We've officially arrived at the quarter-turn of the 2024 Major League Baseball season and the MLB power rankings are starting to get much more murky. Head-to-heads, recent results, and overall records all tell different stories, and that could lead even the most seasoned of ranking specialists to rank the top teams a variety of different ways.
Yet here at ClutchPoints, we simply cannot get last weekend out of our heads. That's why the Los Angeles Dodgers remain number one, even though they dropped their most recent series against the San Diego Padres. That led to another first for this season: nothing changed in the top five. Beneath that, though, essentially nothing stayed the same, so stick around for the real chaos as the list moves along.
Where did your team end up in this week's MLB power rankings? Read on to find out!
1. Los Angeles Dodgers (no change)
Yes, the Dodgers have lost two of their last three games, but before that, they'd won seven in a row. They still have a 5.5-game lead in the NL West as well, which is by far the largest margin for any division leader in baseball. And it's also patently absurd that Teoscar Hernandez is now up to 11 home runs on the season, yet is still clearly L.A.'s sixth-best hitter.
2. Baltimore Orioles (no change)
The Orioles were blown out on Sunday in their series finale against the Diamondbacks, but that's about the only thing they have to frown about. They haven't lost a series since April 13, have taken control of the American League's best record, and are still getting outstanding contributions from the entire lineup. Plus, they've officially got the coolest owner in the league, as proven by Friday night's display in the left field bleachers.
3. Philadelphia Phillies (no change)
It took ten innings for the Phillies to finally lose a game against the lowly Marlins, but they still took care of the series thanks to a preponderance of offense. Ranger Suarez tossed another gem this week to become the first MLB pitcher to seven wins this season. And Bryce Harper continued his home run tear earlier on in the week, which the team will need to rely on with Trea Turner still out another month at least.
4. Atlanta Braves (no change)
The Braves were two outs away from sweeping the week before Brandon Nimmo rocked A.J. Minter into the bullpen at Citi Field to steal the Sunday finale away from Atlanta. Seeing Matt Olson homer had to put a smile on Braves fans' faces, though losing Austin Riley Sunday night might have turned some of those smiles into frowns. And maybe Ronald Acuña Jr. getting picked off twice in a game was inevitable at some point, so now he's at least gotten it out of the way.
5. New York Yankees (no change)
Not only did the Yankees win a series at Tropicana Field this weekend, but they showed tremendous resolve in doing so. On the verge of blowing a 6-0 lead, Luke Weaver managed to keep the game 6-5 in New York's favor with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh. Then Gleyber Torres and Jose Trevino went deep and the Yanks had their seventh win in the past nine games. Oh, and Aaron Judge is now fully out of his slump, by the way.
6. Minnesota Twins (+3)
The Twins just keep on rising up the MLB power rankings. They've now won 17 of their last 20 and thanks to Carlos Santana's clutch bomb in Toronto, they've taken their last six series. The rotation has four legitimate stoppers at the moment and there are a bunch of other hitters going bananas, Max Kepler chiefly among them. They're a tier below the teams above them, but perhaps not for long if they keep winning everything.
7. Chicago Cubs (-1)
A 3-3 week wasn't the ideal result for the Cubs, but it's still nice to see Justin Steele back on the mound. Between Steele, Javier Assad and Hayden Wesneski, the Cubs have a solid foundation in the rotation behind Shota Imanaga, who now qualifies for the MLB ERA lead at 1.08. Dansby Swanson's injury is a concern to keep an eye on, as well.
8. Milwaukee Brewers (no change)
The Brewers nearly had a four-game sweep in their grasp, before Cardinals manager Oli Marmol shockingly managed to give his team some momentum with an ejection that sparked a late rally. But the Brew Crew did what they had to do at home against a last-place opponent and now they'll need to do the same against the Pirates to climb the 2024 MLB power rankings. It wouldn't hurt if Rhys Hoskins kept hitting clutch dingers, either.
9. Cleveland Guardians (-2)
We'll keep the Guardians above the Royals in the MLB power rankings by virtue of being in first place, but that goodwill won't last forever. Losing a series to the 2024 Chicago White Sox is never a good look, but the Guardians at least managed to avoid a sweep with a 7-0 beatdown on Sunday. It's clear the Guards are sorely missing Steven Kwan, who is likely to miss another three weeks with a hamstring strain.
10. Kansas City Royals (+2)
Three AL Central teams in the top ten? We must be dreaming! The Royals have continued to play excellent baseball, proving their hot April was anything but a fluke. Seth Lugo took the AL ERA lead after a 12-strikeout masterpiece Sunday and Bobby Witt Jr. became the first AL player to eclipse three WAR on the season. They've closed the gap to half a game at the top of the division, too.
11. Seattle Mariners (-1)
The only thing that matters about the week the Mariners just had is that Julio Rodriguez started hitting the ball hard. He had a home run, a double and three total balls hit 100+ mph in Sunday's series finale against the Athletics. The last two seasons have taught us that as Julio goes, so do the Mariners, so if Seattle wants back into the top ten in the MLB power rankings, Julio had better stay hot.
12. Texas Rangers (-1)
Swept? By the Colorado Rockies, who had yet to even win a series the entire season? Sheesh. The Rangers are really struggling with the bats at the moment and that's not a recipe for success when heading into Coors Field, where you know your pitchers will struggle to keep runs off the board. The only positive sign is that Corey Seager finally had multiple home runs in a week, a trend Texas would love to continue.
13. San Diego Padres (+2)
How do you ingratiate yourself with your new fan base if you're Luis Arraez? You hit a walk-off single in your very first home game, that's how. And between the walk-off, the record crowds and the Sunday shutout, the Padres were having plenty of fun in their marquee showdown with the hated Dodgers over the weekend. This is finally starting to look like a playoff team for the first time since 2022.
14. Boston Red Sox (-1)
The Red Sox seem to really hate hitting with runners in scoring position, but they did juuuuust enough to win the final two games of their weekend set with the Nationals. Rafael Devers had his signature moment of the season thus far with a game-winning double on Saturday and Connor Wong threw out pinch-runner Jacob Young trying to steal to end the game on Sunday. The Sox desperately need to solve the Rays this season and they meet for the first time Monday at Fenway.
15. Tampa Bay Rays (-1)
It's simple math: the Rays only won one game of their series against the Yankees, and it was the game in which they wore the now-infamous City Connect “SkyRay” uniforms. Those unis now have a record of 6-1, but the Rays have to go on the road now, so they can't rely on them for their mojo. What they would love to rely on instead are more home runs from Randy Arozarena and Yandy Diaz.
16. Detroit Tigers (no change)
Detroit's City Connect uniform launch resulted in a series loss against the floundering Astros, so perhaps that's a sign for future uniform designers not to put the city name in size 32 font on the cap and call it a day. Tarik Skubal continued to dominate in the lone win of the weekend and Kerry Carpenter slugged a pair of home runs. But the Tigers are back to .500 for the first time in 2024 and the downward trajectory is threatening to continue.
17. New York Mets (no change)
Guess we don't have to worry too much about Brandon Nimmo's intercostal soreness. Nimmo's two-run walkoff homer against the Braves' A.J. Minter helped the Mets avoid being swept, but they've still continued to hover around .500. Playing a four-game series against the Phillies this week should be a proper test for a team that can't seem to decide if it wants to compete this season.
18. Washington Nationals (no change)
Despite winning a convincing 5-1 decision Friday night, the Nationals essentially handed the series to the Red Sox over the weekend thanks to a slough of blunders on the bases and in the field. Davey Martinez also made the very questionable decision to intentionally walk Tyler O'Neill to pitch to Rafael Devers in a tie game, which backfired immediately. That made the Nats' brief foray over .500 feel like a long-lost dream.
19. Arizona Diamondbacks (+3)
It's never ideal to lose two of three, but the Diamondbacks smoked the Orioles Sunday and were an 11th-inning walk-off away from taking the series from the AL's best team. Combine that with their sweep in Cincinnati early in the week and perhaps fortunes are starting to turn in the desert. It would be great if anyone other than Ketel Marte and Christian Walker could contribute in the batter's box, though.
20. San Francisco Giants (+1)
The Giants managed to win their weekend series and are currently in a fleeting love affair with a pelican who sat on the Oracle Park grass during Saturday's nationally televised 5-1 win. However, even in a Sunday walk-off win, San Francisco's spirits are wounded, thanks to the news that Jung Hoo Lee separated his shoulder and will undergo an MRI on Monday. The offense, which has been struggling all season, will now need to pick up even more of the slack.
21. Toronto Blue Jays (-1)
On the plus side, Alek Manoah looked light-years better Sunday than he did a week ago in his season debut. On the downside, he surrendered a three-run bomb at the last minute on a pitch that frankly wasn't even in a bad location, and the Jays lost another winnable series against a fellow playoff hopeful. And the phrase “playoff hopeful” is revocable if Toronto keeps playing this poorly.
22. Oakland Athletics (-3)
Well, it's not like we expected the A's to be a .500 ballclub for long. They've now lost six out of eight and fallen back to 19-23, which could be the closest they get to a winning record for the rest of the season. But we have to shout out Brent Rooker, who slugged his 10th home run of the season Sunday and raised his OPS to 1.012, which would be third in MLB if he had enough at-bats to qualify.
23. Houston Astros (+2)
The Astros keep on treading water at around 10 games under .500 and at some point, they need to go on an actual hot streak. But Kyle Tucker took over the MLB lead with 13 home runs and Justin Verlander dominated in what could be his last trip to Detroit. It's a nice reminder that for as terrible as they've been all season, the Astros still have far more talent than all the teams surrounding them in the MLB power rankings.
24. Cincinnati Reds (-1)
The eight-game losing streak ended with a Stuart Fairchild inside-the-park home run Friday night, but then the Reds started a new streak by dropping the final two against the Giants. It's become the Elly De La Cruz show in Cincinnati, which would have sounded a lot more fun before the season started than it's turning out to be. The Jonathan Indias and Will Bensons of the world need to figure something out at the plate, and soon.
25. Pittsburgh Pirates (+1)
Paul Skenes looked electric in his debut and then the Pirates did everything they could to ruin his stat line at the end of the day. And even coming back to win Saturday's game after a long rain delay was sullied by the Buccos' extra-innings loss on Sunday, dropping them to 7-18 in their last 25 games. Skenes may be a future superstar, but he's going to have to be the literal Messiah to turn the Pirates' fortunes around in 2024.
26. St. Louis Cardinals (-2)
Paul Goldschmidt had two hits and a home run on Sunday, ending an 0-32 stretch at long, long last. Still, the Cards dropped three of four in Milwaukee and have quickly played themselves out of any contention for a division crown. It won't be long before the playoffs are out of the question too, at which point Oli Marmol's job security, which he was asked about by reporters even after a win on Sunday, will be nonexistent.
27. Los Angeles Angels (no change)
If the Angels aren't careful, they're going to end up in the conversation for the league's worst record with the three teams below them. But they did win their first series in over a month against the Pirates earlier in the week, so that's… something. There's nothing else positive to say here, so we won't say anything at all.
28. Colorado Rockies (+2)
It's honestly becoming pretty fun to watch the bottom three teams in the MLB power rankings play musical chairs every week. After being the bottom team in the rankings last week, the Rockies rose to the top of the bottom, if you will, thanks to a shocking sweep of the defending World Series champions. But it's not great if it takes a four-game winning streak to raise your winning percentage to a round .300 on the season.
29. Chicago White Sox (no change)
In the immortal words of White Sox play-by-play guy John Schriffen, Southside, stand up! The Pale Hose took a series from the first-place Guardians and closed the gap to just 12.5 games between the two in the AL Central (yikes). It's a good reminder that there is joy in even the most miserable of baseball seasons and who knows, maybe there will be a few more series wins for the Sox moving forward than they've conditioned us to expect.
30. Miami Marlins (-2)
The Marlins are 11-31 at the moment and at one point last season, they were 42-31. There was nothing pretty about their 7-6 victory over the Phillies Sunday, but at least they managed to avoid being swept thanks to Emmanuel Rivera's walk-off single. All that's left to do this season is continue restocking the farm and praying the next rebuild is the one that sticks.
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