Success against good teams in baseball isn't a surefire way to determine which teams are "for real," but it's a pretty good tool to see which clubs elevate when facing off against elite competition. This is evidenced in part by how similar the standings for each league look when they're ordered by winning percentage versus winning teams and when they're ordered by overall record — they're almost the same.
Here's how every team in MLB fares against teams with winning records, as of August 11th, 2025.
American League standings by record against winning teams
Team | Record against winning teams | Winning percentage against winning teams |
|---|---|---|
Toronto Blue Jays | 39-27 | 59.09% |
Seattle Mariners | 36-29 | 55.38% |
Houston Astros | 33-29 | 53.22% |
Boston Red Sox | 32-33 | 49.23% |
Detroit Tigers | 29-30 | 49.15% |
Los Angeles Angels | 35-40 | 46.66% |
New York Yankees | 31-36 | 46.26% |
Tampa Bay Rays | 30-37 | 44.77% |
Baltimore Orioles | 28-35 | 44.44% |
Kansas City Royals | 30-41 | 42.25% |
Texas Rangers | 26-37 | 41.26% |
Minnesota Twins | 27-40 | 40.29% |
Cleveland Guardians | 24-37 | 39.34% |
Athletics | 29-47 | 38.15% |
Chicago White Sox | 25-50 | 33.33% |
National League standings by record against winning teams
Team | Record against winning teams | Winning percentage against winning teams |
|---|---|---|
Milwaukee Brewers | 38-24 | 52.77% |
Philadelphia Phillies | 33-31 | 51.56% |
Chicago Cubs | 37-36 | 50.68% |
New York Mets | 30-29 | 50.84% |
San Francisco Giants | 31-31 | 50% |
San Diego Padres | 32-33 | 49.23% |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 32-34 | 48.48% |
Cincinnati Reds | 31-34 | 47.69% |
St. Louis Cardinals | 32-36 | 47.05% |
Miami Marlins | 28-34 | 45.16% |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 30-37 | 44.77% |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 34-47 | 41.97% |
Atlanta Braves | 28-41 | 40.57% |
Washington Nationals | 25-48 | 34.24% |
Colorado Rockies | 11-60 | 15.49% |
Blue Jays stand alone in the American League
Unsurprisingly, the Blue Jays top the list in the AL. They've taken control of the AL East (which contains three teams with winning records) and their sub-.500 record from the end of May has been long forgotten. So has any discussion about Bo Bichette's productivity, as the star shortstop has been elite for the past month and a half.
Is this the year we finally see a breakthrough from this core? The Blue Jays haven't advanced past the Wild Card since 2016, and have missed the playoffs entirely in five of the last eight seasons. We're finally seeing this team perform how its fans have told us they will for years.
AL West, NL Central look impressive
The Seattle Mariners are not here to play around. Josh Naylor has become Rickey Henderson, Julio Rodriguez has activated his second-half powers and the team might have a legit secret weapon in Cole Young. All of this has combined to make the M's the hottest team in the AL, so it makes sense they rank No. 2 in these standings.
The Mariners' division rival, the Houston Astros, aren't too far behind. Houston has stayed afloat with a makeshift roster and is now getting most of its starters back, so they could move up this list, too.
In the NL, the Central reigns supreme. The Milwaukee Brewers are the best team in baseball and the Cubs may have held that title at one point but have cooled a little, while the Brew Crew just keeps getting hotter. With four teams in the division — Milwaukee, Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis — all being over .500, it makes sense that two teams from the division are among the four NL teams with winning records against winning teams.
Guardians are best team with worst record against plus-.500 teams
Again, this list isn't a perfect science and the Guardians are a pretty big outlier in the American League. One of the hottest teams in baseball, the Guards are now 61-56 on the season and are challenging for a Wild Card spot, not too long after potentially being sellers at the trade deadline.
You wouldn't know that by looking at their 24-37 record against winning teams, though. Again, this shouldn't disqualify them from postseason success, especially because they only recently got hot and if this version of the Guards played the first half schedule over again, I'm confident this mark would look quite different.
Rockies are not having a good time
I may have let out a legitimate gasp when I saw the Rockies record against teams over .500. Nothing could have prepared me for that. Even the White Sox' 25-50 mark against winning teams is more than double the winning percent of the Rockies. The craziest part is that this record could get even worse — three of those 11 wins came against the Cardinals and Reds, who could both feasibly finish the season under .500, which would make this record even harder to look at.
Okay, I'll stop talking about the Rockies now because I feel bad.