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.
Life comes at you fast, and that could not be truer in the world of baseball. A year ago, the Detroit Tigers, behind reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, had the best record in baseball. Right behind them sat the New York Mets.
Elsewhere, the San Francisco Giants were on the verge of a franchise-altering trade with the Boston Red Sox for Rafael Devers, while the Seattle Mariners were nowhere close to the AL West crown, sitting 4 1/2 games back of the Houston Astros.
By season’s end, the Tigers had MLB’s 11th-best record, the Mets missed the playoffs entirely, the Mariners usurped the Astros for the AL West crown, and the Giants finished exactly .500 and two games out of a wild-card spot.
In the spirit of “Take me back Tuesday,” it’s time to look at where every club was at this time last year and what it might show us about where they are now.
All stats through Monday morning unless noted.
Record: 46-27
Last Power Ranking: 2
This time last year: Shohei Ohtani returned to the mound
At this time in 2025, the Dodgers deployed the most overqualified opener of all time. (It’s a short list.) Ohtani pitched the first inning of a win against the San Diego Padres, making his Dodgers pitching debut and his first appearance as a two-way player in 20 months. Naturally, Ohtani also singled, doubled, walked and drove in two runs in that game.
In the past calendar year, Ohtani has …
• posted a 1.81 ERA in 114 2/3 innings
• slashed .283/.407/.581 with 44 homers in 157 games
• claimed his fourth MVP award
• won his second World Series ring
With Ohtani, there’s no telling what he’ll do next. — Stephen J. Nesbitt
Record: 43-27
Last Power Ranking: 4
This time last year: Cam Schlittler had just become a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRider
When it looked so much like the Yankees were merely running it back with a 94-win team from last season, the key differences have emerged because of internal improvement. Ben Rice is now one of the best hitters in the American League, and Schlittler is the Cy Young Award front-runner. This time last year, Schlittler’s last start had been a successful one against the Syracuse Mets (5 1/3 innings, one run, seven strikeouts); by GameScore, that would be below-average for his 2026 major-league season. — Tim Britton
Record: 46-25
Last Power Ranking: 1
This time last year: Chris Sale was about to fracture his rib cage
Last year’s Braves were essentially this year’s Mets — a team that couldn’t get out of its own way during a brutal start to the season. And just at the minute it looked like Atlanta might turn it around (ironically in a three-game sweep of the Mets), Sale suffered a fractured rib cage making a diving stop on a Juan Soto comebacker in the ninth inning of a 5-0 game on June 18. Great play … probably not worth it. Two more wins the following week against the Mets pushed Atlanta within four games of .500; it never got closer. —Britton
Record: 43-26
Last Power Ranking: 3
This time last year: Jacob Misiorowski was only hitting 102 mph
It didn’t take long for The Miz to make his presence felt, as in his debut on June 12, 2025, the lanky right-hander turned in five no-hit innings. His first pitch registered at 100.5 mph, the second-fastest pitch thrown by a Brewer in the pitch-tracking era. That record was broken on the second pitch, when Misiorowski hit 101.8 mph, then three pitches later at 102.2 mph.
A year later, Misiorowski pitched arguably the finest game since Roki Sasaki’s perfect game for NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines in 2022 — a 15-strikeout Maddux.
On the anniversary of his debut, Misiorowski fired 58 fastballs at 100 mph or swifter, 58 of which were 102-plus, and one that touched 104.5, the fastest pitch by a starter in the pitch-tracking era.
“This is not a normal pitcher,” catcher William Contreras said Friday.
He’s right. The Miz is anything but normal. — Johnny Flores Jr.
Record: 41-28
Last Power Ranking: 6
This time last year: In second place, they looked like a playoff team
The point here isn’t a one-to-one comparison between last year’s Rays and this year’s club, which is five games clear of last year’s pace and has several important pieces back from injury. But this time last year, Tampa Bay was comfortably above .500 and with postseason odds surpassing 50 percent. (This year’s team is above 80 percent at the moment, for what it’s worth.) A 7-21 stretch spreading across July wrecked those odds and left the Rays a distant fourth-place finisher in the difficult AL East. It’s a reminder, beyond those issued by the Mets and Tigers, that what feels solid right now might be totally different in 45 days. — Britton
Record: 37-36
Last Power Ranking: 5
This time last year: The Mariners were right where they are now
We all remember where the 2025 Mariners wound up, agonizingly close to the franchise’s first World Series berth, but how many remember when the stretch in late May and early June, when they lost 15 of 21 games and sat a game under .500?
The Mariners were still putting it all together, kind of like this team. The 2026 Mariners are hanging in there, out front in the AL West, but not yet comfortably ahead. Perhaps they can pull away once Cal Raleigh and Brendan Donovan return. — Nesbitt
Record: 39-31
Last Power Ranking: 13
This time last year: Jordan Walker had a .587 OPS
The former first-round pick was on his way to another minus-bWAR season, this one ending at minus-1.7 bWAR and an OPS+ 44 points below league average.
It’d be his second straight clunker of a season, creating real questions about whether Walker had a place on the soon-to-be rebuilding Cardinals.
Flash forward to today, and Walker is tied for the major-league lead in RBIs. That .587 OPS is now .902. He sits in the top 10 in homers (18) after slugging just 11 combined the two seasons prior.
He’s turned his negative bWAR into a positive (3.4 for the year, 0.8 for his career) and an All-Star nomination is a formality at this point. — Flores
Record: 38-32
Last Power Ranking: 11
This time last year: The worst record in the American League
A season after setting the MLB record for the most losses in a single season (121), the White Sox were pacing for an encore at 23-49 on June 15. They’d finish with 102 losses.
Now, the White Sox have a share of first place in the AL Central. At 38-32, they have the third-best record in the AL, up from dead-last a year ago this time. While 100 wins are probably out of the picture, 100 losses are not happening.
Buoyed by a youth movement, the White Sox are pacing towards their first playoff berth since 2021. That’s without catcher Kyle Teel, who’s yet to make his 2026 debut, and slugger Munetaka Murakami, who’s out with a hamstring strain. — Flores
Record: 36-37
Last Power Ranking: 7
This time last year: 11 1/2 games back of a wild-card spot
At 29-44 on June 15, 2025, only the Colorado Rockies had a worse record in the NL. A playoff spot was effectively out of reach before the All-Star break, Paul Skenes’ sophomore season the only thing worth watching.
This year, Pittsburgh has improved on its win total, sitting at 36-37 and just two games out of the NL’s final wild-card spot.
Suffice to say, it’s a new era in Pittsburgh. — Flores
Cristopher Sánchez vs. Jacob Misiorowski
Jayson Stark
Record: 39-33
Last Power Ranking: 10
This time last year: Trea Turner was easily their most valuable position player
By the end of 2025, it was Kyle Schwarber who was an MVP finalist from Philadelphia. But in mid-June, Turner was already a three-win player, combining his usual offensive prowess with an unexpected improvement with the glove. This season, Turner has become one of the biggest short- and long-term question marks for the Phillies. His OPS+ is half what it was a year ago, and his defense is at or below league average at short. There are seven years left on that contract after this one. — Britton
Record: 39-33
Last Power Ranking: 8
This time last year: The AL Central seemed out of reach
Thanks to the Tigers refusing to lose, the Guardians woke up on June 15 staring at a 9 1/2 game deficit in the AL Central.
Then, baseball happened. Specifically, Guardians Baseball.
By season’s end, the Guardians were popping champagne to commemorate their second straight AL Central crown and the comeback of a century.
A year later, such theatrics might be needed again. Though the Guardians have a share of first place with the White Sox and a three-game cushion over the Athletics in wild-card positioning, the club is about to weather some significant time without José Ramírez or Chase DeLauter. — Flores
Record: 38-35
Last Power Ranking: 9
This time last year: The Cubs were in first place
After consecutive 83-win seasons, the Cubs pushed their chips into the middle of the table, swinging a trade for Kyle Tucker, signing Matthew Boyd and Carson Kelly in free agency and opening up a lane for then-top prospect Matt Shaw to break camp with the club.
On June 16, the Cubs had MLB’s third-best record at 44-28, ahead of even the eventual champion Dodgers.
By the end of the season, it was the Brewers who got the last laugh, snatching the division en route to MLB’s best record.
History has a funny way of repeating itself, as the Cubs, who led the NL Central earlier this season, are back in a familiar spot: looking up at Milwaukee. — Flores
Record: 36-37
Last Power Ranking: 18
This time last year: The turnaround was about to start
Miami was 16 games below .500 this time last year. Sandy Alcantara carried an ERA over seven, and Otto López and Xavier Edwards didn’t necessarily look like long-term middle infielders. In the 365 days since, the Marlins are 10 games over .500 with the sixth-best record in the National League. Alcantara has been much better (4.25 ERA) and both López and Edwards are foundational pieces. Taking a narrower look, as of this writing, this year’s Marlins are 10-2 in June, and own the sixth-best third-order winning percentage in the NL for the season — generally a sign of a team that should improve moving forward. — Britton
Record: 38-35
Last Power Ranking: 17
This time last year: Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez were still in charge
It wasn’t until the first week of July that the Nationals fired their long-time GM and manager, embarking on a drastic organizational overhaul when it was clear the post-championship rebuild wasn’t working out. (In fact, this specific day last year, Washington was in the middle of an 11-game losing streak.) Paul Toboni and Blake Butera have righted the ship far faster than anyone could have imagined. That has less to do with the impressive record over .500 in mid-June — since a cursory look through recent Nats history will show they’ve been around this mark before — and more to do with the about-faces done by several hitters in the organization. — Britton
Record: 35-37
Last Power Ranking: 12
This time last year: The bats were in bad shape
That the Rangers were a .500 team at this point last season says a lot about the performance of their pitching staff, because the lineup ranked bottom-five in the majors in each slash-line category and in runs scored. Marcus Semien, Adolis García, Jonah Heim and Jake Burger were at least 20 percent worse than league average by wRC+, and Joc Pederson was significantly worse than that.
This year, the Rangers’ offense ranks slightly below the middle of the major-league pack, but there’s reason to believe the arrow is pointing up. Corey Seager can’t hit .186 forever. Wyatt Langford is healthy and hitting again. There’s enough talent in this lineup to give this rotation a little more run support … right? — Nesbitt
Record: 37-34
Last Power Ranking: 16
This time last year: Manny Machado was in a groove
Lately, the Padres’ third baseman has squared up some balls — encouraging signs suggesting he might pull out of the funk that has him batting .175 and frustrated this season. Still, it has been a sharp dropoff from where Machado was a year ago, when he put together an All-Star first half. On this date in 2025, Machado had an .884 OPS and 11 homers.
Though Machado has more homers (12) so far this season than he had at the same point last year, he’d trade that in a heartbeat for the .316/.375/.509 slash line he had back then. The Padres remain on the fringe of the way-too-early playoff picture while waiting for Jackson Merrill, Xander Bogaerts and Machado to find their footing. — Nesbitt
Record: 37-35
Last Power Ranking: 14
This time last year: Corbin Burnes had surgery
Last year, in his first season with the D-Backs after signing a six-year, $210 million deal, Burnes was cruising into the summer months. He had a 2.66 ERA when he exited in the fifth inning of his June 2 start with elbow tightness. Then came Tommy John surgery. Burnes has been rehabbing ever since.
This year, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner was tracking toward an August return before he strained his teres major and shut down his throwing progression earlier this month. Burnes is now not expected to return until September. If Arizona can stay in the hunt, a healthy Burnes would provide a splendid late-season boost. — Nesbitt
Record: 34-38
Last Power Ranking: 15
This time last year: We were also wondering what was up with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The Blue Jays kicked their 2025 season into another gear with a 10-game winning streak in late June. That propelled them into first place and eventually toward an American League pennant. Guerrero, after a slow start that saw him with only eight homers in mid-June, was (obviously) a significant driver of that surge, with a .300 average and .500 slug the rest of the season. Guerrero’s start this season is even slower; he’s got just three long balls and 15 extra-base hits in close to 300 plate appearances. He’s generally played his best in the summer months, but he — and the Jays overall — have some catching up to do. — Britton
Record: 32-40
Last Power Ranking: 19
This time last year: David Stearns was a genius
The Mets might as well have inspired this whole exercise. They woke up June 13 last year with the best record in baseball — not just for the 2025 season but over the previous 365 days, since embarking on their Grimace-inspired 2024 turnaround. But apparently, Grimace delivered more of a Faustian bargain: In the last year, the Mets have the fifth-worst record in baseball at 69-93. Basically, nothing that Stearns has done — including last year’s well-regarded trade deadline and this past winter’s more critically viewed overhaul of the lineup — has gone according to plan. This was a playoffs-or-bust year for a lot of people in the Mets organization. We’re close to finding out just how many. —Britton
Record: 29-40
Last Power Ranking: 22
This time last year: They had yet to also lose the Rafael Devers trade
The shocking Devers trade happened a year ago Monday, and it has become a rare big-time lose/lose deal. (Except if you’re the Brewers, who consistently win three-team trades they join in ancillary or even belated fashion.) Moving on from Devers’ contract has only looked wiser in retrospect. But Boston has not wisely or efficiently reinvested that money into the team, with the exception of the offseason trade for Willson Contreras to play first base. The trade opened the door for Boston’s prospects; none have flourished. It provided a long-term home for Alex Bregman; he’s a Cub. It was to provide the Red Sox with even more young talent in Kyle Harrison and James Tibbs III. They were turned into Caleb Durbin (hitting below .200) and Dustin May (figuring it out, but as a Cardinal). — Britton
Record: 34-39
Last Power Ranking: 21
This time last year: You could argue the rough start was an aberration
The Orioles’ woeful start to 2025 cost Brandon Hyde his job and the team any legitimate chance at contending for the postseason last year. But by this point in the season, especially after a 10-4 stretch that featured better all-around play, you could maybe consider that horrible May a one-off — that this was still one of the better teams in the American League when healthy, and one that would benefit greatly from a big move or two in the winter. In the year since then, Baltimore is six games under .500 and 10th in the AL. The Orioles made those big moves in signing Pete Alonso and trading for and extending Shane Baz. They’re still waiting on consistency from Colton Cowser, Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo. — Britton
Record: 36-36
Last Power Ranking: 20
This time last year: Nick Kurtz caught fire
The eventual AL Rookie of the Year wasn’t on the radar of most casual fans yet. He was batting .225 with five homers after a month and a half in the majors. Then, on June 15, 2025, in Kansas City, Kurtz smacked a go-ahead homer off then-Royals closer Carlos Estévez. He unlocked something.
Kurtz was scorching hot the rest of the season, batting .314/.416/.696 with 31 homers, including a four-homer night, in the remaining 85 games. He hasn’t slowed so far this season, either. He tied the A’s on-base streak, has 16 homers and now leads the majors in both walks and on-base percentage. — Nesbitt
Record: 33-41
Last Power Ranking: 23
This time last year: Yordan Alvarez had a fracture, actually
What a relief it would’ve been for Astros fans a year ago to know that in mid-June 2026 Alvarez would lead the league in hits, homers, RBIs, batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, total bases and intentional walks. He’s a force and, finally, fully healthy.
Last May, after playing through pain in his right hand, a slumping Alvarez was sidelined with what the team described as a muscle strain. A month later, a misdiagnosis was discovered: Alvarez had a small fracture. He returned to the lineup in late August and batted .369/.462/.569 over 19 games before suffering a significant ankle sprain. That’s why this season Alvarez might appreciate one stat more than the others: He’s played in 72 of 73 games. — Nesbitt
Record: 30-42
Last Power Ranking: 25
This time last year: The toast of MLB
If there’s one MLB squad learning just how quickly things can change in a year, it’s these Tigers. A year ago, Detroit had MLB’s best record at 46-27, its roster inching closer to having the most All-Stars (six) at the Midsummer Classic and ace Tarik Skubal putting together another Cy Young Award-winning resume.
Though things didn’t end that way, with the Tigers ultimately conceding the AL Central to the Guardians and finishing with baseball’s 11th-best mark, Detroit would take that over its current predicament.
As it stands, the 2026 Tigers are closer to the Colorado Rockies than they are to the Atlanta Braves, owners of MLB’s best mark entering play on Monday. Injuries have absolutely ravaged Detroit’s roster, and yet, with the AL likely to have one team at .500 or under in the postseason, there’s still hope. — Flores
Record: 34-40
Last Power Ranking: 24
This time last year: Threading the needle
On June 15, the Twins were 36-35, just a half-game out of the AL’s third wild-card spot. Little did we (and they) know that things would slide, with the club executing a massive fire sale at the trade deadline — one that would see 10 players traded from the major-league roster.
Nearly a year removed from the deadline ouster, the Twins are in an almost familiar spot. Though they’re seven games under .500, just three games separate Minnesota from a wild-card spot. Its 33-40 record is better than that of the Tigers and Royals, two teams expected to contend in 2026. — Flores
Record: 34-37
Last Power Ranking: 26
This time last year: The seeds were being sown for a late run
Under “first-year” manager Terry Francona, the Reds had just gone 7-3 over their most recent 10 games on June 15, winning consecutive series against the Tigers, Guardians and Diamondbacks.
That type of clutch performance, coupled with a Mets collapse of epic proportions, would pave the way for Cincinnati’s first playoff berth in a full season since 2013.
A season later, the Reds have dropped five straight series and 12 of their past 16. And still, thanks to an early run, the club is just around four games under .500. Things could turn around soon, with Emilio Pagan and Pierce Johnson gearing up for returns to shore up the bullpen, ace Hunter Greene getting set to start a rehab assignment, and Elly De La Cruz increasing his baseball activities. — Flores
Record: 29-43
Last Power Ranking: 27
This time last year: The Giants were a top-10 team … and adding
San Francisco was on a tear at the time Buster Posey acquired Devers from the Red Sox on June 15 last year. The Giants had won eight of their previous 10 games and had snuck within two games of the first-place Dodgers. They ranked seventh in our power rankings.
The Devers deal has been a dud — for both sides. In 162 games for San Francisco, Devers has batted .235 with a 113 wRC+ and 1.3 fWAR. The 2025 Giants fell apart in July and wound up with a .500 record, which sounds great compared to where they find themselves today. — Nesbitt
Record: 29-43
Last Power Ranking: 29
This time last year: Ron Washington managed his last Angels game
A year ago this week, the Angels took three of four from the Yankees in the Bronx. They were 36-38. After the road trip, Washington, then 73, stepped aside from his managerial duties indefinitely before undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery. The Angels went 36-52 the rest of the way, under interim manager Ray Montgomery.
Despite Mike Trout’s strong start to the season and strong stretches from starters José Soriano, Reid Detmers and Walbert Ureña, the Angels have had a worse first half this season with first-year manager Kurt Suzuki at the helm. Meanwhile, Washington is back on the field as the Giants’ infield coach. — Nesbitt
Record: 29-44
Last Power Ranking: 28
This time last year: Bobby Witt Jr. was baseball’s ninth-best player
With 3.0 fWAR in 72 games, Witt found himself ranked No. 9 on FanGraphs’ WAR charts, behind the likes of Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and Shohei Ohtani.
Today?
First place at 3.9 fWAR in 71 games.
With Judge on the IL, it’s a two-man race to MVP between Witt and Houston’s Yordan Alvarez. If Witt has his way, he’ll be Kansas City’s second player ever to win the year-end award.
For now, he’s pacing toward a third-straight All-Star appearance for a Royals team that has not had much go right for it over the past two seasons. — Flores
Record: 27-46
Last Power Ranking: 30
This time last year: The Rox were sizzlin’ hot
Bet you didn’t expect an upbeat blurb about the Rockies. A year ago, they won four games in a row and nearly won a fifth!
Before the streak, Colorado was on pace to destroy MLB’s single-season loss record; their .186 winning percentage was well behind the 2024 White Sox’s .253. This win streak all but closed the gap, even as the Nats’ James Wood ended it with an 11th-inning walk-off homer. It matched the Rockies’ longest winning streak of the 2025 season. They did it again in August. Then they went 7-30 the rest of the way. Still, the Rockies “only” lost 119 games. Sorry, Sox! — Nesbitt