Final MLB Power Rankings of 2024 Regular Season Ahead of Postseason

Two ultra-important games notwithstanding, Major League Baseball's 2024 regular season is over.

The situation brings to mind three words: What a ride.

Even now, the 12-team playoff field still isn't completely set.

The last two wild-card spots in the National League will be determined by Monday's doubleheader between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves.

If either team wins one game, it's in.

If one of them loses both games, the Arizona Diamondbacks are in.

This season is otherwise notable for being the first full campaign without a 100-game winner in a decade.

What it did have, of course, is a team that went further beyond 100 losses than any other had before in modern history.

Albeit in a more positive way, it was also a historic year for several individual players.

Shohei Ohtani had one of the most dominant offensive years ever, as did Aaron Judge in his second pursuit of 60 home runs in three years.

Tarik Skubal won the pitching triple crown in the American League, while Paul Skenes might have had the best season by any rookie pitcher ever.

As a final goodbye to the regular season, let's get into all this and more in one last rendition of B/R's MLB Power Rankings.

30.

Chicago White Sox (41-121) 29.

Colorado Rockies (61-101) 28.

Miami Marlins (62-100) 27.

Los Angeles Angels (63-99) 26.

Oakland Athletics (69-93) 25.

Washington Nationals (71-91) 24.

Toronto Blue Jays (74-88) 23.

Cincinnati Reds (77-85) 22.

Pittsburgh Pirates (76-86) 21 .

Texas Rangers (78-84) The White Sox did it, everyone.

They beat the 1962 New York Mets to claim sole ownership of the worst regular-season record in modern MLB history.

Hope you're happy, Jerry Reinsdorf .

Though the Pale Hose can look to turn the page in 2025, it bears noting that they were historically bad even with breakout ace Garrett Crochet.

It's more likely than not that he'll be traded this winter.

After not doing so once in their first 30 years of existence, the Rockies have now lost 100 games in back-to-back seasons.

As insult to injury, this year saw them reach a new low for runs scored in a non-shortened season.

The Marlins also had a brutal year, but at least it comes with a fun fact: They're the first team in history to use as many as 70 players throughout the course of a season.

At 10 years, the Angels now hold the longest active playoff drought of any team.

Any team that can do that despite getting five MVPs from Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani clearly hasgestures emphatically in the direction of owner Arte Morenosomething wrong with it.

As for the Athletics , this was the year when John Fisher cemented his legacy as the man who cruelly tore them away from a loving fanbase.

It's an infuriating case study in how there's apparently only one thing billionaires can never have: enough.

The Nationals can at least come away from 2024 feeling excited about the core they have coming together.

James Wood especially finished strong, batting .288 with 23 extra-base hits in his last 58 games.

The Reds and Pirates can likewise look at this season as a step in the right direction.

Pittsburgh gets a tip of the hat for letting Paul Skenes pitch, resulting in the first sub-2.00 ERA by a rookie starter in the live-ball era.

Cincinnati got to see Elly De La Cruz rack up 71 extra-base hits and 67 stolen bases, as well as Hunter Greene pitch like a No.

1 when he was healthy.

It was otherwise a disappointing year for the Blue Jays and Rangers , but the defending champs at least got to watch rookie outfielder Wyatt Langford blossom with a .996 OPS in September.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s return to form (.940 OPS, 30 HR) was the best thing to happen to Toronto this year.

Yet with free agency looming after 2025, the question now is if it can get him locked down with an extension this winter.

20.

San Francisco Giants (80-82) 19.

Tampa Bay Rays (80-82) 18.

Boston Red Sox (81-81) 17.

St.

Louis Cardinals (83-79) 16.

Minnesota Twins (82-80) According to FanGraphs , at no point in 2024 did the Giants have better than a 50 percent chance of making the playoffs.

It's not what they wanted following a $360 million offseason, and it ought to raise questions about president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi's job security.

For their parts, both the Rays and the Cardinals won a lot more games than they should have .

But the former is at least riding a wave of hot pitching out of 2024, while fans of the latter can breathe a sigh of relief at change finally being afoot in the front office .

By contrast, the Red Sox ultimately outperformed expectations this year.

And with more still left to be mined from one of baseball's best farm systems , the time is right for them to get aggressive in the offseason market.

But will owner John Henry give the green light after so many years of reducing payroll ? Boston fans should probably hope for the best, yet plan for the worst.

As for the Twins ...well, they blew it.

Plain and simple.

As recently as September 2, they had a 95.8 percent chance of making the playoffs.

But then they lost 18 of their last 25 games, mostly by way of an offense that produced only 3.4 runs per game for the club's last 33 games overall.

There's the question of what might have been if Minnesota had gotten more than 270 games out of Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis.

Keeping them on the field in 2025 will be of paramount importance in theory, but likely very hard to do in reality.

15.

Chicago Cubs (83-79) 14.

Seattle Mariners (85-77) 13 .

Arizona Diamondbacks (89-73) 12.

Kansas City Royals (86-76, AL No.

1 Wild Card) 11.

Detroit Tigers (86-76, AL No.

2 Wild Card) One supposes the Cubs are to be commended for finishing second in the NL Central.

They were, after all, in last place as late as August 6.

On the other hand, it's now been seven years since they last won a playoff game.

That's too long for a franchise with the resources this one has, and the solution will hopefully involve adding an impact bat this winter.

The Mariners are just two years removed from their last postseason win, and this year reinforced that they have pitching figured out.

But now they need an offense, specifically one that doesn't waste so much time swinging at air .

If you're thinking the Diamondbacks are lower than they should be, well, that's fair.

But here's the deal: Of the three teams still in the mix for the last two wild-card spots in the NL, they're the only one that doesn't control its own destiny.

Arizona's offense has certainly done its darndest to get the team back to October, scoring a league-high 886 runs.

But the team stands to be doomed by bad pitching, specifically by a league-worst 5.34 ERA in September.

Which brings us to the Royals and Tigers , both of whom get congratulations on snapping long playoff droughts.

Detroit is back in for the first time since 2016; for Kansas City, it's a return trip in the making since 2015.

There is nonetheless quite a difference in how these two clubs are going into October.

The Tigers are hot, having won 31 of their last 44 games.

With losses in 18 out of 29, the Royals are very much not.

10.

Atlanta Braves (88-72) Previous Rank: 11 Last Week: 1-0 vs.

NYM, 2-1 vs.

KCR It's been a Murphy's Law type of year for the Braves, and I'm not talking about their catcher.

Last year's history-making offense has taken a shocking turn for the worse , and seemingly all of the club's core stars either have been or still are injured.

You have to hand it to Atlanta for making it to the doorstep of the playoffs anyway, and there's at least one reason to believe this team could make a deep run: Nobody wants to see Chris Sale, Max Fried and a recently hot Charlie Morton in a short playoff series.

9.

New York Mets (88-72) Previous Rank: 8 Last Week: 0-1 @ ATL, 1-2 @ MIL Francisco Lindor has had a heck of a season, but it's really Grimace who is the MVP of the 2024 Mets.

They've gone 60-35 since the McDonald's mascot threw out the first pitch at Citi Field back on June 12.

The question now is whether their pitching can keep up the incredible run it's on in September.

The starters have a 2.81 ERA, while closer Edwin Diaz has finally looked like his old self in fanning 24 of the 48 batters he faced.

8.

Baltimore Orioles (91-71, AL No.

1 Wild Card) Previous Rank: 10 Last Week: 2-1 at NYY, 3-0 @ MIN The Orioles should be kicking themselves for not winning the AL East.

They had a 3.0-game lead as late as July 9, at which point they had better than a 50 percent chance of finishing ahead of the New York Yankees.

Both the offense and the pitching deflated as the summer went along, yet there's obviously still time for both units to write a happy ending.

This team did hit 235 home runs, after all, and not many aces have No.

1 credentials as strong as those of Corbin Burnes.

7.

Houston Astros (88-73, AL West Champions) Previous Rank: 9 Last Week: 1-2 vs.

SEA, 2-0 @ CLE It wasn't until June 26 that the Astros finally got to .500, and by then they were well into the 55-33 run with which they finished the season.

Further, only two pitching staffs posted a lower ERA than theirs in August and September.

But what of Yordan Alvarez and his sprained right knee? The slugger resumed baseball activities on Sunday, but Houston surely wishes it had a first-round bye so he could have more time to rest.

6.

Cleveland Guardians (92-69, AL Central Champions) Previous Rank: 6 Last Week: 2-0 vs.

CIN, 0-2 vs.

HOU Jose Ramirez came just one home run short of joining the 40-40 club, while Emmanual Clase and the rest of Cleveland's bullpen finished with by far the best ERA in baseball at 2.57.

You know, just in case anyone was still wondering what's so remarkable about these Guardians.

But can their starting pitching survive October? Skepticism is warranted there.

It's been an issue all year and it could become even more of a problem in the postseason.

5.

New York Yankees (93-68, AL East Champions) Previous Rank: 3 Last Week: 1-2 vs.

BAL, 1-2 vs.

PIT The Yankees did most of their winning early, ultimately going just 49-49 after getting off to a 45-19 start.

Some big questions have emerged, particularly with regard to whether this bullpen is up to snuff for the playoffs.

Still, this is also a team with a 99-homer duo in Aaron Judge and Juan Soto and a decorated ace in Gerrit Cole, who had just one bad start in August and September.

And as such, the pursuit of World Series championship No.

28 could be in worse shape.

4.

Milwaukee Brewers (93-69, NL Central Champions) Previous Rank: 5 Last Week: 2-1 @ PIT, 2-1 vs.

NYM At no point this year were the Brewers under .500, and they pretty much went wire-to-wire as the leader in the NL Central.

They're bringing a dangerous offense to October, notably with four 20-homer hitters and a total of 217 stolen bases.

This is another team with starting pitching deficiencies, though, and rookie sensation Jackson Chourio might have been gassed at the end of the regular season.

He went homerless and fanned 17 times in his last 13 games.

3.

San Diego Padres (93-69, NL No.

1 Wild Card) Previous Rank: 4 Last Week: 1-2 @ LAD, 2-1 @ ARI Does anyone else feel like the Padres could be really dangerous in October? They have stars aplenty in their lineup, rotation and bullpen, and they were certainly shining as the team won 43 of its last 62 games.

There is cause for concern with All-Star closer Robert Suarez, though.

He had a rough finish to the regular season, coughing up a 5.66 ERA with only 16 strikeouts over his last 20.2 innings.

2.

Philadelphia Phillies (95-67, NL East Champions) Previous Rank: 2 Last Week: 2-1 vs.

CHC, 1-2 @ WAS After basically running away and hiding with the NL East lead, the Phillies give off the same star-studded vibe as the Padres.

And given what happened in 2022 and 2023, that this team is hungry for a championship goes without saying.

The difference this year, though, is that the Phillies will sit out the first round of the playoffs.

They'll have to avoid getting complacent, which they vaguely seemed to be as they were finishing the regular season on a 5-8 run.

1.

Los Angeles Dodgers (98-64, NL West Champions) Previous Rank: 1 Last Week: 2-1 vs.

SDP, 3-0 @ COL Their MLB-best record may not reflect it, but this Dodgers team is one with serious concerns.

The rotation is missing several key arms , and the baseball gods couldn't have picked a worse time to smite Freddie Freeman with an ankle injury .

All the same, the Dodgers accomplished their primary mission of getting Shohei Ohtani to the playoffs.

And it was indeed him driving the bus.

Apparently, it is possible for one guy to top 50 home runs, 50 stolen bases and 400 total bases in a season.

If Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler pitch like their best selves and Freeman, Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy give Ohtani ample support in the lineup, the Dodgers may live up to this ranking in October.

AL MVP AL Cy Young AL Rookie of the Year NL MVP NL Cy Young NL Rookie of the Year New York Mets at Atlanta Braves on Monday Wild Card Series All Game 1s on Tuesday, followed by Game 2s on Wednesday and Game 3s (if necessary) on Thursday.

In the American League: In the National League: The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians are idle in the AL, as are the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies in the NL.

The Division Series will begin Saturday, October 5.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference , FanGraphs and Baseball Savant ..

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