MLB Teams Who Are Already Changing Expectations After Week 1

All together now: It's only been a week. If the baseball season were a marathon, we'd barely have broken a sweat. So while it's tempting to draw sweeping conclusions, it's mostly folly.

Still, we just can't help ourselves. It may be early, but a handful of teams have already bucked expectations and turned heads—for better or worse.

We're talking about projected basement-dwellers who have charged out of the gate, and presumed contenders who have stumbled, often due to injuries. 

Again, it's April. Scalding starts can cool in the heat of summer and no one is out of the race yet.

As long as we're here, though, let's run through some expectation-changing squads, assess their positions one week into this crazy marathon and guess whether or not they'll carry their current fortunes across the finish line.

Ready, set, go!

Colorado Rockies

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

After defeating the San Francisco Giants 2-0 Monday (and spoiling the defending champions' home opener in the process), Colorado stands at 5-2.

More importantly, when manager Walt Weiss fills out his lineup card, he gets to pencil in Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki, both of whom missed significant time to injury last season.

That helps explain why the Rockies finished 66-96 and a distant fourth in the National League West. With its star hitters back on the field, can Colorado make the playoffs for the first time since 2009 and just the fourth time in franchise history?

Let's not get carried away.

The pitching staff is still a potential liability, particularly at Coors Field. And Tulowitzki, who has failed to clear the 100-game mark twice in the last three years, must prove he can avoid the disabled list for an entire season.

Still, with all the attention heaped on the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers, revamped San Diego Padres and the aforementioned World Series champs, who would have guessed it would be Colorado riding high out west?

Cleveland Indians

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

Entering the season, the Indians were a sexy sleeper pick in the hyper-competitive American League Central. 

Much of the hype revolved around the Tribe's starting rotation, which averaged 8.92 strikeouts per nine innings last season, per FanGraphs, the most by any starting corps since 1884.

Cleveland stands at 2-4 entering play Tuesday, but the real concern is catcher Yan Gomes, who will miss six to eight weeks with a sprained MCL, per MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. 

Gomes hit 21 home runs and posted a 4.4 WAR last season, per ESPN.com, tops among AL backstops. He drew praise for his handling of the same arms that were supposed to carry the Indians to the promised land.

Manager Terry Francona didn't mince words, telling Bastian that losing Gomes could be "a season killer." That might be hyperbole, but when your skipper's talking like that one week in, it's safe to say things aren't going according to plan.

Cincinnati Reds

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Everyone's in the hunt in the National League Central except Cincinnati, or at least that's the prevailing narrative. Check out Baseball Prospectus' projected standings, which have every other team in the division playing .500 or better the rest of the way.

So far, though, the Reds look like a factor. With former NL MVP Joey Votto back in the lineup and producing, Cincinnati opened the season with a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Add speedy leadoff man Billy Hamilton, top-shelf ace Johnny Cueto and fireballing closer Aroldis Chapman, and you get a club that could surprise, even as the perennially dangerous St. Louis Cardinals and ascendant Chicago Cubs grab all the headlines. 

"It feels great," Votto said after the Reds' April 9 sweep-capping win, per Cincinnati.com's John Fay. "Great way to start the season."

San Francisco Giants

Matt York/Associated Press

Don't worry, we're not going to say anything about it being an odd year. Except, oops, we just did.

Seriously, this is getting weird. After winning their third even-year championship in five seasons, the Giants have quite literally limped out of the gate in 2015.

First, they lost right fielder and offensive cornerstone Hunter Pence to a broken forearm in the spring. Since then, they've seen first baseman Brandon Belt, third baseman Casey McGehee and starting pitchers Matt Cain and Jake Peavy all miss time with various maladies.

None of the injuries appear particularly dire, though Cain is on the disabled list with a strained tendon in his throwing arm after undergoing a pair of surgeries last season. 

It all casts a pretty ominous pall. Also ominous: the paltry seven runs the Giants have scored over their past five games, a stretch that has included four losses and a pair of shutouts.

This team has shown an ability to overcome adversity before; all three title runs featured their share of low points and improbable comebacks. 

But one week in, the Orange and Black are forcing us to mention...well, you know. 

Atlanta Braves

John Amis/Associated Press

When the Braves dealt closer Craig Kimbrel to the San Diego Padres on the eve of the regular season, it looked an awful lot like a white flag.

Atlanta was cashing in its chips before the game even began, launching a full-blown rebuild and telling its fans, "Wait till next year."

Funny thing, though: After edging the Miami Marlins 3-2 on Monday, the Braves sit atop the National League East at 6-1.

It's much too soon to say whether or not this can last, and there are many reasons to doubt it will. In every season, at least one underdog tantalizes with a hot start only to crash back to reality.

Still, as SB Nation's Grant Brisbee opines:

"

If the Braves were to contend for a postseason spot, it would be the kind of surprise we're used to every year. It would be the kind of surprise that stopped being a surprise by August because we were acclimated to the whole thing. It wouldn't be something that inspired a 400-page book about the wonders of baseball and the unlikeliness of it all. It would be a surprise but nothing more. We know that baseball likes to set small fires as it goes along, just to watch the flames lick up toward the sky.

"

For now, the Braves should feel free to ride the high. As outfielder Eric Young Jr., who made the team this spring after signing a minor league deal, told Fox Sports South's Jay Clemons, "We enjoy playing together...and it shows."

All statistics current as of April 13 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.