Mets, Blue Jays among top early contenders

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, April 27, 2022

As we approach the season’s three-week mark, an early picture is beginning to emerge of who might be set to contend this year. While it’s much too soon to offer any kind of definitive power ranking, here’s a rundown of five teams who have come flying out of the gate.

1. New York Mets (13-5)

The Mets spent gobs of cash this past offseason, and so far that has been money well spent. Entering Tuesday the Mets led all of baseball with 13 wins and had won each of their first five series to start the year.

It’s not hard to see why. New York’s pitching has been outstanding, and each of the club’s top four starters have posted WHIP figures under 1.000, meaning they’re essentially allowing less than a baserunner per inning. Newly signed ace Max Scherzer has delivered on his high promise with a 1.80 ERA and 33 strikeouts over 25 innings, and trade acquisition Chris Bassitt has a 3.00 ERA over his first three starts. That’s certainly softened the blow of not having preseason Cy Young favorite Jacob deGrom available to start the season.

Offensively the Mets have been getting the job done too.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (12-4)

Everyone knew the Dodgers would rank near the league’s best, but it wasn’t a given that some of the club’s most productive players so far would play this big a role. Big free agent signing Freddie Freeman has gotten off to a terrific start, but after him the club’s best hitter has arguably been Cody Bellinger, the former MVP who endured a horrible 2021.

Pitching-wise the Dodgers are stacked as usual. Walker Buehler will be a favorite to win the Cy Young award and Clayton Kershaw has proven he still has it after an injury-marred 2021.

3. San Francisco Giants (12-5)

After winning 107 games to hold off the Dodgers and win an epic NL West race last year, the Giants were widely expected to take a step back in 2022. Perhaps we still aren’t giving them enough credit, because here they are again near the front of the pack in what’s shaping up to be an unexpectedly strong year for the NL West.

Starting pitchers Logan Webb, Alex Wood and newly signed Carlos Rodon have been outstanding, and outfielder Joc Pedersen has emerged as arguably the best free agent signing anywhere in baseball so far.

4. Toronto Blue Jays (11-6)

The Toronto Blue Jays were a popular pick to win the World Series, and they’ve done nothing to dispel that notion early on. The Blue Jays can pitch, they can hit, they can field and they can make the big plays when it counts.

Kevin Gausman and Matt Chapman have been terrific additions, going a long way to help blunt the impact of losing AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and MVP-contender Marcus Semien in the offseason. Bo Bichette is on track to become a potential MVP contender himself, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is already there, ranking among baseball’s best hitters once again.

5. Seattle Mariners (10-6)

The Mariners haven’t reached the playoffs since 2001, the longest active drought in MLB. Last year the club surged into contention and fell just short, and this year’s team is proving that near-breakthrough was no fluke. With Robbie Ray on board the Mariners appear to have one of baseball’s best rotations one-through-five, and Ty France has emerged as baseball’s hottest hitter out of the gate. Entering Tuesday he led MLB with 1.3 offensive wins above replacement, having hit five home runs with 19 RBI plus a .375 average and 1.116 OPS.

The rest of the Mariners lineup has been somewhat quiet outside of J.P. Crawford, but that hasn’t stopped Seattle from surging to the top of the AL West race.