MLB Power Rankings 2012: Teams Guaranteed to Collapse by Trade Deadline

Ian HanfordJun 7, 2018

The 2012 MLB season is midway through its second full month of play and surprise teams have emerged at the top of divisional standings while others are lingering lower than expected.

Baseball's 162-game marathon lends itself to false excitement surrounding early months, every year. Teams (usually the Baltimore Orioles) overachieve for the first month of the season, spiral out of control in the season's summer months and further injure their distraught fanbase's morale.

Let's take a look at three teams who have started faster than expected, but will dramatically regress by July 31st.

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Baltimore Orioles

The Orioles are the poster child for mid-summer collapses. It seems like every season the Baltimore fanbase is teased by an encouraging opening stanza before having their dreams ripped apart with each passing month.

Since 2000, the Orioles have won 49 percent of their games in April. That number falls by almost 10 percent by the time you hit July. The Orioles consistently start hot, but fall victim to the AL East's frequent pitfalls eventually.

Baltimore has thrived so far this season because of their pitching and two excellent hitters.

Adam Jones is hitting .302 with a .941 OPS. His 11 home runs and 23 RBI lead the Orioles. Jones has All-Star talent and finally seems to realize it. His performance has injected excitement into the Orioles' present games and their future.

Matt Wieters is hitting .274 with eight home runs and 20 RBI. He has thrown out eight runners and the has a 3.34 CERA. He is widely considered one of the best defensive catchers in the game, and seems to have finally found his stroke at the plate.

Baltimore's rotation and bullpen have combined for a 3.49 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. Bullpen arms like Matt Lindstrom, Darren O'Day and Pedro Strop have filled back-end roles with masterful precision. However, Strop and Lindstrom both have ERA's two points lower than their career mark.

All of this is great. Baltimore fans have a lot to be happy about at this point, but this team will not hang around the AL East contenders barring a major acquisition.

The AL East is too strong and their pitching is overachieving at this point. They don't have a true ace and eventually their luck will run out among the AL East's powerful lineups.

Oakland Athletics

The AL West pecking order was supposed to go in this order: Texas/Los Angeles, Seattle and Oakland. Instead, the Athletics find themselves four games back of the division-leading Rangers with the Angels seven games back.

Granted, the Athletics are just one game above .500, but it is shocking nonetheless.

The Athletics traded their two best pitchers this offseason and were not expected to sniff contention whatsoever. Oakland's departed pitchers have barely been missed so far. The A's currently have the ninth-best team ERA in the major leagues.

Oakland's eventual collapse is simple.

The Angels will find their groove at some point. Oakland's pitching will not maintain their current mark, and their anemic offense will maintain its current dismal performance.

So far, the A's are relying on Josh Reddick's .285 average and nine home runs with Cuban sensation Yoenis Cespedes facing his first stint on the disabled list. Behind Reddick's .285 mark, the next best average among regular starters is Seth Smith's .245 mark.

Yeah, this lineup is bad.

Even Oakland's pitching is questionable. Tommy Milone has won five games so far this year and Brandon McCarthy leads all starters, besides Jerrod Parker, in ERA.

Milone and McCarthy are vastly overachieving. Once their performance falls, the Athletics' team will follow suit.

Oakland's lineup is not made for winning games, especially against the likes of Texas and Los Angeles.

New York Mets

The Mets are surprising everyone with their admirable performance under manager Terry Collins. Collins has the Mets playing very competitive baseball in the hotly contested NL East.

Do not expect this performance to last. The Mets will not be a part of playoff conversation by the time August rolls around.

The Mets have rode David Wright's plus-.400 bat through April, hoping he can maintain his scorching start. Daniel Murphy and Ruben Tejada have also done their part, posting plus-.300 averages through the first 36 games of the year.

New York still does not have much power in their lineup. Ike Davis leads the team with five home runs and Wright has four. This will hurt them against stellar pitching as the year moves along.

The Mets endured a tough April schedule, but will stumble in June. Their June schedule features St. Louis, Washington, Tampa Bay, the Dodgers and the Yankees for six games. This will be a brutal stretch for a team currently -23 in run differential.

The Mets have gotten inspired starting pitching from Jonathan Niese, Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey. But, none are proven performers outside of the oft-injured Santana.

Collins' club has shocked people with their performance thus far, but overachieving is the key ingredient here. The Mets' pitching will not hold up and Wright will not carry their offense all season.

Without adding a power bat and depth in the rotation, the Mets will fall by the wayside in the NL East.

MLB Power Rankings-May 16th

1. Texas Rangers (23-14)

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (24-12)

3. Atlanta Braves (23-14)

4. Tampa Bay Rays (23-14)

5. Baltimore Orioles (23-14)

6. Washington Nationals (22-14)

7. St. Louis Cardinals (21-15)

8. New York Yankees (20-16)

9. New York Mets (20-16)

10. Cleveland Indians (20-16)