The Updated Mid-Season MLB.TV Watchability Rankings
Every year, OTBB publishes our MLB.Tv rankings to help you decide which teams deserve your attention on MLB.Tv. Despite the abbreviated and deeply weird season, this year was no different and you can find Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of our preseason list of all 30 teams at the links.
Now that the season is half way over (for some teams. And way less than half way for others, but, whatever), we’ve decided to take a second look at how things have shaken out and re-rank the teams to help guide your viewing choices for the stretch run.
Without further ado, and with comment where necessary, the Updated Mid-Season MLB.Tv Watchability Rankings:
1) Chicago White Sox
I have watched a ton of MLB.Tv so far this season, and I keep coming back to the White Sox. In retrospect, it should have been clear that our initial 11th place ranking for the Sox was way, way too low. This team’s offense is so good and so fun, you have a 66% chance of seeing Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Jose Abreu, Eloy Jimenez, Edwin Encarnacion, or Luis Robert every time they’re up! Plus, Lucas Giolito is no slouch. On top of all that, Jason Benetti might be the best broadcaster in baseball. If you haven’t watched the White Sox yet, you’re missing out.
2) San Diego Padres
Somehow, the brown uniforms are even more magnificent than we expected. They are legitimately one of the top liveries in the entire sport and make Padres games extremely aesthetically pleasing. Oh, and Slam Diego boasts Fernando Tatis Jr., perhaps baseball’s most exciting young budding superstar who does amazing things at the plate, in the field, and on the bases. An easy new number 2 for this list.
3) Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers were number 4 on the initial rankings but still manage to move up now. Dustin May‘s starts are must watch tv and the lineup with Mookie Betts at the top, a blistering hot Corey Seager, and Cody Bellinger slowly creeping towards a normal batting line is hard to turn off. Plus Clayton Kershaw is CLAYTON KERSHAW again.
4) New York Yankees
The Yankees, again, have been ravaged by injuries and it’s a lot less fun to watch this team without Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Zach Britton, and up until recently DJ LeMahieu, but they still have Gerrit Cole and running out lineups with Luke Voit batting leadoff and Clint Frazier batting third at least makes you want to squint between your fingers as you cover your eyes.
5) Toronto Blue Jays
Apologies to the super-fun Toronto / Buffalo Blue Jays who were ranked way too low at first. This is a fun team with funky uniforms in a weird stadium and a bunch of players with last names you know but first names you don’t.
6) Atlanta Braves
No Ronald Acuna hurt for a little while but he’s back now and launching bombs again. Plus apparently Max Fried is an Ace? The end of the rotation is a bit of a mess but the Braves are fun and very good.
7) Chicago Cubs
Speaking of good, the Cubs have come back to earth a little bit lately, but still lead the NL Central behind Yu Darvish, who is on the short list for NL Cy Young so far. Darvish has like 15 different pitches or something and one of them is a 98 mph 2 seamer with about 2 feet of run.
8) Colorado Rockies
The Rockies would have been a little higher on this list if Charlie Blackmon was still hitting .450 or whatever, but the team is still a blast to watch, especially on offense.
9) Cincinnati Reds
We had the Reds 10th on our pre-season list and we’re going to call that a win. If Darvish doesn’t win the Cy Young, it might be because Trevor Bauer did. There were rumors that the Reds we’re going to try and trade Bauer before the deadline, but in a year where 16 teams preposterously make the playoffs, it seems like they’re going for it. Good.
10) Minnesota Twins
The AL Central might be the best division in baseball and the Twins are in the middle of a really good divisional race. Of course, some of the stakes are taken away when all 3 contenders will probably make the playoffs anyway, but still.
Ok, let’s pick up the pace a little bit:
11) Los Angeles Angels
The Angels are just so frustratingly bad even though Mike Trout is Mike Trout. The Shohei Ohtani pitching experiment isn’t going well and neither is the Justin Upton hitting experiment. Dumpster fire though they are, you definitely can’t rank the Angels lower than 11th.
12) Washington Nationals
13) Houston Astros
14) Cleveland Indians
The Indians are really good! It’s been a little bit more of a team effort than just the Fransisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez show as it was in year’s past, and the starting pitching is outstanding. Shane Bieber might be your AL Cy Young award winner. Plus Franmil Reyes is a monster.
15) New York Mets
16) Philadelphia Phillies
17) San Fransisco Giants
Will Mike Yastrzemski win the NL MVP? Probably not. But maybe! All Gabe Kapler managed teams are fun to watch on MLB.Tv, if only because they are kind of weird.
18) St. Louis Cardinals
19) Milwaukee Brewers
20) Miami Marlins
How about those Marlins?! In a normal year, they’d almost certainly fade from contention, but this isn’t a normal year and the Marlins have a real shot at the playoffs. In Marlins history, no team has ever made the playoffs and not won the World Series.
21) Tampa Bay Rays
22) Detroit Tigers
They’re not bad! Plus, Casey Mize is finally, finally here and joined by another highly anticipated prospect, Tarik Skubal. They play in a juggernaut division too, which means there’s a good chance of their opponent in any given game being near the top of this list. Win win!
23) Texas Rangers
24) Oakland A’s
The A’s are really good and this year’s version of the green uniforms look great. Plus they do funky stuff like play Matt Chapman at shortstop, but they’re just never at the top of my MLB.Tv list for some reason.
25) Seattle Mariners
26) Arizona Diamondbacks
27) Kansas City Royals
28) Pittsburgh Pirates
29) Baltimore Orioles
30) Boston Red Sox
Utterly unwatchable baseball. If I wanted to watch a dysfunctional bunch of people in red clothes look completely miserable while they fail at every step, I’d watch the Republican Party.
