekend. But for power rankings you need to examine about 1 month of games to gauge a team and its resolve. While I very much enjoyed the Oakland beat down, it’s a bit too early to make an assessment. But I must admit I am intrigued with the potential of this team.
