MLB power rankings: Mets, Blue Jays regain playoff form

Saturday’s stunning no-hit loss aside, Boston's start to the year has been nothing short of historic. The Red Sox have gone grand slam crazy in the early going with five on the year already. Meanwhile, Mookie Betts has gone nuclear, raising his average to .366, while Boston pitching went over a week without allowing more than three runs. It's resulted in one of the greatest starts in baseball history, including becoming the seventh team in modern MLB history to win 16 of its first 18 games. While the organization’s streak of 3,987 games without being held hitless is now over, it feels like the Sox will not have a hard time picking up the pieces.

Houston's  drop in the rankings this week is more about to the unreal play from the Red Sox than any true decline on the defending champions' part. The Astros still boast baseball’s most dominant pitching staff, leading the majors in team ERA and strikeouts. Houston hurlers hold three of the four lowest ERAs in the American League, with Charlie Morton (0.72), Justin Verlander (1.10) and Gerrit Cole (1.29) leading the way.

The most recent controversy around Matt Harvey aside, the Mets have continued to roll through the early part of the year. Noah Syndergaard set down eight straight via strikeout against Brewers a week ago as a part of a stretch where the Mets won 10 of 11 games. A brush with the Nationals and Braves brought them back to the pack somewhat, but Mickey Callaway’s club still carries the NL’s East top record as May approaches.

Things haven't exactly shaped up as anticipated among Arizona starters. Zack Greinke and Robbie Ray have struggled early, and Taijuan Walker will go under the knife for Tommy John surgery. This has been offset, however, by the unlikely, incredible start to the year from Patrick Corbin. Corbin worked to a 100-pitch, one-hit, complete game victory last week and has become the needed stopper atop the competitive Arizona attack.

T he Blue Jays look legit, and it's time to give them their due. They have scored the fourth most runs in the game and done so with Josh Donaldson heading to the disabled list. After going toe-to-toe with the Yankees yet again over the weekend, a big-time showdown against the Red Sox awaits to open the new week.

The absolute best moment of the week that was came courtesy of Francisco Lindor, whose inspirational home run in his return to his native Puerto Rico was the capper in an exhilarating visit to the island by the Indians and Twins. Even a massive blackout that engulfed the city could not dim the excitement of MLB’s trip to the weather-worn territory, which was host to some exciting play from the Tribe, a team that is rounding back into shape.

The excitement around Shohei Ohtani facing off against the surging Red Sox never got off the ground as a blister to the rookie sensation limited him to only two innings. Ultimately, the Halos faltered a bit, managing just four total runs from Tuesday to Friday during a Boston sweep and a disappointing start against San Francisco. The next week holds no breathers either, as they head to Houston before hosting the Yankees this weekend.

While Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius have had their efforts of a year ago carry over, it has been a challenge thus far to get the full arsenal on the same page. Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez have struggled to get in gear at the plate, while Sonny Gray and Masahiro Tanaka have had more severe issues in the starting staff. The offense has heated up with New York winning three straight, scoring 28 runs in those three victories. With the promotion of the much-anticipated Gleyber Torres, it could be just a matter of time before the Yanks take off.

Despite not being a full year into his MLB journey yet, it is time to give Jose Berrios his props as one of the great arms for the future of the game. In his return to his native Puerto Rico last Wednesday, he worked a masterful seven shutout innings while dueling against the Indians’ Carlos Carrasco. He has allowed just three hits over his past two outings and has not issued a walk since April 1, a span of over 18 innings.

Despite still being down the NL East standings some, it is simply too early to deem the Nationals less than advertised on the year. Injuries have limited Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon and Adam Eaton thus far, with Murphy still not playing yet. Despite this, the Nats have managed to keep their head above the water, and much credit must go to Max Scherzer. With one start remaining in the month, he is off to a better start than in of any of his two previous NL Cy Young seasons thanks to a 1.36 ERA, four wins and 47 strikeouts.

Leading off the crowded pack of NL Central clubs to come are the Cardinals, who have used a pair of series with the Reds to pull themselves up to the top of the division. Paul DeJong and Jose Martinez have continued to be revelations at the heart of the lineup, while Yadier Molina continues to make a huge impact at the plate. However, much credit is also due to Carlos Martinez, who dropped his ERA to 1.42 after his third outing of the year of at least six scoreless innings with four or fewer hits on Saturday.

While Chicago's pitching is still struggling to get its footing, the offense has been a colorful offering thus far. Javy Baez has seemingly developed a distaste for stopping at first base; nearly half of his hits over the past two weeks have been for extra bases. Along with Baez, Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant, Albert Almora Jr. and Jason Heyward each have at least one double, triple and a home run to their credit already.

Eric Thames has only been back in the U.S. for a year now, but apparently he has a vendetta against Cincy pitching. He launched a pair of two-run homers that supplied all the run support Milwaukee pitchers needed in a pair of 2-0 shutouts. Over a two-year time span now, Thames is hitting .351 with 10 home runs and a 1.388 OPS in 57 at-bats against Cincinnati. He will have to wait a week until he gets to engage with his favorite muses again after series with the Royals and Cubs over the next week.

While the impact of losing Justin Turner and painfully slow starts from Yasiel Puig, Chris Taylor and Corey Seager are keeping the Dodgers down, they are far from out. This is due to surprisingly great starts from Yasmani Grandal, Chase Utley and Matt Kemp. That is not sustainable for a division title run, but can at least keep the Dodgers relevant enough to give Clayton Kershaw and company the chance to carry the majority of the weight for the time being.

Winning heals all, and it has proved to be a potent elixir for the Phillies, who have put a scary start to the year behind them in quick fashion. A six-game win streak against the Reds and Rays served as the springboard and was hammered home with a four-game sweep of the Pirates over the weekend. At the heart of their breakout have been strong starts from Odubel Herrera and Rhys Hoskins. Rookie Scott Kingery has made the most of his opportunities of late, raking in nine extra-base hits with three stolen bases over his first 70 at-bats.

It has been a fun start for the Braves. Ryan Flaherty and Dansby Swanson sit among the NL top 10 in batting average, while Ozzie Albies is among the NL leaders in hits. Predictably, Freddie Freeman has been an on-base machine, although a déjà vu moment of the scariest variety came when he was hit by a pitch on the exact same wrist he broke last year. Fortunately, he rebounded with a two-double outing over the weekend, so all apparently is well.

Aside from a completely forgivable mini-slump brought on by a four-game stint against the Astros, the Mariners have played solid ball of late. They have won their last three non-Houston series and are keeping pace with the Angels in the hunt to stay relevant in the AL West. However, much of this success has come despite a starting staff that is barely holding its weight for the second straight year. Every regular starter for Seattle has an ERA north of 5.00 on the season.

Much of the week in Colorado was spent making due without Nolan Arenado, who served his five-game suspension following his fight with the Padres two weeks ago. Charlie Blackmon filled the void by moving into the third spot in the order and continued to affirm his value. Seven of Blackmon’s eight homers on the year have come on the road, where he is also hitting .333 on the year.

After a surprisingly strong start, reality has hit the Bucs over the last week. Over a 10-game stretch going back to April 12, they managed to score as many as three runs only once and dropped five out of six to the Rockies and Phillies. The people of Pittsburgh are seemingly not amused, as they failed to top 27,000 in total attendance during last week’s series versus the Rockies.

There is very little to be excited about regarding the San Francisco offense, which is currently paced by Brandon Belt's .290 batting average and Andrew McCutchen’s 11 RBI. Aside from promising early returns from Johnny Cueto, the retooling effort has not shown much promise to date.

In the history of unlikely no-hitters, Sean Manaea’s surely must rank high on the list, simply due to which team it came against and when. Manaea shut down a Red Sox team that had lost only twice in its first 19 games and held the highest winning percentage (.895) by a team to be no-hit more than five games into a season. Manaea became the first pitcher since Dave Stewart to no-hit the team leading the majors in runs scored, who did it 28 years ago against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Tigers are capable of beating up on teams close to their level but are no match for the league’s elite. Case in point: They have gone 9-3 against sub-.500 teams on the year while going winless (0-8) against those with winning records. If this trend holds its course, it should be a good few weeks for Ron Gardenhire’s club. The Tigers face the struggling Pirates on the horizon, followed by the bottom tiers of the AL East and AL West before seeing the Indians again in mid-May.

It has been an odd April for the Padres. They avoided being no-hit via a pinch-hit single from a pitcher (Clayton Richard) and nearly issued a no-hitter themselves from Tyson Ross, who made his way to spring training on a non-roster invite. Even Franchy Cordero came out of nowhere to hit a 489-foot bomb, the longest homer in the young season. Rookie third baseman Christian Villanueva has been a sensation in the early going with seven home runs and a slew of multi-hit games.

The annual Kevin Kiermaier injury has already reared its head, as the sensational Tampa center fielder is slated to be out of action past the All-Star break due to thumb surgery. It is the third consecutive year that he will miss at least 50 games due to injury and puts the Rays into a further bind. With Kiermaier out of action now, only Wilson Ramos, Brad Miller and Adeiny Hechavarria remain as starters from last year’s club less than a month into 2018.

The legend that is Bartolo Colon continues to grow. Over the course of the last week, not only did the 44-year-old nearly throw a no-hitter against the Astros, head up against Justin Verlander, but he also broke out a showing of speed that is still hard to wrap one’s mind around. The portly pitcher completed a put-out at first base on Saturday night by besting the speedy Dee Gordon — who has stolen 50 bases three times — to the bag. The hijinks of Colon are a nice distraction from a season that has already seen the team only win consecutive games once.

The good news: Closer Zach Britton threw off the mound and took fielding practice this week as he rehabs from Achilles surgery. The bad news: The O’s have produced exactly two save situations over the past two weeks and continue to be one of the biggest dumpster fires in the American League. It will be nice to have their All-Star closer’s services again, even if it is just to audition for a trade as a part of their inevitable deconstruction that is coming soon.

The feast or famine young White Sox are exciting with potential but frustrating to watch mature. Yoan Moncada has already struck out over 30 times, while Matt Davidson is hot on his heels. However, Moncada also connected for his first career grand slam last week and has contributed four of Chicago's AL-best 21 stolen bases.

While some of the year’s late signees have been slow to acclimate, that is not something Mike Moustakas can relate to. Moose has gone on a one-man blitzkrieg in his return to K.C., hitting 20 points higher than any other Royal and almost as many extra-base hits as Whit Merrifield, Jorge Soler and Cheslor Cuthbert combined. While Moose's trade value continues to soar, the Royals’ season continues to take on water rapidly. Much of that is due to a pitching staff with a combined ERA over 5.00 and a bullpen whose ERA soars even higher into the abyss.

Sometimes, you have to take what’s given to you. Strange things have to happen for clubs like the Marlins to see some measure of success, and last week’s bases-clearing sacrifice fly is one of the truest examples of this. However, after Starlin Castro’s routine fly ball was followed by a bad toss to the plate and then an overambitious overthrow into center field by Pirates catcher Elias Diaz that went all the way to the outfield wall, the Marlins got a gift handed to them, as well as a rare victory.

The Reds have two wins at home on the year and already reached double-digits losses on the road. It is a disastrous cocktail of inefficiency that has already led to Bryan Price becoming the first manager to be fired on the year and has gotten his replacement, Jim Riggleman, off to a similar start. Price’s firing was the seventh fastest into a season since 1969, and he finishes his stint with the second worst winning percentage (.419) in team history for a manager who worked at least 400 games.