Every week, the Pitcher List team will publish an update to our power rankings, reviewing the biggest risers and fallers of the past seven days. As always, the full rankings can be found at the bottom of this article … but where’s the fun in that?
Movin’ On Up
Record: 87-66
Rank change: +2 (6 from 8)
The 2024 Padres playoff odds graph:
The 2024 San Diego Padres playoff odds chart. They just kept improving and kept getting better and are now peaking at the right time. Still my pick to win it all. pic.twitter.com/AvTmCbSUfI
— Tanner McGrath (@tannerstruth) September 19, 2024
San Diego just kept improving, and the Padres now have the most complete team in the National League playoff bracket.
The deadline acquisitions of Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing worked wonders, as the Padres have the deepest bullpen in baseball—they’ve posted top-seven marks in relief ERA (3.25) and xFIP (3.52) over the past month.
Manny Machado is on an absolute tear, slashing .324/.368/.657 over the past month with 10 home runs. Jackson Merrill is closing in on the NL Rookie of the Year award after posting a 168 wRC+ in September. Luis Arraez continues to hit for average, and Xander Bogaerts has started hitting the ball harder again.
I’d put the Dylan Cease-Michael King-Joe Musgrove-Yu Darvish rotation up against almost anybody, and the Padres are still a top-five defensive team (+40 Defensive Runs Saved).
2024 might be San Diego’s best chance at that elusive World Series championship. The team is loaded and peaking at the right time.
Hittin’ the Skids
Record: 85-68
Rank change: -2 (7 from 5)
This Tweet sums up Baltimore’s second half:
The Craig Kimbrel experiment was an interesting one…
– April & May he had a 2.99 ERA
– June he was fantastic with a 0.96 ERA
– July was awful, posting a 6.52 ERA
– August was even worse with a 7.27 ERA
– September was a joke…22.09 ERAPre All-Star Kimbrel had a 2.80 ERA
Post… pic.twitter.com/EIvbKpPcuz
— Tyler Barberis (@tylerbarberis_) September 18, 2024
The Orioles are 31-38 since July 1st. The offense has regressed toward league-average—Adley Rutschman has looked brutal since getting hit in the hand in the mid-season—and Baltimore has a bottom-10 bullpen over the past month.
See if you can find June 27th, when Adley got hit in the hand by this pitch (thanks for pointing it out @stav8818) https://t.co/wW1wqpMdtE pic.twitter.com/SXmhS8Untt
— Kyle Bland (@blandalytics) September 19, 2024
Baltimore’s deadline moves are looking very underwhelming. While the Zach Eflin acquisition has been a home run (2.22 ERA in seven starts with Baltimore), the Trevor Rogers one has been a disaster (7.11 ERA in four starts), with him ultimately getting optioned down to Triple-A. The Orioles rotation looks relatively weak, with Corbin Burnes underwhelming and Grayson Rodriguez on the IL.
The O’s were once considered baseball’s most well-rounded roster. They now look like a league-average offense with a very sketchy pitching staff. That explains their second-half spiral, and it doesn’t bode well for the playoffs.