The NL Central is not exactly known for containing juggernauts top to bottom: Heck, 20 years ago, only one team, the 2006 Cardinals, finished over .500 … and they only won 83 games! But right now? Right now it looks like the best division in baseball. All five NL Central teams are over .500 right now, with four of them in the Top 10 of the Power Rankings. And the one NL Central team not in the Top 10? It’s the Cardinals … who have won five in a row.
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)
Shohei Ohtani doubled in the third inning of Sunday’s game against the Rockies, extending his on-base streak to 51 games, the third longest in Dodgers history. The Dodgers have a day off on Thursday, which means if we’re still talking about this streak in a week, he’ll be just two games behind Duke Snider’s record of 58. Sure, give Shohei another record. (He still has 33 to go to catch Ted Williams.)
2. Braves (previously: 3)
Austin Riley does not seem to be struggling anymore. You can tell, because he’s not only hitting homers, he’s hitting them to the opposite field. “I got off to a slow start, but I’m starting to pick it up right now,” Riley said. “It feels good just to see some results with all of the hard work.” With Riley hitting like this, the Braves are feeling very much like the old Braves.
3. Padres (previously: 5)
I’ll confess to not being much of a Korn fan, but their entrance music for Mason Miller is an undeniable hit of the season so far. The band is absolutely into it: They sent Miller a care package this week to thank him for using their song. It’s kind of funny to think of Korn sending a care package.
4. Yankees (previously: 2)
The Yankees were accused by some of their fans this summer of not being aggressive enough in adding players, instead counting on young players to take big steps forward. Well: That’s looking pretty smart. Ben Rice might be the best hitter in baseball right now – he has an OPS 300 points above Aaron Judge and Judge has been really good! – and Cam Schlittler and Will Warren have been two of the best pitchers in the American League. All those players are 27 or younger. The Yankees’ player development system is off to a truly fantastic start.
5. Pirates (previously: 7)
Remember when Paul Skenes’ awful Opening Day start raised his career ERA over 2.00? Well, he has been Paul Skenes again ever since, to the point that the career ERA is now all the way back down to 2.05. A couple more shutout starts, and he’ll be back under 2.00 once more in no time.
6. Diamondbacks (previously: 11)
Nolan Arenado has finally started to heat up with his bat, including a monster home run on Friday night, but worth keeping an eye on: His defensive metrics are way, way down this year. Baseball Savant has him 39th in Fielding Run Value at third base.
7. Brewers (previously: 4)
I know that we keep saying this, but seriously: When are people (including us!) going to stop underrating and underappreciating the Brewers? They’d be in first place (again) in the NL Central if not everyone else in the division was seemingly winning every series of late as well. Check out the season Brice Turang is having, by the way: Did you realize he has an OPS over 1.000?
8. Cubs (previously: 13)
Matthew Boyd is scheduled to be back on Wednesday, and it can’t happen soon enough: The Cubs currently have 10 pitchers on the injured list.
9. Reds (previously: 15)
The Reds have started the season 10-0 in one-run games. Since 1900, the only team to win each of its first 11 games decided by one or two runs is the 1987 Brewers (12-0). It is exciting when your teams wins close games like that, but it should be said: This is not exactly sustainable. Related: They are tied for the worst run differential (minus 8) in the NL Central.
10. Rays (previously: 26)
Need an idea for Mother’s Day coming up? Just do what Junior Caminero did last week. Call your mom. Promise her you will hit a home run for her that day. Then do so. It’s a great idea. She’ll love it.
11. Rangers (previously: 8)
If you lose out for a rotation spot, like Jacob Latz did this offseason, your utility is far from lapsed. Latz got out the first 30 batters he faced this season, the longest such streak to start a season in Rangers history. “He’s as valuable of a piece that you can have on your pitching staff, as far as starter and reliever, multiple innings, multiple leverage innings, anything,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “All along it's been just like, ‘Yeah, whatever you need.’ After I told him he didn't win the fifth starting spot, it could have gone another direction. That just shows you the growth and the maturity. He’s such a pro. We're lucky to have him.”
12. Guardians (previously: 6)
The story in Cleveland this week has been Parker Messick, and for good reason, but it should be noted that José Ramírez looks like an MVP again, batting .375/.531/.792 with three homers and nine runs scored in a seven-game stretch. Remember: He still hasn’t won one.
13. Tigers (previously: 19)
In his free-agent season, Tarik Skubal is who we thought he was: After his excellent start Saturday, if you take out Skubal’s start in Minnesota on April 7 in which he gave up four runs in 4 2/3 innings, he has allowed just three earned runs in 25 2/3 innings.
14. Cardinals (previously: 20)
I wrote about several aspects of the Cardinals’ hot start this week, but foremost among them is how many walks they’re drawing. Their current walk rate, at 11.1, is a dramatic increase over their 7.9 percent walk rate last year (and 7.8 mark in 2024).
15. Twins (previously: 25)
As anyone who has watched the Twins knows, they need their stars healthy … even if they rarely are. That’s why many were skeptical when Royce Lewis said he’d only be out for the minimum 10 days when he went out on April 9 with a sprained knee. But guess what: It looks like he’ll be back Tuesday in New York against the Mets.
16. Orioles (previously: 17)
Jackson Holliday is too good of a prospect/player to be Wally Pipp’d, but Jeremiah Jackson is doing everything in his power to make the decision the Orioles have to make when Holliday returns a difficult one. In the last week, he has been an above-.400 hitter with five homers, and his three-run homer on Friday night will absolutely be on the Orioles’ year-end highlight videos, no matter what happens the rest of this year.
17. A’s (previously: 24)
The A’s are loaded in offensive talent this year – I have a newly minted Nick Kurtz bobblehead to prove it – so much that some players can get lost. So here is your reminder that the player who has hit the longest home run in baseball this year is an Athletic, but not Nick Kurtz: It was Shea Langeliers, who launched a 467 blast over the weekend. “I don’t know if it’s landed yet,” pitcher J.T. Ginn said.
18. Red Sox (previously: 22)
Fun fact: Every game the Red Sox have won in their new green City Connect jerseys, introduced last year, has been a walk-off: They’ve had seven after Masataka Yoshida’s walk-off single on Friday night.
19. Angels (previously: 27)
The entire baseball world mourned the loss of Garret Anderson this week, a player who, to a certain age of baseball fan, might be the most famous Angel outside of Mike Trout. He was beloved off the field but of course fantastic on it: On the Angels’ all-time list, he’s third in homers, first in RBIs, first in hits and second in runs. And, of course, tied for first in World Series rings.
20. Mariners (previously: 14)
It has been a bit of a nightmare start for the Mariners, who were many people’s (including mine) pick to reach the World Series this year. One of the reasons for that pick was the addition of Brendan Donovan, but he has been racked with injuries so far this year already, now struggling with a hip issue after missing two games with right groin discomfort two weeks ago and missing another two starts with an illness.
21. Phillies (previously: 9)
The nightmare that the Mets are going through right now has obscured how rough things have been going for the Phillies, who look uninspired, listless and downright old. It’s leading to some Rob Thomson rumblings, but that’s just par for the course in Philadelphia, as is all the booing the team has been hearing lately. But a team with this many veterans always knows there is plenty of time.
22. Marlins (previously: 16)
He can’t pitch, so he can’t help with that part, but it is nevertheless a huge relief to have Kyle Stowers, who made his return on Sunday, back with the team. His first at-bat, he was hit by a pitch … and then he went 2-for-3.
23. Blue Jays (previously: 12)
The Blue Jays avoided a sweep against the Diamondbacks on Sunday, but there are still worries everywhere with the defending AL champs right now: Since sweeping their opening series against the A’s, the Jays have not won a series.
24. Giants (previously: 23)
Giants fans have been fascinated to see how the catching situation was going to play out this month, with established starter and team leader (and two-time Gold Glove winner) Patrick Bailey struggling and Andrew Susac launching baseballs all over the place. There was a real shift Friday when Susac got the start over Bailey on a night that would have ordinarily been Bailey’s, with Logan Webb on the mound. Manager Tony Vitello said it could now be an “every-other-day” situation.
25. Astros (previously: 19)
If you are feeling some sort of pain in your body right now, you might want to check and see if you are a member of the Houston Astros: The rotation has been absolutely ravaged by injuries, to the point where they just went through a five-game stretch in which a different pitcher made his first start of the season each game. Tatsuya Imai is on the IL as well, but his American adjustments are going beyond just pitching: “In Japan, the players, when they get back to the hotel, they eat their dinner,” he said. “But here, the players eat at the stadium, so that’s one of the things that [I] have to adjust.”
26. Mets (previously: 10)
It is getting ugly fast for the Mets, to say the least. Their losing streak bodes extremely poorly: Just four clubs have made the postseason after enduring a losing streak of 10 games or more: the 1951 Giants, 1982 Braves, 2017 Dodgers and last year’s Guardians. Does this look like a postseason team to you right now?
27. Royals (previously: 21)
The Royals are down bad right now, with a bullpen that is struggling mightily without Carlos Estévez, still on the IL with a foot contusion. The bullpen is losing in every way. The Royals have lost six games in their last at-bat, but they’re also giving up huge innings late, with an ERA nearing 9.00 over the last week. With the AL Central better than some might have thought, it’s getting late early in Kansas City.
28. Nationals (previously: 30)
Reliever Orlando Ribalta has bounced around the Nationals organization since the Nats drafted him in 2019, but on Thursday night, in his 28th career appearance, he finally notched his first save, throwing a scoreless inning in an extra-inning win over the Pirates. The Nats rewarded him by … sending him to Triple-A the next day. But that’s a good thing: It means the Nationals – who needed a spot for recently signed Richard Lovelady – have talent to go around. “I couldn’t have been prouder with what he did for us those two games in Pittsburgh,” manager Blake Butera said. “As weird as it sounds, we want to get to a place where we’re sending really good pitchers down. If this wasn’t hard, it’d be like, ‘Oh man, we must not be very good.’”
29. White Sox (previously: 29)
Munetaka Murakami has been as advertised for the White Sox: He doesn’t hit the ball that often, but when he does, he blows you away. His first grand slam, his sixth homer in his first 20 games, on Friday night left jaws dropped. “That,” manager Will Venable said, “was majestic.”
30. Rockies (previously: 28)
It will be a decade this June since Mickey Moniak was drafted first overall by the Phillies in 2016 MLB Draft (in what has turned out to be kind of a disappointing Draft). After bombing out of Philly and a quick stop in Anaheim, he has found a place in Denver: He’s slugging .655 with a .960 OPS. It was a long journey, but he finally will hit arbitration next year, 11 years after being drafted.