Tigers Spiking in MLB Power Rankings (5/19)

The Detroit Tigers kind of smoke-and-mirrorsed their way to the playoffs last year. That takes nothing away from their accomplishment, but you’d be excused if you saw it and thought it was a mirage.

This year? The Tigers had the third-best team wRC+ (117) and the fourth-best team ERA (3.21). They have the best record in baseball, and while maybe that is a bit much, this team certainly appears to be for real. That’s a big part of the reason why the team has been a fringe top-10 team in our MLB Power Rankings for much of the season but is now fourth overall, with a projection to go past 90 wins. It’s good times in Motown.

Let’s take a look at all 30 teams in this week’s power rankings, 1-30.

Fantasy Baseball Power Rankings (5/19)

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (Last Week: 1)

29-18, 97.2 projected wins

The Dodgers got Clayton Kershaw back Saturday, but it wasn’t a great outing, with 5 earned runs in 4 innings. “Back” is good. “Back and actually helpful” will be better, should Kershaw get there.

2. New York Yankees (Last Week: 4)

27-19, 93.8 projected wins

Max Fried has been a savior for the Yankees so far, especially considering the Gerrit Cole injury. The Yankees’ free agency prize has a league-leading 1.29 ERA through 10 starts, anchoring a rotation that is questionable overall.

3. Philadelphia Phillies (Last Week: 3)

28-18, 92.2 projected wins

We’re only a quarter of the way into the season, but right now, Kyle Schwarber is offering up career highs in OBP and slugging. Even more impressively, his K rate is shattering a career low — he’s at 20.7% right now after never being below 25.6% in his career.

4. Detroit Tigers (Last Week: 9)

31-16, 90.6 projected wins

Detroit Tigers, best record in baseball? By 2 full games? My father, who died in 2016 and was a die-hard Tigers fan, wouldn’t believe his eyes.

5. Atlanta Braves (Last Week: 5)

24-23, 90.6 projected wins

After starting 0-7, the Braves finally got over .500 last week, getting to 23-22 and 24-23. It was a quick turnaround for a team that just got Spencer Strider back and should get Ronald Acuña Jr. back before long.

6. New York Mets (Last Week: 6)

29-18, 90.2 projected wins

Since a top-20 MVP finish in 2022, Starling Marte is producing only a .667 OPS with multiple injuries over the last three years. And he’s in his contract year. Is there any chance he finishes the year as a Mets regular?

7. Seattle Mariners (Last Week: 2)

26-19, 88.8 projected wins

The Mariners were scuffling, losing six of eight, before winning four of their last five to end the week, including a three-game sweep of the Padres.

8. San Diego Padres (Last Week: 7)

27-18, 88.7 projected wins

Since the start of May, the Padres are 7-3 against the Pirates, Rockies and Angels but 1-5 against the Yankees and Mariners. They need to start beating some better teams.

9. Chicago Cubs (Last Week: 15)

28-19, 88.7 projected wins

Matt Shaw was a mess in his first go with the big-league club, but it hasn’t gotten better (Cubs third basemen are at .184/.271/.222 for the season), and after he mashed in Triple-A, he’s back for a second try.

10. Arizona Diamondbacks (Last Week: 10)

25-22, 87.9 projected wins

Jordan Lawlar has been with the big-league club for five games. He’s started two and was a late-inning replacement in one, missing two games altogether. Still doesn’t have a hit. Hard for a kid to get into a groove with that kind of playing time.

11. San Francisco Giants (Last Week: 11)

28-19, 86.6 projected wins

“Wilmer Flores, MLB RBI Leader,” is one of those weird things that could signify you had fallen into a parallel dimension, except right now, it’s true.

12. Texas Rangers (Last Week: 18)

25-23, 84.2 projected wins

The Rangers only lost two games in the last week. In one, Nathan Eovaldi left with a 3-0 lead. In the other, Jack Leiter left with a 3-1 lead after carrying a no-hitter into the seventh. The team is doing well, but the bullpen is a big concern, especially with Chris Martin leaving after one pitch in consecutive outings.

13. Minnesota Twins (Last Week: 19)

26-21, 83.8 projected wins

The Twins’ 13-game winning streak that was snapped Sunday carried the team from a distant fourth place in the AL Central to now a second-place standing.

14. Kansas City Royals (Last Week: 13)

26-22, 81.9 projected wins

Only the pitiful offenses of the White Sox, Pirates and Rockies have a worse team wRC+ than the Royals’ 81. Maikel Garcia has been a nice running back to Bobby Witt Jr., but those are the only Royals with more than 10 plate appearances with an OPS+ over 100.

15. Houston Astros (Last Week: 14)

24-22, 81.6 projected wins

In Josh Hader’s first month as an Astro, he had a 6.39 ERA in 12.2 innings. He’s thrown 78.1 innings across the 2024-2025 since, and the ERA sits at 2.87, including a 1.80 this year. As electric as ever.

16. St. Louis Cardinals (Last Week: 8)

26-21, 81.3 projected wins

The Cardinals went 14-17 in March/April but are 12-4 in May, including winning 12 of their last 14. And Matthew Liberatore appears to have arrived — he carried a 4.99 ERA and 4.34 career FIP into this year, but those numbers are 2.92 and 2.30, respectively, in 2025.

17. Boston Red Sox (Last Week: 16)

23-25, 81.1 projected wins

Rafael Devers or someone else, the Red Sox badly need to figure this first-base thing out — they’ve gotten a .620 OPS from the position so far. That won’t cut it at such an important offensive position.

18. Cleveland Guardians (Last Week: 12)

25-21, 80.9 projected wins

The Guardians’ run of AL Central dominance in recent years has been built on pitching, but right now, every starter has a FIP of 4.06 or worse, including supposed ace Tanner Bibee sitting at 5.64.

19. Toronto Blue Jays (Last Week: 20)

22-24, 79.8 projected wins

“Daulton Varsho leads the Blue Jays in home runs despite only playing 14 games” is a nice Daulton Varsho stat, but it’s a pretty damning Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Anthony Santander and George Springer stat.

20. Tampa Bay Rays (Last Week: 17)

21-25, 77.7 projected wins

Pete Fairbanks has been strong, with a 2.50 ERA and 2.81 FIP so far, but his K% is a career-low 20.8%, and his BB% is at 11.7%, almost his career worst. He’s inducing soft contact (his barrel rate is a tiny 1.9%), but you’d like to see the K’s.

21. Cincinnati Reds (Last Week: 21)

24-24, 77.4 projected wins

The Brady Singer-for-Jonathan India trade hasn’t worked out for anyone so far — Singer has a 5.01 ERA (4.42 FIP) through 9 starts, while India is hitting .238/.331/.311 with a single home run in Kansas City. Singer has a -0.1 bWAR; India has -0.5.

22. Milwaukee Brewers (Last Week: 26)

22-25, 77.1 projected wins

The good news: After looking kind of done last year (.214/.303/.419 as a bad defensive first baseman), Rhys Hoskins is off to a hot start for 2025, .288/.392/.446 through 44 games. The bad news: A .354 BABIP (career high by a mile) says it might be a mirage, and a career-low .158 ISO says he can’t maintain when the BABIP drops.

23. Sacramento Athletics (Last Week: 22)

22-25, 75.3 projected wins

Is reality catching up with the A’s a bit? After beating the Mariners May 5 to get to 20-16, they’ve lost nine of 11, including the last five in a row. The roster has improved, but it doesn’t look ready to contend.

24. Los Angeles Angels (Last Week: 23)

20-25, 75.0 projected wins

Kyren Paris had 5 home runs and a 1.653 OPS in his first 10 games. Since then, he’s sitting at .124/.179/.191 with a lone dinger. Is he at risk of a demotion?

25. Baltimore Orioles (Last Week: 25)

15-30, 75.0 projected wins

Brandon Hyde was in the weird position where he probably didn’t deserve that much credit for the Orioles’ rise the last few years but also probably didn’t deserve to be the fall guy for the 2025 collapse. Baltimore might need to take a step back and reassess strategy this offseason.

26. Washington Nationals (Last Week: 24)

21-27, 72.8 projected wins

Nathaniel Lowe looked like one of the finds of the offseason for a month, but he’s fallen off in a big way — .162/.239/.313 over his last 25 games. That’s not going to play.

27. Pittsburgh Pirates (Last Week: 28)

15-32, 69.4 projected wins

We can make fun of the Pirates all we want for not giving Paul Skenes enough run support (and it is absolutely deserved), but it’s also true that he’s not pitching as well this year as last year. FIP is up a bit, K rate is down, walk rate is up, hard-hit rate is up. Nothing terrifying, but he’s just one of the best pitchers right now, but the best.

28. Miami Marlins (Last Week: 27)

18-27, 69.0 projected wins

Matt Mervis looked like he was figuring it out early, sitting at a 1.058 OPS and 6 homers after 13 games, but it was a mirage — he’s at .123/.219/.215 in 23 games since with a lone long ball. With Joe Mack looking increasingly ready to come up and take over at catcher and bump Agustín Ramírez to DH, Mervis might be out of a job.

29. Chicago White Sox (Last Week: 29)

14-33, 57.2 projected wins

The White Sox winning four of five after the announcement of a White Sox-fan pope was a fun story, but four straight losses later, it’s Same Old White Sox.

30. Colorado Rockies (Last Week: 30)

8-38, 54.2 projected wins

Will 2024 prove to be Brenton Doyle’s career year? He had a paltry 53 OPS+ in 2023, then 104 last year. This year? It’s right down to 53 again.

Check out our full rankings below: