By Tim Britton, Johnny Flores Jr. and Andy McCullough
Every week, we ask a selected group of our baseball writers — local and national — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results, with the average rankings of our panel in parentheses.
The first weekend of the baseball season offered its usual cornucopia of familiar sights and unexpected delights. Shohei Ohtani sent a baseball soaring over the fence at Dodger Stadium; Aaron Judge sent four of his own into orbit in the Bronx. Zack Wheeler looked sharp. Paul Skenes threw hard. Matt Chapman still knows how to pick it. The Braves called up Jesse Chavez.
All of those could have been predicted. But raise your hand if you’d heard of Kameron Misner before last week. Or if you thought Rafael Devers would spend all weekend whiffing. Or if you knew the biggest story in the sport would involve something called a “torpedo bat.”
It’s the time of year when every team still can be optimistic, both about the things they expected and some that have caught them by surprise. Here’s a look at the most encouraging sign from the season’s opening weekend for all 30 teams.
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Record: 6-0
Preseason Power Ranking: 1
Most encouraging sign: Uh, everything?
Roki Sasaki hasn’t been throwing strikes. Mookie Betts hasn’t been able to keep down solid food. Max Muncy hasn’t been making much contact. So far, none of it has really mattered. The Dodgers swept the first two series of the season, taking down the Tigers after downing the Cubs twice in Japan. Ohtani looks like himself. So does Freddie Freeman (although he was not in Monday’s lineup because of a tweak to his surgically-repaired ankle). Betts returned from his gnarly stomach bug to swat a walkoff homer. Michael Conforto has lengthened the lineup. The summer figures to be a delight for Dodgers fans — and a nightmare for all the clubs visiting Chavez Ravine. — Andy McCullough
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