You’re not going to believe this, but Aaron Judge is demolishing the baseball.
OK, so everyone knows the reigning MVP looks especially extraordinary this year.
But the Yankees’ dynamic offense and spot atop the American League East goes beyond his .401 average and otherworldly start.
This week’s power rankings include a new team in first place — no, not the Yankees, though they do continue making leaps forward — and focus on the supporting cast around the league, featuring one player from every team who deserves more attention.
It might be coming together now for Miguel Vargas. The former Dodgers prospect hit his way through the minor league ranks but hadn’t been able to turn his tremendous offensive potential into big-league production in Los Angeles. He was traded to the South Side at last year’s deadline and endured a brutal second half last year in Chicago, but the 25-year-old has an OPS over 1.000 this May.
Veteran Andrew Heaney was still available when teams reported to camp. After signing a one-year, $5.25 million deal in Pittsburgh, the lefty’s 3.02 ERA this season ranks in the top 25 among starters with at least 50 innings pitched. He can’t help their putrid offense, but he should at least bring them back some value at the deadline.
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As if Baltimore’s start wasn’t brutal enough, Kyle Stowers — who was traded with prospect Connor Norby to Miami in the deal that brought pitcher Trevor Rogers to Baltimore last year — ranks eighth in the majors with a .945 OPS. Rogers, meanwhile, has an ERA over 8.00 in Triple-A for the Orioles.
Much like the other early manager firings this year, letting Brandon Hyde go was unlikely to fix the problem in Baltimore. The Orioles’ nightmare start continued with an 0-6 week against the Twins and Nationals. They’ve now dropped 12 of their last 14 games. But in an offseason of questionable roster decisions, Tomoyuki Sugano (3.08 ERA) was not one of them. Sugano’s production has been all the more important in a Baltimore rotation that has an ERA over 6.00.
Understandably, you might have heard a lot about what James Wood is doing this year. CJ Abrams, who’s slashing .312/.368/.574 and hitting better than any shortstop in the majors, is also very much worthy of your attention. It’ll be interesting to see if the 24-year-old can keep it up this year after falling off in the second half of last year’s All-Star campaign.
Speaking of shortstops worth keeping an eye on, Zach Neto put together a 5.1 bWAR season last year, missed the start of this season recovering from shoulder surgery, then came back looking even better. He has one of the highest year-over-year jumps in hard-hit rate (he’s absolutely mashing the ball) and trails only Abrams in wRC+ among all shortstops with at least 100 plate appearances this year.
The Brewers just dropped series to the Guardians and Twins and continue to lose ground in the Central. It’ll be interesting to see if Rhys Hoskins will be wearing a different jersey come August. While most of the Milwaukee lineup is toiling, Hoskins — who exercised an $18 million player option to stay in Milwaukee this year — has the highest batting average (.288) and hard-hit rate of his career.
Like Neto, Daulton Varsho missed the start of the season recovering from shoulder surgery and returned a new man. Beyond making absurd circus catches, Varsho also has six home runs and a .625 slugging percentage in 14 games. His strikeout rate is way up, but so is his barrel rate. The Blue Jays, who rank 24th in homers, need that pop.
They beat the Blue Jays…then lost a series to the Marlins. So it seems to go this year for the Rays, who at least get to watch Chandler Simpson wreak havoc. The speedy rookie is batting over .400 with three steals over his last seven games, though his status is worth monitoring after he hurt his hand on a slide this weekend and missed Sunday’s game.
The A’s have dropped nine of 11 games, including five straight. In those five losses, they’ve scored eight runs and allowed 41. That’s not the fault of Jeffrey Springs, who has a 1.46 ERA in four May starts to lower his ERA on the year under 4.00.
I guess shame on me for having them crack the top 10 last week. The Red Sox spent last week getting swept by the Tigers and dropping a series to the Braves. At least Jarren Duran is starting to heat up, batting .324 over his last eight games. It would be big for Boston if the reigning All-Star Game MVP gets going after a slow start; it would be even bigger, though, if someone other than Garrett Crochet could step up in the rotation.
Where do you put a team that just dropped a series to the White Sox and then swept the Guardians? I don’t have a great answer. This .500 club, which has a plus-30 run differential, is a bit confounding. What can’t be questioned are the contributions of starter Andrew Abbott, who has allowed one earned run over 20 innings (0.45 ERA) in four May starts.
You might have noticed Chris Sale has gotten back on track, but have you seen what AJ Smith-Shawver is doing? The 22-year-old’s ERA is down to 2.33 after allowing just one earned run in 19.2 innings this month. Opponents are batting just .129 with 32 strikeouts against his splitter this year.
Kansas City’s rotation features two of the top four finishers in last year’s AL Cy Young voting, but their best starter this year was someone who spent last year in the bullpen. Kris Bubic ranks in the top five among MLB starters this year with a 1.66 ERA and has allowed no earned runs in five of his nine starts.
The club is starting to fall back down to earth — currently on an L4 — after outplaying its Pythagorean record, but Kyle Manzardo’s 10 homers have been an important power source for a Cleveland club that moved on from Josh Naylor.
The offense has lacked its usual force with Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman gone and Yordan Alvarez now banged up, but newcomer Isaac Paredes — who hit a walk-off blast Tuesday and another game-changing home run Sunday — is doing his part to provide a lift. Paredes now leads the club in OPS and, coincidentally enough, trails only Bregman for the most fWAR among MLB third basemen.
The Rangers have the lowest starters ERA in the American League (2.83), and as good as Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi have been, it is Tyler Mahle leading the unit with a 1.47 ERA that ranks third in MLB. His 10 consecutive starts allowing two runs or fewer to start the year represent a club record.
Since allowing nine runs in the Bronx in his second start of the year, Merrill Kelly has a 2.02 ERA over his last eight starts. It’s an even lower 1.78 ERA with 27 strikeouts and three walks in four May outings for the 36-year-old, who has held his opponent to one or no runs in six of his 10 starts this year.
They’re the hottest team in baseball outside of Minnesota. The Cardinals are coming off a hugely impressive week of series wins at Philadelphia and Kansas City and are making a run toward the top 10. A big part of that has been a healthy Iván Herrera settling into the DH spot. He’s 13-for-28 with five extra-base hits in May and has a 1.348 OPS in 15 games overall this year.
The 13-game win streak is over, in part because of a ridiculous robbery from Jackson Chourio, but the good times roll on in Minnesota. The Twins’ pitching staff is paving the path to contention. While Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober are starring in the rotation, don’t overlook the contributions of Chris Paddack, who has a 2.49 ERA over his last eight starts. An important week awaits with division matchups against the Guardians and Royals.
Robbie Ray had Tommy John surgery in 2023, returned late last year, recorded a 4.70 ERA in seven starts back, then ended the season on the injured list with a hamstring strain. Things have gone more smoothly for the 33-year-old in 2025: He’s 6-0 with a 3.04 ERA, and the Giants have won each of his first nine outings.
The Mariners had started to fade, getting swept by the Blue Jays and dropping a series to the Yankees, before responding emphatically by sweeping the Padres in San Diego. Bryan Woo (2.65 ERA, 0.87 WHIP) has helped keep a diminished rotation afloat with Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryce Miller on the shelf.
It might get lost a bit with Fernando Tatis Jr.’s MVP-caliber start, but Manny Machado is posting career-best marks in batting average, on-base percentage, hard-hit rate and walk rate despite tallying just three home runs so far.
After a gauntlet to start the year, this is the Cubs’ chance to make a run against a slew of weak opponents. So far, they’re taking advantage. Still, life is tougher with Justin Steele out for the year and Shota Imanaga injured. The contributions of Matthew Boyd, who has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his nine starts, have been vital for the beleaguered pitching staff.
With Zack Wheeler racking up strikeouts and Jesús Luzardo looking like one of the best acquisitions of the offseason, it might be easy to overlook the steady contributions of Cristopher Sánchez in one of the best rotations in baseball. Sánchez has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts.
While Kodai Senga serves as the ace, Griffin Canning’s career year is a huge part of the Mets’ league-leading rotation. Coming off a year in which he led the American League with 99 earned runs allowed in Anaheim, the 2017 second-round pick has a 2.47 ERA on the season and a 1.67 ERA over his last six starts.
A series win against the crosstown rivals vaults the Yankees up. They’ve now won four straight series, including victories against the Padres, Mariners and Mets, and sport the best run differential in MLB. Remember early last year when everyone was wondering if Paul Goldschmidt was cooked? Well, those questions are gone now. The 37-year-old trails only Judge and Freddie Freeman for the highest batting average in MLB.
Get swept by the Angels at home, drop out of the top spot. Those are the rules. All of the pitching injuries are catching up to a Dodgers team that now shockingly ranks 21st in ERA. Offensively, though, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman both unsurprisingly rank in MLB’s top 15 in position player fWAR; more surprisingly, so does 24-year-old Andy Pages.
I’ll admit I wasn’t among the believers after last year’s surprise playoff run. That is no longer the case. This team is legit and deserving of the top spot after jumping out to the best record in baseball. The resurgence of Spencer Torkelson and continued strong work at the plate from Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter might make it easy to miss the bounceback season from Gleyber Torres, who leads all AL second basemen in wRC+.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the LA Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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