MLB Power Rankings: Cardinals have staying power, Padres fading fast

Featured in this week’s MLB Power Rankings, we discuss the unexpected breakouts for Jake Bauers and Jordan Walker, the Padres’ feeble offense, the A’s doing a residency in Las Vegas this week, and Payton Tolle‘s emergence as one of my favorite players.

As a reminder, this article is a combination of current performance and long-term outlook.

Let’s get started!

Note: Rankings are from the morning of Monday, June 8

▶ Check out this week’s SP streamer recommendations from Eric Samulski

1) Atlanta Braves

Last week: 1

Everything is coming up Braves. They were down 2-0 against the Pirates on Sunday before Michael Harris II delivered a go-ahead three-run double in the seventh. Harris was held out of the lineup in consecutive games due to a back issue, but Sunday’s heroics were a good sign. The Braves have won eight out their last 10.

2) Los Angeles Dodgers

Last week: 2

Shohei Ohtani was hitting .233 on May 11. In 23 games since then, he’s put up an insane .419/.510/.721 batting line. He’s delivered multi-hit games in five out of his last six. His season OPS now sits at .939 and he’s also boasting a 0.74 ERA. We’re getting so used to his brilliance that it’s easy to start to get a bit numb to it, but we’re watching history in motion every time he’s on the field. Try to appreciate.

3) Milwaukee Brewers

Last week: 3

This year’s version of the Brewers have reached 40 wins faster than any team in franchise history, which is a crazy sentence to write. They’ve naturally needed some players to exceed expectations for this to happen and nobody stands out more than Jake Bauers. After making some changes to his batting stance, the 30-year-old leads the Brewers with 11 homers and 40 RBI to go along with a stellar .281/.376/.516 batting line.

4) New York Yankees ⬆️

Last week: 5

The Yankees take a jump even with the brutal news that Aaron Judge will be shut down for the next month or so due to the stress fracture in his right rib. Still, Judge made his presence known on Sunday. Jazz Chisholm Jr. went 0-for-3 before switching to the Captain’s bat. The result was appropriate.

5) Tampa Bay Rays ⬇️

Last week: 4

The Rays have finally hit a bit of a wall, dropping 10 out of their last 13 games. They are hitting just .233 as a team during that time, adding to the skepticism over their staying power in the AL East.

6) St. Louis Cardinals ⬆️

Last week: 9

The Cardinals pulled of a three-game sweep of the fading Reds over the weekend while Jordan Walker went 7-for-14 (.500) with two doubles and a homer. Arguably the season’s biggest surprise, Walker is 12th among qualified hitters with a .922 OPS while also sporting 16 homers and 47 RBI across 62 games. The 24-year-old is almost certainly headed to the All-Star Game, but can he be voted in as a starter?

7) Cleveland Guardians ⬇️

Last week: 6

After taking two out of three against the Yankees in New York last week, now the Guardians will face them at home for three to begin the week. Gavin Williams leads the American League in both wins (nine) and strikeouts (94) going into Monday’s outing.

8) Philadelphia Phillies ⬆️

Last week: 13

MLB is often a copycat game, so how soon before others start dousing their entire heads with water? Brandon Marsh has homered in three straight games for the first time in his career and currently leads the majors with a .338 batting average. Mike Petriello of MLB.com recently did a piece breaking down Marsh’s historic success with BABIP in his career, which you should definitely check out if you haven’t already.

9) Chicago White Sox ⬆️

Last week: 10

The White Sox called up Jacob Gonzalez after Munetaka Murakami landed on the IL and he fittingly unleashed this 428-foot blast for his first MLB homer on Saturday.

The power is legit. Gonzalez bashed 19 home runs in just 52 games in Triple-A to start the year before his recent promotion.

10) Seattle Mariners

Last week: 10

The Mariners have cooled down by losing three out of their last four games and they’ll now head on a seven-game East Coast swing with stops in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It’s worth highlighting right-hander Bryce Miller, who hasn’t allowed a run in either of his last two starts. He lines up for an interesting test against the most potent lineup in baseball when he faces the Nationals on Friday.

11) Chicago Cubs

Last week: 11

It’s been bleak overall recently, but Pete Crow-Armstrong has been a completely different hitter since being moved near the top of the lineup. He’s slashing .350/.429/.650 with five homers and 10 RBI over his last 15 games.

12) San Diego Padres ⬇️

Last week: 7

The Padres have lost 11 out of their last 13 as their offense continues to struggle. With Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado hovering around the Mendoza Line, no team has scored fewer runs this season. The Padres are dead-last in the majors with a .214 batting average, but it’s been especially bad recently. They are hitting .195 as a team over their last 34 games.

13) Arizona Diamondbacks ⬆️

Last week: 14

The case for the Diamondbacks making a serious run this year probably included Corbin Burnes coming back and making an impact during the second half. That scenario is in serious doubt right now. Burnes, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, suffered a terse major strain behind his right shoulder and is now unlikely to return until September at the earliest.

14) Pittsburgh Pirates ⬇️

Last week: 12

It was nice to see Brandon Lowe appear as a pinch hitter on Sunday after a scare with his knee during Saturday’s game. Still, it was a tough weekend for the Pirates, as they were swept by the Braves. Also Konnor Griffin doesn’t sound close to returning from his muscle flexor strain.

15) Texas Rangers ⬆️

Last week: 18

The Rangers’ lineup suddenly looks a lot more potent, as Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford made their returns this weekend. Each of them homered, as well.

16) Washington Nationals

Last week: 16

CJ Abrams and James Wood are getting most of the attention nationally, but Luis García Jr. has enjoyed a nice run at the plate in recent weeks. Since returning from a wrist injury, he’s hitting .283 with six homers, 21 RBI, and an .878 OPS over his last 27 games. García homered twice (including a grand slam) and knocked in six runs as the Nats thrashed the Diamondbacks on Friday.

17) Toronto Blue Jays

Last week: 17

The Blue Jays should get Alejandro Kirk back any day now, but Brandon Valenzuela has earned a chance at a role moving forward. He’s homered three times in his last four games and boasts an .822 OPS through 43 games overall.

18) Cincinnati Reds ⬇️

Last week: 15

It’s weird to see a team under .500 in the NL Central. That’s the Reds after they’ve lost eight out of their last 10 games. Elly De La Cruz is missed.

19) Athletics ⬆️

Last week: 20

The Athletics have finally made it to Las Vegas. Okay, not really, but we’ll get a sneak preview this week as the A’s will play six games (hosting the Padres and the Rockies) at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, the home of the team’s Triple-A affiliate. They will be the first MLB regular season games to take place in Las Vegas since 1996. The A’s are set to move to Las Vegas permanently in 2028.

20) Baltimore Orioles ⬇️

Last week: 19

The Orioles had a chance to reach the .500 mark before dropping the final two games against the Blue Jays over the weekend. To be fair, Sunday’s game was a reminder that there are some weird rules about what is considered running in the base path.

21) Miami Marlins ⬆️

Last week: 25

The Marlins’ lack of rotation depth is being exploited right now, but Max Meyer continues to emerge as a front-of-the-rotation starter. Upping the usage of his sweeper has been a game-changer to complement his slider. His .185 batting average against is third-lowest among qualified starters, with only Chase Burns (.185) and Jacob Misiorowski (.150) ahead of him.

22) Minnesota Twins

Last week: 22

Royce Lewis call the call back to the majors this weekend after a red-hot stretch in Triple-A. However, what I care about is the saga surrounding his promotional giveaways.

By the way, Aaron recently left The Athletic so he could continue to cover the Twins independently. Please check out his work and subscribe for comprehensive coverage and analysis on all-things Twins. I’m not just saying that because he helped hire me at Rotoworld some 17 years ago.

23) Houston Astros ⬇️

Last week: 21

As we sit here on June 8, Yordan Alvarez has a real chance at the first Triple Crown in MLB since Miguel Cabrera in 2012. He currently leads the AL in homers (22) and RBI (48) and only the Rays’ Yandy Diaz has a higher batting average. With Aaron Judge out indefinitely, the only thing that might get in the way is Alvarez’s own health.

24) New York Mets

Last week: 24

It has been a troubling first two months for the Mets, but Carson Benge’s progress has been fun to watch. He became the fourth Mets rookie to have five hits and a homer in the same game, joining John Milner (1972), Alex Ochoa (1996), and Pete Alonso (2019). That game from Ochoa was actually a cycle, which I remember well, because I cut the newspaper clipping from the box score and hung it on the wall in my room, convinced he would be a superstar. Maybe Benge can actually be that guy for the Mets?

25) Boston Red Sox ⬇️

Last week: 23

This has been an exasperating first half for Red Sox fans, but at least they get to watch Payton Tolle pitch every fifth day.

In addition to getting it done on the mound, Tolle is already one of the most interesting characters in MLB.

26) Detroit Tigers ⬆️

Last week: 28

Things are looking up here, as the Tigers have won five out of six. Tarik Skubal fired five scoreless innings in a rehab start with High-A West Michigan on Sunday. He’s on track to return Friday against the Guardians to kick off what’s a legitimately important series against their division rivals. If the Tigers can’t climb the standings in a hurry, Skubal could soon become the focus of the upcoming trade deadline.

27) San Francisco Giants ⬇️

Last week: 26

Kneel before the offensive powerhouse that is the Giants. While San Francisco won a low-scoring game in extra innings on Sunday Night Baseball against the Cubs, they scored 30 runs between Thursday and Friday. That’s the most over a two-game stretch since April 30, 1944. May was mostly a month to forget for Matt Chapman, but he’s been an absolute monster so far this month.

28) Kansas City Royals ⬇️

Last week: 27

The Royals have won five out of their last seven, but Bobby Witt Jr. was forced to exit Sunday’s game due to knee soreness. Jac Caglianone also got banged up over the weekend following a collision with the right-field wall.

29) Los Angeles Angels

Last week: 29

Would you believe that the Angels went 6-0 against the Dodgers last season? The Angels were 0-5 against the Dodgers this season before the bottom of their batting order feasted in a historic fashion yesterday.

30) Colorado Rockies

Last week: 30

It’s not easy to be a pitcher on the Rockies, which is why it’s worth giving some serious props to southpaw Kyle Freeland for passing Aaron Cook for the most innings pitched in franchise history. Freeland is 1,313 1/3 innings after his start against the Brewers on Sunday.