It’s time for our bi-weekly Major League Baseball Power Rankings. We’re entering the phase of the 2023 campaign when things are starting to take shape. Sure, teams will rise and fall. A club playing good baseball in late May might wonder in September where it all went wrong whereas a mediocre squad today could be making a playoff push in a few months.

That being said, enough games have been played that fans and experts have a solid indication of who is good, who is average, and who risks experiencing a long, painful season. As such, those who read the previous edition from two weeks ago might not notice many big changes.

As always, we encourage readers to check out the American League, National League, and MLB props for all your baseball action.

Data collected is as of Wednesday, May 24 before game time.

MLB Power Rankings

Rank	Team	Runline	Record	World Series Odds
1	Orioles	32-16	31-17	+2797
2	Rangers	31-17	30-18	+3497
3	Rays	29-21	35-15	+1539
4	Dodgers	28-22	31-19	+350
5	Yankees	28-22	30-20	+699
6	Diamondbacks	29-20	29-20	+5180
7	Red Sox	27-22	26-23	+2727
8	Nationals	30-18	20-28	+10500
9	Pirates	25-23	25-23	+10500
10	Cubs	26-21	21-26	+5180
11	Astros	24-24	28-20	+385
12	Reds	26-22	20-28	+8670
13	Braves	20-28	29-19	+629
14	Tigers	25-21	21-25	+4476
15	Angels	25-25	27-23	+350
16	Twins	25-24	25-24	+4476
17	Mariners	25-23	24-24	+1399
18	Brewers	23-25	26-22	+1678
19	Giants	24-24	24-24	+2797
20	Blue Jays	23-26	26-23	+699
21	White Sox	25-25	20-30	+2098
22	Mets	17-32	25-24	+629
23	Padres	23-25	22-26	+979
24	Rockies	23-26	21-28	+6990
25	Cardinals	23-27	22-28	+1678
26	Guardians	21-27	21-27	+2378
27	Marlins	18-30	22-26	+4476
28	Phillies	18-30	22-26	+1399
29	Royals	18-32	15-35	+6990
30	Athletics	19-31	10-40	+10500

1. Baltimore Orioles (31-17, runline: 32-16)

Congratulations to the Baltimore Orioles for holding on to the top spot. Well-deserved for that matter. They just went to Toronto this past weekend and fought hard for a three-game sweep, further enhancing their image as one of the year’s more pleasant surprises. Felix Bautista continues to preserve plenty of late leads with 11 saves on the year.

2. Texas Rangers (30-18, runline: 31-17)

Texas climbs from number three to number two in the rankings. It helps that at the time of writing the Rangers have covered the second-most spreads with 30. They’re in a dogfight in the AL West with the Astros and it will be interesting to see how that pans out. By the by, Texas has currently overtaken Tampa Bay with the top-ranked collective batting average at .271. Marcus Semien leads the club with .301.

3. Tampa Bay Ray (35-15, runline: 29-21)

Tampa Bay, who held top spot during the first couple editions, has dropped to from second two weeks ago to third. Should alarm bells be ringing? Their win-loss record is still excellent and the tally ATS continues to be strong. Losing 20-1 on Tuesday to the Blue Jays was a little weird, but that was an exceptional defeat. Consider that their run differential dropped by 19 and they still sit in second with +107. Shane McClanahan leads the majors with seven wins and is second with a 2.05 ERA.

4. Los Angeles Dodgers (31-19, runline: 28-22)

The NL L.A. club jumps from fifth to fourth, and no less should be expected from the team that has bewildered opponents for several seasons in a row. The Dodgers have already smashed and incredible 81 home runs – good for second – and 269 RBI’s – good for third. Look no further than Max Muncy’s 15 homers and 35 runs batted in.

5. New York Yankees (30-20, runline: 28-22)

One of the biggest changes from a fortnight ago are the pinstripes. When last we evaluated them they were good for 10^th. Now it’s fifth. Battering the Blue Jays last week helped, as it the impressive comeback from 4-0 down to Baltimore on Tuesday. It’s easy to get blinded by Aaron Judge, but Anthony Rizzo’s .310 batting average, 11 homers and 28 RBI’s shouldn’t be overlooked.

6. Arizona Diamondbacks (29-20, runline: 29-20)

Arizona improves by one slot. Kudos to this club for being as consistent as they are. Maybe, just maybe, they are the new San Diego Padres of the NL West, the team nobody thought had a playoff push in them. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. continues to lead the offence with a .317 hitting average, although Christian Walker’s 34 RBI’s also impress.

7. Boston Red Sox (26-23, runline: 27-22)

Boston suffers a bit of a dip from fourth to seventh, but nothing to get too worried about. Performances against the runline matter for this exercise, and 27-22 is still among the better records in MLB. They have one of the best hitters in baseball for runs batted in with Rafael Devers. He’s brought 44 runners to home plate, good for third.

8. Washington Nationals (20-28, runline: 30-18)

This looks insane. Then again, it only looks as though we’ve lost our minds if one solely pays attention to the outright win-loss tally. In that light, Washington isn’t very good. But darn it, they’re amazing against the runline at 30-18. They keep on covering, so despite all their faults, the Nationals deserve some respect. Their run differential (-24) is on par with several clubs sporting superior win-loss records. We have to call it like we see it. If the losses are close, betters win.

9. Pittsburg Pirates (25-23, runline: 25-23)

The NL Central is a bit strange, as readers will soon discover. Nobody has a great win-loss record, but everyone covers a solid amount of spreads. Pittsburgh may not be the pleasant surprise we thought they’d be in past editions. They are seemingly too inconsistent, at least through two months. They lead the majors in stolen bases with 53 (tied with the Rays). Ji Hwan Bae already has 14 to himself!

10. Chicago Cubs (21-16, runline: 26-21)

A record of 21-26 in the standings won’t impress anyone, but 26-21 ATS puts them in contention as among the more reliable MLB clubs for betters. Former Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman wears their colours these days and he’s in a mutiplayer tie for first in MLB with eight quality starts.

11. Houston Astros (28-20, runline: 24-24)

Slow but steady with the Houston Astros. It is getting admittedly late enough in the season to start wondering if this is their year. Just an honest question. There is plenty of baseball left to be played and the race for the AL West is tight. A 3.51 collective ERA is the best in the business, and pitching counts a lot when seasons wind down. Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, and Hunter Brown all have ERA’s under 3.25.

12. Cincinnati Reds (20-28, runline: 26-22)

Another NL Central team squeezes its way into the top half of the rankings despite a mediocre season. We feel the need to point out that, at the time of writing, the majority of MLB clubs haven’t covered the spread 26 times like the Reds. Jake Fraley leads the squad in runs batted in with 33 so far.

13. Atlanta Braves (29-19, runline: 20-28)

Another example of how important the runline is in this exercise. This club won it all two seasons ago, made the playoffs last year, and currently leads the NL East by 4.5 games. The problem is they don’t cover enough. On the flip side, readers should keep their eyes on Ronald Acuna Jr. for some offensive player props. His .337 batting average is third-best in MLB. Sean Murphy’s 36 RBI’s are a highlight as well.

14. Detroit Tigers (21-25, runline: 25-21)

Readers beware. We’re facing the miasma of mid-table rankings. A lot of these numbers will start looking alike. Detroit is four games under .500 yet 2.5 games out of first in the AL Central. It is what it is. One significant bright spot on the team is pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez. He’s earned himself an incredible 2.19 ERA in 10 games and 61.2 innings pitched.

15. Los Angeles Angels (27-23, runline: 25-25)

That this team can’t do better with both Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout on its roster is criminal. At the very least, when they send relief pitchers late in games the group gets the job done. The Angels rank second in the majors in saves with 17, 12 of which are courtesy of Carlos Estevez.

16. Minnesota Twins (25-24, runline: 25-24)

There’s going to be a trend over the course of the remaining spots. Spoilers: the AL Central is not very good. Minnesota, who we rank in 16^th, leads the division a single game above .500. What success they’ve achieved this season is in large part thanks to pitcher Sonny Gray. He sports a mesmerizing 1.82 ERA through 54.1 innings of work.

17. Seattle Mariners (24-24, runline: 25-23)

Another with the talent to push through but is largely stuck in neutral, Seattle is the last remaining team with 25 covers and a passable win-loss record. After them, it all gets a little spotty, if not downright ugly. On the plus side, the rotation has the third best ERA in MLB with 3.53. Both George Kirby (2.62) and Luis Castillo (2.97) continue to prove the best in the majors.

18. Milwaukee Brewers (26-22, runline: 23-25)

We warned you about things getting weird. Milwaukee leads the NL Central, which is a good thing. The less interesting part is that no one is all that impressive in the division, nor is the club’s own performances ATS. Look no further than their -2-run differential. And they lead the Central!

19. San Francisco Giants (24-24, runline: 24-24)

The Giants aren’t especially good this season, nor are they all that bad. At the time of writing, they are the only team in MLB playing .500 baseball in the standings and ATS. It doesn’t get more middle-of-the-road than that. That’ll change soon as the Twins are crushing them at the time of publication. Thairo Estrada leads the team in hitting with a .306 average.

20. Toronto Blue Jays (26-23, runline: 23-26)

We probably should have prefaced this week’s ranking with a caveat that there was one undisputedly dramatic change. Sadly for Canadian baseball fans, it concerns their only club. The Jays were ninth last time and are now 20^th. That’s how bad the last two weeks have been. There is a reason why John Gibbons and Dave Bastl address John Schneider firing rumours in the latest Pitch Clock.

21. Chicago White Sox (20-30, runline: 25-25)

Choices have to be made. 20-30 in the standings is currently one of the worst records in baseball, but the White Sox cover just enough spreads for us to show them a bit of love, if being ranked 21^st can be described as such. Browsing the stats sheet, they don’t appear to have any player at any position that stands out, so we’ll just highlight Andrew Vaughn who leads the club with 31 RBI’s.

22. New York Mets (25-24, runline: 17-32)

Ah, the fun of ranking the bottom 10. Yes, the Mets are above .500. That said, barely. They’re also one of the least trustworthy teams against the runline with a paltry 17-32 record to show for their efforts. It isn’t fun putting a side with a winning record (again, barely) this low but, as readers know by now, the spread can hurt badly.

23. San Diego Padres (22-26, runline: 23-25)

The good vibes of 2022 are seriously starting to evaporate. Fun fact, despite being four games under. 500, San Diego has the second-least worst negative run differential at -5 (the Brewers are -2). Another fun fact: Matt Carpenter is second on the team with 21 RBI’s as a designated hitter but his average is a lowly .204.

24. Colorado Rockies (21-28, runline: 23-26)

Par for the course for the Rockies. In fact, they were 24^th two weeks ago! At least they’re consistent, albeit in their own inconsistency. Their bright spot is Elias Diaz with a sparkling .345 batting average. He’s also brought in 24 runners to home plate, a team-best.

25. St. Louis Cardinals (22-28, runline: 23-27)

St. Louis could use some spirit these days. They don’t impress in the win-loss stats sheet, nor when it comes to the runline. The Cardinals can be fun to watch if one has a predilection for dingers. The Cardinals have sent 70 balls out of the park at the time of writing, good for fifth in the majors. Nolan Gorman has 13 all to himself.

26. Cleveland Guardians (21-27, runline: 21-27)

Hope springs eternal in the AL Central. Cleveland is six games under .500 but less than a handful of games out of first place. We’ve brought up their excellent base stealing in the past (still in the top five), so we’ll dig up something different. Emmanuel Clase leads MLB in saves with a whopping 16.

27. Miami Marlins (24-25, runline: 18-30)

It has to be said: the NL East is awful ATS with the exception of the Nationals. The latter are, ironically, the division’s basement dwellers. The Marlins don’t rank any lower because at least they can be somewhat trusted on the moneyline. Honestly, that’s damming with pretty faint praise.

28. Philadelphia Phillies (22-26, runline: 18-30)

The other day, Trea Turner gave a rather blunt assessment of how his Phillies career has started. “I’ve sucked.” Well okay then. Turner can’t carry the brunt of the blame for a pitiful 18-30 tally ATS, but Philadelphia simply is not to be trusted. They barely get results on the moneyline.

29. Kansas City Royals (15-35, runline: 18-32)

Look, at some point an MLB Power Rankings needs some sort of standards. True, the Royals have one less successful cover than the club ranked below them, but at least they’re winning a few more games. This may be a sportsbook, but good old-fashioned winning still counts for something. Salvador Perez can be relied on for the fireworks as he leads the team with 11 home runs.

30. Oakland Athletics (10-40, runline: 19-31)

The Las Vegas Athl-…oops, we got ahead of ourselves. Apologies. The Oakland Athletics have won two games in the 14 days since we last produced a ranking. Two! They were next-to-last a fortnight ago, but those performances, even if they’re a tiny better than KC against the spread, send them back to the pits.