The pre-spring training power rankings ran last week. While we’d like to have power rankings every single Monday whenever Major League Baseball is being played, there’s no reason to keep churning out an earnest 1-30 ranking of every team during the spring. That means we can have a little fun with some top 10 lists that serve as power rankings here for the next five weeks.
We’ll start with the top offenses in baseball. As always, these are subjective. We’ll look some at last season, sure, but there was plenty of offseason player movement and things change year to year.
For example, did you know the Diamondbacks led the majors in runs scored last season? They did this despite an abysmal first half from young star Corbin Carroll. Who could have possibly predicted the D-backs would have the best offense in baseball with Carroll being terrible for months? It wasn’t even all that close, as they had 44 more runs than the team in second, which was the Dodgers (that one’s less of a surprise).
How will it shake out this year? I’ll break out my crystal ball, which has certainly failed me at times in the past but has also come through on many occasions.
Here are the top 10 offenses in Major League Baseball for the 2025 season.
Honorable mention: San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros
Believe it or not, the Cubs were 12th in runs scored last season. This was with Dansby Swanson having a miserable start to the year and the Cubs having gotten very little from catcher and third base. Behind the plate still looks like it could be an issue, though there were some strides late in the season from Miguel Amaya. Things seem to have locked in for Pete Crow-Armstrong in the last few months, too.
The big change, though, is bringing in Kyle Tucker instead of Cody Bellinger. Bellinger hit .266/.325/.426 (111 OPS+) last year. Tucker hit .289/.409/.585 (181 OPS+). It was in only 78 games, but he looked to be putting up his career year. Even if he reverted simply to his 2023 numbers,.284/.369/.517 (142 OPS+) would still be a big upgrade.
Ian Happ, Tucker and Seiya Suzuki form a very 1-2-3 in the lineup before Michael Busch and Swanson. An X-factor here is rookie Matt Shaw. If he isn’t ready, the Cubs are still struggling for third base help. If he breaks out, though, that’s a major plus.
9. Arizona Diamondbacks
As noted in the intro, the D-backs led the majors in runs scored last season and that was with Carroll hitting just .213/.301/.334 before the All-Star break. He slashed .259/.351/.568 in the second half, giving me a lot of confidence that the bad half was just a blip for the very talented 24 year old. Ketel Marte is still in his prime and coming off a third-place finish in MVP voting, so the Snakes have one of the better offensive duos in baseball. We saw it on display in the 2023 postseason when they won the NL pennant.
Now, Arizona did lose Joc Pederson and Christian Walker, but Josh Naylor replaces Walker and there shouldn’t be a ton of difference there (Walker had a 121 OPS+ last season while Naylor’s was 118).
The supporting cast remains strong with Eugenio Suárez coming off another 30-homer season and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. remaining productive. Perhaps Pavin Smith keeps crushing the ball with increased playing time in the stead of Pederson.
There’s also the chance that young catcher Gabriel Moreno takes a step forward and let’s not forget about prospect Jordan Lawlar, who had injury cost him nearly all of 2024.
The Red Sox finished ninth in runs scored last season and they look to be better this time around, meaning it’s possible this ranking is too low.
Jarren Duran emerged last season as a true fill-every-category stat guy on offense with 191 hits, 48 doubles, 14 triples, 21 homers, 75 RBI, 111 runs and 34 steals, leading the majors in doubles and triples. Rafael Devers is a mid-prime star. Wilyer Abreu looks like a player to take another step forward while Ceddanne Rafaela is a breakout possibility. Triston Casas might be a bigger breakout candidate, too. A full season of Trevor Story and the addition of Alex Bregman not only add to the potential power here, but help offset the loss of Tyler O’Neill’s 31 homers. Connor Wong is a quality-hitting catcher, too.
There’s an awful lot to upside here, but it’s a well-rounded offense as well. They can hit home runs, steal bases and post a quality on-base percentage.
Much like the Braves, this is a bounce-back/upside ranking. The Rangers were among the best offenses in baseball in 2023, winning the World Series. They finished 18th in runs last season, but so much went wrong.
Marcus Semien took a big step back on a rate basis, hitting only .237 with a 100 OPS+. Rookie Wyatt Langford got his feet wet and had several big spurts, but he’s talented enough to move the needle even further. Evan Carter had a lost season. Josh Jung was hurt for most of the year. Adolis García, at age 31, lost 152 points off his OPS and surely bounces back.
The Rangers also signed Joc Pederson to DH against righties and he hit .281/.392/.531 with 22 homers in 335 at-bats against them last year. Jake Burger was also signed. He hit 29 homers last year and appears slotted for eighth in the lineup.
Corey Seager is still young enough to play like an MVP candidate, too.
I’m buying a major Rangers upswing.
The Orioles were fourth in runs last season and, despite losing 44 homers and 102 RBI from the departing Anthony Santander, there’s actually room for improvement.
What happened to Adley Rutschman in the second half, for example? He hit .207/.282/.303 after the All-Star break and he’s definitely better than that. Jordan Westburg was having a breakout season, but injury held him to 107 games. Jackson Holliday is amazingly talented, but only hit .189/.255/.311 in his first MLB season at age 20. He’s capable of much better now having gotten a few glimpses at The Show. Colton Cowser won Rookie of the Year and provides nice power in the middle and maybe Heston Kjerstad and/or Coby Mayo provide major contributions this year.
The Orioles will attempt to replace some of Santander’s production with Tyler O’Neill, who hit 31 homers in 411 at-bats last season and hit 34 in 2021.
And, of course, the catalyst for everything is MVP candidate Gunnar Henderson, who enters his age 24 season as a bona fide superstar.
There’s an awful lot of talent here. If anything, they are ranked too low.
The Phillies look like a rag-tag group of power hitters at times — and they have plenty of power potential — but did you know they had four players with at least 19 stolen bases last year? They can get you in multiple ways. They were fifth in runs last year and return all the major players. Bryce Harper is capable of winning his third MVP and Trea Turner has finished as high as fifth in MVP voting. Kyle Schwarber is one of the best raw power hitters in baseball and also rocks a very nice OBP. Several of the others, namely Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott, struggle with consistency but have plenty of upside.
There’s enough here to repeat that top-five offense from a year ago.
The Yankees ranked third in runs last year, but they also let Soto walk. The offense needs to replace a player who had a 178 OPS+ with 128 runs and 109 RBI. That’s a tall order.
The Yankees, of course, still have Aaron Judge and that’s always a beautiful place to start. They have a full season of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and he hit .273/.325/.500 (130 OPS+) after the Yankees acquired him. They have acquired Cody Bellinger and he’ll love that short right-field porch. They have signed Paul Goldschmidt and it’s possible he’s washed up. He could also have a bounce-back season in him. He won MVP in 2022 and was productive in 2023. Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe are breakout candidates. Jasson Domínguez has big upside and looks to be the everyday starter in left field. Few have the power of Giancarlo Stanton, even at his age.
The loss of Soto is big and he can’t be replaced on an individual level. The Yankees have a much more balanced lineup this time around, though.
The Mets were seventh in runs last season and added Juan Soto. I think he might, possibly, maybe, help a little bit. He’s never won MVP but he’s finished second, third, fifth and sixth before and wouldn’t be a bad prediction this year to take the honors. Of course, he’s hitting behind Francisco Lindor, who just finished second in the NL. Soon-to-be-the-most-prolific-home-run-hitter-in-Mets-history Pete Alonso comes next. Brandon Nimmo is a capable middle-of-the-order hitter.
How real was the Mark Vientos breakout? He slugged .516 with 27 homers in 413 at-bats and sure looks legit. Francisco Alvarez is capable of a breakout season of his own in 2025, too, and he’s still only 23 years old. It’s also possible Ronny Mauricio forces his way into playing time and breaks out, too.
How about the Jesse Winker/Starling Marte platoon? Winker hit .258/.366/.422 vs. righties last season while Marte hit .310/.384/.460 against lefties.
There a lot of thunder here along with good depth.
2. Atlanta Braves
The Braves ranked all the way down at 15th in runs scored last season, disappointing after a monstrous offensive year in 2023. There are plenty of reasons to believe things turn back around in 2025.
First off, Ronald Acuña Jr. will be returning from his second torn ACL. He started slow last season, but he’s far too talented to discount how huge a loss he was to the offense. Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies all took varying levels of big steps backward in 2024 compared to 2023, too. There were times it felt like the entire offense was in an extended slump. They are simply better hitters than this.
I like the addition of Jurickson Profar and, once Acuña is fully functional, the Braves have as deep and powerful a lineup as anyone.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
While Freddie Freeman is now north of 35 years old, the setup at the top of the lineup with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman remains outrageously good. Tesocar Hernández had an outstanding season behind them and he’s back. Betts and Max Muncy missed a lot of time last year while it’s possible Will Smith hits better as well. A full season of Tommy Edman sure seems like a possible offensive upgrade over 2024 Gavin Lux, too. The organizational depth is deep, too, in case injuries need to be withstood again.
If presented with the other 29 teams vs. the Dodgers in a scenario where you’re forced to pick who will score the most runs, “the field” would be the proper selection. If you had to just pick one out of the 30 teams, however, the Dodgers are the best bet.
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