2025 MLB power rankings: Phillies, Cardinals and AL Central are heating up
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In honor of Mother’s Day, this week’s edition of power rankings features one person from every team worth recognizing. And in honor of the Cardinals and Twins, who each enter the week having won eight straight games, that person will be someone who’s surging.
Both St. Louis and Minnesota have understandably taken sizable jumps forward, though neither has quite cracked the top 10, which still features plenty of movement this week.
Here are the latest FOX Sports MLB power rankings.
In a year that’s all about rebuilding on the South Side, you have to savor moments like Sunday, when Tim Elko’s first career hit came on a three-run game-deciding homer that helped the White Sox capture a series win against the Marlins. On the pitching side, Shane Smith lowered his ERA on the year to 2.08 with six scoreless innings Saturday and looks like the best rookie starter in baseball right now.
Sticking with rookie talk, catcher Agustin Ramirez has only played in 17 games since his call up on April 21 but is already tied for the Marlins’ lead in extra-base hits. Twelve of Ramírez’s 17 total hits have gone for extra bases.
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The Pirates were in the midst of a seven-game skid when they fired Derek Shelton on Thursday’s off day and named bench coach Don Kelly the manager. Then Kelly went out and won two of his first three games as Pirates manager (and was ejected in the lone loss) against Atlanta. If nothing else, he seems to have added some fire to a group that had won just two times in their 13 games prior to the move.
Scoring runs has been a problem lately for a Nationals team that has dropped five straight games. That is not the fault of CJ Abrams, who ranks fourth in MLB in hits over the last 15 days, or James Wood, who started the month on a nine-game hitting streak and has the same wRC+ (152) as Kyle Tucker on the year.
Since Zach Neto returned from right shoulder surgery on April 18, he’s tied for second in homers, third in steals, eighth in fWAR and ninth in OPS among all qualified MLB shortstops…and is the only qualified Angels position player playing above replacement level in that time.
There’s certainly time to right the ship, but it’s time to get moving. The Orioles are tied for the worst run differential in the American League despite more strong work from Gunnar Henderson, who has hits in 14 of his last 15 games and is slashing .333/.375/.583 over that stretch.
Freddy Peralta enters his start Monday in Cleveland just three strikeouts shy of 1,000 for his career. He’s coming off six scoreless innings his last time out, has allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts this year and has a 2.18 ERA on the season that ranks 12th among all qualified MLB starters.
Despite a plus-24 run differential on the year, the Reds have dropped nine of their last 13 games and were just shut out twice this weekend in Houston. Making matters worse, Hunter Greene was placed on the injured list with a groin strain on Friday. He had six strikeouts through three scoreless innings before the injury occurred last Wednesday in Atlanta and was coming off a one-run, 12-strikeout performance in his previous outing.
The Rays remain perplexing. Over the last three weeks, they’ve swept the Padres in San Diego, won series in Arizona and the Bronx…and also been swept by the Royals and the Phillies. One person they can rely on is Jonathan Aranda, who ranks in the top five in MLB in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. He’s hitting an MLB best .481 in May.
They rank 20th this week. They ranked 20th last week. And they’re 20-20. It was a weird week last week for a Blue Jays team that lost a series in Anaheim then swept one of MLB’s hottest teams in Seattle. It has also been a strange year for the Toronto offense, which is being led by George Springer in a bounceback year for the 35-year-old, who’s slugging over .600 in May.
Last week represented a step back for the A’s, who dropped series to the Mariners and Yankees. It was not a step back for rookie Jacob Wilson, who hit .423 across those six games and ranks third in MLB in batting average.
Uhh, Braves? Maybe don’t lose a series to the lowly Pirates when you finally seem back on track? The lone win of that series came in a start by rookie AJ Smith-Shawver, who has allowed one run in 13.2 innings this month and has a 1.88 ERA over his last four starts.
After how things have gone lately, splitting a six-game road trip in Boston and Detroit counts as a win. The starting pitching has kept the team afloat. Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle each rank in the top five among all qualified starters in ERA. Eovaldi, who has the lowest WHIP (0.75) in MLB, has a 0.72 ERA with 29 strikeouts and three walks over his last four starts.
Willson Contreras was slashing .139/.195/.222 with one home run through his first 18 games. Since then, he has been a top 10 hitter in baseball, slashing .364/.473/.597 with five homers in his last 22 games and helping spark a Cardinals club that has won eight straight.
Speaking of winning eight straight, the Twins followed up a series win at Boston with impressive sweeps of the Orioles and Giants while allowing two runs or fewer in five of their last six games. A healthy Joe Ryan has been a game-changer. The Twins starter has a 0.95 ERA with 26 strikeouts and two walks over his last three starts and has held his opponent to one or no runs in six of his eight starts this year.
Whether the offense is good enough for the team to win a fifth straight division title remains to be seen, but the Astros’ pitching will give them a chance. Hunter Brown is 6-1 with a 1.48 ERA on the year and has a 0.98 ERA over his last six starts, and the bullpen remains one of the best in baseball.
Corbin Carroll’s strong start has been well-chronicled, but how about Geraldo Perdomo? The D-backs shortstop leads the team in hits (14), doubles (four) and OPS (.982) in May. On the season, the only MLB shortstop worth more WAR than Perdomo is Bobby Witt Jr.
… and speaking of Witt, he would be a fine answer here as the team’s obvious top threat. Instead, though, let’s focus on Maikel Garcia, who has clearly been the second-best offensive player for a Kansas City team that has won 16 of its last 20 games. Garcia’s batting .306 on the year and leads the team with an OPS over 1.000 over the last 15 days.
Since a three-homer game on April 4, José Ramírez has surprisingly hit just two home runs over his last 32 games. He has still been plenty productive lately, though, batting .368 with five extra-base hits and four steals over his last 10 games.
All the drama certainly isn’t impacting Rafael Devers at the plate. Over his last four games, he’s 9-for-15 with two homers and eight RBI. He’s hitting .459 in May and helped Boston secure series wins last week against the Rangers and the red-hot Royals.
The Mariners have the best catcher in baseball this season in Cal Raleigh. There’s a strong argument to be made that they have the top closer, too, as Andres Munoz still has not surrendered an earned run in 18 outings.
Other than getting picked off at third base this weekend, Heliot Ramos has been virtually unstoppable over the last couple weeks. The 25-year-old is slashing .419/.500/.767 with four homers over his last 13 games. His 1.272 OPS in May is third best among MLB qualifiers. His team, however, just got swept by the Twins.
The Yankees might end up having MLB’s best hitter and pitcher this season. While Aaron Judge is leading the majors with an absurd .409 batting average — and is coming off an A’s series in which he went 7-for-14 with four extra-base hits — Max Fried is 6-0 with an MLB-best 1.05 ERA. He has allowed just three earned runs in his last 41.1 innings pitched.
The Cubs have two early MVP contenders in Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong, but it’s Dansby Swanson leading the offense of late. Swanson’s slugging .706 in May at a time when the rest of the explosive group has started to cool down. But the Cubs’ grueling schedule to this point is about to ease up. Their next nine games are against the Marlins and White Sox, and they have a matchup with the Rockies before month’s end.
The Phillies have won 11 of their last 14 games and five straight series. Kyle Schwarber’s five homers in May are tied for the MLB lead, while Zack Wheeler has a 2.14 ERA with 46 strikeouts and five walks over his last five starts. Also, shout out to Jose Alvarado, who would like you to know he loves his mom.
Remember when Tarik Skubal had a 5.91 ERA after his first two starts of the year? Well, the reigning Cy Young Award winner has 50 strikeouts, one walk and four runs allowed in six starts since then. His ERA for the year is down to 2.08.
Manny Machado is batting .452 on an 11-game hitting streak, and the club is getting healthy again. After missing a month with a hamstring injury, Jackson Merrill returned last week and proceeded to go 11-for-19 in his first four games back. He’s slashing .446/.475/.732 in 14 games this year.
After scuffling along for a couple weeks, the Mets have kicked it back into gear. Most notably, Juan Soto is heating up with five homers this month. Pete Alonso remains the story of the Mets’ start, though, with a 1.047 OPS this season that ranks third among all qualified MLB hitters.
Injuries continue piling up in Los Angeles, but the top of the Dodgers’ lineup is heating up. Shohei Ohtani is slashing .405/.500/.973 with five homers — including this majestic shot — over his last nine games, while Freddie Freeman is hitting .475/.521/.852 with five homers over his last 16 games. They each have an OPS over 1.300 in May.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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