Chicago White Sox: Deserve to be atop power rankings lists

The final week of MLB is here. We have our final power rankings for the regular season. A top them all are your Chicago White Sox. That’s right. I’m not picking the team with the best record. I’m picking the one I think is most likely to win the World Series. This year, the World Series feels like it goes through Chicago and St. Louis.

The Chicago White Sox deserves to be on top of MLB power rankings lists.

1. White Sox  – Tony La Russa won the 2006 World Series which was his last season before this year. With Craig Kimbrel finally looking like his true self and the Sox being the first team to clinch their division, I’m finally seeing a White Sox team that reminds me of 2005.
2. Cardinals – After 14 straight wins, it stops being a “fluke”. Anyone who’s watched baseball over the last 20 years knows that Cardinals and their magic is for real. Will they ever lose again? Perhaps once they face the superior American League in the World Series, they will.
3. Dodgers – The Dodgers are a great team and perhaps the best team in baseball. They still could be eliminated after just one playoff game. It is an interesting system.
4. Giants – The Giants have been underrated all year but I don’t see them winning the World Series this year. Their last World Series wins were in 2014, 2012, 2010, and 1954. All even years. Coincidence? I think not. They won’t do it in an odd year. Even with a 100+ win team, they’ll have trouble getting to the NLCS with the Dodgers and Cardinals standing in the way.
5. Rays – The Rays will likely finish with the best record in the AL unless Houston catches them. Despite this, they’re likely to have a worthy and tough opponent in the first roun which is why I’m only ranking them at #5.
6. Astros – The Astros and Dodgers may win their respective pennants. Starting the series in Houston won’t be easy but the White Sox did pretty well the last time they played a playoff game in Houston. I think Tony La Russa gives the Sox an advantage over Astro’s manager Dusty Baker, who has a track record of messing up the playoffs.
7. Brewers – The Brewers should have an easy route to the NLCS but after that, it won’t be so easy. Still, if you’re in the NLCS, your chances of winning the World Series are at least 25%, right?
8. Red Sox – Though they cooled off in the second half, the reality is this Red Sox team is too talented to miss the playoffs. With Chris Sale likely starting the Wild Card game, they’re as much a threat as anyone to go deep into the playoffs.
9. Yankees – Baseball really needs to have a Yankees vs. Red Sox Wild Card game. No offense to the Blue Jays, but it just won’t be as exciting if they’re in. Fortunately, I think the Yankees and Sox are both just a little better than the Blue Jays so we may get what’s good for the game.
10. Braves – They rebuilt their outfield midseason and likely managed to squeak out yet another NL East title. Good for them. They will face the Brewers in the first round in Milwaukee, the city the Braves once called home.
11. Blue Jays – I think the Rays, Red Sox, and Yankees will make the playoffs. The Jays will fall just short. Nothing against Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but I hope he doesn’t win the triple crown as that would lead to sportswriters mistakingly thinking he deserves the MVP, which he doesn’t. I also hope Jose Abreu beats him for his third straight RBI title.
12. A’s – The A’s have a better Pythagorean record than the Mariners but have a worse real-life record. Maybe there’s more to baseball than what you can learn on a computer.
13. Mariners – Will the underdog Mariners do the unthinkable and grab a playoff spot for the first time in 20 years? No, they won’t.
14. Phillies – Bryce Harper has emerged as the leading NL MVP candidate due to his incredibly second-half performance that has nearly single-handily kept the Phillies in contention.
15. Reds – Joey Votto has had a great year but he’ll probably need at least 1-2 more seasons like this one to be worthy of Cooperstown.
16. Padres – I think one thing we baseball fans overestimated was how much the Blake Snell trade was going to hurt the Rays and help the Padres. It ended up not hurting the Rays much and not really helping the San Diego Padres at all. GM AJ Preller scapegoated the pitching coach for the team’s underachieving performance but the team has actually played much worse after firing him. With all these expensive contracts, the Padres’ best bet may be to do a full-on rebuild and trade Fernando Tatis Jr. back to the White Sox where he belongs. Right now, James Shields is getting the last laugh.
17. Indians – RIP Cleveland Indians (1915-2021). Despite only winning the World Series twice in that span, it was a good run.
18. Tigers – Detroit’s rebuild seems to be about 2 years behind the White Sox so starting next year they could be pretty scary.
19. Mets – Once Jacob DeGrom went down, it was another lost season for the Mets. James McCann only has a 0.2 WAR for the Mets so Rick Hahn picked the right catcher. It was still sad to see him go.
20. Angels – Another waisted MVP season for the Angels, yet instead of MMike Trout, it’s Shohei Ohtani this year. Despite the Angels’ lackluster performance, he should still be the AL MVP.
21. Rockies – Despite being criticized for trading Nolan Arenado, the Rockies beat most people’s expectations this year. Maybe if they kept him it would be them in the playoffs instead of the Cardinals, oh well.
22. Royals – Naperville’s Nicky Lopez has turned into a true star this season with a .301 batting average while starting at shortstop.
23. Twins – All those preseason “experts” declaring the Twins to be the AL Central favorite turned out to be completely and utterly wrong. I think people let recency bias cloud their judgment.
24. Nationals – The Nat’s lost season is making people miss how good Juan Soto is. If his team were in contention, Soto would be the MVP favorite with his 7.2 WAR and .470 OBP.
25. Marlins – A dissapointing season for the Marlins, who took a step back after last year’s rare playoff appearance.
26. Cubs – Chicago’s NL team is 67-87, which is the reverse record of its AL team. It’s cool to have 20 more wins than them, especially considering they regularly had 20 more wins than the Sox throughout the second half of the 2010s.
27. Pirates – Pittsburgh has never won an NL Central title so I hope this rebuild is more successful than the last several.
28. Rangers – Unsurprisingly, the worst team in the AL West.
29. Diamondbacks – Their manager received a contract extension, despite this year’s awful performance.
30. Orioles – The Orioles have allowed 909 runs, the worst total in baseball.