Baltimore Orioles Among Risers in MLB Power Rankings

The Baltimore Orioles have made a jump in MLB’s most recent power rankings

On Monday, Alyson Footer of MLB.com published the first Major League power rankings of the 2021 regular season, which includes a number of risers and fallers from where the site’s voters placed teams in their preseason power rankings at the end of March. One of the notable risers in this week’s power rankings are the Baltimore Orioles.

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Prior to the beginning of the season, MLB.com’s power rankings voters placed Baltimore at 29th in baseball, beaten out by only the Pittsburgh Pirates for the bottom spot in the rankings. However, over the first week of the season, the Orioles proved the voters wrong about their low expectations.

The Orioles began the week with a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park before traveling to the Bronx and taking one of three games against the New York Yankees, decided on an Anthony Santander double play in the 11th inning to close out the series. However, a three-game slide over the weekend likely held Baltimore from moving up even further in MLB’s power rankings, which placed them at 26th overall this week, passing the Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, and Colorado Rockies.

Here are a few notable stat lines from the first week of the season:

• Cedric Mullins: MLB-best 17 hits
• John Means: 0.77 ERA and 0.86 WHIP in 11.2 IP
• Trey Mancini: Home runs in back-to-back games
• Cesar Valdez: AL-best 2 saves

In week two, Baltimore will have games on each day of the week, beginning with a four-game set against the Seattle Mariners and ending with a three-game series in Arlington against the Texas Rangers. Seattle placed 24th in this week’s power rankings, while Texas ranked 28th.