Now that we’re on the other side of Memorial Day, with a third of the season behind us, it’s a good time to take stock of the standings. Sure, it’s a great advantage to be perched atop your division at this stage, but there is definitely still hope for teams who have underperformed so far.
Three of last season’s playoff teams -- the Astros, Mets and Tigers -- entered Memorial Day with records below .500 before surging to reach the postseason. Another, the Padres, were right at the .500 mark.
Which clubs might turn things around and clinch a playoff berth this year? Here’s a look at six teams that have what it takes to overcome their slow starts:
Braves
2025 record: 25-28 (third place in NL East)
What’s gone wrong: The offense. Atlanta ranks 13th in the NL in runs scored, with only the Rockies and Pirates having scored fewer. The Braves have four regulars with an OPS below .700, including three-time All-Star second baseman Ozzie Albies (.654) and center fielder Michael Harris II (.587), who both were viewed as major lineup sparks but have fallen well short of expectations. Meanwhile, third baseman Austin Riley, who received MVP votes in three of the past four seasons, has produced an OPS of just .752. Overall, Atlanta's 2-5 hitters have a .631 OPS with runners in scoring position.
Why they are still bound for the playoffs: Ronald Acuña Jr. is back from an ACL injury and already raking atop the lineup, and the hope/belief is that his presence will provide a spark that ignites the rest of the team. Similarly, Spencer Strider is back in the rotation and gradually getting back to his dominant form, which will only help an already-solid rotation led by reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale. Offensively, first baseman Matt Olson is heating up (.890 OPS since May 10), DH Marcell Ozuna (.425 OBP) keeps getting on base and rookie catcher Drake Baldwin (.912 OPS) has been a revelation. Also, perhaps most importantly, they’ve been here before.
Twice in the past four seasons the Braves have been under .500 after 53 games -- and both times they reached the postseason. One of those times (2021), they won the World Series. The other time (2022), they surged to 101 wins and an NL East title. So, there's precedent for this group to turn it on and get as hot as an Atlanta summer.
-- Jason Foster
Brewers
2025 record: 29-28 (third place in NL Central)
What’s gone wrong: The Brewers seem to defy preseason expectations every year, but this season they’ve been perfectly mediocre, posting a record just above .500 with a +1 run differential -- 246 runs scored, 245 runs allowed. Milwaukee has seen a lot of key players depart in recent years, either via free agency (Willy Adames) or trade (Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams), and the club doesn’t have the talent stockpile needed to withstand underperformance from its top players. The Brewers have had to deal with a lot of that this season, as William Contreras, Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich haven’t delivered the kind of production the team was counting on.
Why they are still bound for the playoffs: Despite their up-and-down showing to date, the Brewers are right in the thick of the NL Wild Card race, with a chance to make up more ground if they continue their recent offensive resurgence. With Contreras and Yelich starting to heat up, Milwaukee has scored an average of 4.8 runs per game since being shut out four times in a five-game stretch from May 12-17. The Crew still needs to get Chourio on track, but the 21-year-old is too talented to struggle like he has for long.
The Brewers’ pitching staff is also due to get a boost, with Brandon Woodruff (right shoulder surgery, ankle tendinitis) and Jose Quintana (left shoulder impingement) both nearing returns. As it is, Milwaukee has managed to field a strong rotation, continuing to show a knack for uncovering reliable starters out of nowhere. The Brewers’ relief corps also features a solid collection of late-inning options, even if the club’s bullpen ERA is a bit high at 4.55.
-- Thomas Harrigan
Red Sox
2025 record: 27-31 (4th place in AL East)
What’s gone wrong: There’s the Rafael Devers controversy, which hasn’t actually impacted Boston’s franchise player on the field (.932 OPS and 12 home runs), but has been a negative storyline since Spring Training. There’s also a Red Sox pitching staff that is tied for 17th in MLB with a 3.99 ERA and has an MLB-worst 14 blown saves. You can also point to a 6-15 record in one-run games, which is worse than every team other than the White Sox. And now, the club will be without Alex Bregman until later this summer due to a right quad strain.
Why they are still bound for the playoffs: There’s been a fair amount of bad luck involved. With a +12 run differential, Boston’s expected record is 30-28, which would put them in a playoff position and within striking distance of the Yankees at the top of the division. The Bregman injury undoubtedly hurts, but with Devers, Garrett Crochet, Jarren Duran and one of the most exciting groups of young players in baseball, the upside is still there for the Red Sox to make a playoff run.
-- Brent Maguire
Rangers
2025 record: 27-30 (third place in AL West)
What’s gone wrong: With very few exceptions, they’re just not hitting. Josh Jung (.274, 7 HR, 20 RBIs) and Wyatt Langford (10 HR, 21 RBI, 10 SB) have done their part, but neither has approached team-carrying levels of production. Corey Seager (.288/.333/.500) is as reliable as they come, but he lost about a month of the season to a right hamstring strain that necessitated two IL stints. Jake Burger got off to such a bad start he was briefly sent to Triple-A for a reset. Marcus Semien is still hitting well under .200. Adolis García’s slugging percentage, already down 108 points from 2023-24, is now under .400 in 2025.
Adding further injury to insult, offseason addition Joc Pederson, hitting .131 on the year, broke his hand on a hit-by-pitch on May 24. And after an injury-plagued 2024, playoff darling Evan Carter only played 11 games with the big league club before being taken out by a right quad injury. Everything that’s going wrong has culminated in an uninspiring .635 team OPS, which ranks last in the Majors.
Why they are still bound for the playoffs: Their rotation, oddly constructed as it may be, has been really good. Jacob deGrom (2.42 ERA, 0.96 WHIP) has looked great in his long-awaited re-introduction to the Majors, and Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle have been basically unhittable to this point, both sporting sub-2 ERAs. After being the worst full-time starter in the Majors for the better part of the last four seasons, Patrick Corbin, who the Rangers took a flyer on over the winter, has been downright serviceable.
Those four guys will definitely be answering questions about their durability all year (and Eovaldi recently exited his start early with right triceps fatigue), but also apparently ready to carve out space for themselves are Jack Leiter and potentially Kumar Rocker, the latter of whom is currently on his way back from a right shoulder injury. Overall, Rangers starters own the best ERA in MLB (2.87) and batting average against (.216, behind the Yankees) and lead baseball in WHIP (1.09). At the rate they’re going, they may only need a little more support to make things work -- certainly having Seager back in the lineup won't hurt.
-- Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru
D-backs
2025 record: 27-29 (fourth place in NL West)
What’s gone wrong: The pitching. Both the starting rotation and the relief corps have struggled thus far in 2025. The headliner for the starters in this area is right-hander Zac Gallen, who gave up six runs (five earned) over five innings in a loss to the Pirates on Wednesday to see his ERA go up to 5.54. Corbin Burnes and Merrill Kelly have been good, but left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez -- currently working his way back from left shoulder inflammation -- has a 7.05 ERA in nine starts.
Arizona’s bullpen has a 27th-ranked 5.49 ERA, with key relievers such as Kevin Ginkel struggling. Ginkel, who missed the first month of the season due to right shoulder inflammation, has a 12.60 ERA over 13 appearances. The latest example of the ’pen problems came on Tuesday, when D-backs relievers blew a 6-2 lead by surrendering seven runs in the eighth inning of a loss to the Pirates.
Why they are still bound for the playoffs: Despite the pitching issues, the D-backs are still hovering around the .500 mark and are a hot streak away from getting back into the NL West race. The lineup has been excellent, ranked fourth in MLB with a .776 team OPS. Corbin Carroll has regained the form he had in his 2023 rookie campaign, when he was considered a serious MVP candidate for much of the season. Geraldo Perdomo is having a breakout season, hitting .292/.391/.453 with six homers and 11 steals. And then there’s the always-dangerous Ketel Marte and the slugging Eugenio Suárez.
With the lineup producing, this could be a very tough team to face down the stretch if the pitching straightens out. Gallen’s track record, which includes a pair of top-five Cy Young Award finishes and a career 3.46 ERA, suggests he’ll turn things around. As for the bullpen, this is where the front office might need to strike before the Trade Deadline. Bolstering the relief corps, including potentially bringing in a closer for a group that has gone “closer by committee” to this point, could be the missing piece to ensure a return to the postseason.
-- Manny Randhawa
Rays
2025 record: 28-27 (second place in AL East)
What’s gone wrong: Lately, not much. The Rays are the hottest team in the American League with wins in seven of their past eight games, a run that has propelled them above .500 for the first time since early April. Is it sustainable? The answer will likely depend on the success of the lineup, which could use more production from the likes of Danny Jansen, Yandy Diaz and Christopher Morel. All three players are slugging under .400 at the season’s two-month mark, with the Rays slugging just .378 as a team.
Why they are still bound for the playoffs: The Rays seem bound to grow stronger as the season progresses. Already, Josh Lowe (.829 OPS) has sparked the lineup after returning from an oblique strain suffered on Opening Day. There’s more help on the horizon, too, with Ha-Seong Kim -- the team’s prized offseason pickup -- starting a rehab assignment earlier this week. Then there’s the pitching, which is looking like a typically-dominant Rays unit after a somewhat slow start: Tampa Bay has a 3.58 team ERA, the ninth-best mark in the Majors. Pencil in ace Shane McClanahan to rejoin the rotation at some point this summer, and suddenly this looks like a legit contender to return to the postseason after a one-year hiatus.
-- Jared Greenspan