MLB Power Rankings - April 7

1. Detroit Tigers 

General manager Dave Dombrowski is already reaping the benefits of his much-maligned offseason swap with the Nationals that sent Doug Fister to Washington for a lacklustre package; Fister remains on the disabled list with a lat strain while Rick Porcello, thrust into a more prominent role in Detroit's rotation, hurled six-plus innings of one-run ball in his inaugural start of the season.

2. St. Louis Cardinals

Shelby Miller, the young right-hander who vanished during his team's 2013 postseason run, was hardly impressive during his inaugural start of the season, surrendering three homers over five-plus innings while battling a slight decline in velocity. The Cardinals, fortunately, have Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, and Joe Kelly, so they're going to be just fine.

3. Los Angeles Dodgers

That Yasiel Puig is already generating headlines for the Wrong Reasons isn't nearly as disconcerting as the prognosis for Clayton Kershaw, who's poised to miss all of April due to inflammation in his back.

4. Washington Nationals

The Nationals bowled over the hapless Mets in the season's opening series before dropping two of three to the Braves -- all of this whilst Bryce Harper eked out an anemic .143/.182/.143 line. Imagine how imposing this club will be once their prized 21-year-old starts hitting.

5. Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays' early-season success is so unsurprising it's almost downright banal, as David Price owns a 12:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio over two starts, Evan Longoria is 9-for-25 (.360) with one home run and two doubles, and Jake Odorizzi tossed six shutout innings in his season debut.

6. Boston Red Sox

Xander Bogaerts' campaign for American League Rookie of the Year has started off with aplomb, while Grady Sizemore, who homered in his second at-bat of the season, continues to ameliorate the absence of Shane Victorino, sidelined with a wonky hamstring. Clay Buchholz's diminished velocity, however, is a reason for concern.

7. Pittsburgh Pirates

No reasonable person can actually doubt the restorative power of the Pirates at this point, as erratic right-hander Edinson Volquez, the club's latest reclamation project, held the reigning National League champs to one run over five-plus innings in his first start of the season. And he didn't even issue an unintentional walk. Yeah, this team is magic.

8. San Francisco Giants

It took Brandon Belt all of seven games to cement his status as San Francisco's top offensive player, blasting four home runs through his first 31 at-bats of 2014. The lithe 25-year-old is hitting .295/.362/.501 over his last 155 games, posting the fifteenth-best wRC+ (145) in the majors over the span.

9. Cincinnati Reds

The self-confidence Billy Hamilton likely cultivated with his strong spring was promptly erased during the first week of the season, as the speedy 23-year-old remains hitless through his first 12 at-bats and has yet to steal a base. Even more alarming, however, is that Joey Votto has just one RBI thus far. Let the senseless panic begin.

10. Kansas City Royals

Kansas City's offense has sputtered out of the gate, as the Royals have combined for zero home runs through the first week of the season, while Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas have managed just one base hit over 32 at-bats. Salvador Perez, however, is doing his best to compensate for his teammates' struggles, going 7-for-16 (.438) with four doubles thus far.

11. New York Yankees

Japanese expat Masahiro Tanaka enjoyed an auspicious debut against the Blue Jays, but it's already difficult to overlook how decrepit New York’s lineup is. An infield comprised of Derek Jeter, Yangervis Solarte, Kelly Johnson, and Dean Anna – replacing injured first baseman Mark Teixeira – would be a dangerous proposition for a team that’s not trying to contend.

12. Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore's plan to eke out the season with a potent offense and lackluster rotation hasn't yielded the desired results thus far, as their starting corps has combined for a 5.94 ERA (5.26 FIP) through the first week of the campaign, while Chris Davis, Adam Jones, JJ Hardy, and Matt Wieters have combined for one home run. I know, I miss Manny Machado, too.

13. Atlanta Braves

How's this for a confounding equation: Take one (1) impressive rotation; remove one (1) Kris Medlen and one (1) Brandon Beachy; add one (1) Aaron Harang and one (1) David Hale; solve for competent rotation. (Variable: Ervin Santana will likely make his regular-season debut on Wednesday)

14. Texas Rangers

The return of Yu Darvish will surely assuage the Rangers' serious pitching woes, but Tanner Scheppers and Joe Saunders did little in their respective debuts to inspire much faith in the club's patchwork rotation. Meanwhile, their ostensibly potent offense has combined for just one home run and [insert replacement second baseman] remains a liability.

15. Seattle Mariners

So apparently Robinson Cano was the key to unlocking Justin Smoak's potential, as the former top prospect is 7-for-24 (.292) with a pair of home runs already, and helped the reconstituted Mariners collect just their second sweep of a season-opening three-game series in their 38-year history. For the record, walking Cano to get to Smoak will always be the right move.

16. Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Reyes lasted all of one at-bat before requiring a stint on the disabled list to nurse his troublesome hamstring, creating a conspicuous void atop the Blue Jays lineup. However, Drew Hutchison's first start of the season vindicated much of the hype he generated during Spring Training -- his second start, not so much -- and Mark Buehrle nearly logged a complete-game shutout in his inaugural outing of 2014. Maybe there's hope for this rotation after all.

17. Oakland Athletics

It's abundantly clear that newly acquired closer Jim Johnson has yet to embrace Oakland's organizational philosophy; the 30-year-old right-hander apparently remains under the impression his new club wants him to blow saves. At least that Scott Kazmir signing has yet to go awry.

18. Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers confirmed in the first week of the season my suspicion that their inconspicuously talented club could surprise some people. However, a recurrence of the nerve issue in Ryan Braun's right thumb -- he's not entertaining the possibility of surgery, but is just 3-for-20 (.150) so far -- could tear asunder the team's ability to emerge as a dark horse in the National League central.

19. Cleveland Indians

Asdrubal Cabrera's first few games of the season certainly suggest his miserable performance in 2013 was less an anomaly than evidence of decline, and though Justin Masterson and Danny Salazar have looked alright, the back end of Cleveland's rotation -- I'm looking at you, Carlos Carrasco and Zach McAllister -- isn't overly encouraging.

20. Miami Marlins

No team enjoyed a more surprising start than the Marlins, as players like Nathan Eovaldi, Marcell Ozuna, and Adeiny Hechavarria ably demonstrated that there could be more to this team than Jose Fernandez and Giancarlo Stanton. No lineup that features Casey McGehee and Jeff Baker is to be taken seriously, but with an increasing complement of talented position players, and a young, hard-throwing rotation, there are reasons for optimism in Miami.

21. Los Angeles Angels

Many pundits expected a dearth of quality pitching to undermine the Angels' efforts this season -- and they weren't wrong, as Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, and Hector Santiago have all struggled thus far -- but nobody predicted the offense to be this anemic; only three of the club's regulars -- Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton, and Howie Kendrick -- possess a batting average greater than .238.

22. Arizona Diamondbacks

Unbeknownst to most fans, Arizona's starters are actually having a competition to see who can fashion the highest earned run average without making Kirk Gibson's head explode. And they're all winning.

23. Colorado Rockies

The Rockies managed just one win in their season-opening four-game series with the Marlins, surrendering 27 runs to a lineup that actually features Casey McGehee as its cleanup hitter. If there's a more scathing indictment of a pitching staff, I have yet to hear it.

24. Philadelphia Phillies

Chase Utley is hitting .458 with a pair of homers, Ryan Howard launched a long ball off a left-hander on Wednesday, and Cliff Lee owns a 6.00 ERA over two starts, so it's become quite obvious that the Phillies organization really did manage to turn the clocks back seven years.

25. New York Mets

Mets fandom has become such a trying ordeal that some fans actually had the audacity to criticize Daniel Murphy for missing the first two games of the season to attend the birth of his first child. Bobby Parnell, meanwhile, is set to undergo Tommy John surgery, so, yeah, things aren't exactly going swimmingly in Flushing.

26. Chicago White Sox

Avisail Garcia's bat has yet to show up, but things actually haven't gone too poorly thus far for White Sox, insofar as Gordon Beckham's absence from the lineup affords the club an opportunity to give playing time to Marcus Semien, who, unlike Beckham, has the potential to be even a little bit productive.

27. San Diego Padres

Seth Smith, a platoon outfielder acquired by the Padres in an offseason swap with the Athletics, has easily been San Diego's most impressive player through the first week of the season. That was the saddest sentence ever written.

28. Chicago Cubs

The paucity of major-league talent in the Cubs lineup is so dramatic that people are actually starting to get excited when Emilio Bonifacio comes to the plate. The Cubs have averaged just 2.67 runs per game through the first week of the season, and with a lineup punctuated with names like Darwin Barney, Luis Valbuena, and Welington Castillo, don't expect that to change much. 

29. Minnesota Twins

Minnesota's offseason mission to improve their on-field product in 2014 was commendable. Their strategy, however, was questionable, as it resulted in a four-year deal for Phil Hughes, who looked eerily reminiscent of his former self during his first start in a Twins uniform, surrendering four runs -- and a pair of homers -- over five innings against the White Sox. There's a lot more where that came from.

30. Houston Astros

The Astros' season-opening series victory over the Yankees is an indictment of Joe Girardi's geriatric club more than anything else. Scott Feldman has endeared himself with a two strong outings, and Dexter Fowler has also enjoyed an auspicious beginning to his tenure in Houston, but this is a bad baseball team. A very bad baseball team.