The National League is making life miserable for everybody else right now, and the power rankings reflect it. Seven NL clubs sit among the top 10 in wins entering Monday, and nine of the league’s 15 teams are above .500. That kind of depth is why the NL owns seven of the top 10 spots this week.
At the top, the Dodgers are still setting the standard. Los Angeles sits at 59-32 and leads MLB in winning percentage, run differential, runs scored and OPS, while also ranking fourth in ERA. They’re getting a boost on the injury front, too, with closer Edwin Diaz saying he felt "pretty good" after a live BP session and hoping to return shortly after the All-Star Break.
There’s also a new ace-shaped storyline developing around Jacob Misiorowski. The pitcher was a controversial All-Star pick in 2025, but this year there’s no argument: he owns a major league-best 1.47 ERA and 0.779 WHIP across 104 innings, with 156 strikeouts and 27 walks. Right now, he looks like the front-runner for the 2026 NL Cy Young award.
Atlanta is hanging in there at 52-36, and a recent series with the Mets may have helped steady the ship. The Braves took two of the first three games after dropping 14 of their previous 19, and catcher Drake Baldwin may have found some life at the plate. Baldwin had been stuck in a 5-for-63 slump since coming off the injured list on June 16, but he broke through Sunday with a grand slam.
The Yankees, meanwhile, are spiraling. New York has lost nine of its last 10 games, and with the Aug. 3 trade deadline still four weeks away, general manager Brian Cashman may not have the luxury of waiting much longer to make changes.
Tampa Bay keeps rolling behind Junior Caminero, who has been scorching over his last 12 games with 11 homers in his last 53 plate appearances. If the Rays can hang onto the top overall seed in the AL, Caminero could become the first player in franchise history to win the AL MVP award.
Chicago’s other club has been a surprise in a different way. The White Sox are 47-42 and would have a first-round bye if the season ended today. Some of that can be tied to a weak division and a middling American League, but manager Will Venable, now in his second year, should be the front-runner for AL Manager of the Year.
The Cubs, though, are dealing with a rougher reality. David Peterson’s fresh start has not gone as planned after a strong first outing; on July 3, he was tagged for 10 runs on nine hits and three walks over 3.2 innings. With several rotation pieces potentially close to returning, Peterson may not be in Chicago much longer.
Miami keeps looking like one of the most interesting teams in the league. After going 20-6 in June, the Marlins have won three straight and are tied for the final wild-card spot. That puts them squarely in the trade-deadline conversation as they try to balance a playoff push with the budget concerns that always hover over the franchise.
St. Louis is another club that has outperformed expectations.
The Cardinals are 47-40 and have refused to treat 2026 like a transition year, even after moving several players in the offseason. They’ve been one of the season’s more pleasant surprises.
Philadelphia rounds out the top 10 at 50-40, still three games behind Atlanta in the NL East. The Phillies have a chance to make up more ground before the break, with the Reds and Tigers on deck.
The rest of the list shakes out with the Pirates at 11, followed by the Mariners, Nationals, Guardians and Rangers. The Red Sox are 16th, the Tigers 17th, and the Diamondbacks sit 18th. The Twins, Orioles, Blue Jays, Padres, Astros and Reds fill out the middle and lower half, while the Angels, Athletics, Giants, Mets, Rockies and Royals bring up the rear.
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Yankees Bullpen Buzz Suddenly Centers On One High-Leverage Wild Card
The Yankees are expected to shop for bullpen help at the trade deadline, and one name from the Marlins has already surfaced as a possible fit because of the kind of arm he still represents. Miami has a reliever with the raw stuff that can intrigue contenders even when the season line looks uneven, which is exactly the sort of profile that tends to pop in late-July speculation.
For the Marlins, the question is less about whether the market will be there and more about what direction the season takes from here. If the club stays in the postseason picture, keeping that high-leverage arm makes plenty of sense, but if the standings push Miami toward a different path, the calculus changes quickly and a deadline move becomes a real possibility. [Read more 🡒]
Marlins Fans Still Havent Forgotten These Brutal Draft Mistakes
Marlins fans have had plenty of reasons over the years to remember the draft as much for what went wrong as for what went right. Miami has hit on some picks, but it has also watched a few highly regarded names fall well short of the expectations that come with being selected near the top of the board, leaving a familiar sense of what might have been whenever those classes are revisited.
Adam Kolek is one of the reminders. The pitcher never reached the majors and finished his minor league career with a 5-16 record and a 5.66 ERA, a line that speaks to how quickly a promising draft day can turn into a cautionary tale. Jeremy Hermida and Brett Carroll fit the same broader pattern for Miami, players who arrived with hope attached but never quite delivered the impact the organization wanted. [Read more 🡒]
Marlins Just Made Their Wild Card Push Feel Very Real
The Marlins keep finding ways to make their summer feel a little more serious, and Saturdays 6-5 win over Seattle at loanDepot park was another reminder that this is no longer just a nice run. Miami had to go 10 innings to finish it off, but the result pushed the club to 50-42 and kept the momentum building around a team that has spent the past few weeks making the Wild Card picture look less like a dream and more like a possibility.
Seattle came in looking every bit like a contender, but Miami handled the pressure, answered when it had to and finally broke through in extras. The Mariners had been rolling and had just snapped out of a long scoring drought, so this was the kind of game that can carry a little extra weight in July, especially for a Marlins team trying to prove it belongs in the conversation for the rest of the season. [Read more 🡒]