With June in the immediate offing, we’re now roughly two full months into the 2026 Major League Baseball regular season. That means about one-third of the regular season is freshly behind us, and it’s time to check in on all of MLB’s 30 teams. Specifically, we’re here to hand out grades to each team based on how the season to date has gone.
It’s not a simple matter of eyeballing the standings. Rather, the grades to come are informed by the standings, the team’s underlying performance, and how those two measures compare with reasonable expectations entering the 2026 season. There’s no such thing as a good team with a bad grade, but teams that were expected to be good won’t be graded as highly as those teams that qualify as “pleasant surprises.”
With all that laid out, let’s get to gradin’. First up, the American League, with the National League to follow on Thursday …
Athletics: B
Sure, the Athletics are merely .500-ish with a negative run differential, but first place is first place. The margins are slim, and the AL West has been one of the weakest divisions to date. Again, though, first place is first place. The rotation has been surprisingly solid so far, at least on a park-adjusted basis, and catcher Shea Langeliers is looking like a stealth AL MVP candidate so far. — Dayn Perry
Baltimore Orioles: F
It’s closer to an F- than a D too. Baltimore’s rotation has again collapsed (2025 revelation Trevor Rogers has a 6.96 ERA through nine starts) and there hasn’t been enough offense to compensate. Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward were supposed to provide right-handed power. Both have just been fine. If they continue to hang around the bottom of the AL East standings, the O’s have some useful veterans they could move at the trade deadline: Rogers, Ward, Chris Bassitt, Ryan Helsley, Andrew Kittredge, etc. There will be some level of interest in all of them. I can’t imagine POBO Mike Elias thought this was where the Orioles would be in 2026 after kicking off that rebuild in 2019. — Mike Axisa
Boston Red Sox : D
Turns out Alex Cora wasn’t the problem after all. Boston is dead last in the American League in home runs and that lack of power was completely predictable entering the season. There are just too many zeroes in the lineup on any given day. Ceddanne Rafaela is a really good player, but he should be more like his team’s sixth- or seventh-best hitter, not their third-best. The Red Sox would have two very nice rentals to peddle at the trade deadline, Aroldis Chapman and Sonny Gray, should they not move up the standings and decide to sell. — Axisa
Chicago White Sox: A
The White Sox were 41-121 two years ago. Last year, they went 60-102. When they started this year 6-13, it looked like maybe they would be one of baseball’s worst teams again. Since then, though, they’ve been pretty formidable. They recently had a stretch in which they won seven of eight and were multiple games above .500 for the first time in years. The two-year, $34 million signing of Munetaka Murakami has been amazing and with Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas, the White Sox now have one of the most powerful trios in baseball. On the mound, Davis Martin has also been excellent. — Matt Snyder
Cleveland Guardians: B+
They rank in the bottom third of the majors in both batting average and OPS. They pitch well, though, notably in missing bats. They are leading the majors in strikeouts by pitchers. The Guardians wouldn’t have earned this relatively high mark a few weeks ago. They were just a .500 team as late as May 10, when they were 21-21. Since then, though, they’ve racked up the wins and taken control of the AL Central. They’re doing what they do, just piling up victories in seemingly quiet fashion. — Snyder
Detroit Tigers: F
Remember last July when the Tigers had the best record in baseball and seemingly brought half their team to the All-Star Game? Yeah, that feels like ages ago when watching this team now. I have no doubt Mets fans think their team should be the pick, but the Tigers are my pick for the single most disappointing team in baseball. Tarik Skubal is hurt and rehabbing, but by the time he comes back, will he simply be trade bait? That’s how things are trending. By OPS, only a handful of teams are worse on offense than the Tigers. Framber Valdez has not taken over the mantle of ace with Skubal down, either. — Snyder
Houston Astros: D
The Astros are slowly getting healthier, and that’s helped them climb out of the depths they were in not so long ago. As recently as May 20, they were 11 games under .500 and on pace for 98 losses. They’re still not a good team by any stretch, but the lackluster nature of the AL West and the AL wild card race is keeping them relevant. Much will depend upon how the compromised rotation fares moving forward. Yordan Alvarez has been the best hitter on the planet so far in 2026. — Perry
Kansas City Royals: F
The Royals were a disappointing team in 2025 after their playoff berth in 2024. Heading into this season, expectations were high. In fact, many predicted the Royals as the AL Central champions. Other than a stretch in late April/early May in which they won nine of 11, the Royals have been among the worst teams in baseball. Their 4-10 record in one-run games might suggest poor luck to some, but it’s also a function of having an unreliable bullpen. They’ve recorded 14 saves but blown 10. The offense, aside from Bobby Witt Jr., has been uninspiring at best, while the rotation has failed to meet expectations, namely Cole Ragans (currently injured), Kris Bubic (currently injured) and Noah Cameron. — Snyder
Los Angeles Angels: D
The Halos have the AL’s worst record and worst run differential despite getting excellent contributions from Mike Trout and José Soriano. The pitching staff ranks 28th in the league in ERA, and that’s despite the run-suppressing nature of Angel Stadium. Right now, the Angels are on pace for 102 losses, which would be a franchise record. This blighted franchise hasn’t managed a winning season since 2015. Sure, not much was expected from the Angels coming into 2026, but even less has been delivered. — Perry
Minnesota Twins: B-
Pablo López was lost to a season-ending injury before the season even started and many believed this would be one of the worst teams in baseball. There’s still time for that, of course, but the Twins have been quite competent in stretches. They won eight of nine in April and recently won six of seven. The Ryan Jeffers injury is a major bummer, but Byron Buxton is powering up to lead the offense. In the rotation, Joe Ryan is performing as expected, but how about the work the Twins are getting from Taj Bradley? Kudos for that. — Snyder
New York Yankees: B
The Yankees have run hot and cold this year, following up every hot streak with a stretch in which scoring a third run is a challenge and the bullpen shows no lead is safe. Gerrit Cole returned from Tommy John surgery last week to join a rotation that was already among baseball’s best, so that’s a positive, as are Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham trending up in May after starting the season with miserable Aprils. The Yankees have to get their bullpen right and the bullpens are pretty fixable. I’m not saying it will be easy, but rebuilding a bullpen on the fly is easier than fixing a rotation or an offense. — Axisa
Seattle Mariners: F
One gets the feeling that the Mariners, who reached Game 7 of the ALCS last year, will eventually find a higher level and take charge of the lackluster AL West. Thus far, though, they haven’t done that, and the current juncture finds them below .500. Given preseason World Series expectations, that makes them perhaps the most disappointing team in all of MLB. The injured Cal Raleigh has been a disaster thus far, following his 60-homer campaign in 2025. The deep and high-ceiling rotation has also been a bit of a disappointment. — Perry
Tampa Bay Rays: A
It’s funny, the Rays are doing it in a very un-Rays-like way. We think of the Rays as a pitching powerhouse with a standout defense. Their rotation is among the best in baseball, absolutely, but they’re near the bottom of the league in outs above average and near the top of the league in errors. Errors aren’t the best way to evaluate defense, but I think it’s OK to say that making many is a bad thing. Tampa is winning with offense. Even without hitting many homers, they have one of the highest scoring lineups in baseball because they rarely strike out or swing and miss. The Brewers have been billed as the NL Rays, but the Rays are really the NL Brewers, given how they’ve built this offense. Milwaukee did it first. — Axisa
Texas Rangers: C-
It’s hard to say expectations for Texas were necessarily high coming off a losing season in 2024 and a .500 campaign in 2025. However, they were higher than this. This is a 24-29 record and third place in, to repeat, MLB’s weakest division to date. Trade acquisition Brandon Nimmo has been a pleasant surprise, but what was expected to be a strong rotation hasn’t yet lived up to advance billing. Emerging star Wyatt Langford (forearm) can’t get back soon enough. — Perry
Toronto Blue Jays: D
The Blue Jays avoided the nightmare scenario when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (elbow) and Dylan Cease (hamstring) exited this past Sunday’s game with injuries. Both injuries are relatively minor. Toronto is already down a full rotation’s worth of starters (José Berríos, Shane Bieber, Bowden Francis, Cody Ponce, Max Scherzer) and they’ve really missed Alejandro Kirk behind the plate. Every time the Blue Jays rattle off three or four wins in a row, they drop a series or two. At the end of the day, they’ve spent the first two months chasing .500 after winning the pennant and having a very active offseason. Expectations were much higher than this. — Axisa
