MLB power rankings: Where do the St. Louis Cardinals rank?

MLB power rankings: The St. Louis Cardinals rank in the middle of the pack while the Milwaukee Brewers are the favorite in the NL Central.

Opening Day is on the doorstep, every team feels confident about their rosters, and believes they are a playoff contender (well, maybe not the Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates or Oakland A’s). But the St. Louis Cardinals sure have many reasons to feel good about where things stand.

Their lineup features Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill. They have emerging young players such as Dylan Carlson and Harrison Bader while having future Hall of Famers Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. Their rotation features Adam Wainwright, the newly-signed Steven Matz and Jack Flaherty, who is their most talented pitcher but currently resides on the Injured List.

But where do other media outlets rank the Cardinals among the rest of the pack?

The Athletic ranks the Cardinals at No. 14, which is second in the National League Central (the Brewers are No. 7). That ranking to me feels … low, and they even admitted that in their reasoning. “It feels like this is too low for the Cardinals – regardless of the season or year – and that should make you uncomfortable. … But ranking them this low seems like a way to look silly.”

MLB.com, meanwhile, ranks the Cardinals at No. 13, which is right in line with The Athletic. Oddly enough, they have the Brewers as the No. 4 team, and much of that ranking appears to come in their belief in Christian Yelich bouncing back into the MVP player that made them commit over $200 million to only a couple seasons ago.

If it were up to me, I’d have the Brewers ahead of the Cardinals on Opening Day – but not by much. Their strengths are different, of course, but I feel like they are two evenly matched teams and not worthy of seven and nine team gaps in power rankings.

That’s why the games are played, though, and we are a little over 24 hours from that happening. Let’s go!