A captivating season continues into the last week of June as the Major League Baseball season rolls on. We're just three weeks from the All-Star Game now, after which the trade deadline follows soon after, so the 2024 MLB Power Rankings are starting to heat up in a major way.
The biggest risers this week, unsurprisingly, were the Houston Astros, who dominated the high-flying Baltimore Orioles in a momentous weekend sweep. On the other side, the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays both had weeks that could end up derailing their seasons, so it's no surprise to see them both knocked down a few pegs.
Where did your team wind up in this week's 2024 MLB Power Rankings? Read on to find out!
1. Philadelphia Phillies (+2)
Stacking series wins gets you to the finish line, and the Phillies picked up a pair of those against their two most recent National League Championship Series rivals this week. In the middle of it all, Philadelphia extended breakout star Cristopher Sánchez and he rewarded them instantly with a seven-inning masterpiece on Sunday. The vibes are good and the top spot in the MLB Power Rankings belongs to the Fightin' Phils.
2. Baltimore Orioles (no change)
Look, there was no right way to rank the Orioles this week and one fan base was going to be mad either way we slotted the top two American League East teams. Ultimately, the 17-5 curb-stomping the O's dealt the Yankees on Thursday was enough to sneak them ahead despite remaining 1.5 games back in the standings. The sweep in Houston over the weekend was ugly, but not shocking given the gauntlet June schedule Baltimore has had.
3. New York Yankees (-2)
There's no reason to drag the Yankees through the mud yet. Obviously, three straight series losses will cause some concern among fans, but this team still holds the third-best record in the land. However, the bullpen, the catching situation, even the infield, have started to stand out in a bad way, proving that Brian Cashman has plenty of work to do before the trade deadline.
4. Cleveland Guardians (+1)
As the kids are always saying, “We are going to start a dialogue” about Steven Kwan. It's apparently not enough for the bat control wizard to bat .390 because he now has three homers in his last five games. If Kwan hadn't missed 23 games due to injury, he'd be a top-three frontrunner for AL MVP—and he could still play his way into that discussion if he keeps this up.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers (-1)
Hey, that Shohei Ohtani guy can really play baseball! He homered in four of his five games this week, three of which went over 450 feet. He's so good that his own manager, a World Series champion who's seen all the greatest players of the past three decades up close, can't help but marvel at his existence. Winning MVP as a full-time designated hitter should be impossible, but impossible is pretty much Ohtani's prerogative at this point.
6. Atlanta Braves (+3)
The Braves appear to be out of their losing funk for good, making it three straight series wins with their weekend triumph in the Bronx. There's still plenty of room for improvement on offense, particularly for Orlando Arcia, who has been one of the worst hitters in baseball all season. However, you could put the Atlanta starting rotation against anyone with the way they're twirling the pill right now.
7. Milwaukee Brewers (no change)
A series loss in San Diego wasn't ideal, but the Brewers kept their lead in the NL Central at five games with a comfy win on Sunday. Yet again, Milwaukee's ability to find starting pitching from unheralded sources shined through, with rookie Tobias Myers picking up his fourth win in four career starts. Myers' ERA in Double-A Biloxi last season was 5.03, but against the best hitters in the world, he's sitting at 0.71.
8. Seattle Mariners (-2)
The Mariners are one of the most two-faced teams in the league, especially among those with winning records. At 27-12, they're the third-best home team in baseball. But they're now 18-22 on the road, which included a pair of series losses to Cleveland and Miami this week. They remain in the top 10 of the MLB Power Rankings, but the road struggles are obviously a weakness that can burn the M's in October if they don't right the ship.
9. Minnesota Twins (+1)
It's now reached a point where we're all surprised if Royce Lewis doesn't homer in any particular baseball game. He failed to do so in either of the past two and still has 10 on the season with just 18 games played. And in other significant events, Pablo López finally took a step in the right direction, tossing eight brilliant shutout innings against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Getting their ace back in ace form would be a massive boost to the Twins as they look to stay ahead of the charging AL Wild Card pack.
10. Boston Red Sox (+1)
Forget the wins and losses for a moment. The fact that the Red Sox are a dynamic, exciting baseball team is the biggest win this season could have delivered to Boston fans, given the animosity toward ownership that's festered over the past few seasons. And though we're all curious to see how the season pans out, the present concern for the entire nation should be getting Jarren Duran to the All-Star Game.
11. Kansas City Royals (-3)
Boy, that sure happened quickly. The Royals went from 5.5 games clear of the rest of the teams vying for the AL's Wild Card spots to half a game back of the Red Sox in just 13 calendar days. Sure, it's a long season, but succumbing to regression when the entire national media told us to expect it can be a real ego hit to a young team. Let's see how the Royals respond.
12. St. Louis Cardinals (no change)
Of all the teams that could have poked their heads above .500 in the NL, the Cardinals might have been the most unexpected. But here they are at 39-37 and it's because of a nice mix of young and old talent delivering. Masyn Winn started the week with an extra-innings game-winner and Sonny Gray ended it with a 6.2-inning perfect game bid. Why not you, St. Louis?
13. San Diego Padres (no change)
On the downside, the series against the Phillies at the start of the week felt like a measuring stick for the Padres, and although they snuck a win in the finale, they didn't look like they belonged in the same weight class. But you could easily argue the series with Milwaukee was a measuring stick too, and the Friars had a shot at a sweep if not for a disastrous second inning on Sunday. The real problem to note here is that Fernando Tatís Jr. and Jurickson Profar are both nursing mysterious injuries while starting catcher Luis Campusano just hit the injured list.
14. Houston Astros (+7)
Dread them, run from them, the Astros arrive all the same. Okay, maybe that's a little overdramatic, but it felt like Houston officially joined the party with a series sweep of the high-flying Orioles this weekend. With half a season to play, Kyle Tucker eventually returning to the lineup, and a four-game deficit to erase, all eyes will be on Houston the rest of the way.
15. Texas Rangers (+2)
A four-game winning streak could not have come at a better time for the languishing Rangers, who still sit three games under .500 at 37-40. But coupling that winning streak with the triumphant return of Max Scherzer felt like the start of some real momentum. We'll have to see whether that momentum continues into the All-Star break, while also continuing to patiently wait for news on Jacob deGrom.
16. Washington Nationals (+3)
The Nationals' front office could be sitting around a table at this very moment talking themselves into buying at the trade deadline, which is both exciting and nerve-wracking. They could make a killing if they sold this year, but can you ever sell when you're right in the playoff hunt and avoid upsetting the fan base? And on the flip side, if they are going for it, there's no excuse at this point not to call up top prospect James Wood.
17. New York Mets (+3)
The Mets secured another huge series win against the Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball, but they lost Edwin Díaz to the automatic 10-game suspension pitchers are dealt when ejected for using foreign substances. Or, if you listen to Díaz, the only person to comment on the situation at the time of this writing, using an arbitrary amount of legal substances that the umpires decided was over some imaginary limit. Either way, it's a tough blow for a team with the best record in MLB this June, who now has to get through the next 10 games without being able to replace their closer on the active roster.
18. Arizona Diamondbacks (-4)
Who even knows with the Diamondbacks at this point? As soon as they got themselves to .500 at long last, they evidently decided not to bring their bats to the ballpark on Saturday or Sunday. In a vacuum, this would be a horribly disappointing season for Arizona so far, but because the NL playoff picture is so ugly, they're thankfully right in the hunt.
19. Tampa Bay Rays (+5)
Winners of four of their last five, the Rays may well have prolonged their 2024 extinction this past week. Jose Siri has become one of the great late-inning heroes of the season, adding to his highlight reel with one of the most ridiculous throws you'll ever see to nab Royce Lewis at third. If Tampa stays hot, they could play their way back into the Wild Card hunt.
20. Pittsburgh Pirates (+3)
This season is becoming quite a conundrum for the Pirates, who sit two games out of the playoffs despite a -33 run differential. Do you go all in on an otherwise mediocre roster with a healthy Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, and Jared Jones? Or do you wait for more prospects to develop, theoretically improving the odds of having a decent offense but risking an injury to one of the pitchers?
21. Cincinnati Reds (-5)
Last June, the Reds called up Elly De La Cruz and took the baseball world by storm for the rest of the month. This June, they're stuck in last place despite a seven-game winning streak at the beginning of the month. Of all the teams with an impending buy/sell decision, the Reds might have the most to prove in their next 20 games.
22. Detroit Tigers (no change)
Sure, the Tigers secured a series win over the lowly White Sox this weekend, but this season is slipping quickly out of their grasp. The Tigers fell in seven of their previous nine games, causing trade rumors about starting pitcher Jack Flaherty to swirl everywhere. They might not have fallen in the MLB Power Rankings, but one or two more bad weeks might be enough for Detroit to wave the white flag on contending in 2024.
23. Chicago Cubs (+2)
If you only saw Saturday's game out of the three the Cubs played against the Mets this weekend, you'd be convinced they had a shot at winning the NL Central. But as has so often been the case since the calendar hit May, the Cubs sleepwalked through the other two games, falling ever further out of the playoff race. Concerns about the struggling offense are continuing to swell and as much as it might help to add a big bat via trade, the Cubs can't justify doing so if they're too far out of the hunt.
24. San Francisco Giants (-9)
It was a tough emotional week for the Giants with the loss of franchise icon Willie Mays, but it's also a bad time to be on a five-game losing streak. Right now, the Giants are the third-worst team in the National League, despite a $211 million payroll and a soft schedule for most of the past month. Nothing about the way the Giants have acted suggests that they could sell, but if their record gets bad enough, anything is possible.
25. Toronto Blue Jays (-7)
Even the most malicious AL East fans praying for the Blue Jays' downfall couldn't have drawn up a worse week than Toronto just experienced. They played six games, lost six games and in the middle of it all, their No. 2 prospect got suspended for performance-enhancing drugs two days after his MLB debut. Time is running out on the Blue Jays' players, manager, and GM to prevent this whole operation from being scrapped for parts.
26. Los Angeles Angels (no change)
Thank goodness the Angels seem to have dodged an injury scare with Zach Neto, who has been a true joy to watch lately. Put his offensive stats next to another second-year shortstop who gets a ton of love, the Yankees' Anthony Volpe, and you'll find a whole lot more similarities than differences. With Neto and Logan O'Hoppe having an excellent June, devoted Angels fans at least have something to cheer for in a brutal 2024 season.
27. Oakland Athletics (no change)
Each of the Athletics' three wins this week got a Mason Miller exclamation point to seal the deal, so the loyal fans at the Oakland Coliseum certainly got what they were hoping for. And let's start showing some national love to JJ Bleday, who has a .803 OPS and is second behind Aaron Judge in the AL doubles category. Between those two and Brent Rooker, the A's have three players who wouldn't look out of place on an All-Star roster this season, which is a drastic improvement from 2023.
28. Miami Marlins (+1)
How about the Marlins stealing a series from the red-hot Seattle Mariners? Not only did Otto Lopez save the game with a leaping grab of a Julio Rodriguez liner, but he also may have preserved Tanner Scott's trade value by keeping the tying runs off the board. For a team with 50 losses before July, that's what constitutes a big moment for a team buried at the bottom of the MLB Power Rankings.
29. Colorado Rockies (-1)
Say what you want about the Rockies, but at least the team has enough fire in their bellies to blow a gasket when a check swing no-call costs them a win in the middle of June. And if that wasn't enough, they became the first team in MLB regular season history to win a game on a walk-off pitch clock violation! Rockies magic, baby.
30. Chicago White Sox (no change)
It's going to take a long winning streak to dislodge the White Sox from the bottom spot and the more we watch them, the more unlikely that appears. Chicago is now 8-33 on the road, which is hilariously bad, but they at least look to be safe from the all-time record, thanks to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who somehow went 11-101 in away games.
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