Take a good look at latest Power Rankings. Trade Deadline could shake 'em up

The first week of games post All-Star break was a little more clarifying than one might have expected. Considering how many teams are in that middle ground of trying to figure out whether they are buyers or sellers, that was actually pretty helpful: You’ve got teams already selling, you’ve got teams that are red hot, you’ve got teams losing games like crazy … and providing some answers to questions we were asking just 10 days ago. But there is still one more week before the Trade Deadline … and there are still so many questions left. Here’s a look at where each team is standing with the deadline looming.

These rankings, as always, are compiled from MLB.com contributors whose names you can find at the bottom of this (and every) piece, but the words are mine. If you dislike the rankings, yell at all of us. But if you dislike the words, feel free to yell at me.

1. Dodgers (previously: 1)
The Dodgers are cruising, with a clear path into October. So they can take their time getting Shohei Ohtani straight. But they very much need to do so. He is still rehabbing his knee before he gets back on the mound, and the bat is a little wobbly right now too: He’s 7-for-38 with no homers since the All-Star break.

2. Brewers (previously: 2)
What is Jacob Misiorowski going to do next? He set a franchise record with seven straight strikeouts to start the game on Sunday, something no Brewer has ever done. Though it should be said: It’s possible, considering the Brewers’ postseason hopes, what the team may need the most from him over the next two months is simply to get as much rest before October as possible.

3. Braves (previously: 4)
The Braves have stabilized, winning eight of 11, and they’re back with a comfortable lead in the NL East, which they have had for most of the season. And at last: Ronald Acuña Jr. is returning this week. It may all be coming together for the Braves. They’re only four games behind the Brewers for that potential first-round bye in the playoffs too.

4. Rays (previously: 3)
It has been quite something to see the Rays — the Rays! — emerge as one of the teams most likely to trade for Tarik Skubal, if he’s on the market. And it may be downright terrifying to play them in October if they pull it off. You love to see the Rays going for it. And there wouldn’t be much more of a go-for-it move than that one. Heading into the season, they’re probably the team in the division you would have expected something like that from the least.

• The latest Tarik Skubal news and rumors

5. Yankees (previously: 6)
As good as the Yankees pitching has been, they didn’t need another hitter to go on the injured list alongside Aaron Judge, but that’s where Cody Bellinger is headed after a hamstring injury. Don’t’ overstate it, though: Bellinger has been in a huge slump, and in fact hasn’t homered in over a month.

6. Cubs (previously: 7)
This was definitely the week Pete Crow-Armstrong reminded everyone that the NL MVP vote has not, in fact, happened yet. He is on fire right now and check it out: Entering Sunday, he led the Majors in batting average, OBP, slugging percentage, wRC+ and fWAR (5.4) since Memorial Day.

7. Red Sox (previously: 15)
As if there were any doubt, the Curtis Mead trade is proof the win streak that got the Red Sox back in the playoff hunt is being taken seriously by the front office. They saw they needed some offense right now, and they traded away a legit pitching prospect to make sure they got it. But if Mead really has turned a corner, he’ll help for many years beyond just this one.

8. Phillies (previously: 5)
It looked for a while there like the Phillies were going to make a run at the Braves, but a skid this week may have damaged such hopes. Here is your reminder that the Phillies have still been outscored this year and in fact have a worse run differential than any team in the Wild Card chase other than the Padres.

9. White Sox (previously: 9)
Munetaka Murakami hit two of the White Sox’s five homers on Sunday, ending a home run drought that had lasted 13 games. A rough week for the club ended up generally manageable, with a 2 1/2-game lead over the Guardians and a 3 1/2-game lead over the Twins remaining intact. But seven games with the Yankees and Rays this week should be quite the test.

10. Diamondbacks (previously: 17)
This is actually a rather huge series the D-backs begin with the Pirates this week, one of the teams that, unlike some other (younger) Wild Card contenders, looks committed to flooring it to try to earn a postseason spot. The D-backs lost a series to Wild Card competitors Washington over the weekend; will they do the same against Pittsburgh?

11. Rangers (previously: 12)
The Rangers’ game against the Mariners on Monday, the fourth game of their set, is a big one: They can clinch the season series with a win, which could come in very handy come postseason tiebreaker time. Also worth noting: The Mariners beat the Rangers 10 out of 13 times both of the last two seasons. That’s basically the whole difference this year, right there.

12. Pirates (previously: 13)
Forget any uncertainty for the Pirates: They’re trying to get to the postseason. “We're at a point in the season now where it's a pretty good foundation. We know a lot about the team. It's hard to imagine that much would happen in the next week to eight days that would really shift it in one way or another,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday. “I think we're pretty well into it by now. So, I think it's pretty clear what we're going to try to do, and I don't expect that an outcome day to day between now and then is going to change it much.”

13. Guardians (previously: 11)
Forget keeping pace with the White Sox: The current losing streak has the Guardians in danger of falling into third place in the AL Central. This, of course, hasn’t knocked them out of the AL Wild Card race: They, improbably, remain in the third spot. They have a week-and-a-half of Interleague Play before what will be an intense series on the south side of Chicago.

14. Cardinals (previously: 10)
The Cardinals look to be running out of gas, if not already out of it. As frustrating as it was to see their bullpen blow leads twice against the Reds this weekend, the issue remains the offense, which has been one of the worst in baseball in July. The listless NL Wild Card race is keeping them afloat, but they don’t exactly have the look of a team that’s pushing all that hard to remain in it. The goal remains the future.

15. Nationals (previously: 16)
The Curtis Mead trade is going to be debated for a while, but it should be said that getting a return like Connelly Early for someone they picked up off the scrap heap in the offseason would have seemed absolutely inconceivable at any other point before, like, a month ago. And the Nationals are hardly out of this Wild Card chase right now either.

16. Mariners (previously: 14)
The Mariners have to feel relieved to have at least salvaged the finale of their series against the Rangers on Sunday, particularly because they had to beat Jacob deGrom to do it. It’s really quite a big salvage: Even after yet another skid, they’re only 1 1/2 games out of first. How many opportunities are the Mariners going to let pass by them before it’s too late?

17. Astros (previously: 22)
The Astros weren’t quite able to get themselves back to within one game of .500 for the first time since April 10, but things are still looking up for Houston, which will play 21 of its next 24 games against teams with a losing record. Though maybe that won’t help: Houston is 25-33 this season against teams below .500.

18. Marlins (previously: 8)
Egads! After a few weeks of proclaiming the Marlins the fun, exciting team that seemed to have turned the corner, they’ve now lost a shocking 12 in a row, the longest losing streak in franchise history. (And this franchise has known some losses.) No team has ever lost 12 games in a row in a season and recovered to reach the postseason. The Marlins do not look like they will be the first.

19. Tigers (previously: 21)
Just when the Tigers were starting to justify a “don’t-trade-Skubal” strategy, they lost two heartbreakers to the Royals in which the bullpen blew leads. They’re now on pace for 37 blown saves this year, which would be nine more than the franchise record.

20. Padres (previously: 18)
The rest of the NL Wild Card race has made a desperate plunge down to .500 just in time for the Padres to finally crawl their way back to sea level. They ended up breaking even on a 10-game road trip and now they get six games at home against the Rockies and the Giants. So, once again: Here come the Padres. Expect some buying, I have no doubt.

21. Twins (previously: 20)
The Twins have had an up-and-down, even confusing, season, but an impressive constant has been Kody Clemens, who tripled twice on Sunday and has been much, much better than most thought he would be. For the first time in his career, he has put together a higher-WAR season (1.6) than his father’s worst season (1.5 in 2007, his final year).

22. Orioles (previously: 23)
I wrote about the Orioles’ pivotal week coming out of the break and how they needed to come out hot. They did not, losing series to both the Red Sox and the Braves. Sorry to keep harping on this, but one of the primary culprits was again Gunnar Henderson, who went 1-for-13 for the series against the Braves, including a double play with the bases loaded and no one out in the bottom of the 10^th in a game the Orioles lost.

23. Blue Jays (previously: 19)
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s stretch of reaching base 10 times in 18 plate appearances was halted with an 0-for-4 day on Sunday, ending the Blue Jays’ hopes of winning that series. He of course still hasn’t homered since the All-Star break, and he remains the avatar for a season that is starting to look like it’s going to end up as one of the most disappointing in Blue Jays history.

24. Reds (previously: 25)
Are we sure the Reds are out of the Wild Card race? They’ve won six of nine, with three straight road series victories, the first time they’ve done that since 2023. They’ve now got a friendly nine-game homestand against the Guardians, Pirates and A’s.

25. Mets (previously: 26)
The Mets officially hit the “wait, there are how many weeks left in the season?” mode with a wipeout series with the Dodgers and Juan Soto hitting the injured list. It has been a miserable 2026 for the Mets in every way. But it may be about to get worse.

26. A’s (previously: 25)
A miserable stretch for the A’s got even worse on Sunday when we learned that Shea Langeliers will likely be out for the rest of the season. The A’s may well have traded their All-Star later this week, so if there’s any good news, it’s that maybe A’s fans will at least get to see him still on the roster longer than they might have otherwise?

27. Giants (previously: 27)
It really is rather stunning how long it had been since a Giants player went into the Hall of Fame with a Giants logo on his hat. Until Jeff Kent went in this weekend, the last player to wear one on his plaque was Orlando Cepeda back in 1999. The Giants have won three World Series in that time!

28. Royals (previously: 28)
Seriously, big congratulations to Salvador Perez on his 318^th career homer over the weekend, passing George Brett on the all-time Royals homer list. He’s still pretty far from Brett on the all-time WAR list -- Brett was at 88.6, with Perez at 35.2 -- but Sal Perez still has some time to play: Next on the list, at No. 7, is Mark Gubicza at 38.0.

29. Rockies (previously: 29)
Say what you will about the Rockies this year, but seriously, this is going a lot better than last year. With their next win, they will have matched their win total from 2025. It may be a while until that no-winning-seasons-since-2018 streak ends, but they’re at least going in the right direction.

30. Angels (previously: 30)
The Angels are on pace for 99 losses, and they’ve never lost 100 in a season. But if they trade José Soriano -- they are 30-54 in games that Soriano does not start, it should be said -- they may be in serious danger of hitting the century mark for the first time.

Voters: Mark Feinsand, Jason Foster, Rick Gold Jr., Jared Greenspan, Will Leitch, Brent Maguire, Travis Miller, Brian Murphy, Arturo Pardavila, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon, Ismail Soyugenc, David Venn, Zac Vierra.