Another tumultuous week across Major League Baseball is certainly reflected in this week's MLB Power Rankings. Some teams are hitting their strides, some seem destined to hover around .500 and in the case of the Miami Marlins, some just aren't showing up for the 2024 MLB season in the first place.
We're still at an early enough point in the season where the wins and losses aren't necessarily a perfect indicator of how a season is going, but there are still plenty of things we've learned. Important contributors are going down with injuries, young players are taking huge steps forward and some teams are starting to rewrite the narratives we had for them at the beginning of the season.
Where did your team wind up in this week's edition of the 2024 MLB Power Rankings? Keep scrolling for the answer.
1. Atlanta Braves (no change)
The Braves won the week by staying in the number one spot on our rankings, but they'd surely trade that coveted honor to not lose Spencer Strider for the season. It's going to be a lot tougher to dominate for 162 games and climb the mountain in October without the Braves' most potent arm, but they might just be able to outhit everyone, especially if Marcell Ozuna somehow continues to wield the hottest bat in the entire sport.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers (no change)
It looked like the Dodgers would be well on their way to claiming the number one spot early in the week, but they lost three out of four, including a couple of late-game surges from the rival Padres. The good news is Shohei Ohtani has officially started mashing, at one point smacking multiple hits in five straight games. If James Outman can build on the pair of homers he hit this week as well, maybe the bottom of the lineup can start meeting expectations in the same way the top half has.
3. New York Yankees (no change)
Aaron Judge 469 feet đł pic.twitter.com/J7u97WpLef
â Talkinâ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 14, 2024
If the Yankees had finished off a sweep in either of their two series this week, they would have been in real discussions for the number one spot. But things are still going swimmingly in the Bronx right now. If Aaron Judge can start to really hit his stride, these Yankees will soon boast the most fearsome lineup in the American League, and perhaps all of baseball.
4. Baltimore Orioles (no change)
Jackson Holliday's first Major League hit. đ pic.twitter.com/KUYOKOf8zN
â MLB (@MLB) April 14, 2024
It was an emotionally charged week for the Orioles, with a sweep at Fenway Park, the public attention of Jackson Holliday's debut and subsequent long wait for his first hit, and Corbin Burnes' faceoff against his old friends, the Brewers. And make no mistake, the Brewers were the better team for most of the weekend. But this team is so loaded with talent it's just obvious they'll be right in the hunt come October.
By the way, Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg aren't even the âmost excitingâ prospects the O's have, but they're both killing the ball. Those two would be the talk of the town if they played in any other city right now.
5. Milwaukee Brewers (+2)
The best record in baseball does indeed belong to the Yankees. But the second-best record belongs to the Brewers, who just took four of six against the Reds in Cincinnati and the Orioles in Baltimore. Freddy Peralta looks like an early Cy Young favorite, William Contreras and Christian Yelich both have OPS's above 1.100 and the entire rest of the lineup is contributing. No one should be excited to see Milwaukee on their upcoming schedule.
6. Chicago Cubs (+2)
Three starts in and we're still waiting for Shota Imanaga to give up an earned run as a major league pitcher. The Cubs did a nice job getting back to .500 on the week after a disastrous series in San Diego and a Friday night loss to Seattle. The infield defense is superb, the hits have been timely and all of a sudden, Michael Busch looks like an All-Star.
7. Texas Rangers (-2)
Losing a series to the Athletics and then to the Astros, who are the actual last-place team in the Rangers' division, should serve as a bit of a wake-up call. They're still in first but the Rangers have fallen to .500 and haven't gotten the performances they needs from the starting pitchers starting the year on full-time duty. And much like the Dodgers earlier in the year, it seems whoever the Rangers slot into the bottom third of the lineup can't buy a hit right now.
8. Philadelphia Phillies (-2)
The Phillies aren't playing bad baseball, but they aren't off to the start they were hoping for, either. Early in the week, they couldn't get an extra-base hit, then late in the week, they couldn't strand opposing runners on base. But there's still a ton of time left in this season and at 8-8. the Phillies are much better positioned to get above .500 early in the season than last year when they were constantly playing catch-up.
9. Tampa Bay Rays (+3)
Nothing close about this 433 footer. pic.twitter.com/xqtThLGfTZ
â Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 14, 2024
It seemed like this was the first week this year where the Rays really started to Ray. Isaac Paredes crushed a clutch dinger to help win the series in Anaheim and then when the Rays came home to Tropicana Field, the entire lineup got in on the home run party. Facing the Yankees at the end of this week should be a good early indicator of whether this team is seriously capable of competing for the AL East this season, or if it's a Wild Card or bust situation.
10. Pittsburgh Pirates (+6)
They're 11-5. They stood toe to toe with the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park all weekend and left the Philly fans booing in frustration by Sunday afternoon. And they've got Paul Skenes striking out everyone and their cousin in AAA waiting in the wings to come up whenever Pittsburgh decides to stop messing around. It's been another fun April to be a Pirates fan so far but this time around, the breakout season might be for real.
11. Arizona Diamondbacks (no change)
A 4-2 week was crucially important for Arizona after last week's slide, allowing the D-Backs to snag the second-place spot in the NL West for now. Zac Gallen blanked the Cardinals Sunday and Corbin Carroll hit his first home run of the season in Colorado, so hopefully this week was a sign that the team's biggest stars are about to start shouldering the load.
12. Cleveland Guardians (+2)
They're still in first place (by half a game), so the Guardians narrowly capture the top ranking on our list among the jumbled AL Central contestants. Though a Saturday doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Yankees was discouraging, rallying Sunday for a comeback win in the tenth inning showed these Guards most definitely have moxie. Plus, the Naylor brothers homered on National Siblings Day, so the universe is telling us this is obviously a team of destiny.
13. Kansas City Royals (+10)
Second HR of the afternoon.
Have a day, Bobby Witt Jr.! pic.twitter.com/wsNbhlgmHn
â MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2024
The Royals can lose this high ranking quickly if they perform like they did in Friday and Sunday's losses in Queens, but there's no denying this team has some potential. It's been amazing to watch Bobby Witt Jr. steadily develop into one of the best all-around players in baseball and a whole bunch of the younger Royals have blossomed alongside him this year. Salvador Perez is not a body they can afford to lose, though.
14. Detroit Tigers (+1)
It wasn't a particularly impressive week for the Tigers, but they managed to salvage a split against the Twins with some late-inning clutch hitting and good batted ball luck Sunday afternoon. Spencer Torkelson desperately needs his bat to wake up if Detroit wants to hang tough in what is suddenly an exciting race for the lead in the division.
15. Houston Astros (-6)
After the series sweep in Kansas City, featuring a walk-off and two absolute laughers, the Astros looked like a team in free fall. Then they won a series against the defending World Series champs and we were reminded not to panicâat least not yet. It would sure help if Jose Altuve builds off his two-homer performance Sunday and starts consistently causing chaos in front of Yordan Alvarez in the lineup.
16. Toronto Blue Jays (+1)
Two series wins were nice and all, but Kevin Gausman's performance is one of the biggest individual red flags of the baseball season thus far. Whether he's injured or just struggling, he's killing any momentum the Blue Jays are attempting to build. If this rotation can't function like it did last season with Gausman as the anchor, the Jays will have a much, much tougher time making it back to October.
17. San Diego Padres (+3)
It was a week where Fernando TatĂs Jr. exhibited all his heroics, while Jackson Merrill showed off his nerves of steel with an incredible catch and extra-innings game-winner on Friday night. The Friars are still stuck around .500 and in an uphill climb in the NL West, but they've started to show flashes of playoff-caliber chutzpa.
18. Seattle Mariners (-8)
While everyone's been panicking about how bad the Astros have looked, it feels like we're giving the Mariners a free pass. The offense is awful, Julio RodrĂguez is off to his worst start to a season yet and the two âacesâ of the staff have been downright bad. Luis Castillo has lost all four of his starts and George Kirby's got an ERA over eight. If you aren't getting star performances from your star players, you're bound for no-man's land.
19. Boston Red Sox (-1)
The Boston Red Sox being booed at Fenway Park as they make their 16th error of the season to lead the Majors.
pic.twitter.com/GPqKKPkOxXâ Boston Strong (@BostonStrong_34) April 12, 2024
Errors. And more errors. And when you think they might just be turning the corner, the worst error yet immediately follows. It's a miracle the Red Sox are still above .500, but there really are a lot of things going well (starting pitching dominance, Triston Casas and Tyler O'Neill going back-to-back, Justin Slaten being a bulldog, etc.). You just can't kick the ball all over the Eastern Seaboard and expect to be a playoff baseball team.
20. Cincinnati Reds (+1)
A trip to play the White Sox was the best possible medicine for a Reds team that had quietly suffered back-to-back series losses. Elly de la Cruz had a marvelous week, hitting his first four home runs of the season. If he and Spencer Steer stay hot, the offense can start to roll at the infamously hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.
21. New York Mets (+4)
Series wins over two teams with winning percentages over .600 ought to put a smile on Carlos Mendoza's face. In spite of all the concerns about the starting rotation, the Mets have been twirling the pill of late, punctuated by José Buttó's nine-strikeout masterpiece against Kansas City Sunday. Some days the Mets don't hit, and some days they hit a ton, but either way, it looks like they're at least going to be competitive this season.
22. Minnesota Twins (-9)
We were far too generous to the Twins a week ago. They've been easily the second-worst team in the AL Central this year, with an apparent disgust for getting clutch hits under any circumstances. Now that Carlos Correa has hit the IL, the Twins have just one player in the lineup with an OPS above .800 (Alex Kirilloff). It's time to hit the gas pedal because the rest of the division is already trying to put Minnesota in the rearview.
23. St. Louis Cardinals (-1)
It was a measuring stick kind of week for the Cardinals and they came out on the wrong side of the picture. Despite a win in Sonny Gray's first start in St. Louis, the Cards went 2-4 against Philadelphia and Arizona, dropping them 2.5 games into the basement behind the rest of the NL Central. There have been signs the offense might be on the verge of waking up, but they'll need a barrage of runs as soon as possible to keep them afloat.
24. San Francisco Giants (-5)
The Giants went 2-4 this week, lost both of the games started by Blake Snell, fell into last place in the NL West and can't seem to win unless Jordan Hicks is on the mound. A trip to Miami couldn't come at a better time for a team struggling to put the pieces together. Jung Hoo Lee desperately needs to start hitting, too.
25. Los Angeles Angels (-1)
Yes, the Angels are still technically in second place but don't be fooled. They're now 4-8 in all their games not against the Marlins, blew the series this weekend at Fenway Park after a blowout win in the opener, and have one good starting pitcher (Reid Detmers). If the Halos don't start getting more contributions from the young position players in their everyday lineup, they'll quickly fall out of any realistic contention.
26. Oakland Athletics (+3)
Mason Miller, you are ridiculous đ„ pic.twitter.com/1yQsLq79xH
â Oakland A's (@Athletics) April 14, 2024
Look at you, A's! The Athletics, despite not knowing what the heck their future holds as a franchise, have won three straight series. That hadn't happened since 2021, when Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, and Sean Murphy were all still around. And even if it won't help them win all that many games this year, Mason Miller is absolutely incredible out of the bullpen, with radar gun readings that are breaking Baseball Savant this year.
27. Washington Nationals (-1)
If you lose a series to and have a worse overall record than the Athletics, you simply have no argument to rank ahead of them. But the Nationals are hanging tough, have yet to suffer a series sweep, and are hanging in there despite a threadbare pitching staff. A series at Dodger Stadium this week gives them a serious chance to test their mettle.
28. Colorado Rockies (no change)
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The Rockies did have one great day this week, pummeling Kevin Gausman in their 12-4 victory in Toronto Friday night. But they promptly dropped their next two and remained one of three teams that have still yet to win a series on the year (you'll hear from the other two shortly). And to add injury to insult, Kris Bryant is now out indefinitely with a strained back.
29. Miami Marlins (-2)
What the heck happened to JesĂșs Luzardo? Through four starts, the Marlins' presumed ace has a 7.65 ERA and 1.55 WHIP, a far cry from his breakout campaign in 2023. Marcell Ozuna rudely stole Miami's chance to win its first series of the season Sunday with a three-run go-ahead home run, after being down to his last strike against Tanner Scott. Absolutely everything that can go wrong is doing so for the Fish at this moment.
30. Chicago White Sox (no change)
It's officially the worst start to a season in White Sox history, with a 2-13 record and a -51 run differential, 16 worse than any other team in the league. Sunday alone, the Sox made three gruesome errors and allowed eight stolen bases to the Reds in an 11-4 drubbing. Most of the players fans would have to be excited about are on the IL, so there truly is no reason to tune into a Pale Hose game at this point in time.
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