As we officially move into the MLB 2026 season’s second half, we notice a couple of interesting developments brewing across the league. One team that had been coasting to what looked to be an easy division title appears to be in some trouble, while another team that looked like it would be left for dead has now found themselves right in the middle of a pennant race. Let’s jump right into this week’s rankings to see where everybody stands as we roll into July.
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The Worst Of The Worst
#30: Colorado Rockies. The worst record in the game and 20 games behind the Dodgers. They’re lucky baseball doesn’t have relegation like the English Soccer leagues, or else they’d be traveling to Rocket City next April to take on the Trash Pandas on opening day.
#29: Boston Red Sox. There isn’t much to see here aside from waiting to see who they trade away next month. At this point, they may as well trade everybody from Aroldis Chapman and Wilson Contreras to Wally the Green Monster and the ghost of Ted Williams for anything that could help them in the future.
#28: San Francisco Giants. The offense has been inconsistent, and the pitching has been worse. Not much has gone right in Frisco aside from the pleasant surprise of Casey Schmitt’s hot bat. If the Giants can get anything for him, they should trade him immediately.
#27: Los Angeles Angels. Another week is in the books, and the Angels are somehow the only team in the AL West that has zero chance to win the division. It’s pretty amazing since the team in 1st place is struggling to play .500 ball.
#26: Kansas City Royals. They’ve managed to win 5 of their last 10 games, but overall this season has been a dumpster fire in KC.
#25: Detroit Tigers. The Tarik Skubal watch is entering its 3rd week. The Tigers are trading him; it’s just a matter of where and for how much.
#24: Baltimore Orioles. The lost season continues. Adley Rutschman is the latest casualty. He’ll be back when his head stops hurting. The same can probably be said for Orioles fans at this point.
#23: New York Mets. If I told you before the season started that at the midway point of the year, only 4 teams in the NL would have losing records, would you have chosen the Mets as one of those 4? If you said yes, that probably means you’re a Met fan.
Still In The Races
#22: Minnesota Twins. They looked like they had righted the ship a bit, only to drop three straight games this past week. That pretty much sums this team up, as they always seem to be a 3-game losing streak waiting to happen.
#21: Cincinnati Reds. Another losing week has them sunk to the bottom of the NL Central. It may be too late to pull out of this nosedive if it continues for another week or two. Normally, I would say “In Tito we trust”, but I don’t think he has the horses to win this race.
#20: Toronto Blue Jays. Three-game losing streaks seem to be very popular this week, and the Blue Jays recent trio of losses came on the heels of a 6-game stretch where they won 5 contests. They are starting to get healthy, so it’s possible they crawl into this mess of a wild-card race in the AL. If they’re going to do it, now would be a great time to start.
#19: Texas Rangers. These guys just can’t get anything going. This division is begging them to get their act together, but they’re just being stubborn.
#18: The Athletics. I still can’t decide if this is a fun story or if it’s just sad. The A’s are still in the AL West hunt, but Mark Kotsay seems to have little idea of how to manage a pitching staff, especially a bullpen. This is a collection of fun young players, but overall, it’s a bad team.
#17: Washington Nationals. Still the best offense in baseball. A .500 record would have this team leading the AL West. Unfortunately, they don’t play in the American League. This starting rotation is about 4 pitchers short of being a major league rotation.
#16: Pittsburgh Pirates. They’re still hovering around .500, but it remains to be seen if they actually intend on making the necessary moves to compete for a Wild Card spot. At worst, the young talent is learning what it’s like to play for a winning team, which will help them when they get traded in a year or two.
#15: Miami Marlins. The Marlins should petition the commissioner to see if they can get moved to the American League. They sit at a couple of games over .500, which has them in the NL Wild Card hunt, so it will be interesting to see what they do with this roster this month.
Playoffs?
#14: Arizona Diamondbacks. They are over .500 and in the Wild Card race, but I don’t think they have the pitching to even maintain their current pace. This is another team that would be AL royalty, but is an NL wild card.
#13: Houston Astros. Well, look who woke up! A recent stretch of 7 wins in 10 games has the Astros banging on the lid of the trash can that is the AL West. Considering how everything that could go wrong has already gone wrong in Houston, this team might just win the West.
#12: St. Louis Cardinals. They’re still hanging around, but I have no idea what this team really is. The lineup is super fun to watch, and they play great defense, but that pitching staff looks like nothing but a bunch of #4 starters. (and I don’t mean #4 starters for the Yankees)
#11: Seattle Mariners. This is the team that currently leads the AL West, the division that nobody wants to win. It blows my mind that a team with this level of starting pitching can’t manage to string some wins together.
#10: San Diego Padres. Are the Padres really one of the top 10 teams in baseball? I guess so. When 20 other teams have clearly been playing worse than this swamp of mediocrity, what does that say about the league? The Padres rank last in the league in most hitting categories and they aren’t much better when it comes to pitching, but they’re winning more games than they lose, so here we are.
#9: Chicago Cubs. The streakiest team in baseball is now on one of the good streaks. Unless they add another starting pitcher, the next streak will likely be the type that forces you to just throw the underwear away. They added David Peterson this week, but that’s a dumpster dive, I mean, a real starter.
#8: Cleveland Guardians. They’re locked up with the White Sox atop the AL Central. If they can manage to tread water until Jose Ramirez returns, they will be just fine. Thank goodness for playing in the AL.
#7: Chicago White Sox. The Sox are an easy team to root for with all of their young talent. At the end of the day, winning the Central may be a big ask. Much like the Pirates, they are ahead of schedule, and it will be interesting to see what moves (if any) the front office makes for the stretch.
Top Contenders (For Now)
#6: Philadelphia Phillies. The Braves ship has started to take on water, and the Phils are now right on their heels. At this point, they very well may be the favorite to take down the East. It might be too late to get in your future bets on a World Series in the City of Brotherly Love. The Mayor better start greasing those traffic light poles now, just in case.
#5: Tampa Bay Rays. The offense is keeping this team afloat as Junior Caminero looks like he’s putting the Rays on his back. It won’t be enough unless they add some pitching, but this is the Tampa Rays; they don’t add.
#4: Atlanta Braves. Ruh Roh! The Braves looked like they had the NL East neatly tucked away in their back pocket. That was before the “Injury Goblin” came along and made a mess of their nice pants. Now it’s pretty apparent that they are going to have to make a trade or two to reinforce the troops.
#3: New York Yankees. Life without Aaron Judge has been a bit uneventful. The Yanks are still hanging onto 1st in the AL East, but they are going to need to add to this roster if they have serious intentions to win it all. Unlike the Rays, the Yanks just love to add, and add they shall.
#2: Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers have opened up one of the largest division leads in the league thanks to a recent 4-game winning streak. If they add Tarik Skubal, the Dodgers might be in some trouble. They have the chips to get it done, but do they have the marbles?
#1: Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers are right where we all felt they would be when the season started. They aren’t without warts, and they look like a team that could be taken down in the postseason, but there is still plenty of time for them to get healthy before October. With the amount of talent they have in the minors, don’t be shocked if they are the ones that add Skubal.
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