We've made it, everyone: the final weekend of the 2025 regular season. The playoff picture is almost set — although the New York Mets, Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros are doing their best to throw a wrench into the works — and before you know it that 162-game marathon will become a one-month sprint to a World Series title.
So, before we look ahead to October, we thought we'd take this moment to look back at the year that was around the league. This week's MLB Power Rankings are still ordered by overall team success and talent — with apologies to the Colorado Rockies for the umpteenth week in a row — but rather than simply telling you which teams are playing well and which teams aren't, we're going to take this time to evaluate each team's regular season by handing out a letter grade from A to F.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
30. Colorado Rockies: F
At 43 wins, the Rockies have officially managed to exceed the bar for modern futility set by the 2024 White Sox, so, uh, congratulations I guess. If we wanted to find a silver lining or two here, we could highlight Hunter Goodman’s breakout season or drafting Ethan Holliday in the first round of the draft or one or two shrewd moves at the trade deadline or something.
But really, what’s the point? Even on the timeline of a years-long rebuild, what steps did Colorado take in the right direction? What evidence did the Rockies provide that they’re even an inch closer to fielding a legitimately competitive baseball team? The Major League roster is a mess, the farm system is a mess, the player development team sure seems to be a mess; it’s all bad right now, but hey, at least Coors Field is a fantastic place to while away a few hours.
-Chris Landers, FanSided.com
29. Chicago White Sox: C-
Look, all of these grades are relative: The point is not to simply evaluate how competitive each team was in 2025, but to what extent they did or did not accomplish their goals. For the White Sox, the goal was simple: Develop your homegrown talent in hopes of finding a foundation upon which to build moving forward.
By that metric, well, things definitely could’ve been worse. Colson Montgomery will need to cut down on the swing-and-miss long term, but he’s got major power and sure looked the part of a starting shortstop as a rookie. Kyle Teel has come on strong and looks like Chicago’s catcher of the future. Davis Martin, Shane Smith and Sean Burke have all flashed at times.
Again, we’re talking baby steps here, and there’s only so high a grade you can give to a team that’s struggling to get over the 60-win mark. But this feels like the first glimmer of hope we’ve gotten on the South Side in a long time.
-CL
28. Minnesota Twins: F
Is there any other choice here? The Twins entered the 2025 season hoping to contend in the AL Central. They end it a smoldering wreck, having shipped off – or planning to ship off (looking at you, Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez) – darn near everything of value at the trade deadline while their ownership group refuses to cede control to someone with deeper pockets. Sure, Minnesota acquired some nice pieces in that complete fire sale, but then again, that’s the least you’d hope for when you cut ties with so many established big leaguers. More to the point, though: Does anyone trust the Pohlads to spend what’s necessary to field a winner unless everything goes right?
-CL
27. Washington Nationals: D
I honestly might be a bit generous here. I, and many others, thought that the Washington Nationals would take a step forward. There weren’t World Series expectations or anything, but it felt like they could’ve at least been somewhat in the Wild Card conversation. Instead, it feels like they’ve taken three steps back. In fact, their 92nd loss of the season suffered on Friday ensured they wouldn’t even match last season’s 71-91 record.
What makes this season even worse is that their two first-half bright spots, James Wood and MacKenzie Gore, have both taken massive steps back in the second half. I have no doubt that both of these players will be All-Stars down the line, but the second half has been ugly. Frankly, there isn’t much to get excited about other than those two players and C.J. Abrams. The pitching is a mess, and guys like Luis Garcia Jr., Keibert Ruiz and Dylan Crews haven’t exactly impressed.
This Nationals team has what feels like an eternity to go before they can be competitive, and it just didn’t feel like that entering the year.
-Zachary Rotman, FanSided.com
26. Pittsburgh Pirates: D-
If you can figure out what the Pirates are doing, please let us know. They don’t seem to be rebuilding, considering that Ben Cherington refused to move on from several valuable rentals at the trade deadline – and the one big trade he did pull the trigger on, for star closer David Bednar, just raised more questions about his leadership moving forward. And they also don’t seem any closer to contending, no matter how great this homegrown starting rotation might shape up as soon as 2026.
If you wanted to give this team an “F” for every year in which Bob Nutting remained in control, I wouldn’t blame you. Really, the only thing that saves them from a failing grade this year is the continued development of one of baseball’s best farm systems, which saw Konnor Griffin rocket to the top of the Minor League ranks while adding another tantalizing righty, high schooler Seth Hernandez, in the draft. Again, though, none of that will matter unless and until this team is willing to sign a free agent or develop one meaningful bat.
-CL
25. Los Angeles Angels: C
Much like last season … and the one before that … and the one before that … and, OK you get it – the Los Angeles Angels are ending their season on a whimper. The Halos have lost eight straight games, plus their players are dropping like flies.
They just blew a game to the Colorado Rockies, who have the worst run differential in the modern era of baseball. Instead of playing spoiler to their division rival Seattle Mariners, they helped springboard them into first place of the American League West after getting swept in a four-game series. Zach Neto, José Soriano and Reid Detmers all went on the IL recently and their seasons are over. The same goes for players like Robert Stephenson, Tyler Anderson, Andrew Chafin and Jorge Soler. Ron Washington was forced to step away from the team on June 20 after the oldest manager in baseball needed a quadruple bypass heart surgery. The Angels posted the fourth-worst win percentage in baseball from the time Wash was forced to take his indefinite leave.
On a positive note, they already improved upon their franchise-worst record from 2024. Things are not nearly as bleak as they were last season in their first year without Shohei Ohtani. Neto is emerging as a star, Mike Trout is posting, Yusei Kikuchi and Soriano are solid anchors for the rotation, Taylor Ward and Jo Adell are having career years, Nolan Schanuel is rounding out his game and Detmers is settling in well to his new role out of the bullpen.
Perhaps without an interim manager and with a revamped pitching staff (hopefully) next year, the Angels can finally make a real attempt at ending the longest active playoff drought in baseball. 2025 was a bad year, but there is much more hope moving forward than there was after the franchise’s nadir in 2024.
–Evan Roberts, Halo Hangout
24. Baltimore Orioles: D
If you wanted to be even harsher than this, feel free. A division title and a deep playoff run were the expectations in Baltimore entering 2025, but both of them were more or less out the window by June. The pitching staff, left out to dry thanks to Mike Elias’ inaction over the offseason, quickly fell apart, while the O’s young core battled injuries and ineffectiveness that short-circuited any positive momentum
There was the occasional silver lining. Jackson Holliday took a meaningful step forward, top prospect Samuel Basallo sure looks like the part and Trevor Rogers has pitched like a Cy Young candidate for much of the season. The talent is still here, if Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and the gang can ever get (and stay) healthy and rolling at the same time. Then again, this team should be long past the point of silver lining; the time for contention is right now – Henderson and Rutschman are already ready for extensions – and it doesn’t seem like Elias is the man to get them there.
-CL
23. Athletics: C+
The first half of the season was an unmitigated disaster for the Athletics in a year many hoped to see improvement, but to their credit, they’ve played some really good baseball down the stretch. They’ve gone 32-24 in the second half as of this writing, and if they can finish off a winning month in September, they will have finished their year with three straight winning months.
Their position player core has really come together nicely down the stretch, featuring guys like Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom, and Jacob Wilson. Lawrence Butler has had a down year, but his potential is sky-high, too, and Leo De Vries is coming too. The A’s are an above-average offensive team already, and they have room to grow, which is very exciting.
On the pitching side, though, it’s hard to get too excited. Mason Miller is gone, and there isn’t much other than Luis Morales for the A’s to hang their hats on. The pitching is why they might not find their way back to the postseason in 2026, but if they’re willing to spend some money to address that area of the team, who knows what the future holds?
-ZR
22. Atlanta Braves: D
The Braves started this season as favorites to win the division and possibly the World Series. After a 2024 that was marred by injuries, Atlanta had hoped things would turn around in 2025. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
Alex Anthoupolous didn’t add another starter in the offseason, and the bullpen as well. The Braves' bullpen has been shuffled most of the season. Jurickson Profar was the biggest addition, and he went down with a suspension just days into the season. Not what you would hope for after a down year. There was also speculation that the team wanted to remain under the tax threshold despite telling fans there was “dry powder” to add to the payroll.
Atlanta is poised to finish the season in fourth place in the NL East. They weren’t even good enough to make the playoffs, ending their streak of seven consecutive playoff appearances. The team is finishing strong on a season-high eight-game winning streak. Hopefully, this momentum carries into 2026.
-Steven Teal, House That Hank Built
21. St. Louis Cardinals: D
It’s hard to identify a single short- or long-term goal the Cardinals managed to actually accomplish this season. For those hoping for one more playoff push in the John Mozeliak era, St. Louis has been out of meaningful contention for months now. For those hoping for a jumpstart on a seemingly inevitable rebuild as Chaim Bloom takes over the front office, the trade deadline felt like a weird half-measure, while the young players the Cardinals were hoping to reach a verdict on – Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II, Nolan Gorman, Masyn Winn – all came back inconclusive or worse.
All of which leaves the Cardinals … pretty much exactly where they were to start 2025: a team caught maddeningly in the middle, without a solid foundation to build around moving forward but also without enough current talent to distinguish themselves in the crowded National League. And after an entire winter’s worth of speculation regarding expensive vets with no-trade clauses like Nolan Arenado and Sonny Gray, well, prepare to do that whole dance all over again.
-CL
20. Tampa Bay Rays: C
The Rays were among my sleeper teams in the AL at the start of the season, with a budding young star in Junior Caminero and a drool-worthy potential rotation if Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz and Taj Bradley could all get (and stay healthy). The Caminero part of that equation has worked out as well as anybody could’ve expected. The rest … well, not so much.
McClanahan got hurt yet again, raising serious questions about his future as a big-league starter. Baz and Bradley struggled throughout, with the latter getting shipped off to Minnesota at the trade deadline. Only Pepiot has produced above-average production on a real workload this season, and this team simply doesn’t have the firepower offensively to win that way – especially not with Brandon Lowe a likely trade candidate this winter. The current generation of homegrown talent hasn’t panned out, and the future is awfully murky.
-CL
19. Miami Marlins: B
Finishing with a losing record is far from ideal, and barring a near-undefeated finish to their season, that’s exactly what the Miami Marlins will do. With that being said, did anyone expect this team to be mathematically alive in the NL Wild Card race with just a little bit over a week to go? Sure, some of that has to do with virtually none of the teams in the race seemingly wanting to win, but the Marlins deserve credit, especially for sitting a game over .500 in the second half as of this writing.
While they’re unlikely to make it to the playoffs this season, the future looks a whole lot brighter now than it did a year ago today. From Eury Perez to Edward Cabrera to Sandy Alcantara, Miami has loads of pitching, and they’ve got more in the pipeline too. With Jakob Marsee, Agustin Ramirez and Kyle Stowers on the team as well, runs shouldn’t be nearly as impossible to come by as they have been in recent years.
I’m not going to say the Marlins will be a playoff team in 2026, but they took a major step this season, and appear to be on the right path at long last.
-ZR
18. Texas Rangers: C-
The Texas Rangers are a hard team to grade because they’ll likely miss the playoffs, but it doesn’t feel like it’s entirely their fault. The Rangers have dealt with a myriad of injuries, particularly down the stretch, and as lame as it is to use that as an excuse, it is a very real one. With that being said, missing the playoffs with MLB’s best pitching staff according to ERA is a bad look.
To put it simply, the Rangers just haven’t gotten enough from their veterans. Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia, Josh Jung, Jonah Heim and Joc Pederson all have OPS figures below .700. Jake Burger is just a shade above that mark as of this writing. Corey Seager is the only veteran to have a good year, and he’s missed substantial time due to injuries.
The Rangers got a healthy season from Jacob deGrom, a Cy Young-caliber season from Nathan Eovaldi when he was healthy, and good years from Merrill Kelly and Jack Leiter. They even got respectable work from Patrick Corbin, and yet, missing the playoffs is the likely outcome. Just a shame.
-ZR
17. Kansas City Royals: D+
Perhaps this is harsh, considering that Kansas City has been just about the most average team in the sport this season – constantly hovering around .500 and a perfectly even run differential. The thing is, though, that average feels awfully disappointing when you were in the ALDS less than 12 months ago.
There’s still plenty to build on here: The infield looks set for the future after huge years from Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino, and with the emergence of Noah Cameron (and renewed health from Cole Ragans) this rotation should once again be pretty strong. But the problems remain the same: This team simply does not have enough firepower, particularly in the outfield, and at this point it’s hard to have a ton of faith in Kansas City’s front office to address them.
-CL
16. San Francisco Giants: C
Coming into this season for the San Francisco Giants, not much was expected from the team. Sure, the team added shortstop Willy Adames in free agency but there were still a lot of question marks on the roster and they were in the same division as the Dodgers, Padres, and Diamondbacks. After the first few months, it seemed that first-year president of baseball operations Buster Posey was working the same magic he produced on the field for so many years as the Giants were right there with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
Then, he made the trade heard round the world for Rafael Devers which completely recalibrated the expectations for the team. They went from over-performing underdogs in a stacked division to a team that should almost certainly make the playoffs otherwise the year would be a disappointment. The team completely fell apart the next few months and manager Bob Melvin’s job security came into question.
Fortunately for Melvin, the team showed life in the last month of the season and reinserted themselves into the playoff conversation before fading off yet again at the end. It has been a truly bizarre roller coaster season that has seen the team set franchise-best and franchise-worst marks while ultimately ending up right around .500 same as they have the three seasons.
They will enter 2026 with hope thanks to the surge towards the end of the year that showed what the club is capable of when firing on all cylinders, but also with some serious questions about whether this team as currently constructed can be consistent enough over 162 games to be a playoff team. A .500 team deserves a C grade even with all of the ups and downs in between.
-Nick San Miguel, Around the Foghorn
15. Arizona Diamondbacks: C
Somehow, some way, the book is still not yet closed on the 2025 D-backs. It looked for all the world like they’d waved the white flag at the deadline, shipping off Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suarez, Merrill Kelly and more quality big-leaguers. And yet, with a huge assist from the spiraling Mets, here they are, smack in the middle of the race for the final NL Wild Card spot entering the final week of the regular season.
That’s an achievement, all things considered, and there remains a ton of talent here despite the midseason departures. Still, though, Arizona entered 2025 with aspirations of being a legitimate contender, and while they might yet sneak into October, this season feels like a step back in that regard. Ryne Nelson’s emergence aside, the rotation more or less fell apart, with Kelly gone and Zac Gallen a pending free agent and Brandon Pfaadt stagnating and Corbin Burnes lost for most if not all of 2026 due to Tommy John surgery. There are definitely still reasons for optimism around this team moving forward, but it’s hard not to view the year on the whole as a disappointment considering where it started.
-CL
14. New York Mets: B+
The payroll suggested the Mets should have had a Usain Bolt-like sprint to the NL East title. At the very least, the playoffs should have been locked up well in advance. It’s going to take them a little longer than others to confirm the inevitable: this team is pretty good despite all of the regular season flaws we saw exposed.
Juan Soto is playing his best baseball at the perfect time. Rookie Nolan McLean has added dominance on the mound lost for much of the season. This team can be sneaky good in the playoffs. However, we can’t look back at the regular season and declare it a resounding success.
David Stearns misses as much as he hits on trades and free agents. Soto has worked out well. A Pete Alonso reunion has given them the extra oomph in the middle of the order no one else could have provided. A long list of Tommy John surgery recipients plus failings of veteran starting pitchers made this a regular season only worth a B+ grade. That mark can always change with how far they go in the playoffs.
-Tim Boyle, Rising Apple
13. Cincinnati Reds: C
Perhaps this is a bit harsh, but I was very high on the Cincinnati Reds entering the year. A bold prediction I had entering the year was that they’d win the NL Central. Not only did they fail to do that, but they’ve got ground to make up just to earn the final Wild Card spot in the NL. For a Reds team with this much talent, that feels unacceptable.
Their rotation, led by Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo, is one of the best in the National League. Their lineup, featuring big names like Elly De La Cruz, TJ Friedl and Matt McLain, should frankly be much better than it has been. McLain has struggled all year, and De La Cruz has had an abysmal second half.
This grade will obviously change a lot if they do make it to the playoffs, and I’d say with their pitching, they have a chance to go on a memorable run. With that being said, they’re on the outside looking in right now, and that’s a disappointment - point blank. I do believe this team can take meaningful strides in 2026, especially with both Chase Burns and Sal Stewart set to play full seasons, but this season will be a very disappointing one if they miss the playoffs.
-ZR
12. Houston Astros: C+
In a season of trials and tribulations, it's somewhat difficult to come up with an accurate grade for the Houston Astros. The club tried to sell the world on the fact that they'd be contenders, even after they traded away Kyle Tucker and let Alex Bregman walk. Most weren't buying and believed the Astros were primed to take a big step back.
On the flip side, the story of the season is one of devastating injuries and incredible perseverance. If you'd known at the beginning of the season that Yordan Alvarez would miss four months of action, you'd be forgiven for thinking the club would be dead in the water. The superstar slugger was far from the only significant injury the Astros would sustain.
At the end of the day, the injury waves just kept coming and became harder and harder for Houston to withstand. They lost their grip on the AL West, and now their playoff lives hang in the balance. On the one hand, a fringe playoff team was probably the expectation going into the season, but given what they've had to endure, it's fair to say they've been just a hair above expectations.
-Stephen Parello, Climbing Tal’s Hill
11. Cleveland Guardians: B+
If you had asked me to grade the Guardians two weeks ago, I likely would have given them a ‘C’ grade. Sure, they showed some fight and showed they had some pieces for the future, but it looked like they were destined for a disappointing season after last year’s trip to the American League Championship Series.
Now here we are.
Despite the fact they’ve had two big swoons this season and lost two key players to a gambling investigation, they’re entering the final week of the regular season in control of their postseason destiny. They’ll likely need to win four of their final six weeks to get in, but they just rattled off 10 wins in a row to cut the Tigers’ lead in the division to just one game.
This season doesn’t get an A grade because of their mid-summer struggles, but it may be the best B+ season in MLB history.
-Henry Palatella, Away Back Gone
10. Detroit Tigers: C+
Man, this grade would’ve been at least a notch or two higher even just a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, the Tigers have been leaking oil for basically the entire month of September, turning what was once an afterthought of an AL Central race into a dogfight with the suddenly surging Guardians. The offense has hit the skids, the pitching staff doesn’t have enough bullets behind Tarik Skubal and the good vibes of summer have more or less evaporated entirely.
Of course, all hope is far from lost. Detroit is still set to make the postseason one way or another, and they still have Skubal and one of the best October managers in the sport in AJ Hinch. If the bats get rolling again, the AL remains right there for the taking. Plus, the farm system remains one of, if not the, most talented in the game, set to start paying serious dividends as soon as next season.
Still, it’s hard not to feel frustrated at the way Scott Harris has managed the last few months. He’s consistently been averse to taking any sort of real risk, instead fiddling around the margins both during free agency and at the trade deadline. Maybe that’s the right call from a pure future value perspective, but it’s costing this team a legitimate shot at making the World Series. Those don’t come around very often, and with Skubal’s free agency looming after the 2026 season, Detroit doesn’t have much runway left to finally go all in.
-CL
9. Boston Red Sox: B
This certainly isn’t the way Boston imagined this season playing out; imagine going back in time and telling a Red Sox fan that the team would hardly get anything from Tanner Houck or Kutter Crawford while Kristian Campbell got sent back to Triple-A and Rafael Devers isn’t even on the roster anymore. And yet, after all the mayhem … things have turned out pretty OK, no?
The Devers trade will be re-litigated until the end of time, and I’m certainly not here to defend how Craig Breslow went about shipping off his best hitter. The Red Sox offense could really use him right now, and the return from San Francisco was … not great. But Garrett Crochet is a Cy Young candidate to build around, and even more importantly for the future, Boston’s farm system has produced a crop of budding stars – from Roman Anthony to Connelly Early to Payton Tolle, the kids are very much alright.
Granted, Red Sox fans are ready for that potential to start turning into production; we were supposed to have achieved full throttle by now. But between the youth movement, Breslow’s pitching development bonafides and John Henry’s newfound aggressiveness, few teams feel better positioned for the long haul – and hey, they are in the thick of the Wild Card race right now.
-CL
8. San Diego Padres: B
If we were grading the trade deadline, at least in terms of activity, it would be an A.
I hold the Padres in very high regard. To me, they have the talent to win the World Series. It hasn’t always looked that way through large parts of the last month, but they’ve shown signs recently they might be turning the corner. A wild card postseason series remains possible, but even if it doesn’t happen, they now have Michael King back. Ryan O’Hearn is bouncing back from a month-long slump. Xander Bogaerts is soon return from the Injured List.
The Padres are a gigantic threat in the National League. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up representing the NL in the World Series.
-Robert Murray, FanSided.com
7. Chicago Cubs: B
After the Chicago Cubs made an unexpected, but wholly welcome, aggressive move and acquired Kyle Tucker last winter, expectations jumped. It was postseason-or-bust - and, to be fair, the team has delivered and will play in October for the first time since 2020 (and the first time in a full season since 2018).
Pete Crow-Armstrong put up an MVP-caliber first half, earning his first All-Star selection and Cade Horton is a legitimate National League Rookie of the Year candidate thanks to his Jake Arrieta-esque second-half run. There have been a lot of bright spots for this team - no doubt.
But a lackluster trade deadline showing from the front office rolled right into subpar second-half performances from PCA, Seiya Suzuki and Tucker. The latter’s late-summer swoon and the accompanying injury drama (the latest of which could potentially keep him off the postseason roster) has taken the wind out of fans’ sails heading into the postseason.
Being relevant this time of year is a box checked, sure. But given this organization’s resources and financial firepower, that should be the absolute bare minimum expectation.
-Jake Misener, Cubbies Crib
6. New York Yankees: B-
What a roller coaster ride it’s been over the last few months. The pressure could not have been higher to start the 2025 season, with Juan Soto heading across town over the winter and the specter of last year’s World Series collapse looming over the entire franchise. And then Gerrit Cole wound up needing Tommy John surgery before we even got to Opening Day. Things could have gone well and truly off the rails.
Which, for a while, seemed like where we were headed, especially during a midsummer swoon in which New York lost 16 of 22 games. To the Yankees’ credit, they’ve righted the ship a bit since; while the AL East is almost out of reach, they’re still on track for the top Wild Card spot and home-field advantage in the first round. They’ve also gotten breakout years from young, homegrown players like Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler which have laid the foundation for the future.
Of course, no one associated with the Yankees wants to focus on the future. This team is as all-in as it’s possible to be, and nothing but a return trip to the World Series will satisfy an angsty fan base. On the one hand, as Aaron Boone likes to say, it’s right in front of them. On the other, it’s been a far bumpier road than most expected.
-CL
5. Los Angeles Dodgers: B-
Entering the year, the Dodgers were regarded by many, myself included, as the most talented roster in baseball history.
I thought they might contend for the most wins in regular-season history. Instead, they are 88-68. They still lead the National League West. They remain immensely talented, and part of me wonders if the defending champions, with such a talented roster, could get bored in the regular season. It’s something that San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich wondered aloud in an interview in the postseason years ago, though he did not think “bored” was the correct term.
Still, the Dodgers should be considered the favorites to win it all until proven otherwise. Although with Will Smith’s status for the early part of the postseason up in the air – and other injuries on the roster, mainly with the pitching staff – the Dodgers are far from invincible.
-RM
4. Seattle Mariners: B+
The Mariners have risen safely above the oft-mocked’ “54 percent” standard, and they stand to get their first AL West title since 2001 out of the effort. That alone makes it tempting to give them an A.
The Mariners are only projected to win 90 games, however, and there have been times throughout the year when they seemed on the verge of falling apart. Even now, the pitching still doesn’t feel like the overwhelming strength that it was in 2024, and the club’s 38-42 record on the road is an eyesore.
As they say, though, it’s not how you start but how you finish. The World Series favorite vibes are real amid a 13-5 September, and they largely flow from an offense that is top-five in home runs and stolen bases and top-10 in walks. There’s a non-zero chance that the Mariners will end the year with two 50-homer guys and two 30-30 guys in their everyday lineup.
If there’s an underrated aspect of where the Mariners are right now, it’s that they have gotten there the hard way. They’ve recorded 46 of their wins against teams with .500 or better records, which is tied for the most of any team in MLB.
-Zachary Rymer, SoDo Mojo
3. Toronto Blue Jays: A
When the season began, the Toronto Blue Jays were a team on the verge of undergoing a drastic, franchise-altering change. They were the worst team in the AL East in 2024 and went into the deadline as sellers. They had a decent but unspectacular offseason, making a few trades and a couple of notable signings but nothing that felt earth shattering. Most significantly, their face of the franchise, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., was in the last year of his contract, as was teammate and fellow franchise cornerstone Bo Bichette.
But the Blue Jays got Vladdy signed to a mega-contract, and while Bo is still nearing free agency without an extension in hand, he has rebounded to lead the AL in hits and doubles and is a major part of what has catapulted Toronto from worst to first this year. You can also thank the resurgences of George Springer and Alejandro Kirk and emergence of players like Addison Barger, Ernie Clement and Daulton Varsho for making that happen.
They also managed to get the possibly the best version of Kevin Gausman they’ve ever seen, and trade deadline acquisition Shane Bieber has been as good as they could have possibly hoped coming off Tommy John surgery. The rest of the rotation, whether it’s Chris Bassitt, José Berrios, Eric Lauer or Max Scherzer, has had spurts of greatness mixed with some bouts of ineffectiveness. That’s exactly how you can describe the bullpen as well, which has achieved some great highs but just as many lows. Overall, for a team that was given just 43.6% odds to get to the postseason (via FanGraphs), being at the top of the American League with just one week remaining on the schedule feels like a resounding A.
-Matthew Sookram, Jays Journal
2. Philadelphia Phillies: A-
At times, it’s felt as if the 2025 season would end the same way as recent years have. This team is obviously talented, but they were remarkably inconsistent for the first three or four months of the season. Since the trade deadline, though, vibes have shifted in a huge way. The Phillies ran away with the NL East, becoming the first team to clinch a division, and they’ve gotten incredible production from deadline additions like Harrison Bader and Jhoan Duran.
Even without Zack Wheeler, it feels like this team has what it takes to win it all. Their rotation is still supremely talented, Bader has made the lineup deeper, and Duran has given them the lockdown closer they’ve needed for years. This grade can go higher or lower depending on how the postseason goes, but with how the stretch run has gone, the Phillies deserve a high grade.
-ZR
1. Milwaukee Brewers: A+
Should the Milwaukee Brewers win just two of their six remaining regular-season games, they will set a new franchise record for the most wins in a single season. Already champions of the NL Central for the third consecutive year and locked into a first-round bye in next month’s playoffs, the Brewers have exceeded expectations and then some in 2025.
From Sal Frelick and Isaac Collins’ breakout seasons to Christian Yelich collecting his most RBI in a season since his 2018 MVP-winning campaign to Freddy Peralta quietly being among the game’s best starting pitchers to Andrew Vaughn and Quinn Priester thriving after struggling to find success and opportunities elsewhere, the Brewers’ 2025 roster is filled with success stories that together have formed one of the most memorable teams in franchise history.
What began with uncertainty in the Bronx after the Brewers were swept by the New York Yankees in emphatic fashion to begin the season has become a year of triumph fueled by Milwaukee’s unapologetic dedication to their brand of baseball.
-Owen Jonas, Reviewing the Brew