MLB Power Rankings: Let the turnarounds begin? Which teams have already exorcised their early season demons

I’ve often discussed how frustrating the early parts of an MLB season can be, a fact you know all too well. No matter how hard we tell our inner selves that losing on Opening Day isn’t the end of the world, losing the first series isn’t the end of the world, starting 4-7 isn’t the end of the world, etc., it’s so difficult as a fan who lives and dies with our favorite team every single day to truly, emotionally accept that. It’s just part of what we sign up for as diehard baseball fans. 

Of course, the much less discussed part of the deal is the positive side of watching a sport that plays, basically, daily. In football, the bad taste of a loss will linger for a whole week. In basketball, it’ll sometimes be just 24 hours, but a lot of the time it’ll be a few days. Here in Major League Baseball? Some major damage can be done in a week (just ask the Yankees and Brewers right now), but some serious headway can be made, too. 

The quick turnaround is a thing of beauty when your favorite team pulls it off. Sometimes it lasts through the rest of the season. We could think about the Blue Jays last season, who had a losing record at Memorial Day and ended up awfully close to winning the World Series. I still have that 50-game record from the 2019 Nationals (19-31!) stuck in my head and they finished with a ring. Those are obviously extreme examples, but the point is that a team can get hot on a dime in baseball even after looking miserable to start the season. 

We’ve already seen a bevy of quick turns here in 2026, such as … 

• The Padres were 1-4 and 2-5. They’ve now ripped off wins in eight of their last nine games and sit 10-6. Can’t you just picture a Padres fan after that 2-5 start mockingly telling himself, “boy, I’m sure glad I was excited for this season.” Now they look great.
• The Athletics started the season 0-4 and then 3-7. They are now riding a five-game winning streak — all on the road in New York! — and sit tied for first place in the AL West at 8-7.
• After losing five of their previous six games, the Orioles were 3-6. They’ve now won five of six and sit 8-7. 
• The Diamondbacks were 0-3 and then 3-5. They’ve now won six of eight, though, against the Braves, Mets and Phillies. The D-backs are 9-4 since being swept by the Dodgers to start the season.
• The Twins were 3-6 and have now won six of seven; all seven of those games came against 2025 playoff teams.

Might some teams be in the process of a similar bounce? The Mariners started the season a woeful 4-9, but have won three straight now. The Red Sox started 2-8, but have now won four of five. The Tigers lost five in a row to fall to 4-9, but swept a three-game series over the weekend. 

It can happen awfully quickly. It’s one of the many reasons the regular season in this sport can at times crush your will to live but also give you an extra spring in your step for weeks at a time. There are times you’ll feel like “we’re never gonna win again” and others when the group text is flying high.

It’s April 13. The final day of the regular season is Sept. 27. Buckle up. 

As for the rankings themselves, good luck sorting it all out. Nineteen of the 30 teams are within two games of .500 in either direction. Twenty-four of the 30 teams are within three games of .500. The top spot was easy and I felt like No. 2 and No. 3 were somewhat easy. After that? Break out the dartboard! 

Biggest Movers

Rk	Teams		Chg	Rcrd
1	Dodgers	I understand why people get aggravated with the Dodgers’ spending, but they also develop players with the best of ’em. Take Andy Pages, who was an international signee in 2018 and came up through the system. He’s hitting .429 with a .714 SLG, four doubles, four homers and 17 RBI through 15 games.	—	11-4
2	Braves	I knew the offense would bounce back this year, but the rotation entered the season decimated by injuries. And yet, it’s been one of the best in baseball to this point.	2	10-6
3	Padres	The Padres are winning without Fernando Tatis Jr. hitting for power while Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado have struggled to hit for average. Those three things will all change soon enough.	17	10-6
4	Diamondbacks	How about Michael Soroka? He increased his slurve usage last season and added a cutter this year and looks like an All-Star so far.	8	9-7
5	Guardians	The series loss in Atlanta — which is no great crime — was the first of the year for the Guardians. They haven’t exactly had an easy schedule, either, going to Seattle and L.A. (Dodgers) before hosting the Cubs and Royals.	5	9-7
6	Pirates	Oneil Cruz has long been a lightning rod for discussion because his raw tools are among the best in the majors. He puts everything together for small stretches, but hasn’t yet done so for a full season. So far this year, he’s hitting .339 with an OPS over 1.000, five homers, 13 RBI, six steals and 11 runs in 15 games. Is this the year?	1	9-6
7	Yankees	As alluded to in the intro, that 8-2 start feels like a *LONG* time ago. It was actually just Wednesday afternoon.	5	8-7
8	Brewers	Same comment as the Yankees, except it was Tuesday afternoon for the Brewers.	5	8-7
9	Reds	That comeback win on Tuesday was breathtaking, especially Elly De La Cruz scoring the tying run from third on a wild pitch that the catcher kept in front of him. Then again, the Reds have lost four of five since then.	1	9-7
10	Rangers	Brandon Nimmo has been an absolute machine atop the order, now hitting .367/.433/.600.	7	8-7
11	Athletics	Nick Kurtz was already showing signs of breaking out of his early season funk and then hit a home run on Sunday. Now the A’s return home for a seven-game series. He might get scorching hot.	13	8-7
12	Orioles	Taylor Ward has been excellent so far, hitting .356 with a .968 OPS. Let’s zero in on the 10 doubles, though. That puts him on pace for 108 doubles this season. Yes, that would be a record. Also, Fun Police: Yes, I’m aware he won’t keep up this pace. For those curious, the record is 67 (Earl Webb, 1931 Red Sox).	14	8-7
13	Cubs	Heading into Sunday, Michael Busch was 0 for his last 30. He wasn’t in the starting lineup Sunday (the correct move), but came through with a pinch-hit single to tie the game in the eighth inning. The Cubs walked it off in the ninth. Sometimes that’s all it takes to get a guy going.	1	7-8
14	Rays	The Trop looks great! The Rays are 4-2 so far in their old/new home.	9	8-7
15	Twins	I mentioned last week that the White Sox won’t finish last in the AL Central. The team I have targeted for that spot is these Twins. Give them credit: to this point, they’ve been very good. In fact, they are tied for the best record in the American League! As you can tell from the ranking, no, I don’t believe they are the best team in that league or even close to it. But hey, who knows? This thing sure seems wide open right now.	12	9-7
16	Phillies	Jesús Luzardo in three starts has 26 strikeouts and four walks in 17 ⅓ innings, which helps pave the way for a 2.31 FIP, but his ERA is 6.23. His numbers last year would have looked a lot better if not for a few meltdowns (two horrible ones in particular in back-to-back outings). So far this season, he’s had basically three bad innings ruin his stat line. Is he just always going to be prone to the meltdown?	10	7-8
17	Mets	Losing five straight at home before hitting the road to face the Dodgers and Cubs? That’s far from ideal.	12	7-9
18	Tigers	There will be a time when teams start to try to exploit holes they believe they’ve found in the swing of Kevin McGonigle and the kid will have to adjust to the adjustments. That’s always the true test. He sure looks like a star in the making, though.	5	7-9
19	Mariners	If you look at the numbers so far from Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez and Josh Naylor (spots 2-4 in the lineup) so far, it’s actually pretty encouraging that the Mariners aren’t worse than 7-9.	4	7-9
20	Royals	Even since Carter Jensen was benched for oversleeping, he’s gone 8 for 26 (.308) with a double, three home runs and six RBI. I guess he just needed a wakeup call, huh? (Sorry, I’ll show myself out.)	2	7-9
21	Angels	There was never any question about José Soriano’s stuff. He might well be putting it all together this year at age 27. Through four starts, he’s 4-0 with a 0.33 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 27 innings.	2	8-8
22	Cardinals	The plan for this team comment was to avoid talking about Jordan Walker again. He just wouldn’t let it happen. He now has seven home runs, to lead the majors, in 15 games. The former first-round pick still hasn’t even turned 24 years old.	1	8-7
23	Nationals	Heading into the season, I figured the Nationals would end up being the team in the 30 spot more often than any other. Thus far, they’ve shown themselves to be a feisty bunch. They won two of three in Wrigley, all three in Milwaukee and are 7-5 when they don’t play the best team in baseball. Solid work, Nats.	2	7-8
24	Marlins	The Marlins are now 3-7 since opening 5-1 against the Rockies and White Sox at home. Which side of this is probably more real?	13	8-8
25	Red Sox	In this day and age with so much player movement, you don’t often see hatred for another team the way Willson Contreras has it for the Brewers — especially since his brother plays for them — and I wish we’d see more of it. It’s great entertainment.	5	6-9
26	White Sox	The offense had shown signs of being exciting in the first two weeks of the season. But then from Monday-Saturday last week, it scored eight runs in six games.	4	6-10
27	Rockies	Oh boy, the Road Rockies are back. The Rox are 4-2 at home and 2-8 on the road.	1	6-10
28	Blue Jays	In the month of April, the Blue Jays are 2-8 with a negative-25 run differential.	12	6-9
29	Astros	The Astros have somehow had a five-game winning streak and seven-game losing streak so far. That’s difficult to squeeze into a 16-game sample.	20	6-10
30	Giants	After four years in the minors, catcher Daniel Susac was selected by the Twins in the Rule 5 Draft this past December and then traded to the Giants. So far this season, in the admittedly ultra-tiny sample of 13 plate appearances, he’s been great (.636/.667/.818). That’s fun.	1	6-10

require.config({“baseUrl”:”https://sportsfly.cbsistatic.com/fly-535/bundles/sportsmediajs/js-build”,”config”:{“version”:{“fly/components/accordion”:”1.0″,”fly/components/alert”:”1.0″,”fly/components/base”:”1.0″,”fly/components/carousel”:”1.0″,”fly/components/dropdown”:”1.0″,”fly/components/fixate”:”1.0″,”fly/components/form-validate”:”1.0″,”fly/components/image-gallery”:”1.0″,”fly/components/iframe-messenger”:”1.0″,”fly/components/load-more”:”1.0″,”fly/components/load-more-article”:”1.0″,”fly/components/load-more-scroll”:”1.0″,”fly/components/loading”:”1.0″,”fly/components/modal”:”1.0″,”fly/components/modal-iframe”:”1.0″,”fly/components/network-bar”:”1.0″,”fly/components/poll”:”1.0″,”fly/components/search-player”:”1.0″,”fly/components/social-button”:”1.0″,”fly/components/social-counts”:”1.0″,”fly/components/social-links”:”1.0″,”fly/components/tabs”:”1.0″,”fly/components/video”:”1.0″,”fly/libs/easy-xdm”:”2.4.17.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.cookie”:”1.2″,”fly/libs/jquery.throttle-debounce”:”1.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.widget”:”1.9.2″,”fly/libs/omniture.s-code”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/jquery-mobile-init”:”1.0″,”fly/libs/jquery.mobile”:”1.3.2″,”fly/libs/backbone”:”1.0.0″,”fly/libs/underscore”:”1.5.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.easing”:”1.3″,”fly/managers/ad”:”2.0″,”fly/managers/components”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/cookie”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/debug”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/geo”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/gpt”:”4.3″,”fly/managers/history”:”2.0″,”fly/managers/madison”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/social-authentication”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/data-prefix”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/data-selector”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/function-natives”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/guid”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/log”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/object-helper”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/string-helper”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/string-vars”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/url-helper”:”1.0″,”libs/jshashtable”:”2.1″,”libs/select2″:”3.5.1″,”libs/jsonp”:”2.4.0″,”libs/jquery/mobile”:”1.4.5″,”libs/modernizr.custom”:”2.6.2″,”libs/velocity”:”1.2.2″,”libs/dataTables”:”1.10.6″,”libs/dataTables.fixedColumns”:”3.0.4″,”libs/dataTables.fixedHeader”:”2.1.2″,”libs/dateformat”:”1.0.3″,”libs/waypoints/infinite”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/inview”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/jquery.waypoints”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/sticky”:”3.1.1″,”libs/jquery/dotdotdot”:”1.6.1″,”libs/jquery/flexslider”:”2.1″,”libs/jquery/lazyload”:”1.9.3″,”libs/jquery/maskedinput”:”1.3.1″,”libs/jquery/marquee”:”1.3.1″,”libs/jquery/numberformatter”:”1.2.3″,”libs/jquery/placeholder”:”0.2.4″,”libs/jquery/scrollbar”:”0.1.6″,”libs/jquery/tablesorter”:”2.0.5″,”libs/jquery/touchswipe”:”1.6.18″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.core”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.draggable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.mouse”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.position”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.slider”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.sortable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.touch-punch”:”0.2.3″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.autocomplete”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.accordion”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tabs”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.menu”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.dialog”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.resizable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.button”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tooltip”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.effects”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.datepicker”:”1.11.4″}},”shim”:{“liveconnection/managers/connection”:{“deps”:[“liveconnection/libs/sockjs-0.3.4″]},”liveconnection/libs/sockjs-0.3.4”:{“exports”:”SockJS”},”libs/setValueFromArray”:{“exports”:”set”},”libs/getValueFromArray”:{“exports”:”get”},”fly/libs/jquery.mobile-1.3.2″:[“version!fly/utils/jquery-mobile-init”],”libs/backbone.marionette”:{“deps”:[“jquery”,”version!fly/libs/underscore”,”version!fly/libs/backbone”],”exports”:”Marionette”},”fly/libs/underscore-1.5.1″:{“exports”:”_”},”fly/libs/backbone-1.0.0″:{“deps”:[“version!fly/libs/underscore”,”jquery”],”exports”:”Backbone”},”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tabs-1.11.4″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.core”,”version!fly/libs/jquery.widget”],”libs/jquery/flexslider-2.1″:[“jquery”],”libs/dataTables.fixedColumns-3.0.4″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/dataTables”],”libs/dataTables.fixedHeader-2.1.2″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/dataTables”],”https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/app/VideoPlayer/AdobePass-min.js”:[“https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/util/Utils-min.js”]},”map”:{“*”:{“adobe-pass”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/app/VideoPlayer/AdobePass-min.js”,”facebook”:”https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js”,”facebook-debug”:”https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all/debug.js”,”google”:”https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”,”google-csa”:”https://www.google.com/adsense/search/async-ads.js”,”google-javascript-api”:”https://www.google.com/jsapi”,”google-client-api”:”https://accounts.google.com/gsi/client”,”gpt”:”https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/tag/js/gpt.js”,”hlsjs”:”https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/hls.js/1.0.7/hls.js”,”recaptcha”:”https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?onload=loadRecaptcha&render=explicit”,”recaptcha_ajax”:”https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/js/recaptcha_ajax.js”,”supreme-golf”:”https://sgapps-staging.supremegolf.com/search/assets/js/bundle.js”,”taboola”:”https://cdn.taboola.com/libtrc/cbsinteractive-cbssports/loader.js”,”twitter”:”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”,”video-avia”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.48.0/player/avia.min.js”,”video-avia-ui”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.48.0/plugins/ui/avia.ui.min.js”,”video-avia-gam”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.48.0/plugins/gam/avia.gam.min.js”,”video-avia-hls”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.48.0/plugins/hls/avia.hls.min.js”,”video-avia-playlist”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.48.0/plugins/playlist/avia.playlist.min.js”,”video-ima3″:”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js”,”video-ima3-dai”:”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3_dai.js”,”video-utils”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/util/Utils-min.js”,”video-vast-tracking”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/sb55/vast-js/vtg-vast-client.js”}},”waitSeconds”:300});

Source link