1 Word to Describe Every MLB Team Early in 2023 Season
The 2023 Major League Baseball season is barely 5 percent completed, so it is way too early to try to tell the full story of any team's campaign.
But one word to sum up how every club has started?
That we can do.
No repeats. (Or hesitations.) There are some synonyms, for sure, but we're going with 30 unique words here, as well as a brief explanation for why we went with each of these words.
Teams are listed alphabetically by location.
Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles
1 of 10
Arizona Diamondbacks: Respectable
A bit later, we'll discuss Tampa Bay taking advantage of a favorable opening schedule. Arizona was dealt a much different hand, starting the season with four games at the Dodgers, two in San Diego and then another four-game set at home against Los Angeles. The D-Backs easily could have gone 2-8 or worse against that stretch. But they've oscillated L-W-L-W-L-W-L-W en route to a 4-4 record that suggests they could be a factor in the NL postseason picture. (And, hey, Evan Longoria can still hit, batting .429 with a pair of home runs.)
Atlanta Braves: Young
With Max Fried (hamstring) and Kyle Wright (shoulder) both on the IL, Atlanta's starting rotation has been 39-year-old Charlie Morton and a whole bunch of newbies. Spencer Strider was outstanding last year, but he entered this season with 134 career innings at the MLB level. Bryce Elder pitched just 54 innings last year as a rookie. And both Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster made their MLB debuts last week. However, so far, so good, as Atlanta won six of its first seven games.
Baltimore Orioles: Aggressive
Some teams seem to be blatantly ignoring the new rules and bigger bases that encourage more stealing of bases, but certainly not the Orioles. After stealing 95 bags in the entire 2022 campaign, the Orioles have already swiped 13 through seven games. Most of it has come from Jorge Mateo (five) and Cedric Mullins (four), but one each from Ryan Mountcastle, Adam Frazier, Ryan McKenna and Austin Hays is clear evidence of a near-permanent green light for anyone who gets on base.
Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox
2 of 10
Boston Red Sox: Entertaining
Whether the Red Sox are actually good or bad is too early to call, but at least their games have been fun to watch, as they're both scoring and allowing just under 6.0 runs per contest. Most of the high-scoring action took place in the season-opening series against the Orioles, in which the winning team scored at least nine in each game, and in which Adam Duvall played out of his mind with eight hits, including a pair of home runs. At some point, though, they're going to need a pitcher to at least flirt with a quality start.
Chicago Cubs: Unimproved
The Cubs look a lot different from yesteryear with six newcomers—Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger, Eric Hosmer, Trey Mancini, Miles Mastrobuoni and Tucker Barnhart—among the 10 leaders in at-bats, not to mention Jameson Taillon in the starting rotation. But aside from Swanson leading the team in hits, none of those new pieces have amounted to much in the early going. And that's no big surprise, since most of them were reclamation projects after rough seasons in 2022. Keep an eye on Bellinger, though. If he turns things around, Chicago may, as well.
Chicago White Sox: Porous
Someone has to rank last in the majors in runs allowed, but was anyone expecting the White Sox to have a firm early grip on that dubious crown? Chicago has allowed 61 runs through eight games, and is sitting at 10.6 runs allowed per loss. Dylan Cease gave the ChiSox two great starts, and Mike Clevinger's team debut was solid. Just about everything else has been a disaster, though, as Chicago entered play on Saturday with a bullpen ERA of 9.62.
Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians and Colorado Rockies
3 of 10
Cincinnati Reds: Unexpected
How does Cincinnati keep turning journeyman utility guys into stars? The Reds did it last year with Brandon Drury and might be on a similar path with Jason Vosler, who clubbed three home runs in the team's first five games. TJ Friedl and Jake Fraley have also been pleasant early surprises in Cincinnati's lineup. And watch out for Graham Ashcraft, who went seven strong innings in winning his season debut. Not saying they'll be competitive in the NL Central, but a 3-3 record after last year's 3-22 start deserves some praise.
Cleveland Guardians: Speedy
Like the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Guardians have not been shy about turning guys loose on the basepaths. Light-hitting, fleet-footed center fielder Myles Straw has been the main base stealer with five swipes in the season's opening week, but José Ramírez and Andrés Giménez have each stolen two bags, while Steven Kwan and Amed Rosario are at one apiece. All five of those Guardians finished last season with between 18-21 stolen bases, and it wouldn't be a surprise if they combine for 200 this year.
Colorado Rockies: Quality
They're 3-5 overall with a minus-14 run differential, but did you know Colorado recorded a quality start in four of its first seven games, including a pair of scoreless performances from Kyle Freeland? Not a bad start to the year for a franchise that had quality starts in just 206 of 545 (37.8 percent) games played from 2019-22. If that starting rotation can turn a corner and at least get to a point where it's not a colossal liability, maybe then the Rockies can start dreaming of posting winning records again.
.png?w=256)
Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals
4 of 10
Detroit Tigers: Unremarkable
Through seven games, no Tigers starter has turned in a quality start, closer Alex Lange blew his lone save chance, Javier Báez is batting .080—which is still better than Nick Maton's .067—and the only player with multiple home runs is back-up catcher Jake Rogers. "Things aren't going great" is kind of the moral of the story in Detroit. But what else is new for a franchise that hasn't made the postseason since 2014?
Houston Astros: Underwhelming
Thought about going with "sluggish" as the word for preseason AL favorite Houston, but realized that could be misinterpreted as a team that is slugging the ball. Which—aside from Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker—the 3-5 Astros are not doing thus far. Houston opened the season with a seven-game homestand against the White Sox and the Tigers, splitting the former 2-2 and losing the latter 2-1. Not exactly the emphatic World Series defense anyone was expecting to see.
Kansas City Royals: Feeble
The Royals did pick up a nice 3-1 road win over San Francisco Friday afternoon, but only after a 1-6 start to the year in which they were shut out three times. Of the 12 team leaders in plate appearances, Edward Olivares has the best batting average at .267, and seven guys are hitting below .160. And while you might think, "Well, yeah, the Royals were bad last year, and they're going to be bad this year," it's worth noting that pitching was their bigger weakness in 2022. This could get ugly.
Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers and Miami Marlins
5 of 10
Los Angeles Angels: Capable
Per usual, the Angels have the pieces to be good. Shohei Ohtani, Patrick Sandoval and Tyler Anderson are already pitching well. They've also got Ohtani, Mike Trout and Taylor Ward each batting north of .300 with multiple home runs. They entered the weekend tied with the Rangers for the AL West lead because of it. But they started out 24-13 last year before completely imploding, so we'll see how things shake out the rest of the way. Early returns are positive, though.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Typical
The Dodgers are in first place in the NL West with one of the best run differentials in baseball. Nine different Dodgers have homered, five of whom have already hit multiple round-trippers. Ho hum. For all the offseason talk of Los Angeles clearing the books and resetting the luxury tax clock to make its big push for Shohei Ohtani in a few months, the Dodgers are still overflowing with talent, even with Gavin Lux, Tony Gonsolin, Walker Buehler and others on the IL.
Miami Marlins: Myopic
Through their first eight games, Marlins hitters were striking out on 30.3 percent of their trips to the plate. By a considerable margin, it was the highest such rate in the Majors. And save for Luis Arraez, who never whiffs, it was a teamwide affliction, with 11 Marlins striking out in at least 25 percent of plate appearances. As a result, they've scored an MLB-worst 18 runs thus far. While they got the strikeouts somewhat under control in Friday's game against the Mets, it was suddenly the pitchers who couldn't see well, walking 12 batters in that loss.
Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins and New York Mets
6 of 10
Milwaukee Brewers: Deep
Since opening the season with a shutout loss at the hands of the Cubs, Milwaukee has gone on quite the tear with six consecutive wins. In the process, the Brew Crew has been getting contributions from all over the place. Most notably, rookies Brice Turang, Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer are each hitting north of .300 as regulars in the starting lineup. No part of that trio was expected to seriously contend with Jordan Walker or Corbin Carroll for NL Rookie of the Year, but we're intrigued to see if any/how many of those young Brewers can stay hot.
Minnesota Twins: Unhittable
Last year, Minnesota's starting rotation was nothing special, rated 21st-best by Fangraphs. This year, they've somehow put together a quintet of aces. Pablo López, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle entered Saturday with a combined line of 40.1 IP, 23 H, 5 ER, 52 K. That's a collective ERA of 1.12 with a K/9 of 11.6. Doggone impressive and unquestionably the main reason the Twins have been able to get out to a 5-2 start despite lackluster offense.
New York Mets: Wounded
Closer Edwin Díaz likely will not pitch this season after the knee injury suffered in the World Baseball Classic. Starter Justin Verlander opened the year on the IL with a shoulder injury. Fellow starter José Quintana is out for several months following a rib surgery. Catcher Omar Narváez just landed on the IL with a calf injury. The Mets are treading water at 4-4, but it's starting to feel like Steve Cohen shelled out many, many millions for a walking hospital ward.
New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies
7 of 10
New York Yankees: Whiffy
No Carlos Rodón? No Luis Severino? No Frankie Montas? No problem. The Yankees are still mowing down opposing hitters via strikeouts at a higher rate (11.9 K/9) than any other pitching staff. Gerrit Cole (19 K in 12.1 IP) has done most of the damage, but pretty much everyone who takes the mound is averaging better than a strikeout per inning. Prior to allowing seven earned runs in Friday's loss to Baltimore, they had a team ERA of 2.33 and WHIP of 1.06.
Oakland Athletics: Sloppy
Did you ever buy one of those knock-off brand video game controllers thinking you were saving money, only to discover the buttons didn't work quite like they should? Kind of feels like that's what is going on in Oakland, where the A's are getting what they paid for in terms of errors, wild pitches and just an overall lack of quality baseball. They did somehow defeat the Angels in a 2-1 game on Opening Day that Shohei Ohtani started. But since then, they've allowed 8.2 runs per game.
Philadelphia Phillies: Disappointing
The reigning NL champs are a far cry from full strength, with Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins and Ranger Suárez all on the IL. But that's hardly an excuse for starting the year 0-4 with a run differential of minus-25. The Phillies have since rallied to an extent to win two out of three games, and we are talking about a team that just made the World Series after a 21-29 start to last season. No need to panic just yet. Still a disappointing start, though.
Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants
8 of 10
Pittsburgh Pirates: Competent
Save for the Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh had the worst run differential (-226) in baseball in 2022 and was expected to be equally uninspiring in 2023. But with Bryan Reynolds (13-for-29 with five home runs) routinely obliterating baseballs, the Pirates are 5-2, three games above .500 for the first time since May 2019. We shall see how long the bullpen can hold it together as one of the best—Colorado got out to a similar start last year until the relief pitching predictably fell apart—but Pittsburgh has been the pleasant surprise of the first week-plus of the season.
San Diego Padres: Incomplete
Few teams are anywhere close to completely at full strength, but the Padres feel particularly short-handed without starter Joe Musgrove (toe), set-up man Robert Suarez (elbow) and SS-turned-RF Fernando Tatis Jr. (suspension). Tatis will be eligible to return on April 20, and it's possible both pitchers make it back before him. At that point, this 4-4 team should look more like the $245 million World Series contender that we were promised.
San Francisco Giants: Inconsistent
In their three wins, the Giants have looked like the 1928 New York Yankees, clubbing a combined total of 14 homers en route to 35 runs. But in the four losses, they've been shut out twice and scored a total of four runs with just one solo shot. And they've oscillated between wins and losses, mashing the cover off the ball one day before struggling to muster anything at the dish the next day. We expected the Giants to be a .500 team this year, but they sure are on an intriguing trajectory to that end.
Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays
9 of 10
Seattle Mariners: Frustrating
After going 64-40 over the final 104 games of last season for the first playoff berth in over two decades, expectations were high for Seattle. But the start has been quite slow. Luis Castillo has gotten out to a sensational start, worthy of early AL Cy Young consideration. But offseason acquisitions Kolten Wong, Teoscar Hernández, Tommy La Stella and AJ Pollock have all struggled at the dish, while Robbie Ray—who was outrageously good during spring training—is already on the IL with a flexor strain.
St. Louis Cardinals: (Un)Lucky
Here's an oddity regarding batted balls: At the start of play on Friday, St. Louis hitters were leading the majors in BABIP (.363) while St. Louis pitchers ranked dead last in BABIP (.363). Evidently, there are plenty of holes to be found at Busch Stadium this season. Nolan Gorman and Paul Goldschmidt were the primary benefactors on offense, while Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz are the Cardinals pitchers left hoping that luck swings back in their favor in short order.
Tampa Bay Rays: Dangerous
The schedule really could not have been any more favorable for the Rays, who opened the season against the Tigers, Nationals and A's. But they've also made mincemeat of that slate, starting out 7-0 without even needing a save along the way. The starting rotation led by Shane McClanahan has been stellar. The bats anchored by Wander Franco have been even better. And if they continue to get great contributions from Luke Raley and Jose Siri, the Rays might mess around and win the AL by a landslide.
Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays and Washington Nationals
10 of 10
Texas Rangers: Complete
After using the 2021-22 offseason to spend money on batters and the 2022-23 offseason to spend money on pitchers, the Rangers appear to have put together a cohesive contender. And that's even with Jacob deGrom struggling a bit out of the gates. Once he gets his ERA under control and Corey Seager starts hitting anything like he did during spring training, Texas could solidify its status as a threat to win an AL West, where both Houston and Seattle have gotten out to slow starts.
Toronto Blue Jays: Sporadic
Both in the lineup and in the rotation, Toronto has been very Jekyll and Hyde. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Matt Chapman, Daulton Varsho and Kevin Gausman have been outstanding, looking ready to carry a team to a World Series run. Conversely, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt, Brandon Belt and Danny Jansen have gotten out to starts that make you question if they even belong in the Majors. The net result is a fairly average team, but we'll see how things look once both extremes begin to regress to the mean.
Washington Nationals: Helpless
We knew it would be a rebuilding year in the nation's capital. Most likely several rebuilding years, if we're being honest. But while other teams who seemed to be destined for spots in the basement of their respective divisions (Cincinnati, Colorado and Oakland) have gotten out to respectable starts, Washington has been every bit the bottom-feeder it was advertised to be. Getting shut out in Colorado on the first night that a pitcher (Josiah Gray) logged a quality start was almost too on brand.
Statistics current through the start of play Saturday unless otherwise noted.
.png?w=480)
