1stWhistle is reader-supported. This article contains affiliate links; we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Past Memorial Day, the Standings Finally Mean Something
There’s an old baseball rule: don’t look at the standings until Memorial Day. Well, we’re past it — and the 2026 season has started to tell us who it’s really about. Two-plus months in, two teams have separated from the pack, a few surprises have earned their place, and a couple of expected contenders are already staring at a hole. Here’s what’s holding up, and what was a mirage.
The Two That Have Separated
The Atlanta Braves own the best record in baseball at 40-20, having answered the only real question about them — health — and pulled away atop the National League East. Right behind them sit the Los Angeles Dodgers at 38-21, doing exactly what a team chasing history should. Back-to-back champions in 2024 and 2025, they’re now hunting a three-peat that no franchise has pulled off since the Yankees’ run ended in 2000 — and they remain the consensus pick to get there. When the two best records in the sport belong to the same two teams in June, that’s not noise. That’s the shape of the season.
The Surprises Worth Believing
Not every fast start survives May, but several have earned the benefit of the doubt. The Tampa Bay Rays own the best record in the American League at 36-20, doing it the way the Rays always seem to — depth, defense, and pitching nobody saw coming. The Milwaukee Brewers have been right there too at 35-21, bullying the NL Central on a budget yet again. The New York Yankees (36-23) have lived in the top tier all season, and the Cleveland Guardians (34-27, atop the AL Central) and Arizona Diamondbacks have pushed their way back into the conversation. The contender pool is deeper than the preseason chalk suggested.
The Letdowns
For every riser, there’s a team in a hole. The biggest gut-punch belongs to the Detroit Tigers, who lost two-time reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal to elbow surgery and have cratered to 22-38, the worst record in the American League. The Seattle Mariners are a stranger case: a year ago they were one win from the franchise’s first-ever World Series, falling in Game 7 of the ALCS to Toronto — yet a 31-29 team merely treading water atop a weak AL West is not what that roster was built for. And the Angels are the Angels, sinking toward the bottom of the division once again.
Why It Matters
The trade deadline is still two months out, but its shape is already forming. The teams at the top will be the buyers; the Tigers — now without their ace — and an underwhelming Mariners club are the ones who’ll have to decide whether to chase or reset. Two months of baseball doesn’t crown anyone. But it’s long enough to separate the real from the fluky, and right now the real list starts with two names — Atlanta and Los Angeles — with a handful of others fighting to crash it.
Want our weekly MLB power rankings and the storylines that actually matter, delivered free? Subscribe to the Daily Sports Digest below.
Baseball every day: Shop MLB fan gear on Fanatics.