At the beginning of a Major League Baseball season, every team looks good on paper. And usually, about half of the league is good while the other half is bad, so at some point, the separation becomes clear. But perhaps this season, more than half of the league is actually bad?
We've played over 40% of the season now and creating the MLB power rankings is becoming an exercise in separating the mid from the mid. There are currently 12 teams within three games of .500, which means one big week can vault a team from the bottom to the upper middle class with relative ease. We see that reflected this week in the Cincinnati Reds, who made one of the biggest jumps of the season.
With that said, the Reds also did not crack the top 10, which is now akin to an exclusive club that finds itself severely under capacity and needs to convince some stragglers on the sidewalks to come inside. There were half a dozen teams that could have earned that 10th spot and each of them felt wrong in some way. So who was that number 10 team in this week's MLB power rankings? Read on to find out!
1. Philadelphia Phillies (+1)
Splitting the London Series may have been a teeny disappointment for the Fightin' Phils, but they did most of their heavy lifting back on American soil earlier this week. Sweeping three games from the Milwaukee Brewers in 2024 was rather impressive, considering no other team had done it to that point, including two-gamers. The back-and-forth battle between Philly and New York may continue at the top for a while, but this week, the Phillies recaptured the upper hand.
2. New York Yankees (-1)
Yankees-Dodgers was a drama-fest waiting to unfold and this weekend certainly delivered in terms of memorable moments. Yankees fans chanting for Juan Soto in the middle of Trent Grisham's at-bat that won them the Sunday night game certainly sticks out. But winning or losing one series to the Dodgers doesn't mean all that much in the grand scheme of things. On the flipside, the fact that Aaron Judge is the best hitter on the planet right now certainly carries a lot of weight.
3. Baltimore Orioles (no change)
The Orioles hit their 100th team home run on June 8, putting them on pace to potentially break a franchise record (257 in 1996). Ryan Mountcastle has been going bonkers of late and his hitting seemed to spur the rest of his team, as Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Anthony Santander all went deep over the weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays. Most encouragingly of all, the O's finally gained some ground on the Yankees in the standings, which they hadn't done since beating New York in a series all the way back in the first week of May.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (+1)
We'll just focus this section of the MLB power rankings on Teoscar Hernandez, because he's darn well earned it. On a weekend being billed as Judge/Soto/Volpe vs. Ohtani/Betts/Freeman, it was Hernandez who shined the brightest in the clutch. He went 6-for-10 the series with three homers, nine RBI and a game-winning extra innings double. If he delivers a hot streak like that at some point in October, it might be hard for the Dodgers to let him walk elsewhere in free agency without having something to say about it.
5. Cleveland Guardians (-1)
The Guardians just keep humming along. Though a postponement shortened their week, they managed to come out on the winning side of the ledger, in typical Guardians fashion, thanks to some timely hitting and solid pitching all weekend in Miami. Carlos Carrasco even looked serviceable in his return from the IL, though he couldn't quite get through five innings. And with Steven Kwan fully reincorporated into the lineup, there's finally a bit more balance beyond José Ramirez and Josh Naylor slugging homers all the time.
6. Milwaukee Brewers (no change)
No one likes getting swept, but the Brewers did a solid job of rebounding when they grabbed two of three in Detroit over the weekend, though they took a shellacking from Jake Rogers and Tarik Skubal on Sunday. The real loss suffered, though, was rookie phenom Robert Gasser heading to the IL after dominating on the bump in his first month as a big leaguer. It's always an all-hands situation to cover innings in the Milwaukee rotation, but that job just got significantly tougher.
7. Atlanta Braves (no change)
In the post-Ronald Acuña Jr. era, it's hard to get a grasp of how high the offensive ceiling is for these Braves. Obviously, they can be better than they've shown over the past two weeks, which have included two embarrassing series losses to the Washington Nationals. But at the same time, only Marcell Ozuna has an OPS above .750 of the qualified position players, and this was a team that had six starters in the .800s for a full season last year. It's a group effort, but Matt Olson and Austin Riley are the big boppers that need to take a step up soon for this team to stay in the NL East race.
8. Kansas City Royals (+1)
This was an important week for the Royals to show they could trade body blows with two of the teams they're likely to be fighting with for playoff position and to their credit, they absolutely delivered. After splitting with Cleveland and taking two of three from Seattle, K.C. continued its early charge to October, now sitting six games clear of the postseason cutoff. It's important for an inexperienced team to build themselves as much of a buffer as possible, and with the Yankees and Dodgers coming up next, that buffer can still be eaten away pretty quickly.
9. Seattle Mariners (-1)
At some point, it becomes impressive that Julio Rodríguez is managing to bat nearly .270 with how messed up his swing is. The young Mariners superstar who took the fabled Mason Miller deep in Oakland earlier this week still isn't pulling his weight power-wise, but he's gotten his fair share of big hits all year, Sunday's very much included. With Ty France heading to the IL after fracturing his heel, all eyes will be on Seattle from now until the trade deadline to see if Jerry DiPoto will go out and make the splash for a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Pete Alonso.
10. San Diego Padres (+1)
Alas, yet another week where deciding who the number 10 team in the MLB power rankings is could be an hours-long debate. You could sell us on the Cincinnati Reds cracking the top 10 of the MLB power rankings and those sly devils were in the mid-20s the past few weeks. And yes, the Padres did get swept in Anaheim this week, but if the playoffs started today, they'd be the fifth seed in the National League. Yep, at one game under .500. What a season!
11. Minnesota Twins (-1)
The 2024 season is going to be the cause of receding hairlines all over the Land of 10,000 lakes. Just when we thought the Twins were hitting their stride again, they lost a quick five games in a row, including a season sweep at the hands of their tormentors from the Bronx. And from a big picture perspective, something needs to change in order to get Pablo López back on track. Perhaps having Sonny Gray to share the load at the top of the rotation made a difference, because lone wolf López has been dreadful for most of the season.
12. Cincinnati Reds (+11)
Well, no one likes losing a Sunday series finale, but it's hard for the Reds to complain when they had a seven-game winning streak prior to the final out. Yes, Elly De La Cruz is amazing, but how about a shoutout for Nick Lodolo, who got his season ERA all the way down to 2.92 with a seven-strikeout performance Friday? Cincinnati is once again earning the “Rally Reds” moniker, only this time, it's the entire team rallying to save their season from an early grave.
13. San Francisco Giants (+1)
Heliot Ramos has been the most fun thing about the Giants all season, point blank. The 24-year-old rookie has a .938 OPS in 29 games and his 2.2 bWAR is already second on the team behind Matt Chapman. The rest of the Giants have been like the cloud cover by McCovey Cove: sporadic and sometimes gloomy. But hey, that's pretty much the whole NL Wild Card picture, right?
14. Boston Red Sox (-1)
If there's one thing we can be sure of with the 2024 Red Sox, it's that they'll do whatever they need to against whomever they need to in order to stay at .500. But when you beat the worst team in baseball 14-2 in the opener and only come away with a split, it's hard to feel all that rosy. Thank goodness the Sox are done facing Gavin Sheets and Paul DeJong, because now they're on to… *checks notes*… Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge.
15. Detroit Tigers (+1)
Of all the teams floating around .500, the Tigers might be the toughest to figure out. When Tarik Skubal or Jack Flaherty is racking up punchouts, Detroit can look unflappable. Then they go on three-game losing streaks that go by so quickly you barely have time to say “Little Caesars.” It's a team we'll be fascinated to follow as the year goes on, but the inconsistency is a major limiting factor when considering their chances at a playoff spot.
16. Texas Rangers (-4)
Stop toying with our emotions, Rangers. Every time it looks like the defending champs are building some momentum, they drop another home series. And in this case, it was back-to-back winnable home series against a pair of sub-.500 teams in the Tigers and Giants. They're doing their best to stay afloat until Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer come back, but depending on pitchers in their 30s to come off the IL and save the season is a dangerous proposition. The Rangers that are healthy now need to start producing.
17. Houston Astros (+4)
Sometimes it can be hard to parse what matters from a single week, but it's obvious what this week signified for the Astros and their fans: Yordan Alvarez is all the way back. He got the first ever extra-base hit off a fastball over 103 mph on Saturday and homered in the same game to make it four dingers in eight days. But the Astros also blew two chances to sweep series against sub-.500 teams this week, and they'd better hope it doesn't come back to bite them in September.
18. Chicago Cubs (-1)
The Cubs are somewhere between treading water and flapping their arms around trying to keep their nose out of the surf. They have Shota Imanaga and that's about it right now, so if they want to get back in the playoff picture, it's high time the well-paid veterans of the club, i.e. Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson, start kicking into high gear. No, the Cubs won't fall out of this race, but at one point, they were supposed to be running away with it.
19. Toronto Blue Jays (no change)
The plot continues to thicken with the Blue Jays' trade deadline decisions. After two bad losses to Baltimore early in the week, it seemed like the O's might be readying to put a nail in the coffin. Then the Jays bounced back with two wins, took a weekend series in Oakland and now sit just two games out of a playoff spot. As disappointing as this season has been so far, it's clear there's still a window of time remaining for Toronto to seize in order to keep the front office from waving the white flag. But they've still got to prove they aren't the team they've looked like all season.
20. Tampa Bay Rays (-5)
Ugly. Grotesque. Unsavory. The Rays laid an egg all weekend on their home turf and their division rivals took full advantage, erasing any momentum Tampa had built in a mini-sweep of the Marlins earlier in the week. Starting pitching has become a serious problem for these Rays, which is rough because the offense and bullpen have also been ice cold several times throughout the year. And perhaps having Taylor Walls back will fix any leaks at shortstop, but did they really have to get rid of Harold Ramirez, who appeared beloved by the entire community, as a consequence?
21. Arizona Diamondbacks (-1)
Corbin Carroll and Eugenio Suarez are two of just five hitters on the Diamondbacks with enough at-bats to qualify for MLB stat leaderboards. Both have an OPS around .580 and they have combined for -0.3 bWAR as a tandem. And in a way, it might be unfair to lump Suarez in here, because Carroll is having one of the most disappointing individual seasons in recent memory. Whether it's a lingering shoulder injury that sends him to the IL or his poor performance that sends him to AAA, the defending NL Rookie of the Year needs a break from the everyday slog at this point.
22. St. Louis Cardinals (-4)
The Cardinals-Rockies four-game split may have been the least meaningful series of the weekend. Sure, St. Louis got some heroics from Alec Burleson, Masyn Winn and Dylan Carlson, but when the Rockies come knocking on your front door, you'd like to do a bit more damage. Nonetheless, the Cards remain right in the hunt for a playoff bid, especially because they won't want to become sellers with Oli Marmol constantly coaching for his job.
23. Pittsburgh Pirates (-1)
Something is definitely cooking in the PNC Park kitchens. The Pirates grabbed two series wins against a pair of 2023 playoff teams and Oneil Cruz finally started launching some of his 120 mph lasers over the fence. Perhaps even more importantly, Paul Skenes vs. Shohei Ohtani was a legitimate blockbuster, perhaps the most cultural relevance the Buccos have seen this entire century. There's still a long way to go before we can start talking playoffs, but it's just good to see some buzz around Pittsburgh.
24. New York Mets (+1)
The one game the Mets lost this week was highly publicized due to the nature of playing overseas, but everything else went pretty much perfectly. They swept the Nationals, which means they have third place well within their sights at long last. They made a ninth-inning comeback based almost entirely on fluke plays that have seemingly gone against the Mets all season. And thanks to the travesty that is this year's National League, they're somehow within 3.5 games of a playoff spot in early June. Who knows where this wild ride takes us next?
25. Washington Nationals (-1)
Say what you want about the Nationals getting swept by the lowly Mets, but they sure know how to put a beatdown on the 2024 Atlanta Braves. For the second time in as many weeks, the Nats snagged three of four from their rivals from Georgia, beating Chris Sale Friday and outslugging Atlanta all weekend long. This is an obvious selling team at the deadline, but if the players being traded keep hitting like they have of late, the Nats could build an even brighter future for themselves than the one they already seem close to reaching.
26. Oakland Athletics (no change)
You won't find much change in these MLB power rankings as we approach the bottom, and that's because every team is pretty much settling into their position in the basement. That most certainly goes for the Athletics, who seem happy to take their series losses in bunches as long as they don't get swept. In the meantime, there was another reverse boycott at the Oakland Coliseum this week, while the Pioneer League Oakland Ballers are beginning to draw sellout crowds across town. The pressure to validate the commitment to Las Vegas grows stronger by the day.
27. Los Angeles Angels (no change)
How about a little round of applause for the Angels and their three-game sweep of the Padres earlier this week? It's the SoCal rivalry literally no one has ever talked about, but the Halos get to maintain bragging rights for now. And with a Sunday triumph over the Astros, they managed to salvage a winning week despite playing some decidedly mediocre baseball, so all they'll need is about ten more weeks to crack the .500 mark at this rate!
28. Miami Marlins (no change)
There's really nothing positive to take from this week if you're a Marlins fan. It seems like Jesús Luzardo is going to be traded this season and Jazz Chisholm Jr. might be joining him on the way out. Ryan Weathers, the most watchable starter on the team as of late, hit the IL with a finger injury. And the Marlins fell a staggering 23 games back of the Phillies in the NL East standings, which is one more game than they've won all season. What more can we say? The vibes ain't great.
29. Colorado Rockies (no change)
This should be the time of year that the Rockies control the narrative of the season. As one of the few teams that is clearly out of the playoff chase, they should be focused on setting the market for their available trade pieces in order to have a chance of getting back to the playoffs sometime this century. But these Rockies also do not make those all-important trades. They hung onto Trevor Story for nothing, and although he's not an impending free agent, they're poised to do the same thing with Ryan McMahon. The Rockies simply do not have a plan.
30. Chicago White Sox (no change)
That 14-game losing streak? Barely a twinkle in our eyes at this point. The White Sox very nearly won three in a row to stun Boston this weekend, but predictably blew a one-run ninth inning lead on Sunday because, you know, White Sox things. But Paul DeJong can keep hitting home runs all he wants, because getting anything on the trade market for a spare parts shortstop would be a massive win for this team in a dismal 2024 season.
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