We’ve seen the reigning champs get off to a historic start — yet find themselves in second place in their division.
The National League West seems daunting, the Yankees offense seem overpowering, the Braves seem out of sorts and torpedo bats seem to be the talk of the sport.
Mostly, though, we don’t know a whole lot yet. It’s far too early to draw any sweeping conclusions a week and a half into the season, but our first power rankings of the year at least provide a starting point for conversation, taking into account the early results while also factoring in rest-of-season expectations.
Be on the lookout for new rankings every week, each with a slightly different theme. This week’s power rankings look at who’s off to a hot start on all 30 teams.
Hot start: The Kyles (Farmer and Freeland)
Let’s focus on the positives here: Farmer is hitting .364, Freeland has a 2.13 ERA, and the Rockies have already turned MLB’s first triple play of 2025. Somehow, Antonio Senzatela has allowed 19 hits and only one unearned run through two starts. We won’t talk about the rest for now.
Hot start: Paul Skenes
The good? They have Skenes (1-0, 1.46 ERA), they lead MLB in steals, and Oneil Cruz (two homers, seven stolen bases) is exhilarating. The bad? Pretty much everything else with an offense that’s hitting .197 as a group and received no help from the front office this winter.
Hot start: Mackenzie Gore
Gore struck out 13 batters in six scoreless innings in his 2025 debut and has a 2.45 ERA through two starts, yet the Nats lost both of those outings.
Hot start: Max Meyer
They became the first team in more than 100 years to record three walk-off wins in their first series of the season and then put up a solid fight in their next series against the Mets. Meyer doesn’t have a win to show for it, but he has a 3.09 ERA and 15 strikeouts through two starts.
Hot start: Pablo López
Their starting pitchers have the highest ERA in the majors (6.98), and that’s despite López allowing just three earned runs over two starts. Their offense has the lowest OPS in the American League (.581). They’re 2-1 against the White Sox and 1-5 against everyone else.
Hot start: Jacob Wilson
Don’t be surprised to see Wilson’s name in the Rookie of the Year conversation. He hit over .400 in the minors and is batting over .350 through his first 10 games. A trip to Colorado seemed to be a refuge for the A’s after they were obliterated in their first home series in Sacramento by the Cubs.
Hot start: Starting rotation
Last Wednesday, Hunter Greene allowed one run in seven innings. A day later, Nick Lodolo tossed 6.2 innings and surrendered one unearned run. It was the Reds’ third straight 1-0 defeat. They’ve dropped five of their last six games, scoring a combined four runs in those five losses.
Hot start: José Ramírez
Ramirez launched three homers in a series-opening win this weekend in Anaheim, but the Guardians allowed 22 runs over the three games and lost the series. Their starting rotation is 1-5 with a 6.70 ERA.
Hot start: Logan Gilbert
Maybe the easiest way to look at the Mariners right now: Gilbert has 18 strikeouts and a 3.00 ERA through two starts … and is 0-1. The offense is hitting .132 with runners in scoring position.
Hot start: Trevor Megill
Things have gone much smoother since the Brewers left the Bronx, though that trip explains how they’re .500 despite a minus-22 run differential. They’ve won five of their last six games, and Megill looks terrific with the new closer’s job. He has allowed just two baserunners with six strikeouts in four appearances.
Hot start: The offense
Things were looking up, and then St. Louis surrendered 36 runs this weekend in Boston. You can’t blame the Cardinals’ offense, though, which has the highest batting average in MLB (.301).
Hot start: Logan O’Hoppe/Kyren Paris
O’Hoppe has homered in four straight games and Mike Trout had homered in three straight before his streak ended Sunday, but the surprise breakout is Kyren Paris. The 23-year-old had 10 hits in 91 at-bats entering this year. He has eight hits in his first 18 ABs, including two home runs, and four steals to start the 2025 season.
Hot start: Spencer Schwellenbach
You need to squint to see any positives after this cataclysmic start, but Schwellenbach has followed last year’s breakout rookie season with 14 scoreless innings over two starts. It’s been a rough watch in Atlanta, but it’s hard to imagine they’ll stay this bad for long.
Hot start: Drew Rasmussen/Shane Baz
After returning from elbow surgeries late last year, Rasmussen and Baz have combined to allow one run with 18 strikeouts and one walk through three starts.
Hot start: Maikel Garcia
There was understandable concern about the offensive pieces around Bobby Witt Jr. But after a week, there is…well, still understandable concern about the offense around the star shortstop. The Royals have the lowest hard-hit rate in MLB, but that’s not the fault of Garcia, who has an OPS over 1.000 and has already hit a ball harder this year (108.8 mph) than he did at any point last season.
Hot start: Andrés Giménez
On the bright side, Giménez has three homers in his first 10 games with his new squad. On the not-so-bright side, the rest of the Blue Jays lineup has combined for two home runs. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is still looking to get on the board, but now, at least, Jays fans don’t have to worry about where he’ll be a year from now.
Hot start: Jackson Holliday
Will they be able to slug their way past their starting pitching concerns? We’ll find out soon, but it’s been a rather inauspicious start. On the bright side, things are going better in year two for Holliday, who’s hitting .333 in the early going, and the return of Gunnar Henderson should be a boost. While he only had one hit over the weekend, Henderson hit three balls over 104 mph off the bat in his season debut.
Hot start: Jose Altuve
It turns out losing Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman is not conducive to offensive success. Altuve is hitting .359 with two homers. Only three other Astros have hit a home run this year, and all three of those guys are batting under .200. The Astros scored the fewest runs in the American League and have the lowest expected slugging percentage in MLB, but perhaps Sunday’s nine-run output and series victory gets them going.
Hot start: Spencer Torkelson
If the former No. 1 overall pick is figuring it out — Torkelson is 11-for-34 (.324) with six extra-base hits — that would be a huge development for a team that desperately needed to find more infield pop. Meanwhile, Riley Greene (1.071 OPS) continues doing his thing and Jack Flaherty (2.38 ERA, 0.88 WHIP) looks strong in his return to Detroit.
Hot start: Corbin Carroll
Last year, this was a team that paced the league in runs but was held back by a bottom-five pitching staff. The addition of Corbin Burnes figured to change that. So far, the D-backs have again started out as one of the highest-scoring offenses…with, again, a bottom-five pitching staff. Carroll is building off his strong second half with seven extra-base hits and exceptional quality-of-contact numbers in his first 10 games.
Hot start: Kyle Tucker
So, it turns out a lineup that desperately needed some star power looks a lot better after adding one of the best hitters in baseball. Tucker leads the majors in hits and the National League in RBIs. He is tied for the NL lead in home runs. Meanwhile, Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd are a combined 3-0 with two runs allowed in 29.1 innings over four starts.
Hot start: Kristian Campbell
The newly-extended 22-year-old looks the part with a 1.143 OPS and as many walks as strikeouts through his first 10 games. And remember when everyone was panicking about Rafael Devers’ start? All he needed was some home cooking. He was 3-for-27 with one extra-base hit on the season-opening road trip and is 7-for-11 with three extra-base hits since the club returned to Boston over the weekend. Alex Bregman and company are looking mighty comfortable, too.
Hot start: Wilmer Flores
They’re pitching well, they’re defending well, they’re running the bases well, and they’re getting timely hits. Flores is pacing the group in homers and RBIs, but the bigger story is the pitching staff, which has a top-five ERA. I’m not sure how long a team can have one of the lowest expected batting averages and one of the best records in baseball, but the Buster Posey magic is strong right now. The Giants have won eight of their first nine games for the first time since 2003, and they’re the surprise of the already formidable NL West.
Hot start: The pitching staff
There were understandable questions about whether the Mets had a rotation capable of getting them where they hoped to go. Well, right now both their starters (2.40) and relievers (1.29) have the lowest ERA in baseball.
Hot start: Gavin Sheets
Jackson Merrill is already demonstrating why his fresh nine-year, $135 million extension looks like an absolute steal, but that’s not much of a surprise for anyone who watched the 21-year-old phenom in his first year as a center fielder last season. A bigger surprise? Sheets has a .984 OPS through nine appearances. That could be an important development for a Padres team with questionable depth behind the stars. Maybe he just needed a change of scenery.
Hot start: Nathan Eovaldi
There has been one complete game thrown so far this year, and it belongs to Eovaldi. Known more for his strong postseason work throughout his career, it’s instead been a hot start for the 35-year-old, who has 17 strikeouts and no walks through two starts. The Rangers’ starting pitching has helped rack up wins despite Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia, Marcus Semien, Joc Pederson and Jake Burger all hitting under .200.
Hot start: Anthony Volpe
Take your pick of any number of offensive standouts. The Yankees’ plus-31 run differential is the best in baseball, and that’s a result of (teeing off on the Brewers and Pirates and) the Bronx Bombers averaging more than eight runs per game. Of course, Aaron Judge is leading the way for the best offense in MLB — he hasn’t needed a torpedo bat to launch six homers with 17 RBIs, which both lead the league — but Volpe, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice are each sporting an OPS over 1.000 in over 20 at-bats, too.
Hot start: Jesús Luzardo
The Dodgers looked like an indomitable force until a trip to Philadelphia, with the series finale Sunday getting decided late in a back-and-forth slugfest. With the addition of Luzardo, who has 19 strikeouts through two starts and just held the Dodgers scoreless for seven innings, this rotation has the makings of something special.
Hot start: Will Smith
Their 8-0 start was the best ever for a reigning champion, and they haven’t even played particularly well yet. Freddie Freeman has missed eight games and is on the injured list, Mookie Betts has missed three, and now Blake Snell joins Freeman on the IL. Still, their depth can carry them. Will Smith shook off last year’s cold second half and has reached base in all 10 games he has played in this year. And leading the team in homers through 11 games is…Tommy Edman? Only Aaron Judge has hit more.
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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