Even teams with losing records still have reason to believe.
The Mariners are 48-49, yet they would get the final playoff spot in the embarrassing American League if the season ended today. Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Tigers, once left for dead, are suddenly making noise and among the six AL teams within four games of a wild-card spot.
For a number of teams on the bubble, tough decisions loom as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches. Even the winning teams that are ahead of schedule — including the Marlins, Cardinals and first-place White Sox — have to figure out how much to push their chips and leverage their futures in order to capitalize on their surprising starts.
But let’s pause for a second. All of that can wait for a moment.
For now, take a deep breath, recalibrate, enjoy a few days of festivities in Philadelphia and take a look back at every team’s first-half recap in this week’s All-Star break edition of MLB Power Rankings.
A bounce-back season from All-Star Mike Trout could not save general manager Perry Minasian or an Angels team that is moving quickly toward a 12th straight season without playoff baseball.
The question now: Will owner Arte Moreno actually let interim general manager John Mozeliak blow this thing up at the deadline? We’ll find out soon.
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Mike Trout is back from his mid-June hamstring injury and headed for his 12th All-Star Game, but that might be the highlight of the Angels’ season. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
Given the problems this year in Queens, Detroit, Toronto, Boston, San Francisco, etc., it almost feels like the Royals have gotten a bit of a pass. They shouldn’t. This was a team many expected to contend for a playoff spot, yet Kansas City enters the break tied for the fewest wins in baseball, even with Bobby Witt Jr. playing at an MVP level and Jac Caglianone taking a major leap forward in year two.
Sure, this is still one of the worst teams in MLB, but the Rockies are just four wins shy of their total from last season. They’ve shown vast improvement under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes.
It will be interesting to see just how far they go in their sell-off at the deadline as they try to revamp the farm system.
Juan Soto is still Juan Soto. That’s about the only thing that has gone to plan for president of baseball operations David Stearns, whose offseason shake-ups after last season’s disappointment instead yielded a much worse version of the club. The Mets are trending toward their first last-place finish since 2003.
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Not much has gone right for Carson Benge and the Mets, including their defense, which ranks next-to-last in MLB in fielding percentage. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Well, that went south quickly. The A’s were 38-38 on June 19, just a half game back in the AL West. They enter the break 41-55 after losing nine straight and 17 of their last 20 games.
Brent Rooker is out for the year with a cartilage tear in his left knee, Nick Kurtz, Zack Gelof, Luis Severino and Denzel Clarke are all hurt, and suddenly a potentially interesting contender now has the worst run differential in MLB. Yikes.
On and off the field, this has been a catastrophe. A team many expected to contend for a playoff spot instead looks closer to being the worst team in Major League Baseball — and that’s despite a resurgent year from All-Star Luis Arraez and breakout seasons from Jung Hoo Lee and Casey Schmitt.
At least president of baseball operations Buster Posey has some intriguing pieces to sell at the deadline. No one should be off limits when he presses the eject button on this disastrous season.
After making the playoffs last season for the first time in five years, the Reds have failed to build on that triumph. They started to plummet in June after losing star shortstop Elly De La Cruz to injury, and they haven’t pulled themselves out of their nosedive since his return to action. Neither the offense nor the bullpen are good enough to contend. They’re now 15.5 games back in the NL Central and eight games back of a wild-card spot.
All eyes are on the employers of Tarik Skubal as the deadline approaches. After a brutal start to the season, the Tigers have the best record in the American League since the start of June. FanGraphs now gives them a 28.1% chance to make the playoffs.
Is that high enough for the Tigers to play this out? Or will they try to get something in return for the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner while they have the chance? Franchise-altering decisions loom.
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All eyes are on Tarik Skubal and the Tigers as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
We knew this team would have to hit its way to the top. Slugging first baseman Pete Alonso is doing his part in his first season in Baltimore — he has 21 homers and 65 RBIs — but as a team, the Orioles just haven’t produced enough offensively to make up for their pitching deficiencies. This isn’t a group that can rank 14th in slugging and OPS and expect much better than what it has done so far.
We’re more than halfway through the season, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has six home runs. Overall, the regression of Toronto’s offense — the Blue Jays ranked first in on-base percentage and third in OPS last year and now rank 27th and 26th, respectively — helps explain how the reigning AL champs find themselves in last place in the AL East.
Everything started to turn in a better direction in June after the Astros got ace Hunter Brown and closer Josh Hader back … and then they went 4-6 to start July. The pitching staff has problems even with those two back, and the outfield will need an upgrade at the deadline, assuming general manager Dana Brown is a buyer.
Still, anything feels possible with a healthy Yordan Alvarez, who’s playing like an MVP.
It took until late June, but the Red Sox have finally woken up. Riding their strong pitching staff, they’re 14-2 since June 25 — the best record in baseball over that stretch. Given how this year started, it’s remarkable that they’re now less than a game out of a wild-card spot. Can they keep this going until Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet return from injuries?
It’s not shocking that the Twins have one of the worst bullpens in MLB after last season’s sell-off. It is, however, surprising that Minnesota now finds itself just a game under .500 and contending for a playoff spot. If the team still decides to sell, Joe Ryan would be one of the best starting pitchers available.
A 2-6 finish to the first half takes some of the wind out of their sails, but the arrow is pointing up in Washington under new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni and manager Blake Butera. The Nationals’ offense is tied for the MLB lead in runs scored, but the bullpen is a leaky faucet.
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Nationals All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams enters the break having already tied his career-high for homers with 20. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
Their offense ranks last in MLB in runs, batting average and on-base percentage, and their starting rotation is 27th in ERA. Yet the Padres somehow enter the break a .500 club. It will be fascinating to see how president of baseball operations A.J. Preller chooses to address the team’s many needs at the deadline.
Coming off their first trip to the ALCS since 2001, the Mariners were supposed to be one of the best teams in baseball this year. Instead, they head into the break with a losing record after dropping five of their last six games to end the first half. It has been a highly disappointing year, and yet they’re only 1.5 games back in the AL West.
A healthier second half — especially for star catcher Cal Raleigh — can still give them the ending they desire.
The Diamondbacks’ offense didn’t produce to its potential in the first half, but the team has pitched better than expected — an All-Star season from Eduardo Rodriguez has helped — and could get a boost down the stretch from injured pitchers Corbin Burnes, Justin Martinez and/or AJ Puk.
Maybe a sweep of the Dodgers to end the first half will be the spark this team needs.
Well, someone has to be winning this division. The Rangers, courtesy of an 11-5 finish to the first half, have accepted the honor as the only AL West team with a winning record.
They’ve survived to this point despite an injured and ineffective Corey Seager — hat tips to Ezequiel Duran, Josh Jung and Joc Pederson, who have all picked up the slack — but they need to get their star shortstop right if they have visions of a 2023 repeat.
Good pitching can cover up a lot of deficiencies. The Guardians rank 29th in OPS, but both their starting rotation and bullpen are top 10 in ERA. Rookies Travis Bazzana, Chase DeLauter and Parker Messick are providing a boost, and they still have a share of first place despite playing without star third baseman Jose Ramírez for the past month.
The turnaround is happening faster than anyone could have envisioned. The Jordan Walker breakout is here, they have the NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner in JJ Wetherholt, and Alec Burleson is having one of the best seasons that no one’s talking about.
The Cardinals need more pitching to be a real threat, though, which makes this a compelling trade deadline for new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom.
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NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner JJ Wetherholt energized a Cardinals uprising in the first half. (Photo by Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images)
Don’t be fooled by the Pirates’ fourth-place position in the NL Central. They’re tied for first in the league in runs scored and have the sixth-best run differential in MLB. They should also enter the break feeling good about themselves after sweeping the Brewers.
It’s amazing what Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn have done for this offense, but they’ll need to patch up the bullpen at the deadline.
What a weekend to cap a captivating start to the season on the South Side. The White Sox ended their first half by drafting top overall pick Roch Cholowsky and then wrapping up a sweep of the Athletics to head into the break with a share of first place in the AL Central.
This is a young team on the rise, and now All-Star Munetaka Murakami is back from injury to help get the White Sox to the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Led at the plate by All-Star Otto Lopez, who has the highest batting average and most hits in MLB, and on the mound by All-Star Max Meyer, the Fightin’ Fish are one of the biggest stories of the first half. Their offense ranks sixth in MLB in OPS, and 23-year-old righthander Eury Pérez has looked like an entirely different force since coming off the injured list.
They’re in third place in the NL East but would be a wild-card team if the season ended today.
The Yankees were 36-23 at the end of May when they lost Aaron Judge to a stress fracture in his ribs; they have a losing record since then and only recently broke out of a 4-14 funk. They’ll go into the break with some momentum after sweeping the Nationals over the weekend, but they need their captain back soon.
There have already been three acts to the Cubs’ season: They started hot at 27-12, stopped hitting for a month while losing 22 of their next 29 games, then broke out again winning 20 of their final 28 games heading into the break.
If it weren’t for Shohei Ohtani, Pete Crow-Armstrong would be a leading MVP candidate. Their pitching injury situation is dire, though, and they could use a lot of help at the deadline to address both their starting rotation and bullpen.
Doesn’t 9-19 seem like a distant memory now? Since firing Rob Thomson, the Phillies have gone 45-24 under interim manager Don Mattingly.
The re-signing of DH Kyle Schwarber is one of the most important moves any team made over the winter, and a rotation led by Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo is racking up strikeouts and thriving.
The Braves’ double-digit lead in the NL East is already down to just two games, which can be attributed to both the Phillies’ rise and their own plunge. The Braves lost 19 of their last 29 games of the first half after looking like the best team in baseball to start the year.
Their starting rotation, which held up well early on despite some notable absences, has regressed considerably over the past month. Injuries to Ronald Acuña Jr., Spencer Strider and Robert Suarez haven’t helped. Still, they’re in a much better place than they were a season ago.
Many expected this to be a transition year in Tampa Bay (raises hand); instead, the Rays enter the break as the best team in the American League.
They have two All-Star starting pitchers in Drew Rasmussen and Nick Martinez, two more starters with sub-3.50 ERAs in Shane McClanahan and converted reliever Griffin Jax, an All-Star closer in Bryan Baker, one of the game’s rising superstars in Junior Caminero and a player who would win the AL batting crown if the season ended today in Yandy Diaz.
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Junior Caminero enters the All-Star break on pace for a career-high 48 home runs. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The Brewers limp into the break after getting swept by the Pirates over the weekend, but they still have a comfortable five-game lead in the NL Central after yet again exceeding expectations.
Jacob Misiorowski is the most overpowering starter in baseball. Kyle Harrison is the latest success story in the rotation. Brice Turang should have been the NL’s starting second baseman (though somehow neither he nor Harrison made the All-Star team).
Now it’s time for Milwaukee’s front office to go all-in at the deadline to give the Brewers the difference-making additions they will need in October.
It took until the last series of the first half, but the Dodgers were finally swept. Not a great way to go into the break, but they still have the best record in baseball. To be in this position — with as many players as they’ve had either underperforming or injured for much of the season — they have to feel good about their chances of three-peating.
How to Watch the 2026 MLB All-Star Game
The 2026 MLB All-Star Game is Tuesday, July 14, with first pitch at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, live from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Watch the MLB All-Star Game on FOX One for live and on-demand streaming.
