MLB Power Rankings: Twins & Blue Jays Ascending, Cubs Out of Top Five

Memorial Day weekend has long been viewed as the unofficial start of summer, and around Major League Baseball, it often marks the point where the standings begin to feel more meaningful. With May coming to a close and June right around the corner, teams are moving beyond the randomness of the season’s opening weeks. Contenders are starting to create breathing room, while others are already searching for answers before the calendar fully flips to summer.

That also makes this stretch of the season difficult to evaluate at face value. A club can surge up the standings with one hot road trip while another suddenly looks vulnerable after a rough week against quality competition. Records still matter, but they do not always reflect how sustainable a team’s performance actually is beneath the surface.

That is why third-order wins offer a valuable lens for these rankings. Based on Clay Davenport’s adjusted standings, the metric looks beyond wins and losses by incorporating factors like run differential, strength of schedule, and ballpark effects. The goal is to measure how teams should be performing in a more neutral environment, rather than simply rewarding recent results.

The result is a set of power rankings that focus more on long-term indicators than on short-term swings. Some teams continue to back up their strong starts with dominant underlying numbers, while others are surviving on timely hitting, bullpen magic, or favorable stretches of the schedule. The arrows below track how each club has moved since last week as baseball’s hierarchy becomes clearer heading into June.

1. Dodgers — 36.0–16.0 (.692) 
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Shohei Ohtani lowered his sub-one ERA even further after tossing five scoreless innings and picking up four strikeouts against the Padres on Wednesday night. He also hit a leadoff homer. He’s incredible.

2. Braves — 34.1–18.9 (.643)
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Drake Baldwin was placed on the injured list on Tuesday due to an oblique strain. Through 48 games, he is hitting .303/.389/.543 (.932) with 13 home runs.

3. Yankees — 33.1–18.9 (.637)
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Gerrit Cole made his season debut Friday vs. the Rays, and finished with six scoreless frames. He pitched in the majors for the first time since the 2024 World Series. 

4. Brewers — 30.8–18.2 (.629) ⬆️ 

Biggest Weekly Storyline: Jacob Misiorowski is the only pitcher within the modern era of baseball to go four starts without allowing a run or extra base hit while also striking out at least 30 batters.

5. Rays — 28.5–20.5 (.582) ⬆️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: The Rays complete their MLB-best sixth sweep of the season on Thursday.

6. Cubs — 29.7–22.3 (.571) ⬇️

Biggest Weekly Storyline: Pete Crow-Armstrong had costly defensive errors on back-to-back days as part of a five-game losing streak that pushed the Cubs out of first in the NL Central. 

7. Rangers — 27.9–23.1 (.547) ⬆️ 
Biggest Weekly Storyline: The Rangers already have Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford on the IL, and Brandon Nimmo left a game this week with right hamstring tightness. That’s a lot of star power out of Texas’ lineup. 

8. Pirates — 28.3–23.6 (.545) ⬇️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: The Pirates' bullpen is costing them games as the club has the most extra-inning losses in MLB.

9. Marlins — 28.0–25.0 (.528)

Biggest Weekly Storyline: Top pitching prospect Robby Snelling will miss the rest of the 2026 season after the team announced that he will undergo Tommy John surgery on Friday. 

10. Blue Jays — 26.9–25.1 (.517) ⬆️

Biggest Weekly Storyline: Trey Yesavage has the second-lowest ERA through a pitcher’s first eight regular-season starts as a member of the Blue Jays franchise. His 1.83 ERA only trails Jeff Musselman (1.48 ERA).

11. Diamondbacks — 25.9–25.1 (.508) ⬆️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Corbin Carroll hit a walk-off single on Thursday for the club’s fifth consecutive win. 

12. Guardians — 27.4–26.6 (.507) ⬆️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Cleveland finished off a four-game sweep of the Tigers to further push themselves ahead in the AL Central. 

13. Cardinals — 25.3–25.7 (.496) ⬇️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Dustin May was supposed to provide a veteran presence for the Cardinals' rotation, but he has struggled. On Thursday, he fell apart in the sixth inning and surrendered six hits, a homer, and four earned runs while striking out seven.

14. Twins — 25.6–26.5 (.491) ⬆️

Biggest Weekly Storyline: Minnesota demoted Royce Lewis earlier this week. In 31 games this year, he slashed .163/.261/.279 (540) with only six extra-base hits. However, the team kept rolling with a sweep in Boston.

15. Mariners — 26.0–27.0 (.491) ⬇️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: The Mariners called up top prospect Colt Emerson two months after signing him to a record $95 million contract.

16. Nationals — 26.0–27.0 (.491) ⬇️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: James Wood’s inside-the-park grand slam helped the Nationals defeat the Mets on Tuesday. 

17. Tigers — 25.1–26.9 (.483) ⬇️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: The Tigers have the AL’s fifth-worst playoff odds according to FanGraphs at just over 20%. Luckily, two of the teams below them play in the AL Central (White Sox, Royals).

18. Red Sox — 24.7–26.4 (.483)

Biggest Weekly Storyline: Jarren Duran became the 11th player in Red Sox history to reach 35 career triples and 100 stolen bases, and the first since Carl Yastrzemski.

19. Padres — 23.7–27.3 (.465) ⬆️

Biggest Weekly Storyline: Manny Machado has a -0.2 bWAR in 47 games due to a .178 batting average and a .603 OPS. His 70 OPS+ is the worst of his career by nearly 30 points. 

20. Royals — 23.9–28.1 (.460) ⬇️

Biggest Weekly Storyline: The Royals are giving away runs on the bases. They have been caught stealing 15 times, picked off seven times, and run into outs on the bases 19 times this season.

21. White Sox — 23.3–27.7 (.457) ⬇️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Grant Taylor earned his first save earlier this week. Leading into that game, he had allowed 0 earned runs and struck out 22 over his last 14 innings. 

22. Phillies — 23.7–28.4 (.455) 
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Kyle Schwarber is on pace for 64 home runs and seems like a lock to smash 45 or more in four of his last five seasons. 

23. Athletics — 23.3–28.7 (.448) ⬆️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Luis Severino had a tremendous start this week. He worked seven innings by allowing two earned runs on three hits, with no walks and 10 strikeouts. 

24. Angels — 23.4–29.6 (.442) ⬇️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Stories swirled this week about the deals the Angels turned down for Shohei Ohtani during his final season of team control. Monster deals with the Padres or Rays could have helped the Angels rebuild and look foolish in hindsight.

25. Giants — 22.9–29.1 (.440)  ⬆️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: The Giants were swept by the Diamondbacks and fell to 10 games under .500. 

26. Mets — 22.8–29.2 (.438) ⬇️

Biggest Weekly Storyline: Huascar Brazoban has a 1.78 ERA in 25.1 innings, and his 2.57 xERA is the best on the team.

27. Orioles — 21.5–29.5 (.422)  ⬆️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Jackson Holliday was activated from IL after he underwent surgery for a fractured hamate in his right hand during spring training.

28. Astros — 21.1–32.0 (.397) 
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Lance McCullers Jr. was scratched from his scheduled start on Tuesday and placed on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation. He is now the fourth member of Houston's opening rotation to land on the IL this season.

29. Reds — 20.3–31.8 (.390)  ⬇️
Biggest Weekly Storyline: Chase Burns lowered his ERA to 1.83 after pitching six innings and limiting the Phillies to one earned run. He struck out nine and didn’t walk any. 

30. Rockies — 19.2–33.9 (.362) 
Biggest Weekly Storyline: The Rockies placed closer Victor Vodnik to the injured list with a right elbow injury. The team described the injury as inflammation in the right ulnar nerve.

What storylines stood out this week? Do you agree with the rankings above? Leave a comment and start the discussion.