Of the 30 teams in MLB, 10 of them have 15 or 16 wins. The Orioles (15-19), sliding to No. 21 in my power rankings, are one of those teams. They have now lost four games in a row and probably will leave Yankee Stadium on a five-game losing streak, as Shane Baz is up against rising star Cam Schlittler prior to the Orioles’ flight to Miami.
The other nine teams are Seattle, Toronto, Texas, Arizona, Kansas City, Washington, Minnesota, Miami and the Chicago White Sox.
There is another tier of teams at 13 or 14 wins including Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Colorado, Houston and the Los Angeles Angels. Below that, the New York Mets are at 12 wins.
It’s still early. We’re a little more than a month into the season. Several of these teams weren’t expected to be contenders. The White Sox, Nationals, Twins, Rockies, Marlins and Angels figured to be teams pretty much out of the running for anything by mid-June.
But the Orioles, Royals, Red Sox, Astros, Phillies, Blue Jays, Rangers, Mariners and Mets were viewed as serious contenders heading into the season.
For all 30 teams in baseball, injuries play a huge part in the picture of failed teams. And the Orioles have for a second consecutive season had more than their fair share of IL stints for important players — initially Zach Eflin, Jackson Holliday, Ryan Mountcastle and Jordan Westburg and now this spate of Ryan Helsley, Dean Kremer and Trevor Rogers.
Several of these teams will play their way back to their true talent level. Seattle, Toronto and Philadelphia and maybe Boston are extremely capable of doing that.
The Orioles? Their recent play has seen them slip from No. 8 to No. 14 to No. 21 in my power rankings. And right now, they are what their record says they are.
Here are my latest MLB power rankings:
1. New York Yankees (23-11, No. 2 last week): The Yankees are the American League’s best team to date. They are due to get Carlos Rodón back in their rotation soon. Then around June 1, they get back a guy named Gerrit Cole back. This is a serious World Series contender.
2. Atlanta Braves (25-10, No. 3): No knock on former Braves skipper Brian Snitker, but Walt Weiss was made for this moment. Spencer Strider (oblique) made his 2026 debut on May 3. Ronald Acuña Jr. went on the 10-day IL with a left hamstring strain.
3. Chicago Cubs (22-12, No. 4): If I told you the Cubs had the second-most runs in the majors, you probably wouldn’t be all that surprised. But if I told you that Nico Hoerner (26) and Dansby Swanson (24) were the team’s RBI leaders, you’d be surprised.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (21-13, No. 1): It’s no cause for alarm, but the Dodgers are just 6-7 in their last 13 games. It’s hard to put my finger on the issues causing that type of run. Mookie Betts is due back from an oblique strain in two or three weeks.
5. Milwaukee Brewers (18-15, No. 7): The Brewers have been doing a great job treading water and hanging with a tight NL Central amid injuries to major offensive pieces Jackson Chourio (hand), Andrew Vaughn (hamate) and Christian Yelich (groin). But do they have enough starting pitching to make it through this IL stint for Brandon Woodruff? He’ll miss at least 15 days, maybe more, with shoulder inflammation.
6. Cincinnati Reds (20-14, No. 5): Don’t want to beat the same drum every week, but I am always impressed by what manager Terry Francona gets out of his teams. But aside from Chase Burns (2.20 ERA), all the other starters (Andrew Abbott, Rhett Lowder, Brady Singer and Brandon Williamson) have been just horrible.
7. Tampa Bay Rays (21-12, No. 13): The whole is always greater than the sum of the parts in St. Petersburg. There is a certain team we love in Birdland that should copycat a lot of what the Rays do with their pitching.
8. Pittsburgh Pirates (19-16, No. 9): Nice bounce-back this past week. After they lost four in a row at home against the Cardinals, they came back to beat the Reds three times in a row. Kudos to GM Ben Cherington for adding a pro’s pro in Ryan O’Hearn.
9. San Diego Padres (20-13, No. 6): The Padres just welcomed Griffin Canning to the rotation. He’s back after recovering from a torn Achilles suffered last year while with the Mets. They also expect to add Lucas Giolito to the big league roster soon. He signed a one-year deal that calls for him to be in the bigs within 25 days.
10. Seattle Mariners (16-19, No. 8): I still believe in this team, but something is rotten in the state of Denmark. And now Cal Raleigh is out with a mystery issue causing a sore side. The team is anxiously awaiting the results on an MRI.
11. Cleveland Guardians (18-17, No. 10)
12. Detroit Tigers (18-17, No. 14)
13. Athletics (18-16, No. 12)
14. Toronto Blue Jays (16-18, No. 18)
15. Texas Rangers (16-18, No. 15)
16. St. Louis Cardinals (20-14, No. 25)
17. Philadelphia Phillies (14-20, No. 22)
18. Boston Red Sox (13-21, No. 16)
19. Arizona Diamondbacks (16-17, No. 17)
20. Kansas City Royals (15-19, No. 19)
21. Baltimore Orioles (15-19, No. 14)
22. Miami Marlins (16-18, No. 26)
23. New York Mets (12-22, No. 23)
24. San Francisco Giants (13-21, No. 20)
25. Minnesota Twins (15-20, No. 24)
26. Chicago White Sox (16-18, No. 29)
27. Houston Astros (14-21, No. 18)
28. Los Angeles Angels (13-22, No. 21)
29. Washington Nationals (16-19, No. 27)
30. Colorado Rockies (14-21, No. 30)