MLB 2023 preview: Rankings, playoff odds for all 30 teams

MLB opening week is here — and if you blinked this offseason, you missed a lot.

With some of the game's most recognizable faces in new places, it's time to reset the rankings for 2023. Will newcomer Xander Bogaerts, plus a full year from Juan Soto and the return of Fernando Tatis Jr., mean a parade for the San Diego Padres? What will Justin Verlander's move from the Houston Astros to the New York Mets mean for the defending World Series champs and his new team in Queens? Did the Los Angeles Dodgers make the right move by not breaking the bank this winter? Will Aaron Judge captain the New York Yankees to their first title in 14 years?

We asked our baseball experts to rank every team from 1 to 30 going into the new season for our first MLB Power Rankings of the year, while ESPN MLB writers Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield teamed up to provide a rundown of what the season could bring, along with Doolittle's win-loss projections and playoff odds for all 30 teams.

Projected record: 92-70 (78% playoff odds | 8.2% World Series odds)

What's changed most since we saw them last: In this day and age, you don't usually find a defending champ with a young rotation, but that's the case with these Astros. Over the past couple of years, Gerrit Cole, Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander have left via free agency. What's left are no rotation members who are 30 or older. And yet this might be one of the most dynamic rotations in baseball, led by the filthy duo of Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier, with Hunter Brown looming as a potential ace. — Doolittle

The season will be a success if… The Astros become the first back-to-back World Series champions since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000. Just as