MLB standings: National League landscape shifting early thanks to two surprises

We're now more than two weeks into the 2026 MLB season, and all those appeals to patience and small sample sizes aren't quite hitting the way they were earlier in April. Sure, we're still less than 10 percent of the way through the 162-game marathon, but at a certain point you start to wonder what's a fluke and what's cause for panic — especially with so many division races flipped upside down in the early going.

That's particularly true in the NL, where the just about the only sure things appear to be the Los Angeles Dodgers' perennial dominance and the Milwaukee Brewers' perennial ability to become more than the sum of their small-market parts. Beyond that, hardly anything is as it seems, with several would-be contenders slumping and a couple big surprises toward the top of the standings.

National League standings

NL East

NL Central

NL West

Pittsburgh Pirates

It's amazing what even the smallest amount of effort can do for your baseball team. Free-agent acquisitions Ryan O'Hearn and Brandon Lowe are both raking right now, and it looks like Oneil Cruz is approaching the breakout everyone has been waiting on for years now. If Konnor Griffin adjusts to life in the Majors on time, there might finally be enough offense to support a pitching staff that should be just fine with Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft behind Paul Skenes — plus Jared Jones returning this summer.

Of course, that's a lot of "ifs", and if you want to remain skeptical that the Pirates will hit enough to sustain a division title run into the dog days, I can't blame you. But if the Chicago Cubs are going to keep struggling like this — and given the state of their pitching staff, that suddenly doesn't seem too far-fetched — this division becomes wide open behind the Brewers, and at the very least a Wild Card spot is within reach.

Atlanta Braves

Lost in all the hubbub around the hilarious brawl between Reynaldo Lopez and Jorge Soler earlier this week was yet another win for a Braves team that's quietly started hitting like it's 2023 all over again. Matt Olson remains a middle-of-the-order force, Ozzie Albies looks like his old self now that he's finally healthy and catcher Drake Baldwin has gone from "rising young star to "... wait, is this guy an MVP candidate?" And the scary part is they've done all this while getting next to nothing from Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley and Michael Harris II; if those three ever lock in, look out.

Caveats about the schedule should apply. Outside of the opening series against the Royals, Atlanta has faced exclusively bad pitching staffs in the Athletics, Diamondbacks and Angels. But we always knew this lineup had talented, and the Braves are getting much more from Lopez, Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder than we expected as they wait for Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider and Hurston Waldrep to get healthy. I'm not sure just how sustainable that is — and the healthy depth behind those names is truly terrifying — but they just need mediocre pitching if they keep raking like this.

And really, who else in this division are you going to trust? Just when it seems like the Mets are taking a step forward, they take two steps back. So too with the Phillies, an aging and top-heavy team with plenty of chinks in the armor. I'm not confident in putting either of those teams above the Braves right now — really, the biggest competition might be the next team on this list.

Miami Marlins

Are you believing in the Marlins yet? If not, I can't blame you; this franchise has spent decades forfeiting the benefit of the doubt, and this is not a roster chock full of household names. But it is a roster that might be more built to win than you might think, with great pitching at the top and plenty of intriguing young athletes in the lineup that might be breaking out before our eyes.

Miami's record has been helped by series against the Rockies and White Sox — although both of those teams look better than advertised right now! — and this is by no means a perfect team. But they play defense, run the bases and make a ton of contact, and they have potential pocket aces in Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez. Underestimate them at your own risk, especially considering that they're in many ways a perfect foil to the lumbering Mets and Phillies in this division.

Chicago Cubs

I'm trying not to sound the alarms about the offense too much right now; Wrigley Field is a miserable place to hit before the weather warms up, and I don't think Alex Bregman, Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson will all hit below .200 for very long. The sun will come out, the ball will start carrying and Chicago should finally start to score some runs, especially now that Seiya Suzuki has returned from his knee injury.

The pitching, though ... well, that's another matter entirely. Matthew Boyd's injury doesn't seem too serious, but it's still not a great sign for an aging pitcher who already had some red flags in his profile (and some durability concerns) entering the season. Cade Horton is already done for the year due to Tommy John. Justin Steele will be back from his TJ at some point, but who knows how he'll look when he does? At this point, Edward Cabrera has become the rock in this rotation, and as much as I love his upside, that's hardly a good place to be.

Even more troubling, it's hard to see where a quick fix might come from. Top prospect Jaxon Wiggins is still fighting command issues at Triple-A. Can Javier Assad and Colin Rea, long the firemen for this team, step up once again? Can Shota Imanaga regain his rookie form? I don't feel great about the answers to any of those questions, and the ceiling for this rotation has been lowered dramatically over the last week or so. There aren't a ton of other Wild Card teams I trust more than the Cubs, but it seems like they'll be playing for second in the Central yet again.