MLB Power Rankings - April 21

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

Dee Gordon's incomprehensible start to the season has ameliorated the one presumed area of weakness for the Dodgers heading into the 2014 campaign, as the 25-year-old leads the majors with 10 stolen bases to go along with an .892 OPS. It's not often a team can lose their top starter and starting catcher for an extended period of time and still have no glaring defects.

2. Detroit Tigers

It's blasphemous to suggest Miguel Cabrera won't finish among the top-five in every significant offensive statistic this season, but the 31-year-old has gotten off to a sluggish start in 2014, managing a meagre .648 OPS with one homer through 15 games. It's possible his wallet could be impeding his swing mechanics.

3. St. Louis Cardinals

Jhonny Peralta, who signed a four-year deal in November, has already matched the home run total that the Cardinals' contingent of shortstops managed in 2013. Meanwhile, Adam Wainwright's campaign for his first career Cy Young award is well underway, as the 32-year-old has authored a 1.80 ERA over 30 innings thus far.

4. Washington Nationals

Matt Williams' decision to yank Bryce Harper from Saturday's game due to a perceived lack of hustle from the 21-year-old outfielder is going to dominate headlines for the next little while, but the really compelling story is the ongoing breakout of Anthony Rendon, the first-round pick who's tied for fourth in the majors with 11 extra-base hits to go along with a 153 OPS+.

5. Atlanta Braves

Atlanta's rotation has crafted an unfathomable 1.54 ERA through the first 18 games of the year because general manager Frank Wren is smarter than everybody else. The veteran executive new that after 12 mediocre seasons in the majors, Aaron Harang could begin the 2014 campaign with a 0.70 over his first four starts. That's why he's the general manager of an MLB team and you're reading this right now.

6. San Francisco Giants

Brandon Hicks has certainly endeared himself during Marco Scutaro's prolonged absence, as the 28-year-old second baseman has managed a 135 OPS+ through 13 games. Alongside shortstop Brandon Crawford, who's got an .847 OPS with seven extra-base hits, the Giants' middle-infield tandem has been amazingly productive.

7. Boston Red Sox

Has anyone attributed Boston's unrelenting struggles at the plate to Xander Bogaerts' embarrassing Twitter gaffe from earlier this week? Because I suspect his propensity for broadcasting pictures of scantily-clad women is responsible for his team's .303 weighted on-base average, the ninth-worst mark in the majors.

8. Milwaukee Brewers

Between Ryan Braun's shady past and Carlos Gomez's refusal to not act to like a punk, the Brewers aren't exactly the world's most likeable team. They are, however, among the game's more talented clubs, averaging 4.26 runs per game, the fifth-most in the National League, while right-handers Wily Peralta and Marco Estrada have become increasingly attractive back-end starters.

9. Tampa Bay Rays

Tampa Bay's rotation has disintegrated of late, as veteran Erik Bedard and Cesar Ramos have been foisted into starting roles to compensate for the absences of Matt Moore and Alex Cobb. Wil Myers' two-homer game on Saturday was encouraging, though, as the young outfielder had just a .565 OPS as of Friday night.

10. Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh's acquisition of Ike Davis could end up as one of the season's savviest, most unheralded moves, as the beleaguered first baseman -- who fashioned a .449 on-base percentage after the All-Star break last season -- is a much more attractive option than the Gaby Sanchez/Travis Ishikawa platoon the Pirates were relying on.

11. Oakland Athletics

Brad Pitt's magic has been manifest during the nascent stages of 2014, as Oakland's rotation has been masterful despite the absence of Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin. Sonny Gray has yet to surrender a home run in 25 innings this season, while Scott Kazmir's 6.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio represents the eleventh-best mark among starters.

12. New York Yankees

Ivan Nova's partially-torn ulnar collateral ligament constitutes a massive blow to New York's rotation, but at least the oodles of money the Yankees invested this winter has paid dividends thus far: Masahiro Tanaka, Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brian McCann have uniformly impressed through the early stages of 2014.

13. Cincinnati Reds

Billy Hamilton's position atop Cincinnati's lineup is probably less tenuous than it should be, as the speedy outfielder has managed a .250 on-base percentage thus far and has looked downright awful at times. Of course, he can change a game with his speed, but you need to think long and hard about whether you really want the man responsible for the swing below to hit leadoff everyday.

14. Toronto Blue Jays

Maicer Izturis is likely out for the season, Adam Lind is nursing a sore back and Casey Janssen's rehab has been halted due to an oblique problem, but Jose Reyes finally returned from the disabled list, so I guess this is an improvement over last year?

15. Texas Rangers

It's hard not to feel ambivalent over the elbow inflammation plaguing Tanner Scheppers, who's been instructed not to throw for 10 days. He's been unequivocally atrocious through his first four starts of 2014, but is his Triple-A replacement better than a 9.82 ERA/6.27 FIP? This is the state of the Rangers rotation right now.

16. Baltimore Orioles

With the exception of right-hander Chris Tillman, Baltimore's starters vacillate exclusively between competent and awful, with Ubaldo Jimenez and Miguel Gonzalez favoring the latter through the first three weeks of the season. If it's any consolation, Dylan Bundy will hopefully be fully recovered from Tommy John surgery in a couple of months.

17. Kansas City Royals

The loss of Lorenzo Cain to a groin strain isn't nearly as insignificant as you might think, as the talented outfielder -- who managed a .333 batting average through the first 12 games of the season -- was a chief contributor to Kansas City's .726 defensive efficiency rating, the fifth-best mark in the majors.

18. Seattle Mariners

The small-sample enthusiasm generated by the likes of Justin Smoak and Brad Miller was considerably diminished this week, as Seattle managed just one win on a seven-game road trip. Things aren't much more encouraging down on the farm, either, as top prospect Taijuan Walker suffered another setback in his recovery from shoulder bursitis.

19. Los Angeles Angels

It's tempting to believe Albert Pujols' hot start -- he has six home runs and a 167 OPS+ through 18 games -- portends a return to the prominence for one of history's greatest hitters, but even a solid year from Pujols probably can't neutralize the Angels' rotation, which has managed a 4.11 FIP in 2014.

20. Cleveland Indians

It's pretty astounding the Indians are just two game belows .500 at this point considering how poorly their rotation has performed: three of the club's five starters possess an earned run average that can't be measured on one hand.

21. Colorado Rockies

The Rockies' strategy to stockpile ground-ball pitchers -- their rotation leads the majors with a 54 GB%-- has helped them avoid the home-run pitfalls of Coors Field thus far, but regression is a-coming for Jordan Lyles and Brett Anderson (once he returns), as the two have seen just 7.5 percent of their fly balls leave the yard this season.

22. Miami Marlins

Between Jose Fernandez's electric outings Giancarlo Stanton's proclivity for crushing the living daylights out of every baseball thrown in his direction, the Marlins are quickly becoming one of the league's more exciting teams to watch. That said, there's a lot of ugliness you have to endure outside of those two stalwarts.

23. Philadelphia Phillies

You shouldn't worry about Philadelphia's rotation -- Cliff Lee has a 2.17 FIP across four starts and Cole Hamels is poised to make his regular-season debut Wednesday -- but it's totally reasonable to panic over the bullpen, which has combined for a 5.80 ERA with 10 meltdowns* already, tying them for third-most in the National League.

*Using Win Probability Added (WPA), it’s easy to tell exactly how much a specific player contributed to their team’s odds of winning on a game-by-game basis. In short, if a [pitcher] increased his team’s win probability by 6% (0.06 WPA), then they get a Shutdown. If a [pitcher] made his team 6% more likely to lose (-0.06), they get a Meltdown.

24. New York Mets

In what's sure to be the least consequential development in history, Kyle Farnsworth replaced Jose Valverde as the Mets' closer after the animated 36-year-old allowed four homers in eight appearances. For the record, this probably isn't going to end well, either.

25. Chicago White Sox

The White Sox improved this week simply by placing Felipe Paulino on the disabled list, as the beleaguered right-hander fashioned a 11.29 ERA over his first four starts, surrendering six home runs while walking 12 in 18 1/3 innings. Beset by shoulder trouble, Paulino couldn't match his velocity for from his pre-Tommy John surgery 2012 campaign.

26. San Diego Padres

It's tough to feel sympathy for San Diego's starters, who pitch half their games in an environment tremendously hostile towards hitters, but they still deserve a little bit of run support. The Padres' offense has eked out a disappointing 2.79 runs per game thus far, easily the lowest mark in the National League. It's surprising, too, considering all the prodigious sluggers in San Diego, like, uh...

27. Arizona Diamondbacks

Trevor Cahill is the latest hurler banished to the bullpen, consigned to relief duty after posting a 9.14 ERA through his first four starts. Archie Bradley, meanwhile, remains stuck in minor-league purgatory because general manager Kevin Towers "would not bring him up in this environment the way we're playing," and it has NOTHING TO DO WITH SERVICE-TIME MANIPULATION!

28. Minnesota Twins

It didn't take long for prospect Kyle Gibson, the 26-year-old right-hander who's fashioned a 0.93 ERA over three starts, to insinuate himself as the best starter in Minnesota's suspect rotation. Gibson, a first-round pick in 2009, has also helped dispel the principle that Twins starters are contractually obligated to be boring.

29. Chicago Cubs

There's no team with a healthier relationship between its talent level and win-loss record than the Cubs, as their pitiful roster is aptly reflected in a 5-12 record. Jeff Samardzija remains fun to watch, but beyond that, this is a team that's probably really tough to support at the moment.

30. Houston Astros

Top prospect George Springer made his long-awaited major-league debut this week, giving Astros fans something to cheer about for the first time since 2005. It took all of two games before he was thrust into the cleanup spot, because the future is now!