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.

A month into the season, Major League Baseball has its first 20-win team (the Braves), its first 50-strikeout pitcher (Jacob Misiorowski), and its first fired manager (Alex Cora). There’s a resurgent superstar in Los Angeles (Mike Trout), a rookie sensation in Detroit (Kevin McGonigle) and too many struggling veterans in San Francisco (Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and even Logan Webb). Among the early double-digit home run hitters are a pair of usual suspects (Aaron Judge, Yordan Alvarez) but also include first-year Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, who looks like an excellent find for the White Sox.

The last two teams stuck with single-digit wins were — believe it or not — a pair of preseason playoff favorites: the Mets and Phillies.

It’s still relatively early, but a month is a decent benchmark for taking stock of the early standouts and disappointments, so this week’s Power Rankings look at one statistical leader — good or bad — from each team.

All stats through Monday morning unless otherwise noted.

Record: 20-9
Last Power Ranking: 1

ERA leader (qualified): Justin Wrobleski (1.50)

It’s a known secret that Shohei Ohtani would like to win the Cy Young Award this season. This is because he’s like one of those extraterrestrial hunters in “Predator,” and he’s willing to embarrass hitters and ruin their best-laid offensive plans just to add to his trophy room. Shameful, really.

So it would be extremely comical if Ohtani lost the Cy Young to Wrobleski. Just dream with me a little bit. Imagine a scenario where Wrobleski maintains this pace and goes 29-0, with an ERA under 2.00 and a strikeout rate about where it is now, at about 12 percent. He’d have to get the Cy Young, and it would be an impossibly funny twist from the ol’ baseball gods. It’s much more likely that Ohtani leads the NL in ERA by this time next week, but what’s April for, if not these silly dreams? — Grant Brisbee

Record: 20-9
Last Power Ranking: 2

RBI leader: Matt Olson/Drake Baldwin (25)

The Braves were the first team to 20 wins, and there are so many ways to go when singling out one of their leaders. We could mention Chris Sale, who leads the team (and the majors) with five wins, helping guide a rotation that’s been good and could soon add Spencer Strider. We could also mention the team’s saves leader, Raisel Iglesias, who went on the IL last week only to be replaced by a tremendous backup plan in Robert Suarez, who’s also been excellent. But we’ll single out the one-two punch of Olson and Baldwin, who have led a deep offense that’s been great despite Austin Riley being off to a slow start and Ronald Acuña Jr. running hot and cold. — Chad Jennings

Record: 19-10
Last Power Ranking: 3

OPS leader: Ben Rice (1.183)

Aaron Judge is having another elite season (seventh in the AL in fWAR through the weekend), but it’s first baseman Rice who leads the Yankees in OPS, RBIs, doubles and fWAR. In all of baseball, only Yordan Alvarez entered this week with a higher qualified OPS. Rice was a 12th-round pick out of Dartmouth and never ranked as a top prospect, but he got to the big leagues in 2024, broke out last season, and he’s thrived through the first month of this season. A major problem for the Yankees is that not enough regulars are following Rice’s lead. — Jennings

Record: 17-12
Last Power Ranking: 4

AVG/OBP/SLG and OPS leader (min. 40 PAs): Moisés Ballasteros (.397/.446/.690, 1.136)

I had to include the 40 PAs, because — remarkably — Michael Conforto leads the team with a .469 OBP, but he’s done so in only 32 plate appearances.

If we had set the minimum a bit higher, Ballasteros wouldn’t have qualified either. His usage has been a real point of contention in Chicago, where manager Craig Counsell has limited his rookie’s exposure to left-handed pitching. He’s taken 60 plate appearances against right-handers and just five against southpaws.

Counsell has grown a bit exasperated with all the questions about it, saying last week, “Do you guys want to develop players or do you want to win? Which one do you want?” — Levi Weaver

Record: 16-13
Last Power Ranking: 7

ERA, strikeout leader: Braxton Ashcraft (2.43, 32)
H/9 leader: Paul Skenes (4.3)
HR/9 leader: Carmen Mlodzinski (0.0)

It might be a cop-out to choose three, but I think it illustrates a point: the Pirates’ pitching staff isn’t just Paul Skenes and a list of anonymous hurlers. The two I didn’t mention: Mitch Keller, who was an All-Star as recently as 2023, and Bubba Chandler, who is still just 23 years old and in his rookie season. And oh by the way, Jared Jones is working his way back from Tommy John surgery and beginning a rehab assignment this week.

The Pirates are on the come-up for real, and that rotation is one big reason. (Another one: they finally invested in the offense, which is no longer a flaming pile of haunted old dolls.) — Weaver

Record: 19-9
Last Power Ranking: T-5

FIP leader: Mason Miller (-0.47)

Fernando Tatis Jr. leads the world in baseballs hit harder than 95 mph, which helps take the sting out of his .600-something OPS, if you’re looking for an encouraging stat. Miller is the Padres’ representative, though, because he’s good enough to break math. The whole point of FIP is to be on the same scale as ERA. It’s designed to be a familiar-looking number that means something about run prevention.

His is a negative number, though, because Miller throws hard enough to rupture the space-time continuum. I think the FIP is negative because the fastball went back in time and struck out Mike Devereaux on the 1987 Dodgers. Strikeouts have become boring in baseball … with one exception. Here he is. — Brisbee

Record: 15-14
Last Power Ranking: T-5

bWAR leader: Kevin McGonigle (2.0)

Not two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. Not Gold Glover Dillon Dingler. Not has-homered-in-five-straight-games Spencer Torkelson. Not three-time All-Stars Gleyber Torres or Javier Báez (who also has three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger, though — to be fair — those were a while ago). Not two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger winner Riley Greene, or the guy whose last name (Carpenter) was occasionally replaced with “Bonds” when he was at his peak, since “Kerry” rhymes with “Barry,” (unless you’re British). Not the guy who signed a six-year extension before his MLB debut (Colt Keith).

Nope, it’s McGonigle, who has played 28 big-league games, and is hitting .330/.423/.528 (.951 OPS) with two triples, two home runs, and more walks (16) than strikeouts (15).

Yes, it’s very early in his career to be quite this hyperbolic, but … that’s a heck of a start. — Weaver

Record: 14-15
Last Power Ranking: 9

K/9 leader: MacKenzie Gore (12.2)
OPS leader: Josh Jung (.920)

Sorry, I had to pick two because both are equally important for the Rangers.

First: When the Rangers traded for Gore, it was an example of doubling down on an existing strength. One number that really drives home the point? Gore entered Monday night as the AL leader in K/9, at 12.2, but — depending on how things go Tuesday, he may lose that lead to his own teammate Jacob deGrom, who currently sits at 12.4, but hasn’t yet pitched enough games to qualify for the leaderboard.

But the bigger development might be that Jung seems to finally be having that big breakout season. The eighth pick of the 2019 draft, Jung finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, but has battled injury after injury, struggling to find consistency. He’s been on fire this month. — Weaver

Record: 14-13
Last Power Ranking: 8

K/9 leader: Jacob Misiorowski (14.1)

There are certainly more off-the-beaten-path options here (reliever Aaron Ashby leads the NL with 15 appearances), but taking that option would be like passing up free tickets to see Kendrick Lamar because I wanted to see Rip Randy and the Donkey Boys at my friend Dave’s garage.

It might be easy to set Misiorowski’s greatness aside as early hype after last year’s All-Star situation, but he has been a legit superstar this year. In addition to leading the sport in strikeouts (51), his 14.1 K/9 from a starting pitcher is unheard of. Only once has an ERA-qualifier finished a season with more than 14 K/9, and I’m not sure that should count, since it was Shane Bieber in 2020. The highest in a full season was Gerrit Cole (13.8 K/9 in 2019 with the Astros). — Weaver

Record: 14-16
Last Power Ranking: 11

Blocks per average (per game) leader: Cal Raleigh

Yessir, Raleigh doesn’t just lead the Mariners in blocks per average (per game); he leads the entire AL. He’s always been a fine defensive catcher, and this year is no different. He’s a rock, this guy. Defensively speaking, that is. A real rock. Defensively.

Offensively, well, that’s an uncomfortable topic. Raleigh is both flirting with the Mendoza Line and barely hitting for power, on pace for his first sub.-700 OPS since his rookie season in 2021. The Mariners weren’t expecting him to hit another 60 homers, but another 35 or 40 would be just ducky, and they aren’t going to go very far until he gets back on that pace. — Brisbee

Record: 18-10
Last Power Ranking: 13

bWAR leader: Sal Stewart (1.3)

Stewart also leads the Reds (and, at time of writing, the NL) in RBIs, with 29, and tied with Elly De La Cruz for the team lead in home runs (9). The 22-year-old rookie has been an absolute sensation in Cincinnati and is an early Rookie of the Year favorite, even over fellow NL Central mega-prospect Konnor Griffin.

Making Stewart even more valuable: he can play second and third base. With Nathaniel Lowe going Bonds-mode over the weekend and hitting four home runs in three games (including a walk-off) —  and with Eugenio Suárez recently hitting the IL with an oblique strain — that versatility gives manager Terry Francona more options for lineup construction. — Weaver

Record: 17-11
Last Power Ranking: 14

On-base percentage leader: Yandy Díaz (.425)

After winning a batting crown in 2023, Díaz had a down year in 2024 and got off to a slow start in 2025 (he had a .286 on-base percentage at the end of May), but from June onward, he really found his footing again, and he’s kept going through the first month of this season. Through the weekend, only Yordan Alvarez, Ben Rice and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. were getting on base at a higher pace among qualified batters, and Díaz was also in the top five in the AL in batting average and wRC+. He and Junior Caminero — and generally Jonathan Aranda, who’s been hot and cold — have led a Rays offense that ranks third in the American League in runs per game. — Jennings

Record: 15-12
Last Power Ranking: 10

OPS (and more) leader: Ildemaro Vargas

Oh, you haven’t heard of 31-year-old Vargas, the 10-year veteran who currently leads the NL in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS? Hmm. You’re what we hardcore baseball observers refer to as “a casual,” but that’s OK. You have to start somewhere.

Just kidding, it’s perfectly acceptable to not be aware of Vargas until right now. He’s played 478 games in the majors, but sparingly and almost exclusively in utility roles. He’s been on the Diamondbacks four times – they’ve sold his contract, bought his contract, released him and signed him. And now he’s leading the NL in OPS. It’s not going to last (one of his Baseball-Reference similarity scores is Bill Pecota, the light-hitting infielder who was the tongue-in-cheek inspiration for the statistic), but they’re having a blast with it right now. They should be. — Brisbee

Record: 15-13
Last Power Ranking: 23

Walks leader: Nick Kurtz (30)

The humble base on balls is not the stat Kurtz would prefer to lead the majors in, but he’ll take it, especially since his keen eye was the only thing keeping him afloat during his early struggles. The hits are starting to fall, and it’s only a matter of time before a lot more of them start falling over the fence.

Just missing the cut for the A’s statistical leader: Jacob Wilson, .3 percentage points away from having the highest percentage of swings at pitches out of the strike zone. That explains why his batting average is .278 and his on-base percentage is .282, an incredibly funny combination of numbers. Maybe the A’s should make him room with Kurtz on the road, see if a couple of walks sneak into his suitcase somehow. — Brisbee

Record: 13-15
Last Power Ranking: 16

Strikeout leader: Gunnar Henderson (41)
Home run leader: Gunnar Henderson (9)

Henderson’s strikeout rate is unusually high this season — through the weekend, he led the majors in strikeouts — and his walks are down, but despite not getting on base a ton, he’s remained top 20 in the AL in RBIs and runs. He’s hit for a ton of power, which the Orioles have surprisingly lacked as Pete Alonso is off to a slow start, Adley Rutschman is hurt, and Taylor Ward has hit a ton of doubles with only one homer. Another interesting Orioles leader: three pitchers are tied for the team lead in wins with two — Opening Day starter Trevor Rogers, reliever Rico Garcia (who’s been terrific) and second-year starter Brandon Young (who’s made two starts and won them both). — Jennings

Record: 15-15
Last Power Ranking: 12

Stolen bases leader: José Ramírez (11)

I wanted to write about Parker Messick’s winning percentage (1.000) and ERA (1.76), but these power rankings are written before Monday’s games finish, and Messick was scheduled to start against the Rays. Lemme know how he did! In the meantime, Ramírez just continues to plug away on his Hall of Fame career.

With those 11 steals, he’s up to 298 in his career. He’s also at 291 home runs, meaning at some point this year, he should hit the 300/300 club. Only eight other players have ever done that. But here’s the list of players who have done it with one team:

Willie Mays, end of list. — Weaver

Record: 13-16
Last Power Ranking: 18

Innings pitched: Sandy Alcantara (41 1/3)

It’s a real mixed bag down in Miami, where the Marlins got through the weekend with a perfectly neutral run differential. They’ve been, perhaps, better than expected, but not exactly good. The best bit of news has been the durable success of Alcantara, who came into the week tied for the major-league lead in innings while pitching to a 3.05 ERA (135 ERA+). Max Meyer, Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards have also been good, but Kyle Stowers has been hurt most of the year, Jacob Marsee has hit below .200, and Agustín Ramírez has shown limited power. Come July, though, the Marlins’ season won’t be a total bust as long as Alcantara remains an elite trade chip. — Jennings

Record: 13-16
Last Power Ranking: 17

bWAR leader: Taj Bradley (1.2)

For all the subtractions the Twins have made in the last nine months, Bradley has been a huge addition. Acquired from the Rays for reliever Griffin Jax at last year’s deadline, Bradley is 3-1 for the Twins, with a 2.91 ERA.

In the second half of last year, it did not appear that this trade went all that well for the Twins. Jax pitched in 23 games for the Rays, with more strikeouts than innings pitched and a 3.60 ERA, while Bradley struggled to a 6.61 mark in six starts for Minnesota.

What a difference a year makes. Jax has been better than his numbers would imply (he had one horrendous outing in early April), but Bradley has been the Twins’ best starter and helped them overcome the absence of Pablo López (Tommy John). — Weaver

Record: 12-16
Last Power Ranking: 21

Strikeouts leader: Dylan Cease (44)

If you do a casual search for MLB strikeout leaders, you might assume that Kevin Gausman leads the Blue Jays in Ks (38 strikeouts in 35 innings, a good pace more or less in keeping with his career norms). But the Blue Jays’ real strikeouts leader is Cease, who has fanned 44 in just 25 2/3 innings (which isn’t enough workload to qualify for stats like ERA, and thus his name doesn’t always show up on leaderboards). Cease entered the week tied with Gavin Williams for the most strikeouts in the American League. His strikeout rate is the highest in the majors among pitchers with at least 20 innings (only a handful of relievers have a strikeout rate better than Cease). — Jennings

Record: 12-18
Last Power Ranking: 15

ERA leader: José Soriano (0.24)

The Angels were a game over .500 about three weeks into the season, Mike Trout was looking like a helpful version of his old self and Soriano was unhittable. Cut to 10 days later, and … yeah, that’s pretty much all the same, except the Angels are several games under .500 now. The saying “life comes at you fast” doesn’t apply here; the baseball came slowly, and it was excruciating to watch.

Except when Soriano has been on the mound, of course. He has a 0.24 ERA through six starts, which leads the league, and he’s gotten there by allowing one run in 37 2/3 innings. His adjusted ERA (ERA+) is 1,836, which means he’s been 1,736 percent better than the average pitcher at preventing runs this season. Seems low. — Brisbee

Record: 12-17
Last Power Ranking: 20

Strikeout leader: Trevor Story (37)

The Red Sox have only two lineup regulars — Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu — who got through the weekend with an OPS higher than .753. They have only one starting pitcher — rookie Connelly Early — who started the week with an ERA below 4.00. Roman Anthony has gotten on base but not hit for power, third base acquisition Caleb Durbin is hitting below .200, and veteran shortstop Story has one of the highest strikeout rates (and lowest fWARs) in baseball. It’s a bad mix that most recently left manager Alex Cora and much of his coaching staff without a job. — Jennings

Record: 15-13
Last Power Ranking: 22

Appearances leader: Justin Bruihl (15 games pitched)

I’m not going to besmirch Bruihl, who is from Petaluma, Calif., and gives me an excuse to leave gratuitous links to Peanuts cartoons, but it’s not great for the Cardinals that he’s leading the National League in appearances. He has a walk rate of 6.3 per nine innings pitched, and he has a strikeout rate of 3.8 per nine innings pitched. They’re not even decent ratios if you flip them.

He’s also been unscored upon over his last five appearances, so maybe the Cardinals know what they’re doing, after all. They’re over .500, even if they’ve been outscored on the season, and JJ Wetherholt is turning into a star. Right now, everything’s coming up Fredbird, at least relative to preseason expectations. Let Bruihl keep his scoreless streak going. — Brisbee

Record: 13-15
Last Power Ranking: T-27

OAA to 2B’s left/OAA to 2B’s right: Luis Arraez (2 OAA in each direction)

Baseball loves to throw nonsense at you. Always has. It loves to concuss you when it throws the nonsense, too. Then, after the symptoms subside, you find yourself used to the strangest things, like “Rick Ankiel is an outfielder now” or “Juan Marichal was on the Dodgers,” as if they weren’t ideas put in your head by force.

Anyway, Arraez is currently one of the better defenders in baseball, according to Outs Above Average. It’s not just a fluke, either, as he’s also passing the eyeball test, looking fluid and sharp on both routine plays and tricky double plays alike. I’m not sure if there’s a movement to get Ron Washington in the Hall of Fame yet, but maybe there should be. — Brisbee

Record: 9-19
Last Power Ranking: 19

Earned runs: Taijuan Walker (23)

When the Phillies released Walker last week, he led the majors in earned runs (and he had the highest ERA among pitchers with at least 20 innings). So, is that going to solve the Phillies’ pitching problems? No, because Aaron Nola and Jesús Luzardo are also top 10 in earned runs (21 apiece), and the staff as a whole ranks 28th in the majors in ERA.

That would be problem enough for the Phillies, but their lineup — outside of Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh — is also radically underperforming expectations. Alec Bohm has the lowest wRC+ in the majors among qualified hitters (16), but Bryson Stott has also been stunningly unproductive (four runs, four RBIs, 51 wRC+). If only Cristopher Sánchez could pitch every day.  — Jennings

Record: 11-17
Last Power Ranking: T-27

Home runs allowed leader: Cole Ragans (7)

I tried to find relevant team leaders who were doing good things, but it’s pretty concerning that Ragans has been allowing 2.3 HR/9 for the Royals this year. Remember: He finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2024, looking like the trade-steal of the decade after Kansas City acquired him from Texas for Aroldis Chapman in 2023.

But the southpaw was limited to 13 starts last year, thanks to injuries (groin strain, rotator cuff strain). The hope was that he’d be back to 100 percent and lead the Royals’ rotation this year. Instead, he’s 1-4 with an ERA of 5.00 and a FIP (6.05) and WHIP (1.481) that suggest it’s not just bad luck. — Weaver

Record: 13-16
Last Power Ranking: 24

NL home run leader: James Wood (10)

When he homered in three straight games last week, Wood became the third player to reach double-digit home runs this season. He came into this week as the NL leader in homers and walks (and strikeouts) while ranking second in runs and fifth in wRC+. He’s great. CJ Abrams has also been good, and Foster Griffin looks like a nice find in the rotation. It’s given the Nationals a good amount of high-end impact, but the rest of the team has been more or less what you’d expect: some useful role players, but not nearly enough to keep them above .500. — Jennings

Record: 9-19
Last Power Ranking: 25

Slugging percentage leader: Francisco Alvarez (.427)

Among qualified hitters, Alvarez is the only Mets player who ranks in the top 130 in the majors in slugging percentage (and even he ranks outside of the top 70). Juan Soto would crack the top 100 if he had enough at-bats to qualify, but even he isn’t crushing the ball. Alvarez and Soto are the only Mets hitters with more than 25 at-bats and an OPS+ above league average. The rest of the lineup has been a mess (Alvarez was their only hitter to enter this week with more than two home runs). The pitching has been middle-of-the-pack in ERA, with Nolan McLean looking like a legitimate ace, but the Mets’ offense has the lowest wRC+ in the majors, which explains their rapid fall down our Power Rankings. — Jennings

Record: 11-18
Last Power Ranking: 26

Everything leader: Yordan Alvarez

As of Monday morning, Alvarez led all of baseball in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+, total bases, hits and home runs. He leads only the American League in RBI, so there’s still work for him to do.

On Aug. 31 last season, an injury-compromised Alvarez was hitting .219/.336/.360, which looks more like middle-infielder numbers. Would he ever be the same again? The answer was hazy once upon a time. Now it looks like he’ll resume his career as one of the best left-handed hitters of his generation. Sometimes it really is an injury that’s the only problem with a player. — Brisbee

Record: 13-16
Last Power Ranking: T-27

Runs saved with ABS leader: Hunter Goodman (2.3)

One of the Rockies’ best organizational developments continues to be Goodman, who was a first-time All-Star last year. He’s putting up even stronger offensive and defensive numbers this year, but he’s the team representative for a reason that’s almost as impressive: He’s saving more runs than any other catcher with ABS reviews. He’s called for 22 reviews, and he’s won a strike in 17 of them. And according to FanGraphs, which keeps track of this stuff because of course it does, that’s saved his pitchers about 2.3 runs.

The dingers and plus defense might get him back to the All-Star Game, but the ABS challenges will be entertaining to watch. If it’s a skill — a repeatable one that seems to follow players around, from season to season — it will change everything about how we evaluate catchers. Fingers crossed, sounds like fun. — Brisbee

Record: 12-17
Last Power Ranking: 29

Home run leader: Munetaka Murakami (11)
Strikeout leader: Munetaka Murakami (41)

Before Murakami came stateside, his scouting report was, and I’m paraphrasing here, “He’s going to hit dingers and he’s going to strike out.” Well, he currently leads the AL in strikeouts and the whole dang sport in home runs. Good job, scouts. You nailed this one.

With 11 home runs in 122 plate appearances, Murakami is on pace for (we can do that legitimately now, right? April’s almost over? OK, I’m just gonna go for it) … 54 home runs. (Editor’s note: Murakami hit home run No. 12 in Chicago’s delayed nightcap.)

The last member of the White Sox to hit over 50 home runs was … nobody. Albert Belle holds the franchise record, with 49 in 1998. While I was looking this up, I found a good trivia question: In 1993, Frank Thomas became the first member of the White Sox to hit more than 40 home runs in a season. Who held the record previously?

(There’s really no good place to hide the answer since we’re at the bottom of this article, so here ya go: It was 37, set by Dick Allen in 1972 and later tied by Carlton Fisk in 1985.) — Weaver