Young slugger's incredible heater has team surging up Power Rankings

The release of the All-Star Game rosters was a great reminder of something we firmly believe here at the Power Rankings: There is so much value and joy to be found from every team, not just the one you root for or the ones that are on television all the time. To see players like Otto Lopez and Jacob Latz and Max Meyer and Hunter Goodman get the recognition they deserve is stirring for those of us — like you, like me — who watch these teams and these players all the time. I can’t wait for the rest of baseball fandom to meet them.

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)
Obviously, the Dodgers are stacked with talent, but you’ve got to credit Dave Roberts for continuing to be the guy who harnesses it. He’s a historically great Dodgers manager already: His next victory will give the Dodgers their sixth season with 60-plus wins prior to the All-Star break, and it will be the fourth time they’ve done it under Roberts. If they win 100 games again this year, which they’re very much on pace to do, it would be the sixth 100-plus win season under Roberts. The Dodgers have done it only six times under all other managers combined.

2. Brewers (previously: 2)
This era of the Brewers keeps setting franchise milestones, and they have a chance for another one over the next week: The Brewers are on track to set a franchise record for winning percentage prior to the All-Star break (previous best is .587 and they entered Sunday at .621). And they’re on pace to win 100-plus games for the first time ever.

3. Rays (previously: 6)
What did you do by your 23rd birthday? Junior Caminero, who turned 23 on Sunday, came into the day having hit 11 homers in 11 games, the youngest player ever to do that and only the 12th player ever. Seriously, he may be making himself into a very legitimate MVP candidate. And he is absolutely the face of one of the most exciting teams in the entire sport.

4. Braves (previously: 3)
The Braves came into the weekend struggling and worrying that their division lead was starting to dwindle, largely because of a struggling offense. But hey, that’s nothing a few games with the Mets can’t solve. In the three games of their series, they hit 10 home runs and scored 28 runs. Even better news: Ronald Acuña Jr. may be back by the end of the month, if not sooner.

5. Phillies (previously: 5)
With all the Phillies who will be in the dugout for their hometown All-Star Game next week, don’t forget perhaps the most important one: Don Mattingly. The Phillies got their 50th win this weekend, and 41 of those were with Mattingly in charge. The Phillies have had the best record in baseball since Mattingly took over; it’s not too much to say that he has changed their season, and maybe the direction of the entire franchise.

6. Yankees (previously: 4)
Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger both made the All-Star team, and deservedly, but it certainly wasn’t because of anything they’ve done recently. Rice is just 6-for-48 with 13 strikeouts in his last 13 games, and Bellinger has been even worse in his last 11, going 4-for-41 with 11 strikeouts.

7. Cubs (previously: 7)
The streakiness of the Cubs continues; they are having, as MLB.com’s Sarah Langs would put it, a classic “whee!” season. Still, at the end of the day, it may be more simple than just streakiness: The Cubs are about to run out of pitching, and if they don’t address it, aggressively, at the Trade Deadline, that “whee!” will be because they’re going down rather than up.

8. White Sox (previously: 8)
It is remarkable just how many actual rookies have been fueling what the White Sox are doing. Position players alone, the White Sox have the following guys with rookie status: Munetaka Murakami, Sam Antonacci, Tristan Peters, Braden Montgomery, Jacob Gonzalez and Junior Perez.

9. Mariners (previously: 10)
If Cal Raleigh turns his season around in the second half — and you can certainly imagine him doing so, the guy hit 60 homers last year — you wonder if the Fourth of July will be seen as the turning point. Not only did he homer, but he took the field in a chest protector signed by the entire USMNT … in a game the Mariners won 11-0. Good vibes!

10. Cardinals (previously: 12)
Jordan Walker and JJ Wetherholt have received most of the attention, and for good reason, but don’t overlook the emergence of Alec Burleson as a key factor in the Cardinals’ success. Your eyes are not deceiving you: He’s in the top three in the NL in RBIs.

11. Marlins (previously: 11)
The Marlins have only had two seasons in their history in which they had more wins after 90 games than they do this year: 2023 and 1997. (Not even 2003, one of the years they won the World Series.)

12. Guardians (previously: 13)
The Guardians made a clear statement in their series with the White Sox: You will never, ever be able to count them out. They had consecutive walk-offs on Thursday and Friday in games in which, for most of the game, it looked like the White Sox were going to win. Imagine what this team is going to look like when they get their top players back.

13. Rangers (previously: 17)
The AL West is so topsy-turvy that it’s difficult to get your arms around it sometimes, but one shouldn’t overlook how much progress the Rangers have made over the last fortnight. They’ve dabbled in first place in the division, but most importantly, they’ve staved off what could have been a lost season with a hot month at the exact right time. The Rangers don’t look like they’ll be sellers at the Deadline — nor should they be.

14. Nationals (previously: 16)
I’ll confess to being one of those people who thought Robert Hassell III — currently hitting .215 in Triple-A — was going to be the centerpiece of the Juan Soto trade. Whoops. Two other players in that trade, James Wood and CJ Abrams, were both named to the All-Star team this weekend, and they both very much deserved it. And now they can say hi to Soto in the dugout, because of course he’ll be there too.

15. Pirates (previously: 14)
The Pirates may have something special in Esmerlyn Valdez. Through his first 22 games in the big leagues, he’s hitting .310 with six homers and 17 RBIs. The Pirates are straightforward about it: “He has become a dude.”

16. Diamondbacks (previously: 15)
What’s the secret to the Diamondbacks’ success, such as it is? It might be as simple as getting to play the lowly Giants and Rockies a bunch: The club is 10 games over .500 (13-3) against those two clubs … and 11 games under .500 (31-42) against everybody else.

17. Padres (previously: 9)
It has been, fair to say, a disaster of a week for the Padres, who shot up our last Power Rankings well over .500 and well-positioned to make a playoff run to having lost eight in a row for the first time since 2013. Having so many losses come to the Dodgers makes it extra painful. It’s the pitching that has fallen apart: They gave up 70 runs in seven games from June 27 to Friday, the most runs given up over a seven-game stretch in franchise history.

18. Blue Jays (previously: 20)
Say what you will about how the Jays’ season has gone, but their fans showed out during All-Star voting season. Ernie Clement was the highest vote-getter in the American League, and the Jays had finalists in the voting at nearly every position. In total, they had four All-Stars, which is a reminder of how much talent there is on this disappointing team.

19. Astros (previously: 19)
Jake Meyers’ deeply frustrating 2026 season hit its nadir this weekend when the Astros sent him down to Triple-A. His OPS was 147 points lower than it was last year, a season in which he was a Gold Glove finalist, and the Astros decided that they couldn’t abide him in the lineup any longer. At 30, you wonder how many more opportunities Meyers will receive.

20. A’s (previously: 18)
Say what you will about this transitional period of the A’s -- and the fact that they’ve fallen all the way to fourth in the AL West -- but it is pretty fantastic that they have two All-Star starters in Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers. Not only are they both deserving, but they’re also both standout personalities: It’ll be helpful for baseball, and this franchise, for them both to get this grand stage.

21. Twins (previously: 23)
Kody Clemens now has a .493 slugging percentage, which, considering the Twins merely got him for “cash considerations” from the Phillies on April 26, qualifies him as one of the biggest trade steals in recent Twins history.

22. Orioles (previously: 22)
If the Orioles can get themselves back in the playoff chase -- and you can make an argument they’ve already done so -- you can thank their rotation. The Orioles’ top four starters -- Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Shane Baz, and Brandon Young -- have rounded into form. Dating back to May 19, that quartet has combined for a 3.06 ERA in 33 starts.

23. Red Sox (previously: 24)
Aroldis Chapman is likely to be traded, and it’s worth noting that he set an all-time record this week: He broke Hoyt Wilhelm’s record for most strikeouts by a reliever with his 1,364th K. You know, when the Reds signed him out of Cuba, they initially wanted him to be a starter: He made 13 starts in Triple-A the year before being called up to the Majors. (He has never started a game in the Majors.)

24. Tigers (previously: 25)
Are the Tigers really a “good team with a bad record?” Manager A.J. Hinch absolutely believes so. “We are a good team with a bad record and we’re going to keep chipping away at that to hopefully get us into a better position to factor in as the season goes along,” Hinch said. “There’s a lot of belief in this team.” Fangraphs shares some of that belief, actually: They have the Tigers at 25 percent playoff odds, which is probably higher than you might think.

25. Reds (previously: 21)
It has been a rough couple of months since the Reds got off to that torrid start, but all you have to do is look at the Reds All-Star picks to dream of a bigger future. Chase Burns and Sal Stewart, both rookies, were both selected, the first of presumably many selections for both. Stewart immediately called his dad afterward. “He started crying,” said Stewart. “You know how emotional he gets.” And remember: Elly de la Cruz is just a little bit older than both of those guys.

26. Mets (previously: 26)
With their loss on Saturday, the Mets dropped 16 games under .500 for the first time since 2018. That’s an important thing to remember, that for all the current frustrations, this is actually as bad as it has gotten in nearly a decade in Flushing. There may be more ramifications coming.

27. Giants (previously: 28)
The Giants have finished last only once in the last 20 years, in 2017, but had they lost to the Rockies on Saturday, they would have indeed fallen into last in the NL West -- and the way things are going, there is still plenty of time. It is fair to say this season has not gone the way it was supposed to.

28. Royals (previously: 27)
Injuries have been an issue for lots of teams this year, but it has been a little underappreciated how much the Royals have been ravaged by them. Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia, Jonathan India, Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic have all missed a ton of time, and now Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez are struggling with injuries as well. There are a lot of reasons this is ending up as a lost season, but that’s the primary one.

29. Angels (previously: 29)
The Angels have had high hopes for Walbert Ureña, who they signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2021, but they couldn’t have imagined they’d be getting a Rookie of the Year candidate when they put him in their Opening Day rotation: His 3.03 ERA is better than anything he ever put up in the Minors.

30. Rockies (previously: 30)
It really can’t be said enough how much the Rockies are getting out of Mickey Moniak. He had the first real productive season of his career after being picked first overall in the 2016 MLB Draft, but who saw this breakout coming? His .931 OPS is the sort of thing that the Phillies were dreaming of when they drafted him with the first overall pick a decade ago.

Voters: Dan Cichalski, Theo Derosa, Mark Feinsand, Jason Foster, Rick Gold Jr., Jared Greenspan, Thomas Harrigan, Will Leitch, Brent Maguire, Travis Miller, Arturo Pardavila, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon, David Venn, Zac Vierra.