MLB Preseason Power Rankings

The 2021 MLB season is coming sooner than you'd think, judging by the temperatures we're seeing across the country.

As spring training is right around the corner, FindBet is releasing their initial power rankings for the 2021 season. These rankings will be updated throughout the season; but based on what teams have done since the end of last year, here are where we see all 30 teams standing going into this new campaign.

We have seen some superstar players find new homes this offseason including Nolan Arenado, Blake Snell, and Francisco Lindor, just to name a couple. With some major contenders making moves to put themselves in a position to unseat the Dodgers as the reigning champs, this year is already shaping up to be a hot summer.

Let's jump into the power rankings.

30. Pittsburgh Pirates

2020: Finished 5th in NL Central (19-41)

The Pirates finished with the worst record in baseball in the 60 game 2020 season. This offseason has seen them ship out starting pitchers, Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon along with all-star first baseman Josh Bell. 2021 is not going to be any better for Pirate fans, if anything it's going to be worse.

29. Baltimore Orioles

2020: Finished 4th in AL East (25-35)

While their record may not indicate as such, Baltimore was in playoff contention for most of 2020, and they received an emotional boost when Trey Mancini returned after his battle with colon cancer. However, the AL East is uber competitive and they were unable to keep pace with the Yankees and Rays.

Jose Igesias, who hit .373 last season was traded to the LA Angels, taking away one of their best hitters from an already baron lineup. Unless the Yankees deal with injuries and we see major regression from Tampa Bay, don't expect Baltimore to climb the division this year.

28. Texas Rangers

2020: Finished 5th in AL West (22-38)

The Rangers sported the league's worst offense in 2020 as their star hitter, Joey Gallo, struggled to return to the form we saw him enjoying prior to his season ending injury in 2019. The Rangers have added Khris Davis and David Dahl to help bolster the lineup, but have also parted ways with Lance Lynn who had been the team's ace before being sent to the White Sox. Texas is expected to be aggressive in shedding contracts as they're in rebuild mode.

27. Detroit Tigers

2020: Finished 5th in AL Central (23-35)

Detroit is in a tough spot currently as they don't have much talent on their major league roster, and play in a division with three playoff contenders in Minnesota, Cleveland, and the Chicago White Sox. So this year is already written off as a transition season. Detroit does however boast one of the league's best farm systems and the hire of former Astros manager A.J. Hinch, provides them with a leader with championship pedigree to try to mold some of the brightest prospects in baseball.

26. Colorado Rockies

2020: Finished 4th in NL West (26-34)

The Rockies started 2020 on fire opening the year 11-3. They finished the season on a 15-31 stretch which saw them miss the postseason. That promising start and disappointing ending is a perfect comparison to Nolan Arenado's career in Colorado. Not that he as a player was ever a disappointment, but after consistently proving he's one of the best two way players in baseball for nearly a decade, the organization never fully committed to building around him, and now he is a member of the Saint Louis Cardinals after being traded this offseason.

Expect the Rockies to be shopping Trevor Story before the deadline as well as he will be due a big pay day following this season, and Colorado isn't the kind of team to give their players those paydays.

25. Arizona Diamondbacks

2020: Finished 5th in NL West (25-35)

Finished just a game behind the Rockies last year in the NL West, the Diamondbacks were a team that struggled to find their identity in 2020. Hoping to build on what they saw last year out of Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen, Arizona could at least have a strong enough rotation to keep them competitive in one of baseball's best divisions. That's especially if Madison Bumgarner can get back to form after a tough first season in Arizona.

24. Seattle Mariners

2020: Finished 3rd in AL West (27-33)

Finishing only two games behind the Astros, the Mariners just missed out on a chance to get back to the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades. Seattle has been rejuvenated by outfielder Kyle Lewis who won AL Rookie of the Year with his outstanding performance in 2020. The Mariners also have a deep farm system with talented arms and a platoon of outfielders that could be utilized if need be. If Justus Sheffield can take a step forward this year, we could see the Mariners competing for a playoff spot in 2021.

23. Kansas City Royals

2020: Finished 4th AL Central (26-34)

The Royals face the same uphill climb as the Tigers do in trying to frog leap teams like Cleveland, the White Sox, and the Twins, but the difference between Kansas City and Detroit is that the Royals have been very active this offseason making moves to improve their roster for this season.

Additions include Carlos Santana, Michael Taylor, Andrew Benintendi, and Mike Minor. They aren't splashy moves that garner the attention of national media, but they are solid improvements to a team with a handful of good players returning. The Twins are the closest thing to a favorite in the AL Central, but no team is impervious to being overtaken by an up and coming team like the Royals.

22. Miami Marlins

2020: Finished 2nd in NL East (31-29)

The Marlins shocked the baseball world last year by earning a playoff berth with a roster that could have very easily been confused with that of a double A team. They were lead by their promising young arms in Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez and Sixto Sanchez. While the rotation looks to be on the rise, they don't offer much pop in their batting order. Over the course of a longer season we don't expect Miami to be as competitive as what we saw them be in 60 games last year. But out of respect they come in a little higher than maybe what they deserve to to open the 2021 rankings.

21. San Francisco Giants

2020: Finished 3rd in NL West (29-31)

The Giants managed to stay competitive throughout most of the 2020 and just missed the postseason in the waning moments of the season. We'll get to see the return of Buster Posey this year and they added Tommy La Stella who has flashed all-star ability at getting on base, but they don't have much in the way of starting pitching and they play in the NL West with the Dodgers and the Padres. Ouch.

20. Boston Red Sox

2020: Finished 5th in AL East (24-36)

There may not have been a bigger disappointment in Major League Baseball last year than the Red Sox. Everyone knew it was going to be bad after Mookie Betts went to the Dodgers, but they still had guys like Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, and J.D. Martinez there to pick up the slack. Even though Martinez had a down year, offense wasn't their problem. Boston's pitching was horrid from their starters to the back end of their bullpen.

With Chris Sale still recovering from Tommy John surgery, the Sox are going to have to rely on Garrett Richards and Eduardo Rodriguez to keep opponents in check and hopefully allow their offense to win them some more games than they did last year.

19. Cincinnati Reds

2020: Finished 2nd in NL Central (31-29)

The Reds got into the postseason in 2020 behind the three headed monster of Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, and Trevor Bauer. The Reds saw Bauer leave in free agency this offseason and they traded closer Raisel Iglesias leaving a few gaping holes in their pitching staff. The Reds offense was poor last year and they haven't added anyone that will help with that matter. The pressure is really going to be on Castillo and Gray to deliver every time they toe the mound in 2021.

18. Chicago Cubs

2020: Finished 1st in NL Central (34-26)

The Cubs went from World Series contender to being a borderline playoff contender in the blink of an eye, and it could get worse after this season. With Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Anthony Rizzo all playing on expiring contracts, this could be the start of a rebuild depending on what the Cubs front office wants to do.

Jon Lester left to sign with the Washington Nationals and the team traded Yu Darvish to the Padres this offseason. Instead Chicago will send out Zach Davies, Trevor Williams, and Jake Arrieta to headline their new look rotation. Based on the club selling Darvish who has been one of the league's best starters over the past two seasons, we think the Cubs will be sellers before the deadline and a lengthy rebuild is on the horizon.

17. Oakland Athletics

2020: Finished 1st in AL West (36-24)

Oakland has always managed to shuffle their roster, see budding stars leave, pluck a diamond out of their farm system, and find ways to sneak into the playoffs for years now. Very rarely though have we seen so much turnover in one offseason from the club. Major pieces from the 2020 roster are gone including Kris Davis, Joakim Soria, Marcus Semien, Tommy La Stella, and Liam Hendriks.

That's a lot of players from a team that had championship aspirations coming into 2021. The good news for Oakland is that they saw a down season from Matt Olson last year, and Matt Chapman went down with an injury halfway through the season. If they bounce back in a big way this year it would go a long way in making up for some of the losses they've incurred on their roster.

They also benefit from playing in a poor division. Depending on what we see out of the Astros, the A's could have little competition for the division pennant.

16. Philadelphia Phillies

2020: Finished 3rd in NL East (28-32)

The Phillies lack of success should be an anomaly. They were 10th in the league in ERA and fifth in runs scored. They let the Marlins sneak up on them and steal second place in the NL East and also a playoff spot. They will see catcher J.T. Realmuto returning along with shortstop Didi Gregorius who are both solid bats in the middle of the order.

Maybe most importantly they added Archie Bradley and Brandon Kintzler to help plug up one of the leakiest bullpens in all of baseball who allowed a 7.06 ERA in 2020, blowing plenty of leads and costing quite a few wins for the squad in 2020.

For the top 15 in the MLB according to FindBet check back on Tuesday Feb. 23 to catch the rest of our opening 2021 MLB power rankings.