FanGraphs Power Rankings: April 20–26

May is just around the corner, which means that some of the early-season slumps and hot streaks we’ve seen around the league are starting to take on a bit more meaning. For a few struggling would-be contenders, drastic measures might be needed in order to turn things around.

Our power rankings use a modified Elo rating system. If you’re familiar with chess rankings or FiveThirtyEight’s defunct sports section, you’ll know that Elo is an elegant ranking format that measures teams’ relative strength and is very reactive to recent performance. To avoid overweighting recent results during the season, we weigh each team’s raw Elo rank using our coin flip playoff odds. (Specifically, we regress the playoff odds by 50% and weigh those against the raw Elo ranking, increasing in weight as the season progresses to a maximum of 25%.) The weighted Elo ranks are then displayed as “Power Score” in the tables below. As the best and worst teams sort themselves out between now and October, they’ll filter to the top and bottom of the rankings, while the exercise remains reactive to hot streaks and cold snaps. If you’re looking for a visual representation of the ups and downs of your team throughout the season, look no further than the brand new Power Rankings Board in the FanGraphs Lab.

First up are the full rankings, presented in a sortable table. Below that, I’ve grouped the teams into tiers with comments on a handful of clubs. You’ll notice that the official ordinal rankings don’t always match the tiers — there are times where I take editorial liberties when grouping teams together — but generally, the ordering is consistent. One thing to note: The playoff odds listed in the tables below are our standard Depth Charts odds, not the coin flip odds that are used in the ranking formula.

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The Dodgers ceded the best record in baseball to the Braves last week after going 3-3 against the Giants and Cubs. Closer Edwin Díaz was placed on the IL after “loose bodies” were found in his throwing elbow; he underwent a successful surgery and should be back sometime after the All-Star break. Of course, Los Angeles’ loss to Chicago on Friday was thanks to a pretty dramatic bullpen meltdown. The Cubs had been held scoreless with just three hits through six innings, but wound up scoring six runs after Emmet Sheehan exited.

Since returning from the paternity list on April 13, Michael Harris II has collected 18 hits in 13 games, including six multi-hit games and four home runs. Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson have also been red hot; the second baseman picked up 12 hits last week, while the first baseman had 10, including three home runs. With Ronald Acuña Jr. still mired in a slow start, the Braves have enjoyed a ton of production up and down their lineup. They’re already leading all of baseball in runs scored — just wait until their superstar outfielder really gets going.

The Yankees had their eight-game win streak snapped on Sunday, but that heater catapulted them to the top of the American League standings. The pitching staff really carried the team through this stretch; prior to allowing seven runs on Sunday, New York had allowed just 16 total runs during their previous eight games. We’re accustomed to seeing Max Fried dominate, but Cam Schlittler and Will Warren appear to have taken significant steps forward early this year. Both Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón are in the middle of their rehab assignments and should be activated in a few weeks. A fully armed and operational Yankees rotation could be a very scary sight for opposing ballclubs this summer.

The Cubs swept the Phillies in four games early last week and won the first game of their series in Los Angeles on Friday, extending their win streak to 10 games. They dropped the final two games of that series against the Dodgers, but they’re now just a game behind the Reds in the NL Central and have quickly turned their season around. A couple more of their pitchers got injured last week, with Caleb Thielbar and Riley Martin now among the 11 currently on the IL, which makes this rise up the standings all the more impressive.

Led by Elly De La Cruz (eight hits and three home runs in the last week) and Sal Stewart (eight hits and two home runs), the Reds offense is starting to heat up. Over their last 15 games, they’ve averaged 5.3 runs per game. Eugenio Suárez was placed on the IL last week, but his replacement at designated hitter, Nathaniel Lowe, blasted four home runs in three games over the weekend. With the NL Central standings so bunched up at the top, a seven-game stretch against the Pirates and Cubs looms large this coming weekend.

Things have sort of settled down in Pittsburgh after the Pirates’ exciting start to the season. They’re 6-6 over their last 12 games, though they did just win their series against the Brewers this past weekend. Paul Skenes took a perfect game into the seventh inning on Friday and has allowed just three total runs since surrendering five in his Opening Day disaster. Konnor Griffin has taken a while to get up to speed — he’s currently sporting a 68 wRC+ in 22 games — but he did hit the first home run of his major league career on his 20th birthday on Friday.

The Mariners showed a bit of life with a sweep of the Cardinals over the weekend. Two of the wins were tight, one-run affairs, but Saturday’s game was a wild one. That game featured 33 total hits, eight combined home runs, and a couple of late-game rallies by Seattle to secure the victory. Cal Raleigh’s bat has also started to heat up. He hit four home runs last week, going from a 51 wRC+ entering play on Monday to a 96 wRC+ after Sunday’s game.

Spencer Torkelson blasted a home run in his fifth straight game on Sunday, while Riley Greene collected his 12th hit of the week in a victory over the red-hot Reds. Despite the much-needed offense from those two sluggers, Detroit floundered a bit last week, going 3-4 against the Brewers and Reds. Still, that was enough to move into a tie with the Guardians atop the AL Central.

The Athletics and Rangers met in an early-season battle for AL West supremacy over the weekend, and the A’s came out on top. Much like it was last year, their season has been a tale of two pitching staffs. At home in West Sacramento, the Athletics have allowed seven runs per game. On the road, they’ve allowed just 3.2 runs per game, and gave up just 17 total during their six-game road trip through Seattle and Arlington last week.

Meanwhile, the Rangers have allowed the second-fewest runs in the AL thus far. The starting rotation has been fine, and the makeshift bullpen has been surprisingly solid. Texas’ relief corps is leading the AL in ERA, though their underlying numbers aren’t nearly as impressive (they’re currently sporting a -0.97 ERA-FIP). On offense, Josh Jung has been carrying a lot of the load. Over the last two weeks, he’s collected 18 hits, 14 of which have been of the extra-base variety.

The Giants have won three series in a row after beating the Dodgers and Marlins last week. It’s definitely progress after a rough start to the season, though the team isn’t firing on all cylinders just yet. Rafael Devers only has six extra-base hits and is currently running a 56 wRC+, and Willy Adames’ 73 wRC+ isn’t much better. San Francisco needs those superstars to get things going to really turn things around. Thankfully, Landen Roupp has taken a pretty big step forward this year. He won both of his starts last week, and outside of a seven-run blow up against the Mets back on April 4, he’s allowed just five runs in his five other starts.

It kind of feels like the Brewers are treading water until Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich, and Andrew Vaughn return from their injuries. That trio isn’t far off and should be back on the field in a few weeks. Until then, Brice Turang will have to carry the load on his own. He’s leveled up again and looks like one of the best hitters in baseball so far. Milwaukee lost both of its series last week and sits tied with the Cardinals at the bottom of the NL Central standings.

The Blue Jays have started to slowly climb out of the hole they dug to start the season, winning both of their series last week. In further good news, Trey Yesavage is on track to be activated off the IL to make his 2026 debut this week, and José Berríos, George Springer, and Addison Barger shouldn’t be too far behind in their returns. Those reinforcements should help the team turn things around, though it would be great to see some of their healthy players start to heat up too. To that end, it was nice to see a pair of big home runs from Kazuma Okamoto this past weekend.

Of the would-be contenders who have struggled to start the season, the Red Sox became the first to drop the hammer on their coaching staff, firing manager Alex Cora and several other coaches on Saturday. It was a pretty dramatic decision from chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and Co., one that wasn’t well received in the clubhouse, especially since Cora was dismissed following a 17-1 victory. With interim manager Chad Tracy at the helm, Boston completed the series win over the Orioles on Sunday. The offensive outburst was nice to see, but the most encouraging takeaway from Saturday’s blow out was the six scoreless innings from Garrett Crochet. With Sonny Gray hitting the IL with a hamstring strain last week, the Red Sox will need their ace to continue to improve after a rough start to the season.

After trading MacKenzie Gore during the offseason, it isn’t surprising to see the Nationals with the worst pitching staff in the National League. Their pitchers aren’t striking out very many hitters (29th in strikeout rate), they’re walking a few too many (20th in walk rate), and they’re allowing a ton of home runs (30th in home runs allowed). That’s a really bad combination, and it’s undermining all the positive progress the offense has made. To wit, James Wood hit home runs in three straight games last week and is now second in the majors with 10.

A series win against the Twins was a brief reprieve for the Mets, but they’ve sunk back down to the depths after getting swept by the Rockies over the weekend. The good news: They scored 10 runs in their victory on Wednesday, more than they had scored in their previous four games combined. The bad news: They scored just four runs in three games against Colorado. New York won its first two games after activating Juan Soto off the IL last week, but Francisco Lindor swapped places with him after injuring his calf on Wednesday. It’s getting to the point where you have to wonder if there’s anything to be salvaged from this season. There aren’t many dramatic roster moves available to the Mets right now, which means Carlos Mendoza might be the next manager to lose his job.

The Phillies snapped their 10-game losing streak on Saturday in a dramatic extra-innings victory over the Braves. That game also featured the return of Zack Wheeler, who pitched five innings of two-run ball in his first start since last summer. Philadelphia wound up losing that series with a loss on Sunday, its fifth loss to Atlanta over the last two weeks. It’s probably too early to be looking at divisional standings, but a 10 1/2 game deficit is a pretty deep hole to climb out of, even for a team as talented and experienced as the Phillies.

The big news in this tier is the Rockies, who climbed out of the cellar after sweeping the Mets over the weekend. Chase Dollander has been particularly effective in a bulk relief role this year. He made his first traditional start of the season on Sunday and held the Mets scoreless over seven innings.

Even though the team is once again bringing up the rear in these rankings, White Sox fans have probably greatly enjoyed the Munetaka Murakami experience. He’s tied for the major league lead in home runs with 11, which are also his only extra-base hits of the season. He’s striking out a ton, but the home runs and walks have mostly offset those whiffs. The team also recently called up Noah Schultz and Sam Antonacci, and both have impressed in their big league debuts. The future isn’t here yet, but I don’t think Chicago will be buried in these rankings forever.