By Tim Britton, Chad Jennings and Levi Weaver
Every week, we ask a selected group of our baseball writers — local and national — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results.
As we near closer to the season’s midway point, it feels like a good time to check in to see how each team is stacking up against expectations going into the 2025 season. Some teams, like the Dodgers and Phillies, are performing close to where we anticipated — and where we slotted them in our preseason power rankings. Some, like the Tigers and Blue Jays, have outperformed our predictions, while teams like the Braves and Diamondbacks have surprised us and fallen short. Not all of this is purely performance-based, of course. Injuries play a part, as do the decisions made by ownership. But ultimately, we can glean some insight by looking at how a team has performed beyond the advantages or disadvantages with which it started.
Many things can happen throughout a season that can change a team’s trajectory, but let’s break down why — at this point — each team turned out to be better or worse or just as good as we anticipated and what that might mean for the rest of their season.
Record: 45-27
Last Power Ranking: 2
In late March, the Mets were a top-five team that felt kinda similar to the other teams around them in the rankings. By late April, the Mets were the first team this season to supplant the Dodgers as the No. 1 team in our Power Rankings. They’ve gotten less than expected from Juan Soto — though Soto’s coming around — and Sean Manaea has yet to pitch, but Pete Alonso’s been awesome, same for Francisco Lindor, and the rotation has been shockingly good (and deep). The NL East isn’t the three-team race we anticipated — for more on that, see No. 15 — but the Mets have helped keep the division strong at the top. We expected them to be pretty good, and they’ve been better than that. — Chad Jennings
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Record: 44-29
Last Power Ranking: T-3
When the Dodgers ran off to an 8-0 start, it appeared possible our No. 1 position in the rankings might never change. But the team everyone expected to be dominant has merely been very good — good enough to lead arguably the best division in baseball, good enough to be within shouting distance of the best record in the sport, good enough that most every projection system still thinks LA will finish with more wins after 162 than anyone else. The Dodgers have endured the, by now, annual pilgrimage to the injured list of basically every one of their starters, and provided they get most of them back at the right time, they’re still the frontrunners. — Tim Britton
Record: 46-27
Last Power Ranking: 1
Preseason Power Ranking: T-16
Here’s what has happened in Detroit: Almost everything has gone right.
Tarik Skubal’s Cy Young 2024 season wasn’t a fluke. Spencer Torkelson found himself. So did Javy Báez. Dillon Dingler is one of the game’s most productive catchers. Wenceel Pérez has a .967 OPS since returning from injury last month.
Need I go on? OK, I will:
Casey Mize has been the pitching version of Torkelson — the nearly-a-bust who put it all together this year. Tommy Kahnle has a sub-2.00 ERA. An aerospace engineer has an ERA of 2.11 out of the bullpen.
This week marks the beginning of a test, of sorts, as closer Will Vest went on the IL. Let’s see if the magic can continue now that they’re facing a bit of hardship. — Levi Weaver
Record: 42-29
Last Power Ranking: T-3
The first line of our preseason Yankees analysis: “The past few months have not gone well for the franchise.” We wrote our first Power Rankings shortly after Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil got hurt, but before Devin Williams pitched so poorly that he lost the closer role. The Yankees remain a team whose flaws get a lot of attention, but they’ve also consistently remained one of the two best teams in the American League. Aaron Judge and Max Fried can make up for a lot, but Luke Weaver, Carlos Rodón, Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham have helped a lot too. We pegged the Yankees as one of several pretty good teams, and they’ve since separated themselves among the very best in baseball. — Jennings
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Record: 44-28
Last Power Ranking: 5
The short version of what’s happened since then: Pete Crow-Armstrong.
OK, it’s not just PCA, but the 23-year-old’s breakout season has been the gasoline pumping through an engine that has stayed revved all year. His 4.0 bWAR is best among NL position players (and fourth in the sport, behind Aaron Judge, Jeremy Peña and Paul Skenes).
Other things that have gone right: Carson Kelly’s career year, Michael Boyd and Drew Pomeranz turning into winning lotto tickets, and Kyle Tucker being every bit the star the front office expected it was getting in the trade with the Astros.
It doesn’t appear that anyone else in the Central is going to threaten them. The focus is now on setting up the roster at the trade deadline to be built for a deep October run. — Weaver
Record: 43-29
Last Power Ranking: 7
Much of the Phillies’ preseason upside was tied to their rotation, with the emergence of Cristopher Sanchez and the arrival of Jesús Luzardo. Indeed, the rotation has been excellent — Zack Wheeler is still Zack Wheeler — and the Phillies have remained one of the game’s best teams, but with enough flaws that keep them from overtaking the Mets in the NL East or from consistently remaining in the top five of our Power Rankings. They’re more or less what we expected: a team that still looks like it could challenge for a championship (but also a team that needs an outfielder and a reliever at the trade deadline). — Jennings
Record: 41-31
Last Power Ranking: 6
At least one more middle-of-the-order threat. That’s what we wrote about at the start of the season: Man, if this team had that one more bat, maybe it could actually compete in the NL West. We’re about to find out just how much that extra bat can propel a team that has already outstripped the preseason expectations. The bullpen has been exceptional, and Robbie Ray is rejuvenated in the rotation. Now, Rafael Devers is the kind of lineup presence the Giants haven’t been able to buy for the last seven years, and he addresses a serious need at 1B/DH. — Britton
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Record: 39-32
Last Power Ranking: 8
A 14-3 start surged San Diego up the rankings, and it’s fallen steadily in the time since, with the squad under .500 after Game 17 — which, we should point out, is only fatal if you’re a football team. The lineup lacks the depth of the best in the sport, so it’s leaning especially hard on the quite capable shoulders of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado. Few contenders have as gaping a hole as the Friars do in left field, and no contenders have a general manager as eager to address weaknesses in season as A.J. Preller. — Britton
Record: 41-31
Last Power Ranking: 9
While Houston remains in the rankings about where we expected coming into the season, the path has endured a few twists, and what’s beyond the horizon is unclear. The Astros are in first in an AL West that has underwhelmed, they’ve misdiagnosed a star player’s injury for the second straight season, and they’ve lost multiple key members of their pitching staff to injury. Jeremy Peña and Hunter Brown have been phenomenal, and Houston should get more in the second half from Alvarez (eventually), Christian Walker and Yainer Díaz. Whether there’s enough arms to get the Astros across the finish line is another question. — Britton
Record: 40-32
Last Power Ranking: 12
Honestly, if we’d known Shane McClanahan was going to miss this much time, we probably would have ranked the Rays even lower coming into the season. But even without their ace, the Rays have played their way into the AL wild-card race. Drew Rasmussen has stepped into the No. 1 starter role while Jonathan Aranda is the latest multi-position Rays hitter to emerge from obscurity. The Rays endured loads of injuries in their outfield, but once again, they’ve found a way to stay competitive. They have a winning record in their temporary home ballpark. — Jennings
Record: 36-35
Last Power Ranking: 11
What kept Seattle outside the preseason top 10, of course, was its pitching staff. In that initial writeup, Grant Brisbee went on and on about Cal Raleigh’s chase of 60 home runs and the genius of bringing back Jorge Polanco and all of why J.P. Crawford would rebound with the stick — and how if this team could just find a couple starters … Yeah, so sometimes teams follow broad expectations while confounding on every specific. The Mariners’ offense is the best it’s been since ancient times, and that foundational starting rotation has instead been their albatross. The division is still winnable, and the ceiling for the roster looks higher now than it did in March if all aspects of the game align. — Britton
Record: 38-33
Last Power Ranking: T-14
We asked three Blue Jays questions in our preseason Power Rankings:
1. Will the addition of Anthony Santander jolt the lineup? Answer: Nope. He’s been awful.
2. What does Max Scherzer have left? Answer: So far, only one start.
3. Will the team make the most of what could be Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s final season as a Blue Jay? Answer: Guerrero signed an extension, but it remains to be seen whether the Blue Jays can make the most of this year (which could be the last for Bo Bichette in Toronto).
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Toronto has a winning record, but a negative run differential. Plenty of questions remain. — Jennings
Record: 39-34
Last Power Ranking: T-14
Preseason Power Ranking: 15
They’re still over .500, which seems to be the case every year, of late. Their pitching is good but not great (though Jacob Misiorowski’s debut was very exciting). Their offense is bad but not terrible — near the bottom of the league in batting average and OPS, and in the top half of the league in runs scored, thanks in part to an emphasis on speed.
Put it together, and the final product is just about what we expected. They’re not bad, but if you’re one of the other wild-card contenders, do they strike fear in your heart? Not yet. Alas, the team that has spent the better part of a decade playing the part of scrappy and inspiring underdog seems to be trying on a new costume: the rather boring middle-of-the-pack team.
So, what happened? About what we expected. — Weaver
Record: 36-36
Last Power Ranking: 22
Preseason Power Ranking: 10
Old heads will remember a time when the Texas Rangers routinely punished opposing pitchers, only for their own pitching to attempt reconciliation with the enemy by allowing runs by the fistful.
For maybe the first time ever, the roles have changed. The Rangers have the best ERA in the American League, and they’ve spent most of the season passing up any and all scoring opportunities.
It’s been better of late, and they’re in the midst of a schedule-breather. The AL West is a weak division, so it’s not too late. But what has happened is that they’ve backed themselves into a corner. — Weaver
Record: 31-39
Last Power Ranking: 16
In our defense, nearly everyone seemed to be bullish on the Braves at the start of the season. Data-based projections routinely pegged them as one of the teams to beat, in large part because they seemed to be on the verge of a healthy, proven roster with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider, and newcomer Jurickson Profar providing an offensive boost in the outfield. Instead, Profar got suspended soon after our preseason rankings were released, Acuña took a long time to get back, and Strider hasn’t been nearly as good as we all remember him. We’ve been waiting for the Braves to get on a roll. We’re still waiting. — Jennings
Record: 36-35
Last Power Ranking: 19
Arizona had the best offense in baseball last season. With a mildly better pitching staff, the thinking was that it should be a contender not just for the postseason but for the pennant, and then the Diamondbacks added Corbin Burnes. The offense is still quite good, but the best-laid pitching plans always go awry. Jordan Montgomery was lost for the season before it started. Burnes is done for this season and probably next, and so is emerging closer Justin Martinez. The rest of the rotation is performing well below expectations, to the point that Arizona should contemplate selling come July 31. — Britton
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Record: 36-35
Last Power Ranking: 12
Preseason Power Ranking: T-16
Surprise, surprise: the problem is injuries, again. Byron Buxton is healthy, which is a sentence Twins fans have been longing to hear for quite some time. Unfortunately, the monkey’s paw put down a finger to grant the wish, and the next thing you know, the Twins IL has a lot of other names on it:
Royce Lewis (again), Pablo López, Zebby Matthews, Michael Tonkin … Luke Keaschall got called up, hit .368 over seven games and then broke his arm.
Meanwhile, Carlos Correa’s OPS is under .700.
And yet, thanks in part to strong performances by guys like Joe Ryan, Jhoan Durán and — albeit inconsistently — Chris Paddack, the Twins are still very much in the mix for an AL wild-card position. — Weaver
Record: 37-35
Last Power Ranking: 10
The Cardinals were probably not worse than 23 other baseball teams at the start of spring, but the feeling around them was sunk by a sense of stagnation. St. Louis had added a single free agent (Phil Maton) over the winter, and it hadn’t sold off assets the way it suggested it would when the offseason began. What was left was a team frustratingly in the middle — not good enough to actually compete for a postseason spot, not bad enough to accumulate talent. And that’s kind of where the Cardinals remain now. That 12-1 stretch in May was outstanding; they were five under .500 before it, and they’re four under .500 after it. — Britton
Record: 37-35
Last Power Ranking: 21
Preseason Power Ranking: 23
There have been a few high spots in Terry Francona’s first year in Cincinnati — Andrew Abbott has been a revelation in the rotation, Nick Martinez has lived up to the qualifying offer and Elly De La Cruz has an OPS in the mid-.800s (despite having 81 strikeouts in 310 plate appearances).
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Unfortunately, the sum of the parts has still been fairly mediocre. Spencer Steer and Matt McLain have yet to really take off. Hunter Greene was brilliant when he was healthy, but he hasn’t pitched since June 3 and isn’t likely to be back soon.
The Reds have some good building blocks. So far, they haven’t quite been able to stack them into anything stable. — Weaver
Record: 38-36
Last Power Ranking: 20
Our preseason Power Rankings analysis of the Red Sox was actually pretty on-point — Alex Bregman and Garrett Crochet have been awesome, and the farm system has had an impact — but Bregman’s also been hurt, the rest of the rotation has struggled, and the farm system’s impact has not overwhelmed (Kristian Campbell’s hot start faded, and Roman Anthony just arrived). Rafael Devers had been elite at DH … but he was just traded. Aroldis Chapman has been as dominant as ever, so is he the next to go, or is he going to help them right the ship and set course for the postseason? The Red Sox are a weird team. They’ve had quite a few things go right, but they’ve struggled to stay above .500. The pieces just haven’t quite fit together. — Jennings
Record: 34-38
Last Power Ranking: 17
One of last year’s Cinderella stories, the Royals have crashed back to earth a bit this season. Bobby Witt Jr. played at an MVP level in 2024, and this year, he has been simply a very good player. Jonathan India hasn’t been the cure-all in the leadoff spot. Jac Caglianone wasn’t the solution either — his OPS currently sits at a dismal .484, which is higher than both Hunter Renfroe’s and Michael Massey’s.
The pitching staff that blossomed into a force in 2024 has still been pretty good — Cole Ragans’ 5.18 ERA has been offset by sub-2.00 marks for Kris Bubic and rookie sensation Noah Cameron. But until the offense awakens, Kansas City appears to be in the “one step back” phase after taking three steps forward last year. — Weaver
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Record: 35-35
Last Power Ranking: 18
OK, look — José Ramírez has been brilliant yet again. His .928 OPS is third best in the AL, and he is exempt from the rest of what I’m about to say, which is: the offense has not been very good.
Nobody else on the team has an OPS over .784 — and that’s Steven Kwan, whose .361 OBP is carrying the bulk of the load. The only non-Ramírez hitter with double-digit home runs is Kyle Manzardo (11), who has a sub-.300 OBP.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Clase has looked human. When you’re winning in the sliver-thin margins, it would help to have Superman in the bullpen — as Clase was last year before the playoffs.
At just one game over .500, the Guardians do not appear to be any threat to overtake the Tigers in the Central. Can their offense rebound enough to threaten for a wild-card spot? As of this writing, they’re just a game out. — Weaver
Record: 30-41
Last Power Ranking: 24
Upon clicking our preseason Power Rankings and searching for the Orioles, I was bracing to discover we’d ranked them in the top five or something to start the season, but instead, we were skeptical about whether they’d done enough to supplement their young core and rebuild their rotation. Both concerns were justified; we just didn’t take them far enough. The Orioles have, in fact, been a mess. They have the fourth-worst run differential in baseball, the rotation has been awful and even their lineup has been mediocre. We weren’t sold on the Orioles heading into the season, but even that skepticism was far too optimistic. — Jennings
Record: 34-37
Last Power Ranking: 25
Please, as you approach The Big A, remember to bend the knee at the Unofficial Kings of California, 2025. For all their warts, the Angels own a sweep at Dodger Stadium, a spotless record in seven games with the Athletics and a series win over the Giants. Even including dropping one set to the Padres, that’s a 13-3 mark against foes in the Golden State. (They won 12 games against those teams all last season.)
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Yes, the run differential is the same as that of the White Sox, and the third-order winning percentage expects serious decline, but the overall record is within three games of a playoff spot, and did we mention that sweep at Dodger Stadium? — Britton
Record: 30-42
Last Power Ranking: 23
Our preseason Power Rankings describe the Nationals as being “bound for a fourth-place finish, at best.” Much of that was due to the division in which they play, but the Nats haven’t done themselves many favors. They have a good young core to build around — James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore — but the supporting cast just hasn’t done enough to make much of a difference. Top prospect Dylan Crews didn’t exactly hit the ground running, and short-term additions this offseason have been most disappointing. Somehow, the Nats’ season has been both disheartening and predictable. — Jennings
Record: 29-44
Last Power Ranking: 26
It’s less what has happened, and more what hasn’t: Paul Skenes hasn’t been able to single-handedly lift the Pirates out of the mire. Would you like to guess who leads the NL in starting pitcher wins? Fine, I’ll just tell you: it’s a tie (8) between Robbie Ray of the Giants (2.55 ERA, 2.0 bWAR) and Brandon Pfaadt of the Diamondbacks (5.50 ERA, 0.2 bWAR).
Skenes has an ERA of 1.78 and leads the NL in bWAR at 4.0. He’s 4-6.
The win is dead, and this is its obituary.
The Pirates still can’t score runs with any regularity, and unfortunately, scoring runs is a prerequisite to winning baseball games. The only real intrigue remaining is: Will they be able to capitalize at the trade deadline, and can Skenes win the Cy Young with a losing record?
It’s only happened once before, but never by a starter. Eric Gagne went 2-3 in 2003 (but also saved 55 games). — Weaver
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Record: 30-44
Last Power Ranking: 27
I mean, you’d love to toss out that one month where the Athletics went 3-24. Outside of that, they’ve played some compelling baseball, fueled by more young talent that has you encouraged about the team’s on-field future, however discouraging the team’s which-field-are-we-talking-about future remains. On the other hand, you can’t dismiss a full month when it represents a little under 40 percent of the season and when it completely tanks any incipient reveries about a wild-card push in the underwhelming American League. — Britton
Record: 28-42
Last Power Ranking: 28
Gotta give us credit for this one, because we nailed it! We looked at a team that didn’t have much of a lineup, didn’t win much last season, and wasn’t really trying to win this year, and said to ourselves: You know, this looks like one of the five worst teams in baseball. That’s analysis, people! Now, if you want to nitpick, you could point out that we singled out Sandy Alcantara’s return from the IL as a bright spot — he’s unfortunately been not great — but that would be rude, and we’re certain you’d never do that. Instead, we humbly accept your pat on the back for correctly identifying the Marlins as a not-very-good baseball team.— Jennings
Record: 23-49
Last Power Ranking: 29
Unfortunately, the new Pope didn’t work a miracle.
What, did you think they were going to break a record for losses one year and then contend for the playoffs less than 12 months later? At least the Rockies spared them from perma-dwelling in the No. 30 spot, I guess.
I’ll leave this section to the world’s premier White Sox fan:
— Weaver
Record: 15-57
Last Power Ranking: 30
In our preseason rankings, we had the Rockies ahead of the franchise that just set the record for most losses in a season, and the Rockies took umbrage. This was bulletin-board material. Were we not paying attention to another offseason of inertia? That the roster would legitimately suffer from the loss of the retired Charlie Blackmon, and that Brenton Doyle probably wouldn’t be as good as he was last season? Did we overlook how they tied for the worst preseason projection Baseball Prospectus had ever handed out? More than 70 games into the season, Colorado is on pace to underperform that 55-win projection by 23 and to smash the record for losses set by the White Sox just last year by nine. — Britton
(Top photo: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
