MLB Power Rankings: Phillies finally reach the summit; extreme stats for every team (2024)

By Grant Brisbee, Andy McCullough and Kaitlyn McGrath

Every week,​ we​ ask a selected group of our baseball​ writers​ — local and national — torank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results.

Memorial Day Weekend is something of a milestone for baseball teams. It’s when you can start taking much of the early-season stuff seriously. The flukes from the beginning of the season begin to look a lot more sustainable. The teams that had a bad week, which led to a bad month, might be having an awful season.

Does that mean these power rankings are more essential and relevant? We’d be lying to you if we wrote that these weren’t the most essential and relevant power rankings you’ve read this season, if not ever, and we present them with great solemnity.

This week’s topic is the statistics on where teams rank at the top or bottom of their league, if not all of baseball. Some of them will be fun, and some will be less fun. Let’s search for the extremes of the sport.

All stats are through Sunday’s games.

1. Philadelphia Phillies

Record: 38-17
Last Power Ranking: 3

Superlative statistic: Best winning percentage in baseball

Sometimes, the simplest stats say the most. The Phillies have been clicking for quite a while. When the club lost a series this weekend to Colorado, it marked the first time the team dropped a series since the first days of April. The team hadn’t lost back-to-back games since April 23-24. The starting rotation has been stellar, with Ranger Suárez emerging as a Cy Young Award candidate while big-money pitchers Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are doing what they are paid to do. Bryce Harper remains Bryce Harper. Alec Bohm looks on track for his first All-Star appearance. The National League East looks like their division to lose. — Andy McCullough

2. New York Yankees

Record: 37-18
Last Power Ranking: 2

Statistical superlative: 81 homers (first in MLB)

The Yankees are off to an outstanding start and doing it exactly as you might have expected. Apologies for the technical jargon, but it would appear that the Yankees are better than every other team at hitting ding-dong dingers with their bing-bong bats. They have three players with 13 home runs or more; 22 teams don’t have anyone with that many.

Pitchers are justifiably scared of the Yankees — they’ve walked more times than any team in the AL, and they’re 30 walks ahead of second place. If there’s a downside to the whomp-forward approach, it’s that the Yankees are also leading the world in double plays (52 of them), but you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have the facts of how the Yankees are still in first place in the AL East. — Grant Brisbee

3. Los Angeles Dodgers

Record: 33-22
Last Power Ranking: 1

Statistical superlative: Best offensive walk rate in baseball

Dodgers fans are likely looking for reasons not to fret after a surprising recent skid of six consecutive losses. “It’s baseball,” Freddie Freeman said after getting swept by Cincinnati on Sunday. The man is not wrong. So why not panic? This offense can still grind opposing pitchers into dust, a quality unlikely to disappear over a long season. The Dodgers may go through stretches where they come up short with runners in scoring position. The offense may falter in the clutch. But the team is still likely to generate plenty of opportunities, given its collective patience combined with the general carefulness exhibited by opponents when facing Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freeman and the rest. — McCullough

4. Baltimore Orioles

Record: 34-18
Last Power Ranking: 4

Statistical superlative: 174 extra-base hits (first in AL)/ 9 percent extra-base hit percentage (first in MLB)

The Orioles can slug the baseball. While Baltimore still trails the Yankees in total home runs this season — the Orioles have 77 home runs compared to the Yankees’ 81 — no team has been better at hitting for extra bases than Baltimore. It’s a testament to how hard the Orioles can hit the ball and swing the bat. Their hard-hit rate of 42.7 percent ranks first in the AL, as does their average exit velocity of 90.1 mph. Meanwhile, their average bat speed of 72.5 percent ranks first in the league. As The Athletic’sEno Sarris wrote recently, more bat speed equals more power. The Orioles have proven that formula so far. — Kaitlyn McGrath

T-5. Cleveland Guardians

Record: 36-18
Last Power Ranking: 6

Statistical superlative: Biggest difference in BaseRuns winning percentage

BaseRuns is a stat that takes a team’s basic hitting and pitching events — singles allowed, singles hit, stolen bases for, stolen bases against, et cetera — and puts them into a blender. What comes out is a slurry that approximates the expected winning percentage for a team that has all of those baseball events. It’s not perfect, but it’s helpful.

According to BaseRuns, the Guardians aren’t just winning more than they probably should be — they’re lapping the rest of baseball with eight extra wins. They’re getting (and preventing) hits at the right time.

Should you care about this if you’re a Guardians fan? Oh, heck no. Flip double birds at the numbers and laugh until this all stops, which doesn’t have to happen. They don’t have to give these wins back, you know. And the wins they’ve already collected might have been enough to get them a division title. — Brisbee

T-5. Atlanta Braves

Record: 30-21
Last Power Ranking: 5

Superlative statistic: Lowest home-run rate for starting rotation in baseball

If you’re looking for a silver lining in the wake of Ronald Acuña Jr.’s latest knee injury, look elsewhere. It stinks for baseball. It stinks for the Braves. And it is brutal for Acuña, who looked so dynamic last summer as he found his footing after recovering from a previous knee surgery. The baseball season marches forward, and Atlanta still has enough talent to win it all. (Just as they did sans Acuña in 2021.) The rotation has hung tough after Spencer Strider blew out his elbow. Chris Sale looks like the demon who terrorized the American League last decade. Max Fried has recovered from a sluggish start. Reynaldo López has been a gem since converting out of a relief role. Charlie Morton looks like he could do this until he’s 45. It’s a good club. Don’t sleep on them. — McCullough

7. Kansas City Royals

Record: 34-21
Last Power Ranking: 10

Statistical superlative: 10 bunt hits (first in AL)

The Royals are good again, and the best part is that they’re good in a familiar, comfortable way. They’re zipping around like a bunch of waterbugs and making things happen. Would you believe that they have the best defensive metrics according to FanGraphs? Of course you would. They’re the freaking Royals. Next, you’ll tell me that they’re first in productive-out percentage, which … aaaahhhh, they are! Stop, stop, my heart can only get so full!

They’re also hitting the ball hard, so don’t mistake them for an all-slap team, but they’re winning roughly how you’re used to them winning, and it’s a bunch of fun. — Brisbee

8. Milwaukee Brewers

Record: 31-22
Last Power Ranking: 7

Statistical superlative: 21 home runs with RISP (tied for first in NL with the Phillies)

The Brewers’ offense has been an early-season standout. The club is second in MLB in runs per game (4.96), behind only the super-charged Phillies, and Milwaukee’s collective OPS is third in the NL, behind only the Dodgers and Phillies. But what the Brewers are doing exceptionally well is hitting for damage when it matters the most.

Of Milwaukee’s 61 total home runs, 21 have come with runners in scoring position — or put another way, more than a third of their home runs have come in high-leverage opportunities, which is an effective and efficient way to score many runs. It’s no wonder the Brewers continue to lead the NL Central — and could put distance between themselves and the Cubs this week with an important four-game series. — McGrath

9. Minnesota Twins

Record: 29-24
Last Power Ranking: 11

Statistical superlative: 24.8 percent strikeout rate (first in AL)

It’s been a weirdly uneven season for the Twins. A slow start was followed by an energizing 12-game win streak. Then, those returns were undone by a seven-game losing streak, and again, the Twins found themselves in the muddy middle of the AL Central. One area the Twins lead the way is their pitchers’ strikeout percentage, which has been the best in the AL. Their staff’s 9.39 strikeouts per nine leads the majors, while their total strikeouts (480) are third overall. Twins pitchers — including relievers Griffin Jax, Cole Sands, Jhoan Duran and Brock Stewart — have nasty stuff, but it’s not been enough to cover up for all the other inconsistency issues that have plagued the Twins this season. — McGrath

10. Seattle Mariners

Record: 29-26
Last Power Ranking: 8

Statistical superlative: 548 batter strikeouts (last in MLB)

The Mariners are hanging onto first place in the AL West, but it’s largely thanks to the strength of their pitching staff because Seattle’s offense is one of the worst in the majors. The only AL team that’s scored fewer runs than the Mariners (202) is the White Sox.

One of the primary issues is that the Mariners strike out a lot — more than any other club, in fact. As the saying goes, good things happen when you put the ball in play, but that hasn’t been happening enough with the Mariners, who are also last in MLB in balls-in-play percentage. This isn’t a new issue either. Last season, Mariners hitters had the second-highest strikeout rate in the majors (behind only the Twins). In recent years, the winning formula in Seattle has involved strong pitching — but sooner or later, the hitters have to hold up their end of the bargain, too. — McGrath

11. San Diego Padres

Record: 29-28
Last Power Ranking: 13

Superlative statistic: Best strikeout rate for starting rotation in the majors

Do the Padres miss Blake Snell? Well, they miss the version of Blake Snell they employed last season. Any team would. But the acquisition of Dylan Cease has lessened the sting. As expected, Cease has done a pretty good imitation of Snell, albeit with fewer walks but a bit more hard contact. Cease has brought some stability to a rotation that is still waiting for Joe Musgrove to regain his form and for Michael King to match his performance last September with the Yankees. At the very least, the group is good at missing bats. — McCullough

T-12. Chicago Cubs

Record: 27-27
Last Power Ranking: 12

Superlative statistic: Lowest line-drive rate for hitters in the majors

To be fair to the Cubs, the team entered Monday’s games tied with the Marlins in this statistic. That, though, should be considered damning with faint praise. The offense has gone cold as Milwaukee has extended its lead in the National League Central. Dansby Swanson (80 OPS+) looks closer to the hitter he was from 2017 to 2021 (89 OPS+) than the hitter he was in 2022 and 2023 (107 OPS+). Michael Busch posted a .625 OPS in his first 22 games in May. Ian Happ is struggling. Seiya Suzuki has slumped since returning from the injured list. Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon can’t do this alone. — McCullough

T-12. Houston Astros

Record: 24-30
Last Power Ranking: 14

Statistical superlative: 2.14 K-BB ratio (15th in AL)

Reports of the Astros’ demise were greatly exaggerated, and they’re just a hot week away from the top of the AL West. Of course, here’s an artist’s conception of what the AL West is like this season:

Just because the Astros are a handful of games out of first in the AL West doesn’t mean they’re good now, and the primary problem remains the same: Their pitchers give away too many free passes, and they also don’t miss bats. That’s a rough combination, especially considering they don’t get as many grounders as the average team. They might have a division-winning hot streak in them yet, but their entire staff has a lot of work to do. — Brisbee

T-14. San Francisco Giants

Record: 28-27
Last Power Ranking: 18

Superlative statistic: Highest ground-ball rate for pitchers in the majors

Look, when you employ Logan Webb, who has become the sport’s premier ground-ball specialist, you’re going to grade out pretty well in this category. Throw in this new version of Jordan Hicks, who has traded velocity for command and generated a bunch of grounders in the process, and you’re in even better shape. But it’s the bullpen that really tears up the grass, with Camilo Doval, Sean Hjelle, Erik Miller and Tyler Rogers each ranked among the top 12 in ground-ball rate for relievers. It’s good to keep the ball on the ground. That way, it can’t go over the fence. — McCullough

T-14. Boston Red Sox

Record: 27-27
Last Power Ranking: 16

Statistical superlative: 5.2 Wins Above Average for all pitchers (first in MLB)

You knew the Red Sox wouldn’t have a 2.62 ERA all season, right? That’s what they did as a staff in April, and it was almost a given that they would regress to the mean. The bad news is they did. The good news is that their mean is also pretty darned good, and the relievers have gotten better at preventing runs, even as the starters have gotten worse.

Add them up, and you still have the most effective pitching staff for the first two months of the 2024 season. If you want to know why the team is hovering around .500, though, here’s another superlative, on the house: Their hitters are dead last in FanGraphs’ clutch metric. —Brisbee

16. Tampa Bay Rays

Record: 26-28
Last Power Ranking: 9

Statistical superlative: 59 infield hits (first in MLB)

Last week, the Rays looked like they were going somewhere. They were three games over .500 and enjoying a scorching-hot May to get back into contention. They lost five out of their six games last week, and their closest margin of defeat was three runs, which makes sense when you consider that they scored five runs just once. They’re keeping company with the A’s and Mariners at the bottom of the AL runs-scored table, which isn’t where they expected to be.

The context might be even worse: A cool 10 percent of their hits are infield hits this season. Ten percent! If you assume that they should be closer to the average team in this category and strip 20 singles from them, their collective slash line would be .224/.298/.343, and their .640 OPS would be the worst in the AL by a wide margin.

Well, it would be if the White Sox didn’t exist. But still. The Rays might have been a little lucky to get to the .663 OPS they do have. — Brisbee

17. Arizona Diamondbacks

Record: 25-28
Last Power Ranking: 17

Statistical superlative: 18 Outs Above Average (first in MLB)

I would be lying if I said I had a thorough understanding of how defensive stats are calculated (and anyone who says they do is probably lying). But, the numbers tell us that the Diamondbacks’ defense leads the majors in Outs Above Average and Runs Prevented (15), per Statcast. Four Diamondbacks players — Christian Walker, Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. — rank in the top 25 fielders in OAA, so the team has continued to be a solid defensive club, even if overall, they haven’t been able to match last year’s success to this point. — McGrath

18. St. Louis Cardinals

Record: 25-27
Last Power Ranking: 24

Superlative statistic: Grounded into fewest double plays in the National League

Are the Cardinals good? Who can say? The team just won seven of eight across a homestand, including visits from the Red Sox, Orioles and Cubs. Not bad. The extended slumps of Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt are still concerning, but a youthful group, including Masyn Winn, Alec Burleson, and Lars Nootbaar, has picked up the slack. Outside of Willson Contreras, who is currently on the injured list, the lineup lacks much power. So they need to do the little things. Like, you know, not hitting into double plays. We’ll see how the summer goes. — McCullough

19. Toronto Blue Jays

Record: 24-29
Last Power Ranking: 21

Statistical superlative: 87.7 mph average exit velocity (last in MLB)

Exit velocity and hard-hit rate don’t necessarily indicate a team’s success. As of this writing, the Guardians currently have an MLB-worst 34.9 percent hard-hit rate, and they’re one of the best teams in the majors this season. But for the Blue Jays, their declining exit velocity has mirrored their declining offensive performance. Consider, in 2021, they had an MLB-best 90.3 mph exit velocity and also led the majors in home runs and OPS that season. Fast forward to 2023, when their exit velocity fell to 88.7 mph — in MLB’s bottom third — and they had a middling offense, ranking 14th in runs scored. This year, their exit velocity has bottomed out, and with it, so has their offense. The Blue Jays have the third-fewest runs in the AL. They sit last in the AL East, with their chances of redeeming this season looking more remote by the day. — McGrath

20. Detroit Tigers

Record: 26-27
Last Power Ranking: 19

Statistical superlative: 16 triples (first in MLB)

Triples are good. Triples are best. The Tigers have hit a lot of them in the city that’s made every kind of classic car. It’s just them and the open road.

It’s about all they’re doing well offensively, which is why they’re struggling to keep pace in the AL Central, even though they’re getting excellent starting pitching from three-fifths of their rotation. Still, if you’re going to be first in just one offensive category, at least triples is a fun one. — Brisbee

21. Texas Rangers

Record: 25-29
Last Power Ranking: 15

Statistical superlative: Players on IL/Days missed to injury (first in MLB)

That stat seems bad until you remember that a lot of this was by design. The Rangers knew they would be without Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle for most of the first half. They’re getting them back in a quasi-deadline deal in exchange for some money and patience. They figured they’d be fine until then.

But the injury gremlins also nibbled on the groins of Nathan Eovaldi and Jon Gray, putting them in an awful predicament. Their lineup isn’t bailing them out, either, so there’s every chance that the pitching cavalry will arrive too late, and that’s if they arrive at all. — Brisbee

22. Pittsburgh Pirates

Record: 25-29
Last Power Ranking: 22

Statistical superlative: 12 blown saves (most in MLB)

The Pirates have two of the most exciting young pitchers in the game right now, Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, so the future of Pittsburgh’s rotation looks bright. But the state of their bullpen hasn’t been as sunny this season. In the NL, only the Rockies’ bullpen has been worse than Pittsburgh’s, per ERA, while the Pirates lead the majors in blown saves.

Part of the issue has been that closer David Bednar hasn’t been his same reliable self this season. The two-time All-Star has a 6.75 ERA in 19 appearances, while his three blown saves match his total from all of last season when he led the NL with 39 saves. Bednar will likely be fine. He has the track record to fall back on, but the Pirates will still need to find a way to put together an improved bullpen if they hope to build around Skenes, Jones and their other young studs. — McGrath

23. Cincinnati Reds

Record: 24-30
Last Power Ranking: 23

Statistical superlative: 84 stolen bases (first in MLB)

After a hopeful season in 2023, in which they were dubbed “America’s Team” by catcher Luke Maile, this has felt like a step back for the Reds. They came into the season with high expectations, but after a good start, they’ve started the month 8-16 and sit last in the NL Central. The lagging offense has been the main culprit for the Reds’ disappointing season so far — but if there is one area the team continues to excel in, it’s stealing bases.

The Reds lead the majors in stolen bases and are on pace to exceed their MLB-leading 190 steals total from last year. The main driver of the swipes has been the enthralling Elly De La Cruz, who leads the majors with 31 stolen bases. — McGrath

24. New York Mets

Record: 22-30
Last Power Ranking: 20

Statistical superlative: Worst walk rate in baseball

No pitching staff has permitted more free passes in 2024 than the Mets, a chronic, team-wide lack of command that has contributed to the team’s recent free fall. Some of the numbers from the bullpen are particularly unsightly, including Jake Diekman (7.7 walks per nine innings), Sean Reid-Foley (6.8) and Drew Smith (6.3). Adrian Houser pitched his way out of the starting rotation, in part, because he has been walking nearly 13 percent of the batters he has faced. Even the two standouts in the rotation, Luis Severino and Sean Manaea, have been more walk-prone than usual, which has shortened some of their outings. — McCullough

25. Washington Nationals

Record: 24-28
Last Power Ranking: 25

Superlative statistic: Highest infield fly-ball percentage in baseball

You want to hit the baseball in the air. For an offense, good things can happen when the ball reaches the air. Unless, of course, that baseball is soaring above the infield. Not much good can come of that. (Just ask the White Sox.) So, it is not ideal for the Nationals to lead the sport in this category. A quarter of catcher Keibert Ruiz’s at-bats end with an infield pop-up. For Joey Gallo, the former All-Star, it’s even worse: He entered Monday’s games hitting an infield fly in 31 percent of his at-bats. — McCullough

26. Oakland Athletics

Record: 22-33
Last Power Ranking: 27

Statistical superlative: 6,297 fans per game (30th in MLB)

The A’s are last in attendance by magnitudes more than the 29th-least-attended team. There is no gag here, no joke. I have thoughts, and all of them make me sad.

The A’s are also first in double plays turned. Good for them. I unironically hope they win the World Series. — Brisbee

27. Los Angeles Angels

Record: 20-33
Last Power Ranking: 26

Statistical superlative: 33 grand slam opportunities (t-30th in MLB)

It took me forever to find this one. Every other team is the best or worst at something. Not the Angels. They’re not even bad enough to pity, like the White Sox. They’re an unseasoned, room-temperature bowl of Cream of Wheat.

Take Wins Above Average. The Angels are between 10th and 23rd in baseball at every single position in WAA. That’s remarkable blandness. Good teams like the Dodgers can still have holes (they’re 29th in center field), and bad teams like the Rockies can have bright spots (their catching tandem of Elias Díaz and Jacob Stallings has been really valuable). Not the Angels, though. They want you to hold the ketchup on their hamburger because it’s too spicy.

So, here: They’ve had 33 grand slam opportunities, tied for the fewest in baseball, and they’ve even hit one. Good for them. That’s your Angels superlative. — Brisbee

28. Miami Marlins

Record: 19-36
Last Power Ranking: 28

Superlative statistic: Worst collective OPS in the National League

The Marlins have actually played better baseball in recent days; the team had won seven of its past 10 games heading into Monday. But a recent victory over the Diamondbacks demonstrated how the club has been getting it done. Miami scored eight runs in three games against Arizona’s patchwork pitching staff. The lineup lacks power and patience — the team ranked last in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The trade of Luis Arraez sapped an already thin group. Only three Marlins who have received more than 100 at-bats qualify as above-average hitters according to OPS+: Jazz Chisholm Jr. (116), Bryan De La Cruz (109), and Vidal Bruján (103). It might be a long summer. — McCullough

29. Colorado Rockies

Record: 19-34
Last Power Ranking: 29

Statistical superlative: 5.17 ERA and .278 average against (last in MLB)

We all know Coors Field is a tough place to pitch. Combine that with some subpar Rockies teams, and well, you get this statistic: Every season since 2022, the Rockies’ pitching staff has posted the worst ERA in the majors. And so far this year, it looks as though that trend will continue. Colorado’s pitchers have the highest earned run average in the majors — and it’s not particularly close. (The second-highest is the Marlins with a 4.72 ERA.)

It’s not been all bad for the Rockies lately, however. According to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, the Rockies’ rotation has a 3.77 ERA and 13 quality starts in 23 games this month, and they’ve been doing it without Kyle Freeland, who has been on the IL since April. A shaky bullpen has meant their collective ERA has still suffered — but there is still time before the end of the season for the Rockies to snap their MLB-worst ERA streak. — McGrath

30. Chicago White Sox

Record: 15-40
Last Power Ranking: 30

Statistical superlative: 157 runs and .605 OPS (last in MLB)

The White Sox have an MLB-worst 15 wins, so it should come as no surprise that they have also scored the fewest runs in the majors and generally have MLB’s worst offense, based on batting average, OPS, home runs, wRC+, you name it.

It’s been such a lousy time for Chicago’s lineup, which was no-hit through seven innings on Sunday against the Orioles and their starter Kyle Bradish, White Sox manager Pedro Grifol called them out after the game, describing “most of the guys” as “flat today.” It’s only May, but clearly, it’s already been a long season on the South Side. — McGrath

(Top photo of Bryce Harper: Alysa Rubin / Clarkson Creative / Getty Images)