We’ve officially hit the All-Star break, which is as good a team as any to take stock of the season so far. And what a season it’s been with the Tampa Bay Rays getting off to a historic start before a summer swoon while the Atlanta Braves became MLB’s first to hit 60 wins. The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels have started to fall apart, the Los Angeles Dodgers are back in first place, the San Francisco Giants and Miami Marlins keep racking up wins and the New York Mets and San Diego Padres hope that this is the moment they finally turn underachieving seasons around.
That’s a lot to try and make sense of, so let’s do it the only way we know how: with a power ranking of all 30 Major League teams entering the 2023 All-Star Game. Who’s for real, and who’s pretending? Here’s our attempt at sifting through the chaos.
Tier 1
1. Atlanta Braves
At this point, the Braves belong in a tier of their own. Atlanta just has so much firepower at its disposal, and even with the rotation injuries, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder is a more reliable top three than most contenders can offer right now — and Max Fried could be back soon. At a time when every other top team is beset by red flags, the Braves look impenetrable.
Tier 2
2. Tampa Bay Rays
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. Texas Rangers
Tampa’s platoon-heavy offense was always going to come back to Earth a bit, but the rotation is where most of our questions lie. Can Tyler Glasnow ever stay healthy for more than a few weeks at a time? Can Taj Bradley find consistency to match his raw talent? It’s hard to see how they navigate October if the answers to those questions aren’t “yes”, and they’ve now lost seven of eight.
Texas is struggling too, as a lineup that had carried it for much of the first half scuffles a bit — and a rotation relying on the likes of Andrew Heaney and Martin Perez can’t pick up the slack. If Nathan Eovaldi’s diminished velocity is a sign of some sort of injury, the Rangers could be in big trouble.
The Dodgers have dealt with their fair share of poor pitching health, too, but they keep finding ways to piece together wins, while the O’s lineup has found its stride again.
Tier 3
6. Miami Marlins
7. Toronto Blue Jays
8. Arizona Diamondbacks
9. Cincinnati Reds
10. Houston Astros
I keep trying to pour cold water on the Marlins, and they just keep racking up wins. Eury Perez’s absence could prove very costly, though. The Jays seem to finally be building some momentum, and if Alek Manoah can be at least solid down the stretch, Toronto can hang with just about anyone. The All-Star break is coming at a very good time for Arizona, who needs Merrill Kelly to get back — and Corbin Carroll to get fully healthy — if they want to hold off L.A. in what should be a great division race.
Speaking of getting healthy: The Astros just don’t strike fear into anyone right now, not with Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve and most of their rotation on the shelf. Houston looks downright mortal, especially if Framber Valdez has to miss time.
Tier 4
11. Philadelphia Phillies
12. San Francisco Giants
13. Boston Red Sox
14. Milwaukee Brewers
15. New York Yankees
Just about everything has gone wrong for the Phils — decimated by injuries, with only one of their big bats (Nick Castellanos) hitting consistently above average — and yet here they are, in the thick of the NL Wild Card race. Don’t sleep on them for the second year in a row. Don’t sleep on Boston, either, as James Paxton and Brayan Bello continue to shove; Masataka Yoshida and Rafael Devers both seem primed for a big second half.
The Yankees, truthfully, shouldn’t even be this high; they’ve been one of the very worst offenses in baseball for over a month now, and it’s putting too big a strain on their pitching staff. That’s a similar situation to Milwaukee, but at least the Brew Crew get a weak division.
Tier 5
16. Seattle Mariners
17. Cleveland Guardians
18. San Diego Padres
19. Minnesota Twins
20. New York Mets
I really wanted to push the Mets higher than this, but their record is what it is, and we’ve seen signs of life from New York before only to watch them lose four in a row out of nowhere. I need to see this team at least get back over .500 before I really believe, although it’s starting to come together.
It’s starting to come together for Manny Machado and the Padres, too. The third baseman has been raking since the start of July, and he feels like the missing piece for this team — well, that and a functional bridge to Josh Hader in the ninth. The Mariners, Guardians and Twins appear to be in a competition to see which offense can waste the most quality starting pitching. They’re ranked roughly in the order in which I trust their lineups to turn it on in the second half.
Tier 6
21. Los Angeles Angels
22. Chicago Cubs
23. St. Louis Cardinals
24. Pittsburgh Pirates
25. Chicago White Sox
Also known as the Bad Vibes Tier. L.A. is falling apart so fast they might wind up trading Shohei Ohtani before the deadline after all — Mike Trout and most of the infield is currently on the IL, and the Angels simply don’t have the pitching to compensate for it. (Speaking of firesales: How many pieces could the White Sox ship out before the end of the month? It feels like this core has run its course.) The Cubs and Cardinals ended their first halves on high notes, and the underlying metrics are stronger than their records. St. Louis will need this version of Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz consistently, while Chicago needs to find more offensive impact.
Tier 7
26. Detroit Tigers
27. Washington Nationals
28. Colorado Rockies
Good for Matt Manning and the Tigers, who pieced together a combined no-hitter against Toronto this week. With Tarik Skubal and Riley Greene back, Detroit will get to watch a couple of cornerstones down the stretch of this season. That is … about the only nice thing we have to say here.
Tier 8
29. Kansas City Royals
30. Oakland Athletics
The less said about this tier, the better. Our money’s still on the A’s to occupy the bottom spot at season’s end, but K.C.’s offense keeps trying to prove us wrong on that. JP Sears and Paul Blackburn at least give the A’s a couple of decent starters, which is more than the Royals can say right now.
