If there were an MVP trophy to be handed out a month into the season, there’s no question where it would go in the American League. Aaron Judge is off to a freakish start, even by his extraordinary standards.
The National League, meanwhile, would have a plethora of candidates. Fernando Tatis Jr., Pete Alonso, Kyle Tucker and Corbin Carroll are all electrifying their respective teams — in the stats column, in the wins column and in our power rankings, which feature a shake-up at the top this week.
Here are the latest rankings, along with every team’s early MVP.
Shane Smith (2.30 ERA, 0.95 WHIP) has been a standout for a White Sox team that has, surprisingly, not been the worst in baseball this year. Because Colorado … yeesh.
Paul Skenes shut down the Dodgers’ offense on Friday…and the Pirates lost the series. Skenes, Andrew Heaney and Oneil Cruz have been bright spots for a Pittsburgh team with, predictably, one of the worst offenses in MLB.
Credit to the Marlins for being much more competitive than anyone would’ve expected through the season’s first month. Max Meyer had his worst outing of the year Sunday, but he was coming off a 14-strikeout, six-scoreless inning outing and has otherwise looked terrific in the early going.
This week against the lowly Pirates and Twins seemed like a time for the Angels to maybe get back on track. Instead, they dropped the series to Pittsburgh, got swept in Minnesota and have now lost 11 of their last 15 games. Kyren Paris’ breakout to start the year (14-for-35, five homers, five steals in 13 games) has fallen back down to earth the last 11 games (1-for-30, no extra-base hits, no steals).
This was an important week for the Twins to get the season back on the rails, and they did so with a series victory against the White Sox and a sweep of the Angels. It has otherwise been a dreadful start to the year in Minnesota, but a healthy Joe Ryan (3.18 ERA, 0.91 WHIP) has been impactful. He struck out 11 Angels batters in seven scoreless innings Sunday.
The MLB leader in strikeouts? That would be MacKenzie Gore. The Nationals are in the midst of a nice run, having won three straight series after taking two of three games last weekend from the top team on these rankings.
Woof. The starting pitching struggles have been well-documented, but the Orioles have also scored just 12 runs in their last seven games and have the worst run differential in the AL. That is not the fault of Cedric Mullins, who leads the team in hits (24), runs (17), homers (six), RBI (20) and OPS (.968). He has the sixth-highest on-base percentage (.421) in MLB.
The Cardinals have the highest team batting average in MLB, and Brendan Donovan (.359/.396/.534) is one of the reasons why. He is tied for the third-most hits (37) in MLB.
The Brewers were on a four-game skid until Jose Quintana stopped the slide on Sunday. Quintana is 4-0 with a 1.14 ERA and just became the first Brewers pitcher to win his first four starts with the team since CC Sabathia in 2008. Suddenly, a beleaguered Milwaukee rotation now ranks eighth in ERA.
There are obvious pitching concerns, especially in that ballpark, but this club can slug with the best of them. Jacob Wilson (.324 batting average, five strikeouts in 105 at-bats) is an early AL Rookie of the Year contender, but the MVP of the intriguing offense is Tyler Soderstrom, who’s tied for third in MLB with nine home runs. It’s also worth pointing out that Mason Miller (21 strikeouts, one walk in 10 innings) remains absolutely electric.
The Rockies have a tendency to turn opponents’ frowns upside down. Kansas City had lost six of seven games entering last week before sweeping Colorado and taking two of three from Houston. Bobby Witt Jr. is the obvious MVP of the group, especially considering how little the rest of the offense is producing once again, but it’s worth pointing out the start to Kris Bubic’s season (2-2, 2.25 ERA) in the rotation.
The Blue Jays are in freefall, having lost seven of their last eight games. The offense — which has the second-fewest home runs and the fourth-fewest runs scored in MLB — is a problem despite a bounceback start from George Springer, who’s hitting 63% better than league average by OPS+.
They won series against the Cardinals and D-backs last week and have now won seven of their last nine games as the offense slowly creeps its way back toward prominence. Marcell Ozuna has been the one consistent piece all year with an OPS over 1.000 and the highest walk rate among qualified MLB hitters.
Cleveland has the second-worst run differential and second-best record in the AL Central. The Guardians have yet to figure out their starting pitching concerns that linger from last year and still lack offensive pop, but Steven Kwan’s .346 batting average has helped keep the offense afloat. He has hit safely in 10 straight (and 15 of his last 16) games.
The Reds have the best run differential in the National League, rank eighth in OPS and have a top-five starters’ OPS. Austin Hays opened the season on the injured list with a calf injury but has been on fire since his return on April 15 for a Cincinnati offense that desperately needed some outfield pop. He has 19 hits — including eight extra-base hits — and is slugging .755 in 12 games.
Last week, the Astros swept the Blue Jays while allowing two runs in the series then dropped a series to Kansas City while getting shut out in the first two games. It was a perfect microcosm of a season in which they’ve pitched phenomenally and hit unreliably. Hunter Brown has led that pitching effort and looks like an early AL Cy Young contender with a 4-1 record, 1.22 ERA and 0.84 WHIP.
A 9-14 start to the year didn’t fully represent the way the Rays were playing. A five-game winning streak to end a 5-1 West Coast road trip to Arizona and San Diego is now worth some attention. Coming off injury-shortened 2024 seasons, Shane Baz (3-0, 2.45 ERA) and Drew Rasmussen (1-1, 2.10) have been vital to the Rays’ rotation in a combined 10 starts with Shane McClanahan out.
We knew this team would score, but it’s been a relatively inauspicious start for the Red Sox rotation, which makes what Garrett Crochet is providing all the more important. The prized offseason addition is earning his six-year extension with a sub-2.00 ERA, easily the best mark among Boston starters.
Um. Watch this. In related news, the Rangers fell out of the top 10 this week. We knew it was possible the offense might not bounce back to 2023 levels, but the lowest-scoring offense in MLB so far? That’s a huge surprise. Don’t blame Wyatt Langford, though. The second-year slugger has a 1.106 OPS and six homers in 18 games.
It’s never great when you get a four-homer performance from a player and lose the game, which is what happened this past weekend to Eugenio Suárez and the D-backs. The story in Arizona looks similar to last year with a scuffling pitching staff holding back a juggernaut offense. Most importantly, though, Corbin Carroll has carried over his strong second half and again looks like one of the best players in the game. He leads the NL in fWAR and slugging percentage, is tied for the NL lead in hits and paces MLB in triples.
An L5, including a sweep in Queens, isn’t what the Philly faithful want to see. But the Phillies bounced back over the weekend with an impressive series win at Wrigley, and Jesús Luzardo (3-0, 1.73 ERA) looks like one of the best offseason pitching acquisitions in the league.
Already starting the year without George Kirby, it’s a rough blow to lose Logan Gilbert to an arm injury. Shockingly, though, it’s been the offense paving the way to first place in the AL West. Led by Cal Raleigh — who’s tied for the MLB lead with 10 home runs and has been the best catcher in baseball — the Mariners have scored the most runs in the division and rank top five in MLB in OPS.
It’s been a rough start for Devin Williams, who has been removed from the closer’s role for now. It has not been a rough start for Aaron Judge, who leads the majors in hits, WAR and every slash line category (.406/.500/.717). He’s hitting 149% better than league average. It’s just absurd.
After a brief mid-April lull, the Giants are back on track and lead the best division in baseball after series wins last week against the Brewers and Rangers. They’re consistently finding ways to win tight contests — 7-3 in one-run games, 2-0 in extra innings — and might have found the offensive catalyst they’ve needed in Jung Hoo Lee, who ranks second in the majors in doubles and top 10 in WAR.
A series loss to the Tigers and a sweep at the hands of the Rays dropped the Padres from the top spot. The club’s lack of depth is beginning to show with Jackson Merrill, Luis Arraez and Jake Cronenworth all currently on the shelf. Fernando Tatis Jr., however, makes anything feel possible. He has eight homers, he’s hitting over .440 against fastballs, and he has the lowest strikeout rate of his career.
The Padres were almost unbeatable at Petco Park until Detroit came to town. The Tigers are on the prowl. They’ve won eight of their last 10 games, and while every other AL Central team has a negative run differential, the Tigers are at plus-42. The pitching staff looks like one of baseball’s best, but Spencer Torkelson’s resurgence — he has eight of the club’s 27 home runs — has also played a vital role.
This feels better than a 17-win team, in part because the Cubs have gotten out to this start despite all of their games coming against teams .500 or better. Kyle Tucker, who leads the team in homers, has more walks than strikeouts and will soon be a very wealthy man, has transformed this offense; but don’t overlook the impact of Pete Crow-Armstrong, who already has five homers and 12 steals and looks like a star in the making.
We’re a month in, and we’re still waiting for the Dodgers to play to their potential. Injuries to Blake Snell and now Tyler Glasnow further add to the importance of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who, even after his least effective start of the season against the Pirates, has the lowest ERA (1.06) among all qualified MLB starters.
A series loss at Washington was a letdown after the Mets swept the Phillies to end a perfect homestand, but their league-leading pitching staff has done enough to warrant the top spot here. Pete Alonso, meanwhile, has the highest wRC+ in the National League, is hitting the ball harder on average than at any point in his career and has as many walks as strikeouts.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. 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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