Providing some pretty drastic movements early on, with established contenders struggling heavily and other clubs showing early signs of potential significant improvements in comparison with last year, the MLB regular season has given us plenty in the early stages. We look forward to seeing how it all progresses.
One might be taken aback by the absence of the Houston Astros as one of the highlighted teams, not only for what they failed to show this past week, but also for the massive pitching concerns that come with Hunter Brown currently sidelined with a shoulder problem. Well, on top of giving them a bit of time to right the ship, there were compelling angles to cover each of the first two teams here, and we’ll monitor Houston closely.
Every week, the Pitcher List team will publish an update to our power rankings, highlighting three teams among the different tiers of contention. As always, the full rankings can be found at the bottom of this article, but where’s the fun in that?
Contender
No. 3 Atlanta Braves
One of the more consistent National League teams over the last decade, the Atlanta Braves kicked off a new era in 2026 with Walt Weiss, one that doesn’t particularly raise that sentiment, given this team possesses the same established core it has had for a number of years. While improvements were necessary, particularly in a division with such strong opponents as the Mets and Phillies, there was a feeling that by simply running it back, the Braves stood a reasonable chance at drastically improving on their 76-86 record. The beginning of that appears to be taking place.
On Sunday, the Braves became the second-fastest team to reach 10 wins this season, right alongside the Padres, trailing only the Dodgers. Atlanta accomplished that by completely walloping the Guardians in front of a national audience on Sunday Night Baseball. Chris Sale, Atlanta’s ace, recovered well from one atrocious inning in Anaheim early in the week to toss a gem, not that he particularly needed to, given that the offense went to work on Tanner Bibee, scoring 13 runs—the third time this season Atlanta has gotten into the double digits.
Another double-digit run recap!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/uWExQAtygz
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 13, 2026
What’s scary is that Atlanta has been able to accomplish exciting offensive totals with two of its biggest stars yet to truly burst through in 2026. Both Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley have pretty mediocre numbers in a small sample, leaving it to Drake Baldwin and Matt Olson to carry the load. Baldwin, who entered play on Monday leading all National League hitters in both runs (15) and RBI (17).
While many relievers struggle with moving in and out of a closer position, the Braves’ decision to sign Robert Suárez to be their primary setup man has gotten off to a terrific start. Not called on to pitch in the series against the Guardians that involved three blowouts, two in favor of Atlanta and one of Cleveland, Suárez has combined with Raisel Iglesias to pitch 11.2 scoreless innings, spearheading this Braves bullpen. The rotation is still a little suspect beyond Sale, and relying on a 37-year-old veteran to carry your staff may cause issues down the line, but if the offense and the ‘pen can perform at a high level, there is a lot to like here.
Monday’s 10-4 loss to the Marlins takes a bit of wind out of their sails, especially with Dom Smith providing their only extra-base hit. Smith has handled right-handed pitching well early on, even if he doesn’t carry very high expectations. That said, it’s hard not to stay excited about a possible bounce-back season for the National League’s last World Series winner not named the Los Angeles Dodgers (going back to 2021), which still feels wild to say out loud.
The middle
No. 16 – Tampa Bay Rays
The challenges that the Rays face to compete in the AL East are well-documented, and almost no one predicted them as a serious contender, even for a Wild Card spot ahead of the 2026 season. Where they’ll end up remains to be seen, but for the past week, Tampa really made a statement by hosting and sweeping the New York Yankees right out of the building, coming out on the winning end of three straight close victories.
Tampa’s 8-7 record could be seen in a better light once you acknowledge the difficulties of their early schedule, facing three 2025 division winners in their last four series. Meanwhile, a divisional opponent like the Toronto Blue Jays has already struggled against the Chicago White Sox. All in all, it’s a very murky picture in the AL East early on, with two games separating all five teams. No one is panicking about the Yankees and Blue Jays, but the Rays could be better than initially given credit for, particularly back at the Trop, where they’ve won four of their first six games.
That sweep of the Yankees is particularly impressive, having faced Cam Schllitler and Max Fried, two of the hottest starting pitchers of this young season. Drew Rasmussen, whose outing was pushed back a few days for the birth of his child, delivered a magnificent performance on Sunday, but another story of this series is the likes of Nick Martínez and Steven Matz, a couple of veteran pitchers, one coming off a down year and one who was used as a reliever in 2025. Both held their own against a daunting Yankees’ offense, who might’ve been struggling early on, but still racked up 11 wins with a pair of Aaron Judge home runs against the Angels.
Some Matz vs. bats pic.twitter.com/dYouDCWlAx
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 11, 2026
On the offensive side of the ball, Yandy Díaz and Chandler Simpson combined for 44 hits through Sunday, more than any hitting duo in the American League. On his way to reaching 1,000 career games with an OPS well north of .800, Díaz has been one of the more underappreciated hitters in baseball over the last few years. Setting a career high in home runs in 2025, Junior Caminero hasn’t quite been able to heat up in 2026.
Perhaps the most worrying part of this team right now is the bullpen. Expected staples of this unit, like Brian Baker and Griffin Jax, haven’t exactly hit the ground running. Even in that series sweep of the Yankees, for example, the Rays’ bullpen tried to sabotage it on more than one occasion. It was lucky that the offense came through to bail them out.
Wait ‘Til 2027
No. 29 – Chicago White Sox
You know that old saying: the light at the end of the tunnel might just be a train? Well, for the Chicago White Sox, that about sums up the current state of the franchise, which has become baseball’s punch line for the past few years. Chicago is performing to levels that would make tanking general managers of the NBA proud, only without the justified reward for this behavior in Major League Baseball.
There wasn’t anything particularly terrible about the White Sox’s past week. They won two of seven games, splitting the series with the struggling Kansas City Royals after getting swept by the Baltimore Orioles. It was more so the particular manner in which they lost some of these games. One of this team’s most stable hitters of last season, Miguel Vargas, managed to go 0-for-26, and it’s hard to even claim he stood out negatively. A worthwhile pickup for a team in this position, Munetaka Murakami remains their most productive hitter with his .157 batting average and 108 OPS+, responsible for a third of this team’s 12 home runs.
The depth of the early struggles from the White Sox offense has prevented this team from taking advantage of a surprisingly hot start from their pitching staff. Davis Martin, Sean Burke, Anthony Kay, and Erick Fedde are all delivering strong numbers in their first few starts. Twice shut out by the Royals in a series split away from home, the White Sox allowed a total of four runs in those two losses. Last week, the sweep at the hands of the Orioles came with Baltimore averaging fewer than four runs per game, that being enough to handle this attack.
What any team can accomplish while limited by a lineup that has combined to hit under .200 in their first 500+ at bats isn’t much, almost regardless of how its pitching staff might be performing. Right alongside Murakami, another hitter who stands out positively, even though he is still well off the pace he displayed last season, is the youngster Colston Montgomery, the only other White Sox hitter with multiple home runs.
