With the Trade Deadline in the rearview mirror, one white-hot NL Central team has come out swinging at a historic clip, while another playoff hopeful was swept at the hands of the ... Miami Marlins. Time will tell who has built themselves a club durable enough for a long postseason run, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at how the new-look teams stack up to begin the stretch run.
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. Brewers (previously: 6)
Wanna know how the Brewers are doing this? On Friday, they lost Jackson Chourio, their most exciting young hitter, to the injured list with a hamstring strain. Not only did they replace him without a hitch, that very night, all starting nine Brewers got a hit. It’s the eighth time they've managed that this year, more than any other team in baseball.
2. Cubs (previously: 1)
When a public figure dies, particularly one from the special fraternity of Major League Baseball Hall of Famers, there are always kind words said about the player and all the people they touched in their lives. But even in that context, the outpouring of grief for Ryne Sandberg was particularly overwhelming this week. Sandberg was, famously, one of the friendliest, kindest players in recent baseball memory, and there isn’t an obituary of him this week that wasn’t full of wonderful stories showing why.
3. Blue Jays (previously: 2)
Of all the additions at the Deadline, here’s my prediction for the one we’ll be talking about the most in October: Shane Bieber. This is a Cy Young winner who is just about to return from Tommy John surgery, has looked great in the Minors and is pitching for a new contract in the offseason. If he’s healthy and anything like his old self … do the Jays have the best top of the rotation of any potential playoff team?
4. Tigers (previously: 8)
The Tigers have stabilized after their initial brutal post-All-Star break struggles, and one wonders if we’ll even remember they took a step back at all. After all, they’re eight games up in the AL Central (with no real challenger looking like it’s emerging anytime soon), they’ve got the best record in the AL (again) and now they have a deeper rotation to get them through the dog days of August. Not that Tigers fans ever stopped being excited, but: Get excited.
5. Dodgers (previously: 4)
We’ve been worried about the Dodgers pitching all year, but now that Blake Snell is back, their rotation is being pushed to six men: Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw and Emmet Sheehan. And remember: Roki Sasaki is still working his way back. The Dodgers, it should be said, are right where they want to be.
6. Phillies (previously: 5)
In essentially 3 1/2 years as the Twins closer, Jhoan Duran notched 74 saves for the team. Duran earned a save in his first game in a Phillies uniform in dominant fashion, and it sure looks like -- considering he’s signed through the 2028 season -- he's got many more up his sleeve with a team as good as the Phillies. Do you know who the all-time Phillies leader in saves is? Would you believe it’s … Jonathan Papelbon, with 123?
7. Mets (previously: 3)
When the Mets traded for Ryan Helsley, the dominant narrative was that he hadn’t been as incredible this season as he was in 2024. And while that is true, it should be noted that he has looked much better over the past month than he did over the first half of the year. He has given up just one earned run since June 19 and has struck out 14 batters in 11 innings during that time.
8. Astros (previously: 7)
This October, it will have been 10 years since Carlos Correa took his first postseason at-bat for Houston on Oct. 6, 2015, shortly after his 21st birthday. (He flied out against Masahiro Tanaka.) Over the course of his first Astros tenure, he would end up with three postseason walk-offs and, of course, a World Series championship. Houston is in excellent position to give him an opportunity for more, now that he’s back. Even at third base.
9. Padres (previously: 11)
Quick trivia question: What’s the longest hit streak of Luis Arraez’s career? It’s gotta be 25 games at least, right? 30? Nope. It’s only 16, the streak he is currently on. That’s kind of incredible. It feels like he may go on a 40-game streak someday. Maybe it’ll happen right now.
10. Mariners (previously: 9)
Julio Rodríguez is on one of his patented July-August hot streaks, and his season numbers are rapidly rising accordingly. And he’s making some history: His 20th homer on Sunday made him the first player in MLB history to begin his career with four consecutive seasons of 20+ homers and 20+ steals.
11. Red Sox (previously: 12)
Remember when we were all a little worried about Roman Anthony? I swear, this happened. The rookie has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball for the past month, slashing .340/.444/.481 over his past 29 games. And guess what? The Red Sox have the best record in baseball over that very stretch.
12. Yankees (previously: 10)
The Yankees, in a perfect case scenario, likely imagined their three relief acquisitions at the Deadline -- Camilo Doval, David Bednar and Jake Bird -- giving up a combined nine runs … maybe the rest of the season? Instead they gave that many up in their first game on Friday, in 2 1/3 innings. They will settle down, they’re really good pitchers, but still: You only get one chance to make a good first impression. Particularly when … the rest of the weekend only got worse.
13. Rangers (previously: 13)
The Rangers have the best starting pitching ERA in baseball at 3.19 (and now have Merrill Kelly in the rotation), they’ve fortified their bullpen, and they have Corey Seager and all those young hitters … so maybe it’s time to start winning some games? The team many observers thought might be a World Series contender is still treading water, not out of the race but not making any sort of run either. As aggressive as the Astros and Mariners are, falling short would be a major, major disappointment.
14. Reds (previously: 14)
If you’re hoping for a Wild Card race in the National League this year, the Reds are probably your best bet. With the Giants’ struggles and the Cardinals and Diamondbacks selling, the Reds are the only team giving the Padres even a backwards nod from the final slot. (Unless you’re on the Marlins train.) If you’re wanting to be staring at the standings throughout September, start cheering for the Reds. And at least they don’t have to face Eli White at a speedway again.
15. Rays (previously: 16)
The Rays ended a four-game losing streak on Saturday against the Dodgers, and it had to be satisfying to do it against Blake Snell, who of course spent the first five years of his career (and won a Cy Young) with the Rays. Snell won 21 games with the Rays back in 2018, the most recent Ray to win 20 or more games, and here’s a prediction: It will be a long time, if ever, that a Ray wins 20 games again.
16. Guardians (previously: 18)
Losing Emmanuel Clase is obviously a blow in many different ways, but it should be said that the Guardians got themselves back over .500 this weekend for just the second time in a month. They ended up kind of being sellers at the Trade Deadline, but there’s still a lot here. And if you’re rattling around .500, you’re not out of this yet.
17. Giants (previously: 15)
Back on June 13, the Giants beat the Dodgers to grab a tie for first place in the NL West. Since then, they’re 15-27, the worst record in baseball over that span. That’s why team president Buster Posey was not a buyer at the Deadline, but it still had to just stick in his craw: You don’t trade for Rafael Devers in June if you don’t plan on making a run immediately. Is this a bad time to point out that Devers, with San Francisco, is putting up the lowest OBP and slugging numbers of his career? It probably is.
18. Royals (previously: 19)
The Royals took some flak for being buyers rather than sellers at the Deadline, but I don’t know: Maybe they knew their team a little better than the rest of us did. With their series win over the Jays, they’re 17-10 since the beginning of July and keeping their heads above water in the Wild Card race. Considering how many games they have left against the rest of the non-Tigers AL Central teams -- 16 against the Guardians, Twins and White Sox -- there may be a lane for them after all.
19. Marlins (previously: 23)
Any chance the Marlins are last year’s Tigers? It seems unlikely, but hey, it seemed unlikely when the Tigers did it too. And yet here they are, sweeping the Yankees and, amazingly, fighting all the way back to .500; since June 13, only the Brewers have a better record than they do. (And they won their most recent series against Milwaukee too.) Break up the Marlins!
20. Cardinals (previously: 17)
One of the frustrating aspects of the Deadline for Cardinals fans was how little was done to clear up the lineup logjam that has, throughout the season, cost at-bats for young players they’re ostensibly supposed to be showcasing. But putting Nolan Arenado -- who was probably never really that close to being traded, not with two more expensive years on his contract -- on the IL right after the Deadline should help with that, getting at-bats for Nolan Gorman, who was immediately activated. It will be fascinating to see what happens with Arenado this offseason. Of course, we said that last year too.
21. Diamondbacks (previously: 20)
You have to at least credit the Diamondbacks for making the Trade Deadline simple. Their collapse post-All-Star break but pre-Deadline may end up making the rest of this season a bit of a chore, but if they’re going to start a losing skid, you’d rather do it before the break rather than after.
22. Angels (previously: 22)
You gotta respect the Angels for not giving up -- as they typically try to avoid doing, what with having Mike Trout on the roster, even when he’s not at his best -- but you do have to wonder if they’re tilting at windmills here. After their weekend series against the White Sox, their Fangraphs Playoff Odds are all the way down to 1.5 percent.
23. Orioles (previously: 24)
Considering how frustrated Orioles fans quite understandably are, it’d be handy to finish strong this last month or so; when the general manager is saying, like Mike Elias is, “We are sorry that 2025 has gone this way,” you better pick it up fast. Is there a team out of the race that wants to finish stronger than the Orioles do?
24. Braves (previously: 25)
A deeply disappointing season at least got one eternal highlight with the Speedway Classic in Bristol, Tenn., one of those events that every fan who attended (and even those who watched at home) will always be able to hold onto. To play a baseball game in front of that many people is something that likely won’t be done by anybody else for many a moon. And of Eli White’s 16 career homers, two of them resulted in a homer car. I’m comfortable saying that 12.5 Home Run Car Percentage is a mark that will never be matched.
25. A’s (previously: 26)
Has this been the best week the A’s have had in many a moon? First, they traded for the No. 3 prospect in baseball in Leo De Vries, giving up closer Mason Miller, which hurts, but not got-the-third-best-prospect-in-baseball hurts. And the thing about the A’s is that it’s not just about the future: They have been winning, like, right now. They’d won seven of eight before falling on Saturday to the D-backs, thanks largely to an offense stacked with dudes in their 20s. The A’s are going to be fun. They’re fun now!
26. Twins (previously: 21)
Good thing the Twins’ Minor League team plays just down the freeway in St. Paul. After their wild Trade Deadline, in which they dealt 10 players off their big league roster, they had to call up a full eight guys from Triple-A. You hope they got the Uber XL, anyway.
27. Pirates (previously: 28)
We’ll get into the madness of that Friday night game between the Pirates and the Rockies when we make it down to Colorado, but let’s not entirely miss the forest for the trees here: The Pirates had won eight of nine games heading into that loss. That was one of the reasons it was so exciting when they scored nine runs in the first inning in the first place! Crazy thought: Could the Pirates catch the Cardinals and finish out of last place in the NL Central? The Cards were nose-diving before they traded away three key relievers … and there are still almost two months left.
28. Nationals (previously: 27)
James Wood has hit his sophomore slump. Since July 4 -- that’s a full month ago! -- he is hitting .119 with only three extra-base hits. It’s the slow stuff that’s getting him: During that stretch he, amazingly, went 1-for-45 on off-speed pitches. If you were wondering what was getting him out.
29. White Sox (previously: 29)
Congratulations to the White Sox who, over the weekend, surpassed their win total from all of last year with their 42nd victory. They’re still on pace for 100 losses for the seventh time in franchise history. It should probably be noted that, if it happens, four of those seven seasons will have happened in the last decade.
30. Rockies (previously: 30)
The Rockies are having a rough year, obviously, but they will always have that Friday night game, won’t they? Remember, not only did they come back from a 9-0 first-inning deficit, they scored five runs in the ninth to win it on a walk-off. Look, the Rockies aren’t going to win many games this year. (Though they’re above .500 since the All-Star break!) But that win … it’s got to count for three or four wins on its own, right? Rockies fans will remember that game forever.
Voters: Nathalie Alonso, Daniel Feldman, Will Leitch, Travis Miller, Brian Murphy, Arturo Pardavila, Andrew Simon, David Venn