Contenders' aces fill up latest SP Power Rankings

Just about six weeks remain in the regular season, so the stretch run is upon us as teams jockey for playoff position. And many of the sport’s top arms will have a big say in how the standings shake out.

Case in point: Each of our top 10 in this latest edition of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings plies his trade for a team that is at least hanging around the edges of the postseason hunt -- if not right in the thick of it. (In fact, that’s true of virtually every pitcher who received votes.) The aces who finish strong -- through the dog days of August and a stressful September -- will not only solidify their teams’ place in the standings but perhaps also burnish their own Cy Young Award credentials.

Here are the latest Starting Pitcher Power Rankings. (All stats are through Tuesday’s games, unless otherwise noted.)

1. Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers (Last poll: 1)
The Miz has been difficult to knock from this perch. That’s what happens when you are sporting a 1.76 ERA and already have cleared the 200-strikeout mark by mid-August. Just one of the many ridiculous Misiorowski stats to watch: his .147 batting average allowed. The single-season record for a qualified pitcher (excluding 2020) is .167 by Pedro Martinez in 2000, when the Hall of Famer was at the very peak of his formidable powers.

2. Dylan Cease, Blue Jays (3)
Cease swaps places with the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler from our last poll two weeks ago, though by an extremely thin margin. That feels appropriate, given the two pitchers’ neck-and-neck race for the AL Cy. Cease has thrown about 15 fewer innings due to a brief stint on the injured list early this season, but otherwise, their stat lines are virtually indistinguishable from each other. Cease has certainly made a charge over the past several weeks, posting a 1.31 ERA in seven starts since July 1.

3. Cam Schlittler, Yankees (2)
Schlittler isn’t making this easy on Cease, however. On Sunday against the Braves, he was brilliant again, striking out 11, walking none and allowing just one run over seven innings. He still leads the AL with a 2.21 ERA. The interesting thing to watch will be how Schlittler holds up the rest of the way in his first full MLB season. In 2025, he threw 164 innings between the Minors and Majors (including postseason); he’s now at 146 2/3 in 2026.

4. Chris Sale, Braves (6)
Think back to when Sale, heading into his age-35 season and facing huge questions about his health and performance, came to Atlanta in a straight-up swap for infielder Vaughn Grissom at the end of 2023. Less than three years later, he’s doing some of the best pitching in the history of a franchise that has seen quite a bit of that. Sale’s 175 ERA+ since the trade is easily the highest for a starter with 400-plus innings for the Braves. Next up: Hall of Famer Greg Maddux at 163 (in about five times as many starts, of course).

5. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers (5)
Yamamoto is scheduled to face the Brewers on Friday, and Milwaukee can’t be looking forward to that -- not just because Yamamoto has a 2.65 ERA and 0.89 WHIP this season. On May 24, Yamamoto went into Milwaukee and allowed just one run over seven innings in a Dodgers victory. And then, of course, there was their previous encounter, last October, when Yamamoto authored a complete-game victory at American Family Field in Game 2 of the NLCS.

6. Drew Rasmussen, Rays (not ranked)
Rasmussen entered Wednesday’s start against the A’s in West Sacramento having spun three straight scoreless outings, totaling 20 innings. In that time, opponents went 7-for-65 against him (.108) with just one extra-base hit, four walks and 27 strikeouts. Rasmussen owns a 2.20 ERA and 2.27 FIP in 11 starts since the beginning of June, and after receiving a bit of Cy Young support for the first time last year (finishing ninth), he looks like a strong contender to show up on a lot of ballots in 2026.

7. Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies (8)
On Tuesday night, the Phillies lost a Sánchez start for only the seventh time all season and only the fourth time in his past 19 outings since April 30. It wasn’t his fault, though. Sánchez blanked the Cardinals for six innings, allowing only four singles, two of which were erased on ground-ball double plays. Since a nine-run hiccup on July 6 at Kansas City, Sánchez is back to doing what he’s been doing all year, with a 2.29 ERA in six starts.

8. Gavin Williams, Guardians (not ranked)
Before striking out “just” seven against the White Sox on Saturday, Williams had a monstrous five-start streak of double-digit strikeout performances from July 9-Aug. 2, resulting in a total of 55 K’s and just three walks. The five previous pitchers to have at least 55 K’s and no more than three BB’s over five straight starts within a season? Check out this list: Justin Verlander (2019), Clayton Kershaw (2016), Corey Kluber (2015), Curt Schilling (2002) and Pedro Martinez (1999).

9. Jesús Luzardo, Phillies (7)
When the Marlins traded Luzardo to the Phillies during the 2024-25 offseason, the lefty was coming off an injury-marred season in which he posted a 5.00 ERA in just 12 starts. Then Luzardo went to Philly, added a sweeper to his repertoire and the rest is history. That may be oversimplifying, but this much is true: Luzardo’s sweeper is now by far his most-used pitch (38.1%), and batters simply cannot touch it (.122 BA, .181 SLG, 49.1% whiff rate). Luzardo’s 107 K’s on the sweeper are the most on any individual pitch type this season, aside from Misiorowski’s four-seam fastball. The sweeper’s plus-17 run value is tied for fifth in the Majors.

10. Troy Melton, Tigers (not ranked)
As MLB.com’s Theo DeRosa put it recently: “Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize have been traded. Jack Flaherty and Justin Verlander are on the injured list. The Tigers’ rotation needs a hero, and Detroit might have found one.” Mind you, that was before Melton’s two most recent starts, both Tigers victories, in which Melton tossed a combined 13 innings without allowing an earned run. While the 25-year-old righty missed the first two months of this season with right elbow inflammation, his 1.46 ERA through 13 starts is the lowest in the Majors for anyone with at least 70 innings pitched.