Normally I hate this kind of shit because it's done by a hacky "expert" who probably thinks Joe Strauss is good at his job and thinks Lucas Duda is going to win MVP.

Grantland got Jonah Keri to do it, though, and Keri is good at analyzing baseball and writing about it. In the inaugural ranking, he puts the Cardinals at No. 4 behind Detroit, Tampa and Arizona.

4. St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 (24 RS, 15 RA)

The Cards are averaging six runs per game, which a team can do after losing Albert Pujols … if it still has Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman, leading breakout candidate David Freese, and newly signed Carlos Beltran leading the offense.

You know what's really exciting, though? Lance Lynn getting off to a great start in his stealthily important transition to starting, firing 6⅔ stellar innings (eight strikeouts, one walk, two hits, one run) against a still-potent Brewers lineup. It says here that the sharps overreacted to Chris Carpenter's spring injury and especially Pujols's exodus. A perfectly functional first start by Tommy John recovery case Adam Wainwright (5⅔ IP, 6 K, 1 BB, 4 H, 3 R) only makes the Cards look even more dangerous.

He's not a fan of the Phillies:

14. Philadelphia Phillies, 1-2 (6 RS, 7 RA)

Another of the benefit-of-the-doubt teams, but Philly is nowhere near the Yankees this week for the simple reason that they're not as good. You'll see Phillies starters give up something close to two runs in 20 innings again this season, against better lineups than Pittsburgh's, too. But the Phils' lineup is going to have a lot of slow nights for as long as Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are out, especially if Placido Polanco looks as cooked offensively as he did last year. Ruben Amaro Jr. gets criticized in analytical circles for some of his moves, none more so than the $125 million extension Ryan Howard just started earning while he sits on the disabled list for the next couple months. But he's also extended the Phillies' run about as long as you could possibly hope for with a team this old. If this is the year it all ends, it'll have been a helluva run. Even with the likes of Freddy Galvis posting nightly 0-fers, though, there may be more yet to come. It might take Roy Halladay striking out 200 and walking 12 to do it … but you can't put that, or anything else, past him.

And he pleads with Scioscia to dump OBP lightweight Mark Trumbo:

9. Los Angeles Angels, 1-2 (11 RS, 13 RA)

It was supposed to be the Albert Pujols coronation tour. Instead the Angels wake up Monday morning asking, how do we solve a problem like Mark Trumbo? The non-third baseman third baseman made three errors in the Halos' first three games of the season, which didn't cause either of their two losses (Dan Haren and Ervin Santana getting surprisingly lit up did) but didn't help either.

Two factors in l'Affaire Trumbo confuse the hell out of me. First, Mike Scioscia was the manager who frittered away far too much playing time on Jeff Mathis, surmising that his defense was worth dealing with his Little Leaguer's bat, even when the Angels had the resources (and Mike Napoli on the roster!) to do a lot better. So why would he so blatantly turn a blind eye to defense and play Trumbo out of position? Second … when did Mark Trumbo become the kind of hitter who'd make you so giddy that you'd accept Vaudevillian defense anyway? A rookie-best 29 homers were an impressive feat; less impressive was his execrable .291 on-base percentage. Alberto Callaspo has little to no power and was probably due for some regression after posting 3.6 WAR as last year's starting Angels third baseman. But you can only wave away excellent defense and contact skills and a good batting eye for so long, especially for a player still in his prime in his age-29 season.

Signing Pujols and welcoming Kendrys Morales back from injury created a weird, overcrowded lineup that the Angels hope will be remedied by dumping Bobby Abreu. But as much as Mike Trout wresting away Vernon Wells's job might help the Angels, Callaspo taking over for Trumbo might help even more. It's not an ideal situation to bench a player who cranked 29 bombs last year. That doesn't mean it's not the right decision for this Angels team.

And the National League runner-up in 2011:

23. Milwaukee Brewers, 1-2 (14 RS, 20 RA)

Only the Red Sox ceded more runs per game than the Brewers, though in both cases a very good offensive opponent played a significant role in the carnage. Pretty amazing positive regression poster boy Zack Greinke and the Brewers' pen actually shut out the Cardinals in the middle game of the series. Though most of last year's offensive core remains intact, one of the players I fear the most this year is Aramis Ramirez. He has a long history of injuries, turns 34 this year, and earned a $36 million contract on the strength of his best season in three years. His weekend tally: 1-for-11, one extra-base hit, four strikeouts, one walk. So, so early. Just have a bad feeling there.