MLB power rankings: The wild wild west..

Checking in on how the Padres stack up with the best teams in Major League Baseball…

The Dodgers have won 11 of the last 12 NL West titles.

The team that interrupted that reign?

An island of misfit toys that rose up for 107 wins in 2021, and the Giants are looking to do it again as it’s San Francisco, after the first full week of play, that is ahead of the Dodgers and atop an ultra-competitive division to start 2025.

The Dodgers won their first eight games. The Padres won their first seven. Now it’s the Giants riding a seven-game winning streak that has shoved an 8-2 San Diego team all the way down to third in the division.

Meantime, the Diamondbacks, the chic preseason pick for second in the NL West, is off to a 5-5 start and somehow already 3½ games off the lead.

Buckle up.

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The race is only just beginning.

1 | San Francisco Giants (8-1, Last week: 9)

The Giants have spent big to improve the offense with the likes of Matt Chapman and Jung Hoo Lee, but it’s Wilmer Flores who leads the team with four homers and 12 RBIs as San Francisco rides a seven-game winning streak into the second week of the season.

2 | Los Angeles Dodgers (9-2, LW: 1)

Two weeks in, the Dodgers have lost left-hander Blake Snell to shoulder inflammation), but will they even notice his absence?

3 | San Diego Padres (8-2, LW: 2).

Manny Machado is tied for third in the majors with five steals and he’s still looking for his first home run. Make that make sense.

4 | Texas Rangers (8-2, LW: 5)

The road to the majors was rocky, but right-hander Jack Leiter (2-0, 0.90 ERA, 10 Ks, 10 IP) is looking every bit as dominant as he did in college.

5 | Philadelphia Phillies (7-2, LW: 8)

Everyone’s picking the Braves (oops) and the Mets in the NL East, but it’s the Phillies who lead early after handing the Dodgers their first series loss of the season.

6 | New York Yankees (6-3, LW: 3)

Talk about a club fitting: The torpedo-swinging Anthony Volpe has four homers in nine games after hitting 12 in 160 games last year.

7 | New York Mets (6-3, LW: 24)

Juan Soto, with one homer and a .250/.385/.438 batting line, is off to a pedestrian start in Queens.

8 | Chicago Cubs (7-5, LW: 18)

The Cubs better get working on that Kyle Tucker extension, because five homers and a 1.203 OPS in his first 12 games in Chicago is only going to drive up the price.

9 | Los Angeles Angels (6-3, LW: 12)

Make it a franchise record for a catcher with homers in four straight days for Logan O’Hoppe, who is doing his best to give Mike Trout a supporting cast in the post-Shohei era.

10 | Boston Red Sox (6-4, LW: 25)

The Red Sox did it right, getting lefty Garrett Crochet to sign a six-year, $170 million extension before he threw eight shutout innings in his first Boston win this week.

The rest
11 | Arizona Diamondbacks (5-5, LW: 17)
12 | Detroit Tigers (5-4, LW: 27)
13 | Miami Marlins (5-4, LW: 6)
14 | Toronto Blue Jays (5-5, LW: 16)
15 | Milwaukee Brewers (5-5, LW: 30)
16 | Houston Astros (4-5, LW: 11)
17 | St. Louis Cardinals (4-5, LW: 4:
18 | Baltimore Orioles (4-6, LW: 13)
19 | Tampa Bay Rays (4-5, LW: 10)
20 | Kansas City Royals (4-5, LW: 23)
21 | Cincinnati Reds (3-7, LW:21)
22 | Oakland Athletics (4-6, LW: 14)

23 | Washington Nationals (3-6, LW: 22)
24 | Cleveland Guardians (3-6, LW: 7)
25 | Seattle Mariners (3-7, LW: 15)
26 | Minnesota Twins (3-6, LW: 29)
27 | Pittsburgh Pirates (3-7, LW: 26)
28 | Chicago White Sox (2-7, LW: 19)
29 | Colorado Rockies (2-7, LW: 20)
30 | Atlanta Braves (1-8, LW: 28)