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

The All-Star Game is for everyone, so much so that Major League Baseball goes out of its way to make sure every team is represented. It makes for some occasionally quirky roster decisions, but representing each team is part of the charm.

That said …

Is Juan Soto really representing the New York Mets? When you see Soto in the National League starting lineup next week, are you going to think: Now I know what the Mets are all about! They must have a remarkable approach at the plate!

For this week’s Power Rankings, we’re looking for true representation. One player who gives us a real sense of what each team is all about. For some teams, it might be an All-Star, but — without having read to the bottom just yet — I’m betting we’ve come up with someone other than Bobby Witt Jr. to represent this year’s Kansas City Royals, and if I know Grant Brisbee, he’s going to choose someone other than Logan Webb to capture the essence of the San Francisco Giants.

All stats are through Monday morning unless noted.

Record: 60-32 
Last Power Ranking: 1

Player representative: Shohei Ohtani

They have Shohei Ohtani, and your team doesn’t. The Dodgers are doing plenty right outside of Ohtani, don’t get me wrong. Freddie Freeman is back on his Hall of Fame nonsense after a modestly slow start. Justin Wrobleski is matching Yoshinobu Yamamoto quality start for quality start. But Ohtani is what makes them the Dodgers.

Take a team close to L.A. in these here rankings. The Brewers have a nice team again. A really nice team. But they don’t have Ohtani. Nobody else does. That’s the point. — Grant Brisbee

Record: 56-33 
Last Power Ranking: 2

Player representative: Brice Turang

Not to pick on Ozzie Albies, but more to pick on the All-Star voting results, I have a chart for you, comparing Turang to Albies over the last three years:

Turang Underrated?

PlayerYearbWARfWARRank (NL 2Bs)

2024

4.8

2.6

6th

2024

1.6

1.3

12th*

2025

5.5

4.4

3rd

2025

2.3

1.3

9th

2026

3.5

3.1

3rd

2026

1.8

1.8

8th

Over the course of this timeframe, Turang has won a Gold Glove and a Platinum Glove and finished 14th in NL MVP voting last year. Until this week, Turang and Albies had the same number of All-Star berths since Opening Day 2024: zero.

You could pick any number of Brewers who embody the Fightin’ Pat Murphys in Milwaukee, but the underappreciated middle infielder who didn’t get the national attention he deserved next week feels pretty on the nose for me. — Levi Weaver

Record: 52-37 
Last Power Ranking: 4

Player representative: Michael Harris II

The Braves are sending five players to the All-Star Game — a sign of just how good they’ve been in the first half — but their return to World Series relevance is best captured in one of their All-Star snubs. Harris was National League Rookie of the Year in 2022, back when it seemed the Braves might be on the verge of a dynasty, but his offense slipped the next three years as the Braves underperformed. This year, Harris is hitting like he did as a rookie, and by fWAR he’s back among the best center fielders in baseball. If you’re looking for the Braves’ best player, you probably want Matt Olson or Chris Sale. But the one who best captures their return to the upper echelon of the National League? That’s Harris. — Jennings

Record: 52-36 
Last Power Ranking: 5

Player representative: Bryan Baker

Did you know Baker’s name before this season? Or, better question, do you even know him now? Baker is an All-Star with a 1.83 ERA. (He had a 3.86 career ERA before this season.) He has the second-most saves in baseball — and it’s his first time in the closer role.

He’s been an anchor for a team that leads the American League in wins, and isn’t that the most Rays thing ever? They almost always pitch well, and Drew Rasmussen, Shane McClanahan and Nick Martinez are leading a typically strong Rays rotation. Yandy Díaz can still hit, Junior Caminero is a young stud and Jonathan Aranda was no flash in the pan. The Rays are really good in ways we’ve come to expect from that organization, including an All-Star pitcher you may have never heard of until now. — Jennings 

Record: 50-40 
Last Power Ranking: 3

Player representative: Cody Bellinger

The Yankees are very good — one of the best teams in baseball — but they’ve been awful lately. And that’s Bellinger. An All-Star for the first time since 2019, Bellinger has built upon a strong 2025 season to produce a top-30 fWAR this season, but he entered Monday night’s game hitting just .121 with one RBI in his past 16 games, a stretch during which the Yankees went just 4-12 to fall out of first place in the American League East. They’re still better than most teams in the league and still among the legitimate World Series contenders, but the past few weeks have been ugly. — Jennings

Record: 50-40
Last Power Ranking: 7

Player representative: Pete Crow-Armstrong

As tempting as it was to list double-digit injured pitcher names up there, I’ll take the easy pick here: It’s Crow-Armstrong. The emotional outfielder who is playing at an MVP level has been — as Patrick Mooney put it this week — the “straw that stirs the drink at Wrigley Field.”

Entering play Monday, Crow-Armstrong was hitting .292/.383/.527 (.910 OPS) with 19 home runs, and led all position players with 5.2 bWAR. He’s been the most consistent producer in a lineup that has had to carry the load while pitcher after pitcher cycles through the turnstile of the local arm care ward.

It’s working, too. Even with an entire staff’s worth of pitchers on the IL, the Cubs are in a playoff position. — Weaver

Record: 50-41 
Last Power Ranking: 6

Player representative: Zack Wheeler

The Phillies were so bad in April that they fired their manager. But Wheeler didn’t make his first start until April 25, three days before Rob Thomson was sent packing. Ever since, the Phillies have surged into a wild-card spot and within shouting distance of first place in the NL East. Wheeler’s return from thoracic outlet decompression surgery has been crucial. He’s 8-1 with a 2.36 ERA. Bryson Stott’s offensive bounceback is also emblematic — he had a .534 OPS in April, a .789 in June — but Wheeler better captures the state of this team with an aging core that is unmistakably in win-now mode (and is finally winning the way it expected). — Jennings

Record: 49-42
Last Power Ranking: 9

Player representative: Xavier Edwards

The Marlins are pretty good! They’re not elite, but they came through the weekend tied for the last wild-card spot in the National League. They’re above league average in ERA, runs scored and various defensive metrics. Their All-Stars are shortstop Otto Lopez and starter Max Meyer, but to say either one truly embodies the team would suggest the Marlins are leading their division. Instead, second baseman Edwards gets to the heart of things. Excellent bat for a second baseman. Decent speed. Solid defensive metrics. Edwards is a good player. He’s not an All-Star, but he’s probably better than you expected, just like the Marlins. — Jennings

Record: 47-42
Last Power Ranking: 8

Player representative: Miguel Vargas

Sure, it’s easy to just pick the All-Star. But hear me out: The White Sox should have at least two more. Colson Montgomery leads all shortstops with 23 home runs and AL shortstops with 53 RBIs and a .492 slugging percentage.

Meanwhile, Davis Martin (9-3, 3.08 ERA) also isn’t on the All-Star roster, despite a breakout season that has led the White Sox rotation.

No matter. The White Sox are still in first place in the AL Central, and their young roster looks set up to be good for a while. They’ll get their due eventually. Vargas was just the first one to get the All-Star nod (and deservedly so; he’s been the team’s most valuable player by bWAR, at 3.2). — Weaver

Record: 47-44
Last Power Ranking: 11

Player representative: Logan Gilbert

The Mariners are in first place for some reasons that could be described as “pleasant surprises,” like their dynamic rookie double-play combo or the emergence of Emerson Hancock. The Mariners are also in first place despite a lot of unexpected developments, like the disappearance of Cal Raleigh’s bat, the errancies of Andrés Muñoz or various injuries.

Gilbert is also one of the reasons the Mariners are in first place, but he’s not doing anything differently at all. He’s made 140 starts over the last five seasons, with a 3.37 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 1.9 BB/9 and 9.5 K/9. This season, he has a 3.19 ERA, 3.44 FIP, 1.8 BB/9 and 9.6 K/9. He is, quite possibly, a robot. If so, he’s exactly the kind of robot the Mariners need right now. — Brisbee

Record: 47-41 
Last Power Ranking: 12

Player representative: Michael McGreevy

There is a little bit of Wile E. Coyote to both the Cardinals’ and McGreevy’s success. For much of the year, the Cards were outperforming their Pythagorean won-loss record by a bunch, and McGreevy’s shiny, John Tudor-like ERA hid his musty, Tudor-like strikeout rate. All they had to do was look down, and they’d realize the cliff stopped a long time ago.

The Pythag record is the one that’s moving closer to reality, not the other way around, though — and McGreevy keeps on McGreevin’, with quality start after quality start, strikeouts be damned. Remember that the Looney Tunes analogy up there is incomplete: The vile bird that’s being chased simply never looks down at all. — Brisbee

Record: 46-45
Last Power Ranking: 13

Player representative: Brandon Lowe

If I’m being transparent, this one was difficult because I feel like the Pirates are still figuring out what their identity will be moving forward. The pitching has been pretty good, even as Paul Skenes hits the skids for the first time in his career.

But I went with Lowe because, for the first time in a long time, the Pirates went out and spent a little money last offseason. They signed Marcell Ozuna, Gregory Soto and Ryan O’Hearn, and traded for Jake Mangum, Tyler Callihan, Mason Montgomery and Lowe.

A mixed bag of results, to be sure, but Lowe has been Pittsburgh’s second-most productive hitter, behind Bryan Reynolds, and leads the team with 21 home runs. As a result, the Pirates are — while still not a slam-dunk playoff team — at least within sniffing distance of a postseason position as we approach the trade deadline, and threatening to finish over .500 for the first time since 2015. — Jennings

Record: 47-44
Last Power Ranking: 10

Player representative: Parker Messick

While the Guardians’ offense continues to struggle — Steven Kwan’s 2026 swoon and José Ramírez’s busted-up hamate bone aren’t helping — rookie All-Star Messick has been the latest graduate of the Cleveland pitching factory.

His 7-5 record doesn’t look all that astounding, but a 2.80 ERA and a 9.3 K/9 are not too shabby, particularly for a rookie. In fact, his 2.9 fWAR is better than that of any rookie pitcher in the game this year and trails only the Cardinals’ JJ Wetherholt (3.8) and Tigers’ Kevin McGonigle (3.7) among all rookies in baseball.

Cleveland will almost certainly need to add offense at the deadline this year. The Guardians are in the second wild-card position despite entering play Monday night tied with the Mets for 26th out of 30 teams in runs scored. But if they can sneak into October, Messick and fellow starter Gavin Williams will be central (no pun intended) to their postseason hopes. — Weaver

Record: 45-45
Last Power Ranking: T-14

Player representative: Sam Haggerty

There are players who deserve their flowers at this point in the Rangers’ season — Ezequiel Durán, Josh Jung and All-Star de facto closer Jake Latz are all breaking out in a big way — but the player who best represents the 2026 Rangers is no longer even on the roster.

As a hitter, Haggerty was pretty abysmal, hitting .159 with a .395 OPS. In 10 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, he managed just one RBI, and it came on a seeing-eye ground ball with an exit velocity of 77.5 mph. (The Rangers as a team have a 23.3 percent success rate of scoring with runners in scoring position.)

As a pitcher, however, Haggerty had a sterling 0.00 ERA. In a blowout loss to the Astros in late May, he went hit-by-pitch/fielder’s choice/ground ball double play for a 1-2-3 ninth.

All pitch, no hit, and man, if that’s not the 2026 Texas Rangers, I don’t know what is. — Weaver

Record: 47-45 
Last Power Ranking: 16

Player representative: CJ Abrams

The Nationals lead the majors in runs per game, but only one National League team has a higher ERA. We can capture that idea in their All-Star shortstop, Abrams, who is one of the best-hitting middle infielders in baseball (only Otto Lopez and Kevin McGonigle have a higher wRC+ at shortstop), but he’s also one of the worst defenders in the sport (only Willy Adames and Junior Caminero have a worse OAA). Choosing Abrams probably oversells how good the Nationals have been — they’re right around .500 — but he does get to the heart of how they’ve stayed competitive by overperforming at the plate while underperforming on the mound and in the field. — Jennings

Record: 40-48
Last Power Ranking: 18

Player representative: Caleb Durbin

At the start of last season, the Red Sox had too many third basemen, but in the past 13 months they’ve traded away Rafael Devers, let Alex Bregman walk in free agency and replaced them with Durbin, who, for two months, had the lowest wRC+ of any qualified hitter in baseball. Just a brutal downgrade as the Red Sox were in absolute free fall to start the season.

But since the end of May, Durbin has been one of the better third basemen in baseball (1.4 fWAR, 144 wRC+) and the Red Sox have lately played well (they’ve won eight of their last 10). Durbin still has a 1.0 fWAR for the year, and the Red Sox are still below .500, but there are at least some signs of life. — Jennings

Record: 45-45 
Last Power Ranking: 17

Player representative: Geraldo Perdomo

Perdomo was a fine preseason pick for National League MVP, a flashy, dynamic player who baseballed so much better than everyone else around him. This year, though, he’s been fine. Perfectly fine. The defense is still sparkling, and the bat is close to league average. He’ll stack up nicely in a WAR-off with other shortstops, but he’s not coming close to the MVP at this rate.

So go the Diamondbacks, who are still in something of a postseason chase along with all the other .500-ish teams but aren’t coming close to their full potential. Zac Gallen appears broken, which is a big part of their problem, but up and down the lineup there are players who should be just a little bit better. Perdomo is the king of them all, but only because he should be a lot better.  — Brisbee

Record: 45-48 
Last Power Ranking: 21

Player representative: Peter Lambert

The Houston Astros rotation should be a Superfund site, a wasteland of 15-day IL trips, 60-day IL journeys and generally unpleasant pitching. And it often has been. But throughout it all, the 29-year-old minor-league free agent Lambert has been a steady presence. He was signed in the last week of March, yet the Astros might be buried without him.

Lambert fits as a team representative because of just how unexpectedly OK he’s been, which is how you can describe the Astros as a whole. It’s not as if the team is cruising along effortlessly — it is still under .500 — but is doing enough to stick around, just like Lambert. Their fortunes will likely still be tethered to each other down the stretch. — Brisbee

Record: 40-50
Last Power Ranking: 24

Player representative: Tarik Skubal (but not in the way Tigers fans would have hoped)

The Tigers have made it to the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and appeared poised to run roughshod over an eminently winnable AL Central this year. Instead, Skubal missed time (though not nearly as much as expected) with loose bodies in his pitching elbow, and now Detroit has the third-worst record in an American League full of bad records.

As a result, a Skubal trade at the deadline seems imminent. If so, it will mean the end of a short era of success, as the team tries to reload in time to take advantage of its remaining years with stars such as Riley Greene, Dillon Dingler, Kevin McGonigle and others.

The Tigers aren’t a playoff team this year, and Skubal, because of the time missed, isn’t an All-Star. Those two facts seem pretty inextricably bound. — Weaver

Record: 42-49 
Last Power Ranking: 19

Player representative: Alejandro Kirk

The Blue Jays very nearly won the World Series last year, and they returned enough players — and added enough others — to think they could make a run at a championship again this season. But Kirk, one of the best all-around catchers in baseball, has been hurt most of the year. Addison Barger has played just nine games. Anthony Santander has yet to take an at-bat. Max Scherzer and Cody Ponce have combined to make seven starts. There are bright spots — Louis Varland, Dylan Cease, Ernie Clement — but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hasn’t hit, and the Blue Jays remain well below .500 with a roster that feels perpetually incomplete. — Jennings

Record: 44-47
Last Power Ranking: 22

Player representative: Orlando Arcia

Arcia was having a perfectly OK year. He was hitting .271 in 19 games, worth a smooth 0.0 bWAR, and in mid-June, he was outrighted to Triple A and is just trying to get back to the big leagues. (He’s making a case, hitting over .300 with an OPS north of .900 for St. Paul.)

The Twins aren’t that good. It shouldn’t be this hard to make it back to the big-league roster.

Yes, Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan are All-Stars, and that’s the sort of representation the Twins would rather focus on, I’m sure. But I feel like Arcia is the most accurate microcosm of this season. Minnesota is playing better of late, going 6-4 in its last 10 games, but it’s still struggling to get back to .500 on the season.

The American League isn’t that good. It shouldn’t be this hard to make it back to .500. — Weaver

Record: 44-46 
Last Power Ranking: T-14

Player representative: Xander Bogaerts

Signing Bogaerts — a perennial All-Star at a premium position who had just turned 30 — before the 2023 season was a good idea at the time. He picked up MVP votes in every season, and the Padres were in a win-now mindset that felt almost frenetic. They were going to take the back end of the aging curve to get the dynamic player at the start of the deal.

Here’s the back end of that curve: Bogaerts is hitting .231/.321/.337. His defense at short has been a pleasant surprise, but we’re long past the days when he could be the best position player on his team. So why is he the Padres’ rep? Because according to Baseball-Reference, he’s been the best position player on the Padres this year. That says something about Bogaerts’ defense; it says a lot more about the Padres’ lineup. — Brisbee

Record: 42-49
Last Power Ranking: 23

Player representative: Gunnar Henderson

Three years ago, the Orioles were on the rise, and Henderson was AL Rookie of the Year. Now, the Orioles have lost their momentum, and Henderson is more good than great. He ranks 10th in fWAR among major-league shortstops, and his 96 wRC+ is slightly below league average. Henderson is certainly not a bad player, and the Orioles can occasionally look pretty good — they won three of four to start the month of July — but the upward trajectory of a few years ago has definitely stalled. The Orioles are on track for their second consecutive losing record at a time when their homegrown core was supposed to keep their championship hopes alive. — Jennings

Record: 41-49
Last Power Ranking: 20

Player representative: Jeffrey Springs

The A’s ability to mash has taken some damage lately, with Tyler Soderstrom going on the IL and players like Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker being mostly unhelpful all season. Still, they have some of the best young offensive talent in the game, and if they’re going to make AL West noise, they’ll have the firepower to outscore their opponents.

They’ll have the firepower, but it’s the other part of outscoring their opponents that will be tricky. The A’s are wallowing around the bottom of most pitching rankings, keeping company with teams like the Giants, Rockies and Royals. Springs is the best example of the larger problem: He was reliable until he wasn’t. The lineup will come back around, but the A’s will need pitchers like Springs to come along with them. — Brisbee

Record: 41-48
Last Power Ranking: 25

Player representative: Noelvi Marté

“What an exciting team the Reds have this year,” you might be thinking, assuming you’re reading this back in April. A promising young pitching staff, headed by All-Star Hunter Greene, a potential superstar in Elly De La Cruz, and some of these prospects look like they could be legit.

What went wrong? Pick your poison; there’s a lot to choose from. First-time All-Stars Sal Stewart and Chase Burns have done their part, but Greene has been injured for most of the season (and face-planted in his first start back).

As for the rest? TJ Friedl, Matt McLain, Rece Hinds and the recently DFA’d Will Benson all have sub-.200 batting averages. Same for Marté, who the Reds hoped would have a breakout season. Instead, he’s been worth -0.8 bWAR as the Reds’ offense flails into the second half. — Weaver

Record: 38-53 
Last Power Ranking: 27

Player representative: Marcus Semien

With championship ambition, the Mets radically reworked their roster in the offseason. Out went Pete Alonso, Edwin Díaz, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil, and in came Semien, Bo Bichette, Freddy Peralta and Devin Williams. It’s been an absolute mess, embodied in Semien having the fourth-worst WAR among qualified players in the majors before landing on the IL. Granted, McNeil hasn’t been good, either, and Díaz has been hurt, but the Mets are so much worse than expected. Bichette has underperformed. Peralta’s having a down year. Williams has struggled. Clay Holmes, Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr. have dealt with injuries. The best way to capture it is with a new guy who didn’t play well in the first place and then got hurt. — Jennings

Record: 38-52 
Last Power Ranking: 28

Player representative: Kyle Harrison

No, he’s not on the Giants anymore, but there’s no finer example of the 2026 team. He left in a trade that made sense at the time, but now he’s thriving with a smarter team that knows how to use him better. That’s the Giants, alright. They didn’t look so bad on paper, but they’re a disaster in practice, getting lapped by other organizations in baseball, especially when it comes to developing and refining pitchers.

Harrison also fits as the team’s rep because I can see into the alternate timelines and see how he’d be doing if he were still on the Giants, and it goes something like this: 2-7, 4.81 ERA, 7.2 K/9. He’s not just an example of the players who aren’t on the Giants anymore. He’s a reminder that they haven’t been great at improving the players they already have. — Brisbee

Record: 37-55 
Last Power Ranking: 30

Player representative: TJ Rumfield

Over the offseason, the Rockies’ front office was looking for a way to improve the team. After an intensive search that combined statistics and scouting acumen, they identified Rumfield, a first baseman buried in a deep Yankees system. They traded for him, and he’s been an excellent player for the Rockies all season.

None of that would have happened last year, or the year before that, ad infinitum. It was a move of creativity, a low-risk, high-reward gambit that teams like the Rockies are supposed to take. They’re not going to win the West, and Rumfield isn’t going to win the NL Rookie of the Year, but his mere existence on the team is a positive sign. — Brisbee

Record: 36-55
Last Power Ranking: 26

Player representative: Jo Adell

What are the Angels supposed to do with Adell? Play him, of course, and hope he has a late conversion to stardom, like so many other tooled-up players before him. His 37-homer season in 2025 hinted at so much more, even if it came with a sub-.300 OBP.

Adell has been a replacement-level player this season, just like he’s been for most of his career. Nothing is working. Nothing the Angels touch will ever work. He won’t hit 30 homers again until he’s a part-time player on a championship Dodgers team. Nothing is working, and everything is ruined. All is ash. All is ash.

All the Angels can do, though, is keep playing him. He’s still loaded with talent, you know. Maybe things will start changing around here. Stranger things have happened, ha! — Brisbee

Record: 37-54 
Last Power Ranking: 29

Player representative: Cole Ragans

Chad wasn’t wrong in the intro. Bobby Witt Jr. has been very good, which is not an accurate representation of the Royals as a whole. Instead, we’re going with Ragans.

Why? Because Ragans was an All-Star in 2024, and a huge reason Kansas City surprised the sport and made it to the playoffs. Since then, he has pitched in just 21 games — 13 last year and eight this year — as he battles one injury or another. Even when he was on the mound this year, he was just 1-4 with a 4.84 ERA.

At the end of 2024, the Royals seemed to be a team on the brink of a glow-up. But after a disappointing 2025, this season seems to be more of the same. — Weaver