Less than a month ago, after days of marathon negotiations, Major League Baseball canceled the second week of the 2022 season. People within the game started preparing for a labor war that would last until May or June, or possibly much longer. It was doom and gloom that day.
And yet, here we are.
When the Milwaukee Brewers face the Chicago Cubs on Thursday afternoon, a 162-game season will officially kick off. The ugly lockout is a thing of the past -- at least for the next five years -- and all involved deserve some credit for steering back in the right direction and getting teams ready for a normal season.
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The focus is no longer on the CBT and an international draft, it's on the teams and players. Can the Braves become the first team in two decades to repeat? Can the Giants stun the Dodgers again? Will the Blue Jays live up to the hype? Will Juan Soto have a .500 on-base percentage? Oh, and what more can Shohei Ohtani possibly do?
We'll know in seven months. For now, we'll start with our first MLB Power Rankings of the season:
30. Baltimore Orioles: Their last three full seasons: 110 losses, 108, 115. All of that losing has helped them build perhaps the game's best farm system, but they'll have to wait a bit longer to really benefit from it.
29. Pittsburgh Pirates: They recently sent Oneil Cruz, one of the game's best prospects, back to Triple-A for more development and plan to go to arbitration with Bryan Reynolds, their best player. Not much has changed in Pittsburgh.
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28. A's: Four of the five best players on last year's 86-win team -- Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea -- have been traded, and everyone in the industry expects Frankie Montas to join them in the coming months. The A's could have competed for a playoff spot in an expanded field; instead, they're tearing it down. Again.
27. Colorado Rockies: Kris Bryant has been in the playoffs just about every year of his career, but he won't sniff October this season. It'll be fun to see what kind of numbers he puts up at Coors Field, though. He's sneaky-fast, and that'll lead to a ton of doubles and triples.
26. Cincinnati Reds: The A's of the National League, they traded away Jesse Winker, Sonny Gray and Wade Miley, and watched Nick Castellanos walk in free agency. Unfortunately for the MLBPA, the new CBA hasn't done anything to curb tanking.
25. Washington Nationals: Get ready for another year of debating what the MVP award should really be about. The Nationals will be awful, but Soto enters 2022 as the NL MVP frontrunner. The 23-year-old had a .528 on-base percentage after the trade deadline last season.
24. Arizona Diamondbacks: They were 10-31 in one-run games last year, but Mark Melancon should help fix that. They could get a boost from Madison Bumgarner, too. His velocity has ticked up this spring, possibly because of a new look.
23. Cleveland Guardians: They have an MVP candidate in Jose Ramirez and Cy Young candidate in Shane Bieber. They also have no hopes of contending because for some reason ownership is running a payroll of about $57 million.
22. Chicago Cubs: The Bizarro Giants, they closed the deal with Seiya Suzuki and Marcus Stroman, two players who could have ended up in San Francisco. Even with those two, this is a rebuilding year in Wrigleyville.
21. Texas Rangers: They made the biggest splash of the winter, spending half a billion on Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. They also have serious pitching issues, which likely will keep their new All-Stars from pushing for a wild card spot. The spending was a good first step, however.
20. Kansas City Royals: The AL Rookie of the Year race is comically loaded, and the best of the bunch could be Bobby Witt Jr. The 21-year-old hit 33 homers in the minors last year and won a job this spring.
19. Detroit Tigers: Give them some credit for actually spending a bit as their top prospects start to get comfortable. Javier Baez was the big splash, adding to a lineup built around Spencer Torkelson, who hit 30 bombs in his lone minor league season.
18. Minnesota Twins: After back-to-back division titles, they finished dead last in 2021. But they could get back into contention with Carlos Correa now leading the lineup and Sonny Gray bolstering the rotation. Their hopes lie with Byron Buxton, who could compete for an MVP award if he stays healthy.
17. Miami Marlins: Jazz Chisholm gave a taste of what he can do last season. The prediction here is that the electric and charismatic young infielder is one of the game's biggest stars by the end of the season.
16. St. Louis Cardinals: They'll be the nostalgic pick all season long, with Albert Pujols returning to join Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. All three could be done after this season, and all three will be past their 40th birthday by the All-Star break.
15. Los Angeles Angels: We root for health here, and we're really, really rooting for a full season of Ohtani and Mike Trout in the same lineup. A full season of Noah Syndergaard would be fun, too, and the Angels badly need him to turn into their ace.
14. Boston Red Sox: They edged the Giants for Trevor Story, adding to a deep lineup, but the latest injury to Chris Sale hurts. The funky left-hander is out until June with a stress fracture in his rib.
13. Philadelphia Phillies: Could Gabe Kapler's old team close the gap a year after watching him win Manager of the Year? The Phillies are going for it behind one of the best lineups in the National League, with Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber now flanking NL MVP Bryce Harper.
12. Seattle Mariners: They're building something special in Seattle, and they smartly kept the momentum going by putting 21-year-old outfielder Julio Rodriguez -- the game's No. 2 prospect -- on their Opening Day roster. Rodriguez and 22-year-old Jarred Kelenic could one day lead the game's best outfield.
11. San Diego Padres: To be honest, the Power Rankings Committee (Of One) doesn't quite know what to do with these guys. They're a year removed from being a trendy pick to be the best team in baseball, and Bob Melvin was one of the offseason's best moves. But they've just disappointed too often in the last couple of years, and the Fernando Tatis Jr. injury leaves the door open for another down year.
10. New York Mets: The latest Jacob deGrom injury is a bummer, but they still have Max Scherzer atop the rotation and Chris Bassitt was a savvy addition. They'll hope for more out of Francisco Lindor (.734 OPS, 20 homers last year) in his second year under the bright lights.
9. New York Yankees: They had a quiet offseason, disappointing a fan base that wanted Corey Seager or Carlos Correa, but there's still plenty of star power in Gerrit Cole, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and many more. When healthy, the lineup should be frightening.
8. Tampa Bay Rays: After winning 100 games and the AL East, they'll now fully line up behind Wander Franco, the 21-year-old who went .288/.347/.463 as a rookie. After just 70 games, the Rays gave him $182 million.
7. Giants: This is a vote of confidence in the well-oiled machine they've built. Buster Posey, Kevin Gausman and Bryant are gone, but the rotation should be one of the best in baseball, Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris build depth better than anybody, and Gabe Kapler and MLB's biggest coaching staff have proven that they'll find every edge over 162 games.
6. Houston Astros: A year after George Springer bolted, Correa took record money to move to Minnesota. The Astros keep developing, though, and a good rotation gets Justin Verlander back from Tommy John surgery. All he did in his last full season was win the Cy Young.
5. Milwaukee Brewers: NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes leads a rotation that's as good as any in the NL, and Josh Hader and Devin Williams are back in a nasty bullpen. The Central is the weakest of the NL divisions, and if the Brewers get anything out of former MVP Christian Yelich -- a huge disappointment the last two seasons -- they should run away with it.
4. Chicago White Sox: They quietly won 93 games last season, cruising to an AL Central title, and their roster is filled with popular breakout picks. The best among them should be 24-year-old Luis Robert, a former top prospect who hit .338 with 13 homers in 68 games last season.
3. Toronto Blue Jays: Behind Vlad Jr., they showed signs of what was to come last season. This year, their young core adds Gausman and Chapman, among others. Gausman will start the second game of the season, with Jose Berrios getting Opening Day.
2. Atlanta Braves: The defending World Series champs let the face of the franchise walk, but replaced him with Matt Olson, who should be a superstar now that he's out of Oakland. They also added Kenley Jansen to the back of a very, very good bullpen. Oh, and they should get their best player, Ronald Acuña Jr., back in a few weeks.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers: In the last four full MLB seasons, they have won 106, 106, 92 and 104 games. They're a pretty easy choice for the top spot, even with Seager now in Texas and Jansen in Atlanta. They simply replaced those two with Freddie Freeman and Craig Kimbrel, both of whom are potentially upgrades. They're a monster ... although they're no longer defending a division crown.