Now that we are solidly into the regular season, it is time to take a peek at how wrong my pre-season rankings were. As boring as it may be, most of the teams floated right around their original spots, but there certainly are a few surprises.

The Minnesota Twins: Granted this isn’t that big of a shock; that lineup is going to crush right-handed pitching. But this team’s stock is up because Francisco Liriano is throwing blurs at the plate and Jon Rauch has people not so worried about losing Joe Nathan.

California in General:  The Padres are leading the NL West based on a league-leading Team ERA of 2.82, the Giants are tight behind their statemates to the south in both the stat and the standings, and Oakland’s 3.16 means three of the top four staffs in terms of earned runs allowed get their mail in the Golden State. Toss in Dodger Matt Kemp’s pacing the NL with 7 homers and 20 RBI and the Angels not looking nearly as mediocre as one believed, and things are on the up. The question is how many of these things will still be true in August.

The Boston Red Sox: We can argue they may or may not really suck as bad as they look. But there is no debating how old and slow they are. It really stood out in that series against the Rays. The Rays are young, athletic, and on the way up, which provided an exact contrast to the Sawwwwx.  

The Washington Nationals: They don’t hit particularly well and they can’t pitch at all. But they are over .500. Can they maintain this hot start, or are they going to end up like Teddy Roosevelt?

The full rankings are listed below. The numbers behind each team indicate change in ranking from the previous ranking. Teams with the biggest changes are in bold.

1. New York Yankees ↑ 1
2. Philadelphia Phillies ↓ 1
3. Minnesota Twins ↑ 7
4. Tampa Bay Rays ↑ 1
5. St. Louis Cardinals ↑ 1
6. San Francisco Giants ↑ 11
7. Florida Marlins ↑ 5
8. Oakland A’s ↑ 13
9. Colorado Rockies ↓ 4
10. Atlanta Braves ↓ 2
11. Detroit Tigers ↑ 3  
12. Seattle Mariners ↓ 5
13. Los Angeles Angels ↑ 2
14. Los Angeles Dodgers ↓ 1
15. Chicago White Sox ↓ 6
16. San Diego Padres ↑ 10
17. Washington Nationals ↑ 7
18. Boston Red Sox ↓ 15
19. Toronto Blue Jays ↑ 7
20. Milwaukee Brewers ↔
21. Texas Rangers ↓ 10
22. Arizona Diamondbacks ↓ 5
23. Cincinnati Reds ↓ 5
24. Chicago Cubs ↓ 2
25. Pittsburgh Pirates ↑ 2
26. Kansas City Royals ↑ 3
27. Cleveland Indians ↑ 3
28. New York Mets ↓ 5
29. Houston Astros ↓ 3
30. Baltimore Orioles ↓ 11

It’s early, you can fully expect these numbers to change as the next five and a half months play out. Unless you are the Mets; you’re right where you should be.