Our MLB power rankings for April 17

1. Chicago Cubs (2): Last Cubs team to go 8-1 — in 1969 — is represented at Cooperstown by three position players (Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo), a starting pitcher (Fergie Jenkins) and their manager (Leo Durocher). They finished eight games out of first place.

2. Kansas City Royals (1): Gone is the chip-on-the-shoulder edge of underdogs, replaced by the chip-on-the-shoulder edge of defending champions.

3. Washington Nationals (12): Manager Dusty Baker has a way of showing up in the right place, at the right time, and getting his players to believe in the power of Dustiny.

4. Baltimore Orioles (21): Mark Trumbo hit three homers in his first four games with the Orioles. Acquired by Seattle last summer from Arizona in a mid-season deal, Trumbo didn’t hit his third homer for the Mariners until his 38th game after the trade.

5. Chicago White Sox (19): Left-handed starters Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Carlos Rodon reminiscent of 1991 Braves’ southpaw trio of Tom Glavine, Steve Avery and Charlie Liebrandt.

6. Los Angeles Dodgers (7): Although rookie Ross Stripling has yet to win a decision after two big-league starts, his cool-hand poise has been a revelation.

7. Detroit Tigers (16): The rotation isn’t as formidable as it was a few years ago, but among the first seven batters in the order, there are no easy outs.

8. Pittsburgh Pirates (5): During the 2012 season John Jaso spent in Seattle, did anybody envision the reserve catcher as a leadoff man able to the set the table by going deep into counts?

9. Toronto Blue Jays (8): Limited by a knee injury to nine games in 2015, former M’s outfielder Michael Saunders already has scored more runs, and collected more hits worth more total bases, than he did last season.

10. San Francisco Giants (9): At age 31, talented but enigmatic journeyman starter Jeff Samardzija showing signs he’s worthy of $90 million contract Giants gave him.

11. Texas Rangers (6): Bullpen was called upon Thursday against Baltimore to preserve streak of 13 victories when Cole Hamels starts. The streak reached 14.

12. Cleveland Indians (14): Weekend visit of Mets raises question: Which team has the better rotation? Tribe’s quartet of Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, Carlos Carrasco and Cody Anderson each finished with an ERA of 3.63 or better last season.

13. Boston Red Sox (10): Sox have put hitless-for-the-season third baseman Pablo Sandoval on the disabled list with a “shoulder issue,” but it’s reasonable to suspect the real issue is an eating disorder that threatens more than Panda’s baseball career.

14. St. Louis Cardinals (11): Veteran starter Jaime Garcia on Wednesday became the first Cards left-hander to throw a one-hit shutout while striking out at least 13.

15. L.A. Angels of Anaheim (25): Angels managed to enter weekend as division leaders despite Mike Trout and Albert Pujols combining to hit .212.

16. New York Mets (3): League’s best pitching rotation can only do so much without run support.

17. Houston Astros (4): Manager A.J. Hinch on disappointing 3-7 start of AL West favorites: “We’re better than that, and we’re going to be better than that.”

18. Cincinnati Reds (24): Pitchers gave up 22 walks during Cubs’ three-game sweep in Chicago.

19. New York Yankees (15): Masahiro Tanaka and the M’s Hisashi Iwakuma, who pitched five years together with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, scheduled to face off Sunday in first MLB duel of former Japanese teammates.

20. Philadelphia Phillies (30): Thanks to 16-K masterpiece vs. Padres, Vince Velasquez, 23, joined Kerry Wood, Vida Blue, Doc Gooden and Jose Fernandez on list of youngest pitchers to finish a game with at least 14 strikeouts and no walks.

21. Oakland Athletics (23): Midweek sweep at hands of Angels left A’s with 1-6 record in Oakland, their worst home start since 2001 wild-card team lost nine of first 10.

22. Miami Marlins (20): As a fourth outfielder stuck behind three outfielders who are better and younger, Ichiro Suzuki’s quest for 3,000 hits will depend on the interest manager Don Mattingly takes in the milestone achievements of his players. (Early indication: not much.)

23. Colorado Rockies (26): Shortstop Trevor Story had seven homers through his first seven career games — and would have hit two more had the Coors Field outfield fence not been raised for 2016.

24: Milwaukee Brewers (29): After giving up 27 hits — including five homers — in five Cactus League starts, right-hander Chase Anderson has yet to allow an earned run in 11 innings.

25. Seattle Mariners (13): Disregard Dae-Ho Lee’s unprepossessing physique, which resembles that of a poker champ who spends 20 hours a day sitting at a card table. He hits the ball a ton.

26. Tampa Bay Rays (17): Ace Chris Archer hasn’t won a decision since last Aug. 31. Over nine starts since then, he’s 0-6, with a 5.83 ERA.

27. Arizona Diamondbacks (18): Manager Chip Hale took the blame for seventh-inning bullpen decision that denied D-Backs a chance to take series from Dodgers.

28. San Diego Padres (27): First MLB team in history to be shut out five times in first 10 games, Padres offense looking more feeble than that of their spring-training partners from Seattle.

29. Minnesota Twins (22): If it’s any consolation, the 1991 Twins were 2-9 on April 20 and went on to win the World Series.

30. Atlanta Braves (28): The Boston “Miracle” Braves of 1914 also started 2-9 and at one point were 3-16. They swept the A’s in the Fall Classic.

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Our MLB power rankings for April 17."