Toronto Blue Jays ranked high in MLB’s first power rankings of 2021

MLB.com recently released their first power rankings of the New Year.

With the new year already here, Major League Baseball released their first power rankings even though baseball season is still weeks away and tons of free agents remain unsigned.

When I first saw the rankings, I was quite surprised to see where they ranked the Toronto Blue Jays. Have a look below to see for yourself.

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As they only released the top 10, I didn’t expect the Blue Jays to be among them but they were given a rank of nine. Wow.

They were placed ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays who were the 2020 American League representatives in the World Series but also recently traded away Blake Snell and let go of Charlie Morton. While the Rays have gotten worse, they still have the likes of Tyler Glasnow, Randy Arozarena, Austin Meadows and prospects like Luis Patino and Wander Franco who are expected to make an impact in the 2021 season.

The New York Mets and Oakland Athletics were ranked ahead of the Blue Jays with a ranking of eight and seven respectively. Arguments can be made that the Blue Jays are better than both teams. While the Mets have one of the best pitchers in the league in two time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, the rest of their team, especially their offence, has some question marks.

The Athletics have a budding young rotation, a strong corner infield of Matt Chapman and Matt Olson along with Ramon Laureano but the rest of the team is in need of upgrades. They are also expected to lose Marcus Semien and Liam Hendriks who are both free agents and seem unlikely to return.

These rankings are based on how current teams are as things like free agent signings, injuries and trades weren’t factored in to the decision. The Jays adding players to their team in whatever avenue they do so will definitely help push them up the rankings.

If they were to bring in any of George Springer, Trevor Bauer, DJ LeMahieu, Francisco Lindor and many others that are free agents or rumored to be available for trade, this would help them move up the rankings ahead of teams like the Mets and Athletics in which the Blue Jays are competing against the former for players.

I would have thought that the Blue Jays would be just outside the top 10 with them being on the outside looking in but a ranking of nine is a great way to start off the new year.