If you¡¯ve watched even a second of a Mets game so far, you know that there aren¡¯t many teams -- or many teams' fans -- having more fun than the Mets right now. (Sunday afternoon¡¯s implosion against the Nationals obviously excepted!) Their spot atop the NL East is their ultimate goal, but this week, they¡¯ve reached a place they haven¡¯t reached in a year: The No. 1 spot in the MLB.com Power Rankings.
These rankings, as always, are compiled from MLB.com contributors whose names you can find at the bottom of this (and every) piece, but the words are mine. If you dislike the rankings, yell at all of us. But if you dislike the words, feel free to yell at me.
1. Mets (previously: 3)
The Mets have been one of the most fun stories in baseball so far this year -- and remember, Juan Soto hasn¡¯t even really gotten going yet -- and they got some familiar faces back from injury over the weekend: Both Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez made their way back to the big club. Neither of them quite had the 2024 they wanted. But the vibes right now in Queens are as close to immaculate as they've been in some time.
2. Dodgers (previously: 1)
Should we be worried about the Dodgers¡¯ bench? They¡¯re veterans, sure, and while those guys may come in handy come October, they¡¯re reeling right now. Enrique Hern¨¢ndez entered Sunday hitting .145. Austin Barnes? .174. Miguel Rojas? .162. Chris Taylor has no extra base hits. The Dodgers, for all their talent, are not particularly deep right now.
3. Cubs (previously: 4)
I wrote this week for MLB.com about something I¡¯ve been thinking about for a while: Are the Cubs the most likely team in all of baseball to make the playoffs? I think you can make the argument they are! Heck: I made it.
4. Padres (previously: 2)
MLB.com¡¯s Brent Maguire noted something this week that has been evident for a while but needed to be said: Fernando Tatis Jr. is all the way back to being a superstar again. He¡¯s doing all sorts of things right: Dropping his strikeout rate, attacking balls in the zone and stealing bases like crazy. He and Kyle Tucker are going to be fighting for MVP honors all year.
5. Tigers (previously: 8)
The Tigers had an excellent week that has them atop the American League Central, but even more surprising? They currently have the best run differential in all of baseball.
6. Giants (previously: 7)
The Giants celebrated Brandon Crawford Day on Saturday, honoring the team¡¯s all-time leader in games played as a shortstop as well as someone who, of course, won two World Series with the team. Our own Maria Guardado rounded up the greatest 10 moments of Crawford¡¯s Giants career.
7. Yankees (previously: 6)
I can¡¯t recommend enough my colleague Mike Petriello¡¯s terrific appreciation of Aaron Judge on MLB.com this week. My favorite bit: ¡°Entering Friday, Judge¡¯s last calendar year was worth 13.7 WAR, thanks to the .360/.489/.762 (and 62 homers) he put up in 162 games, while mostly playing center field. Call it a ¡°hidden historic year,¡± because if you were to go back to the birth of the American League in 1901, then a 13.7 WAR season would be tied for the second-best year ever, stuck right in the middle of a few of Ruth¡¯s best seasons.¡±
8. Mariners (previously: 14)
It was an excellent week for the Mariners, and while they did have the bad news of having to put Logan Gilbert on the IL for the first time in his career with a mild flexor strain in his elbow, they did avoid something much worse. ¡°I would have been really surprised if it was something really bad, but you never really know, and especially when it just never quite got back right,¡± Gilbert said. ¡°But I feel better today already than I did yesterday. So we probably don't want to rush anything. We'll see, but optimistic.¡±
9. Rangers (previously: 10)
Of all those Rangers pitchers we were all excited about this season, who thought the best one would be Tyler Mahle? He came into Saturday¡¯s start against the Giants with a 0.68 ERA and then gave up only two runs in five innings, though the bullpen ended up picking up the loss. The ERA ¡°ballooned¡± up to 1.14.
10. Guardians (previously: 13)
If you were worried about Emmanuel Clase -- and if you are a fan of the Guardians, you were probably worried -- his appearance Saturday against the Red Sox had to make you feel better. He shut the Red Sox down 1-2-3 in a rare eighth-inning appearance after some early struggles ¡ and, worrisomely, some shoulder discomfort.
11. D-backs (previously: 9)
Of all the great takeaways from Eugenio Su¨¢rez¡¯s four-homer game on Saturday night -- a game, to remind, the D-Backs lost -- my favorite is that he¡¯s the oldest player ever to hit four homers in a game. He¡¯s only 33! Hitting four homers? Definitely a young man¡¯s game.
12. Red Sox (previously: 11)
There was, uh, a little bit of a break in the middle there, but it turns out that Alex Cora has been managing the Red Sox quite a while. He reached his 1,000th game as Boston manager over the weekend, becoming the fifth manager in team history to reach that total with Boston, joining Joe Cronin, Terry Francona, Pinky Higgins and Bill Carrigan.
13. Phillies (previously: 5)
It was a brutal week for the Phillies, though they finally ended their five-game losing streak with a win at Wrigley Field on Saturday. Is anyone in Philadelphia worried? Not manager Rob Thomson. ¡°I feel like everybody around us is panicking,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re still over .500. It¡¯s the first time we¡¯ve lost three in a row. We¡¯re fine.¡±
14. Reds (previously: 18)
Don¡¯t look now: Elly De La Cruz is starting to heat up. After a slow start to the season, he's hit in 11 straight games, raising his batting average more than 25 points. Of note: He¡¯s starting to walk more and strike out less, which is exactly what all of baseball has been waiting for ... and fearing.
15. Astros (previously: 16)
Of all the things the Astros didn¡¯t see coming this year ¡ they didn¡¯t see Yordan Alvarez not hitting. Somehow, Alvarez -- who legitimately might be one of the best five hitters on the planet right now -- came into Sunday hitting .200, and he was 5-for-34 with just one homer in his previous 10 games. (He did hit a homer and a double in a win over the Royals on Sunday.)
16. Royals (previously: 23)
The Royals have started to pick it up in the past week, thanks to some excellent starting pitching and, of course, Bobby Witt Jr., who has the longest hitting streak of his career at 19 games. The longest in Royals history, if you¡¯re wondering, belongs to Whit Merrifield, who hit in 31 straight games from 2018-19.
17. Braves (previously: 19)
The Braves are starting to shake off their miserable start, and one of the primary reasons has been the play of the veterans who have been there before. Austin Riley has gotten hot again, and so has Matt Olson, who hit .333 with three homers and seven RBIs during an eight-game hitting streak. And Sean Murphy is back and hitting homers too.
18. Blue Jays (previously: 12)
The Blue Jays have been waiting for their offense to come around for a while, and, specifically, they¡¯ve been waiting for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to start hitting homers. That¡¯s why his blast on Friday to help beat the Yankees felt so pleasing: You know he¡¯s going to start launching homers on a regular basis any minute now, and that minute may finally be happening.
19. Rays (previously: 22)
Chandler Simpson has gotten off to a fun, thrilling and very very speedy start, and he has instantly become the Ray no one wants to miss doing much of anything. I enjoyed MLB.com¡¯s ¡°Getting to Know¡± segment with him this week; he seems like an awfully likable guy.
20. A¡¯s (previously: 20)
The A¡¯s have struggled at home in the early going, but on Thursday night, they gave the Sacramento fans something they hadn¡¯t gotten yet: a walk-off. It was Jacob Wilson who had the deciding single in a win over the Rangers that featured a two-run comeback in the ninth. They did it again on Sunday, this time on Luis Ur¨ªas' 10th-inning homer to give the A's a series win over the White Sox.
21. Brewers (previously: 15)
Young players do not progress in a linear fashion -- there are always fits and starts. Jackson Chourio may be coming out of the ¡°fits¡± point of his progression and heading into his ¡°starts.¡± He was 6-for-42 over 10 games before getting a day off on Thursday. He responded by going 6-for-8 in his next two games, including a game-tying homer in the ninth inning of a game against the Cardinals on Saturday.
22. Cardinals (previously: 24)
The Cardinals have been up-and-down so far -- they¡¯ve struggled mightily on the road, thanks largely to an inflammatory bullpen -- but they have to be happy with the emergence of young starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore. He has been the clear ace of the staff to this point, with a 3.19 ERA and a fantastic 14-1 K/BB ratio.
23. Orioles (previously: 17)
For all the talk about the Orioles¡¯ rotation troubles -- and yeah, they¡¯re obviously having a lot of problems -- it should be noted that the hitters aren¡¯t really doing what we all expected from them either. When Ryan O¡¯Hearn homered in the fourth inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Tigers on Saturday, it ended a four-game stretch without a home run. The Orioles are 19th in runs this year, and 25th in OBP. That¡¯s not going to win many games even if your rotation is great. (Which the Orioles¡¯ very much isn¡¯t.)
24. Angels (previously: 21)
Young hitters such as Kyren Paris and Logan O¡¯Hoppe have been giving the Angels some hope in the early going -- even with all of Mike Trout¡¯s homers, they¡¯ve both been better than he has been so far -- but their strikeouts are worth keeping an eye on. O¡¯Hoppe has a 34-3 K/BB rate, and Paris isn¡¯t much better at 26-5.
25. Nationals (previously: 25)
CJ Abrams is a fantastic player and a building block for the Nationals -- who now have some other building blocks around him. After missing a couple of weeks with a right hip flexor strain, he reminded everybody why with an early triple and then, thrillingly, his mad dash from first on a walk-off single Friday to beat the Mets in a wild game. His first-to-home was the fourth-fastest sprint speed in baseball this year. Manager Dave Martinez was so happy he cursed. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you right now, CJ was hauling a¨C."
26. Marlins (previously: 28)
Cal Quantrill is one of the more veteran players on the Marlins, so one should perhaps listen when he talks. This is what he said about rookie Agust¨ªn Ram¨ªrez: ¡°We called up the greatest hitter alive, I guess.¡± OK, he was just joking, but you can forgive the enthusiasm. Over the first five games of his career, Ram¨ªrez is 9-for-19 with three homers, four doubles and five RBIs.
27. Twins (previously: 26)
It may still be a couple of weeks until Royce Lewis is ready to rejoin the big league team, but he took an important first step this weekend by playing two games at designated hitter for the St. Paul Saints. He doubled in his first game back and looked closer to the star we¡¯ve all seen him be. He¡¯ll have to play multiple games in the field before he¡¯s called back up, but certainly: The Twins could use him.
28. Pirates (previously: 27)
The first time Paul Skenes pitched at Dodger Stadium, last August, he gave up four runs, the worst start of his 2024 season. So the California native was pretty excited to return on Friday, in front of family, friends and a whole bunch of frustrated Dodgers fans. He was the best he¡¯d been all year, going 6 1/3 innings, striking out nine and giving up no runs and five hits. Again: Against the Dodgers. "I was playing for free tonight,¡± said Skenes. ¡°It was fun. I'll go up there and see them here in a minute. Today, actually, was kind of a family get-together. It was all my mom's brothers, my dad's brother and their families are all here, which is cool. It hasn't happened for a while, so cool to be able to share that with them.¡±
29. White Sox (previously: 29)
The White Sox ended a grueling 14-game losing streak at Target Field on Thursday, but the real joy was in how they did it: With rookie Shane Smith getting his first career win with five scoreless innings in a shortened seven-inning win. Credit Smith for not getting too cocky about it: ¡°I didn¡¯t feel [sharp], but the numbers were good,¡± Smith said.
30. Rockies (previously: 30)
The way things are going in Denver right now, it¡¯s not always easy to find ways to accentuate the positive -- what, with the lack of positive things happening. So a young slugger hitting five homers in three games (and two days) will do the trick. That¡¯s what Jordan Beck did last week, with three homers in a doubleheader vs. Kansas City on Thursday and two homers in a game against the Reds the next night. (Sure, all three games were losses, but let¡¯s not get picky.)
Voters: Nathalie Alonso, Mark Feinsand, Daniel Feldman, Doug Gausepohl, Will Leitch, Travis Miller, Brian Murphy, Arturo Pardavila, Andrew Simon, David Venn.