MLB Power Rankings: Will the AL Central be a four-team race all year? Hopefully! Plus who’s back at No. 1
MLB Power Rankings: Will the AL Central be a four-team race all year? Hopefully! Plus who’s back at No. 1
We never quite got that four-team race in the AL Central we were promised in 2024. When the Twins were hanging around, the Tigers weren’t in the race. When the Tigers got hot, the Twins fell apart. By the end, the Guardians had pulled away.
To illustrate, on Aug. 17, the Guardians had a two-game lead over the Twins with the Royals just four back. The Tigers, through, were 12.5 out. By Aug. 27, the Tigers had pulled to within eight games while the Royals and Guardians were tied at the top of the division with the Twins just 2.5 games out. A chaotic four-team race looked within reach!
The Tigers would actually make the playoffs after winning 16 of their final 22 games, but that only pulled them within 6.5 games of first, tied for second place. The Twins sputtered down the stretch and finished 10.5 games out. The Guardians put the thing away with relative ease.
This time around, the sentiment heading into the season was that, yes, the White Sox would be terrible, but otherwise the winner could be any of the other four teams. Dare we hope that it would be a close, four-team race to the end?
Well, the Twins picked up where they left off. Through April 20, they were 7-15 and already six games out. Damn. I guess we’re maxed out at a three-team race …
But wait!
The Twins have been playing excellent baseball since, having won 14 of 19. They’ve actually now won eight straight games and have moved above .500 at 21-20.
They remain in fourth place in a good division, but are only five games out, which is absolutely workable here on May 12. It’s a great story how they’ve resurrected themselves in this race.
The first-place Tigers have been one of the better stories in baseball for a while, dating back to last year. From Aug. 10 on, they went an MLB-best 31-13 and then advanced into the ALDS. Despite starting the season 0-3, they hold a 2.5-game lead in this division.
The Royals, too, were a great story last season. Remember, they lost 106 games in 2023 — tying a franchise record — before advancing to the ALDS themselves last season. Fast-forward to 2025 and though they suffered a six-game losing streak early on, they’ve been gangbusters ever since, winning 16 of their last 20 games.
In the middle of all this, the Guardians defied expectations to win the division last season before getting to the ALCS. Some projections systems had them finishing fourth this season and they started 3-6. Sure enough, though, here they are, right in the thick of the race. Anyone writing them off early would be a fool given their recent history.
Now with the Twins having awakened from that slumber they had been on since roughly mid-August, this has the makings of a division that could keep four teams in the race into September.
If that’s the case, there’s all kinds of potential head-to-head fun late in the season.
- The Guardians and Tigers square off six times in the final two weeks.
- The Royals host the Twins for three games Sept. 5-7.
- The Royals host the Guardians for a four-game set, Sept. 8-11.
- The Twins host the Guardians for three Sept. 19-21.
The Guardians play one of the other three here 13 of their final 19 games.
Let’s hope all four teams are within striking range at the time because regular-season games that have a playoff feel are just off-the-charts fun. And the foundation for that is being laid here in May.
Biggest Movers
|
Rk |
Teams |
Chg |
Rcrd |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
|
Freddie Freeman will turn 36 years old this coming September. He is hitting .376/.437/.734 right now. In the Expansion Era (1961-present), the highest single-season batting average by a player 35 years old or older is .372 (Tony Gwynn, 1997, age 37). | — | 27-14 |
2 |
|
Mark Vientos and Bretty Baty are both swinging hot bats right now, deepening a lineup that was already performing very well. | 2 | 26-15 |
3 |
|
Truly bizarre series in Coors Field. The Padres outscored the Rockies by 15 runs on Saturday and Sunday combined and still managed to lose one of those two games. | 1 | 25-14 |
4 |
|
Tarik Skubal in his last seven starts has 50 strikeouts against one walk. Good lord, man. | 1 | 26-15 |
5 |
|
They are surging again. The Phillies have won 11 of 14 after falling to .500 with a loss on April 25. | 4 | 24-16 |
6 |
|
Yes, the three-homer game on Friday does some heavy lifting here, but Jasson Domínguez is hitting .302 with six extra-base hits, eight RBI and 12 runs in his last 13 games. Keep in mind, he’s still only 22 years old. | 2 | 23-17 |
7 |
|
The Giants have an MLB-best 2.53 bullpen ERA. | — | 24-17 |
8 |
|
Only three players this season so far are in double digits in both home runs and steals. One is obviously Shohei Ohtani. The other two? Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong. | 5 | 23-18 |
9 |
|
Sitting on their off day, Thursday, the Mariners could be called the hottest team in baseball, having won 18 of their previous 24 games. They would get to rest up for a day before facing a sub-.500 Blue Jays team at home over the weekend. And they were swept by the Jays. Baseball can be a cruel mistress sometimes. | 3 | 22-17 |
10 |
|
Remember last season how utility man David Fry emerged from obscurity to make the All-Star team? Take a look at the impact Daniel Schneemann is having this season. | — | 23-17 |
11 |
|
Only the Mets have a better rotation ERA than the Royals. The worst starter of the bunch here, by ERA, has been Cole Ragans and he finished fourth in Cy Young voting last year. | — | 24-18 |
12 |
|
On Saturday, May 3, the Cardinals were 14-19 and set to face one of the best teams in baseball in the Mets. There was a rainout that day. As the Cardinals have now ripped off eight straight wins since, I can’t help but think about Crash Davis’ “I can get us a rainout” theatrics on Bull Durham. Sometimes that’s all you need. | 11 | 22-19 |
13 |
|
They have played a lot of good clubs in Chase Field, but a team with playoff aspirations needs to be better than 11-12 at home. In fact, given their road record, they should be in much better shape. | 1 | 21-20 |
14 |
|
Joe Ryan has 54 strikeouts against only five walks all season. He’s also hit five guys and seven of the 33 hits he’s allowed are home runs. He’s quite the anomaly. | 10 | 21-20 |
15 |
|
Power breakout for Wilyer Abreu? After hitting 15 homers in 132 games last season, he’s already to 10 this year. He’s slugging .551. | 1 | 22-20 |
16 |
|
What a difference a year can make. Last year at this time, Hunter Brown was 0-4 with a 7.79 ERA. This time around, he’s on the short list of pitchers who could start the All-Star Game. | 3 | 20-19 |
17 |
|
The A’s have now lost four of five. Remember, ebbs and flows happen. They’ll be fun to watch and give fits to plenty of contenders, but they likely aren’t ready to contend just yet. | 2 | 21-20 |
18 |
|
The Jays have won four straight and are back to .500. They have an opportunity now, hosting the Rays for three games, to really snowball this momentum. They haven’t looked consistently good this season, but are only three games out. | 3 | 20-20 |
19 |
|
In trying to get back from .500 after that dreadful start, the Braves have come within one game four different times. If we include when they were 0-1, the Braves are now 0-5 in games when they could even up their record at .500. | 2 | 19-21 |
20 |
|
Man, they really need Matt McLain to be a good hitter. He clubbed a three-run homer on Saturday, but still is slashing just .165/.299/.298 overall. | 6 | 20-22 |
21 |
|
Through Friday, things still looked pretty bleak for the Rangers, but they outscored the first-place Tigers 16-4 on Saturday and Sunday, taking the series in Detroit. This could be a blip or a springboard to turning the season back around to a positive. Remember, this group started 8-2. They’ve seen important signs of life from players like Adolis García, Marcus Semien and Evan Carter, too. | 1 | 20-21 |
22 |
|
The Rays have already played 28 games at home compared to just 12 on the road, due to trying to avoid playing outdoors during the stifling-weather season in Tampa. In dealing with this, it would’ve behooved the Rays to take advantage early and stockpile home wins. Instead, they are 11-17 at Steinbrenner. That does not bode well for a successful season. | 4 | 18-22 |
23 |
|
The issue so far has been consistency. Getting more offensively from their big names — Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and William Contreras — would sure help in shoring that up. Both Yelich and Contreras homered on Sunday and that could always mean a hot streak is coming. | 4 | 20-21 |
24 |
|
The Nats weren’t looking too bad, climbing within two games of .500. They’ve now lost five straight, though, and stare down a really tough upcoming schedule for the next month. | 2 | 17-24 |
25 |
|
No, this is not a lost cause just yet. The Orioles took the series in Anaheim and now have a six-game homestand against the Twins (who are red hot, but also are due to lose a game or two) and the Nats. Post a good week there and you never know. | — | 15-24 |
26 |
|
Someone to watch moving toward July: Tyler Anderson. The 35-year-old southpaw is only signed through this season. He has a 2.58 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in eight starts. | 2 | 16-23 |
27 |
|
The Pirates had lost seven straight, fired their manager and then took two of three from a hot Braves team. See, teams fighting losing streaks, it’s just that easy! | — | 14-27 |
28 |
|
I was really tempted to drop them below the White Sox. I think a Sox sweep would’ve done it. | 2 | 15-24 |
29 |
|
The White Sox are on pace to go 47-115 and not be the worst team in baseball this season. | — | 12-29 |
30 |
|
The Rockies are so bad that I’d rather stub every toe at the same time than watch them play. | — | 7-33 |
