What’s the matter with Clemson? Here’s why it’s not just about the transfer portal
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David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer
A day after his team’s worst loss in more than a decade, Dabo Swinney was feeling optimistic.
This is unsurprising for two reasons. The first is that Swinney had watched the film of Clemson‘s 34-3 drubbing at the hands of top-ranked Georgia and saw a team that, according to him, matched Georgia physically and lost, in large part, due to a handful of unforced errors and an inability to capture any “momentum.”
The second is that Swinney is unapologetically optimistic in even the most dire of circumstances. Recall the last time Clemson lost in such emphatic fashion — a 54-14 embarrassment at home to eventual national champion Florida State in 2013, when Swinney’s postgame analysis approached delirium: “If we played them 10 times,” he said, “we’d have won five.”
And so it was again after Saturday’s loss.
“We matched up well. It didn’t go our way, but we were physical, we could run. We’ve got a good team,” Swinney said. “We’ve got a bunch of good, young talent. It’s going to come together, and it’s going to be fun to watch.”
Or, to borrow a Swinney analogy, Clemson’s stock took a bit of a hit against Georgia, but that only means the return on investment will be that much bigger when it finally takes off.
So, yes, Swinney feels good in the aftermath of Clemson’s latest debacle — the team’s seventh loss in its past 15 games against Power 4 competition. He’s building something — just as he has before — and he’s not interested in changing course simply because one game against the country’s best team didn’t go his way.
“We’ve done it in a unique way,” Swinney said. “Now people want me to go do it some other way. They’ve lost their freakin’ mind. I’m not doing it another way. Everything doesn’t go the way you want it every single time but that doesn’t mean you get away from what your foundation is, what you believe.”
Swinney believes in building a program, and that means more than winning games. And on that front, he’s been exceptional.
Clemson’s player retention rate is among the best in the country — only Northwestern and Oklahoma State had fewer players leave in the December window than Clemson’s 12. The Tigers had the highest graduation rate of any Power 4 school (Georgia, in comparison, is last). Clemson is the only team in the country to rank in the top 25 in both the AP rankings and graduation rates for 13 years straight.
Even the wins and losses aren’t a clear-cut knock on Swinney’s approach. Clemson’s record from 2021-23 — the supposed downturn of the program — was 30-10, the eighth-best mark of any program in that span.
In a vacuum, it’s reasonable to follow Swinney’s logic. Look back at all the losses that have accrued since Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne Jr. left town, and it feels like a meteoric shift, but each individual loss comes with strings attached: flukey turnovers, missed kicks, overtime defeats where a single play was the difference.
Even in Saturday’s blowout, Swinney believes that, had a few early plays gone Clemson’s way — a miss on Cade Klubnik‘s first pass, a big gain negated by an Adam Randall formation penalty — the rest of the game would’ve unfolded more favorably. The butterfly effect was Clemson’s problem, not talent.
Except it’s possible Swinney’s unyielding optimism is exactly the problem, and for an understanding of why, look to Swinney’s biggest taboo: the transfer portal.
The conventional wisdom follows that Swinney is simply a stubborn coach, tethered to an archaic way of thinking that has held the Tigers back from adding difference-makers via the portal. But this ignores two crucial realities. The first is that Swinney has made adjustments, including bringing in Garrett Riley to call the offense two years ago and hiring Matt Luke and Chris Rumph to his staff this season after critics had derided his longstanding practice of hiring internally.
The second is that Swinney isn’t alone in his reluctance to build a roster through free agency.
“I’m a big believer in retention, and I think Dabo believes that, too,” said Kirby Smart, whose win over Clemson was led, in part, by transfers Colbie Young and London Humphreys. “If I had my preference, I’d keep my team my team and coach my team and not have that constant turnover. Unfortunately, we have to deal with those circumstances and that makes it tougher. But I’m a big believer in getting the players we sign here and growing them and getting them better.”
That is, essentially, Swinney’s pronounced belief, too, even if he’s at the far end of the spectrum of coaches who’ve actually used the portal.
And as one Power 4 coach said of Swinney’s portal position, “You can still win a championship without the portal. The margin for error is just much smaller, and your flaws get much harder to hide.”
Since the modern portal began in 2018, Clemson has never had a transfer start a game. In the last cycle, only four schools did not take a single transfer: Clemson and the three service academies. For the latter three, an endorsement from a congressman is necessary. For Clemson, the bar may be even higher.
Swinney has, in fact, dabbled in the portal. Clemson made offers to a number of players over the past two years — particularly along the offensive line — but simply hasn’t reeled in any.
This is not, Swinney insists — emphatically, repeatedly — a philosophical opposition to the transfer portal. This is, like Clemson’s loss to Georgia, just a matter of happenstance and optimism. Some guys weren’t interested. The rest weren’t as good as he thinks the players already on his roster could be.
Swinney drew blowback in the spring for his latest attempt to rationalize his portal aversion with rhetorical gamesmanship by suggesting that everyone is a transfer from somewhere, and he’d just prefer to focus on guys transferring from high school to Clemson.
“There’s not one guy out there we wanted to bring in at this point,” Swinney said during the spring portal window. “Most of the guys in the portal now are guys getting pushed because people over-sign. We like our guys and we like our team.”
In the portal, Swinney sees mostly cast-offs. He looks at the high school recruits Clemson has signed and sees limitless potential. The reason Clemson hasn’t returned to its status as a perennial playoff team is that the results haven’t matched that potential.
Instead, Tigers fans have been left frustrated after Swinney and others spent an entire offseason raving about freshmen wideouts Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore — quotes about how the pair was incredibly advanced at this stage, how the Tigers didn’t need veteran help at their most underperforming position because these two new faces would change the game.
Wesco played 12 snaps against Georgia. Moore played five. They combined for two catches for 12 yards, all in the fourth quarter after the game was out of hand.
Swinney took responsibility for problematic personnel choices and suggested Wesco and Moore would see far more action moving forward, but the imbalance between promise and performance is hardly an isolated incident. Receivers alone offer a stark reminder of that yawning chasm. From Joe Ngata to E.J. Williams Jr. to Beaux Collins, Clemson has shuffled nearly a dozen players through its receiving room in recent years that earned high praise from Swinney and the staff but did little on game day to justify the hype.
Still, when Swinney looks for help in the portal, his perception of his in-house talent underpins his requirements for new additions. Swinney said in 2023 that, if Clemson is going to add pieces in the portal, he wants all-conference players with significant experience.
That’s already a thin pool of options. Then Swinney adds that no one is guaranteed playing time and Clemson isn’t shelling out huge NIL sums for players who haven’t yet contributed to winning games at Clemson.
“We don’t use NIL in recruiting,” Swinney said. “Zero. But [former five-star recruit] Peter Woods came anyway. And they’re not leaving. They’re looking for what we are. We’re so unique in our approach, it’s like a magnet to the type of kid who’ll be successful here.”
So, boil that all down into an elevator pitch to transfers: You must be elite. You’re going to have to win a job against players here that Swinney already adores. There will be no NIL handouts without proven production. To be at Clemson is a privilege.
Is it any wonder Clemson hasn’t reeled in any big fish in the portal?
And, of course, the portal works both ways. Swinney flaunts the program’s retention rate, but as one opposing coach noted, in a world in which scholarships are capped at 85, there’s value in culling the herd and ridding a roster of players who aren’t contributing.
But again, Swinney can point to his impressive track record as ample evidence that his philosophy works — and will work again. Sure, his freshmen receivers didn’t blossom against Georgia, but that’s just Week 1. Look back at Vic Beasley (eighth overall NFL draft pick in 2015), Kevin Dodd (33rd in 2016), Cornell Powell (fifth-round pick in 2021). Clemson has produced countless stars who spent the first two, three, four years in the program languishing with the scout team before bursting into the spotlight late in their college careers. If Swinney has done that for Beasley, why not Klubnik or Randall or Cole Turner?
“You’re not going to get Trevor Lawrence every year but that doesn’t mean this guy doesn’t turn out and get to the same place,” Swinney said.
And herein lies the paradox for Clemson. Swinney sees the potential in this team every year. He recruited these guys, he knows them, he’s seen flashes of success and believes that, given the right mixture of time and circumstance, they’ll put up numbers like Lawrence or Deshaun Watson or Tajh Boyd. It has happened before, so it will happen again.
Reality, however, offers a more tepid metric. Clemson has not had a Day 1 or 2 NFL draft pick on offense since Lawrence and Etienne were selected in 2021, and it’s hard to imagine a member of this season’s roster that would reverse that trend in the near future.
“Trevor Lawrence covers up a lot of flaws,” one Power 4 coach said of Clemson. “When you don’t have that, the flaws become obvious.”
Or, as another coach offered: “You can still be a good team but there aren’t a lot of great teams. Usually there are four or five teams that are way better than everybody else, and five or six that are imperfect but also better than everybody else. And then, 13 through, like, 40, is all the same thing.”
Swinney points often at the close losses — and, following the Georgia game, even the blowouts — and notes the handful of plays that might’ve set Clemson on a different course. But in the Lawrence era, most games didn’t come down to a handful of critical plays. Clemson was at the narrow end of the bell curve, one of those elite teams that was simply better than everyone else.
That’s what Clemson fans saw Saturday — a litmus test against one of the game’s best teams, where the Tigers didn’t measure up.
Instead, Clemson is firmly ensconced in the wide, nondescript middle ground. It is good enough to win against almost anyone, but it isn’t good enough to do so without playing nearly flawless football.
Still, Swinney looks at his team and sees the makings of a champion.
“I know there’s a lot of frustration and disappointment, and nobody feels that more than us,” he said. “But I think we’ve got a great season ahead.”
He may be right. Numerous coaches who spoke to ESPN suggested Clemson was still capable of making a run, with one saying unequivocally that the Tigers had the most talented roster in the ACC. The league’s champion is guaranteed a playoff bid this year, and the loss to Georgia does nothing to keep Clemson from winning the league.
As another ACC coach said, Swinney has won more games than anyone else in the league, even during a so-called downturn, so it would be foolish to suggest he needs to change his approach.
It’s a point Swinney reiterates often.
“I’m 54 years old,” Swinney said. “I’d have to be stupid to not believe based on what I’ve been through in my life — not football, my life. Where I’ve come from, how I’ve grown up, I’d have to be stupid to question my faith and not have belief. God didn’t put me here to fail. But I don’t look at it as a failure if you don’t win every game.”
So Swinney remains steadfast in his optimism. A glass-half-full coach sees the opportunity still ahead, sees the potential for greatness as a challenge worth pursuing. Swinney’s glass is filled to the brim.
“I know everybody will just point to the scoreboard, but it’s not always what you see, and as coaches, we know that,” Swinney said. “Lot of good stuff we can teach on and grow our team for a great season. It was a disappointing night but a great opportunity for us to build on it, and I really believe we can have a great season.”
Saturday’s loss may have been a harbinger of more problems ahead, but Swinney is hardwired to instead see it as an opportunity. It’s his only way forward.
And so the biggest question — for 2024 and beyond — isn’t whether Swinney will finally change his stripes and embrace the portal, but whether the players on Clemson’s current roster can live up to what their coach sees in them.
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — After Francisco Lindor began the season 0-for-11 and his slow starts of the past continued to haunt him, the Mets shortstop was asked what he needed to do to avoid another one.
“That’s a fantastic question,” Lindor said. “I’m sure everyone’s asking that and I’m sure everyone’s trying to figure it out, and I’m right there with everyone. I don’t know.”
Lindor soon got his answer — from Jeremy Barnes, one of the Mets’ two hitting coaches. The gist: Don’t chase hits, Barnes told him. Don’t chase anything. Stick to the plan and execute it. You’re one of the best in the world. Don’t make it more than it is. Trust the work and trust yourself.
“And he’s been awesome,” Barnes said. “He’s been awesome since then.”
Since that forgettable three-game series in Houston, then missing the Mets’ fourth game of the season for the birth of his third child, the Mets’ leadoff man is batting .349 with five home runs and a .972 OPS to help propel New York to the best record in the majors at 18-7. He has resembled the National League MVP runner-up from 2024 and is playing like one of the sport’s most dynamic stars — much earlier on the calendar than he usually does.
“The conversation helped me have a clearer mind on what I needed to do during the process,” Lindor said in Spanish. “Just try not to do much. Look for pitches I need to look for and pass the baton because we have a lot of batters who are horses and I don’t have to do much. It all comes in the preparation. I prepare, and once I get in the batter’s box, I’m not thinking. My athletic ability kicks in. That’s what happened.”
Even while his new superstar teammate, Juan Soto, has stumbled out of the gate, Lindor was otherworldly during the Mets’ recent 7-0 homestand at Citi Field, which ended with a walk-off win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday to clinch a three-game sweep of the division rivals. Lindor became the first player in the majors this season to reach base three times in four straight games.
He crushed a walk-off home run in last Friday’s win over the St. Louis Cardinals. He clubbed a leadoff home run Sunday and another Monday — plus a three-run shot in the seventh inning to give the Mets the insurance needed for a 5-4 win over Philadelphia.
He finished the seven-game winning streak 14-for-30 with four home runs, a 1.367 OPS and a splash of elite defense. In particular, Lindor is mashing fastballs this season. He’s batting .344 with four home runs, four doubles and a .607 slugging percentage against them — perhaps the result of hitting in front of Soto or just a small sample size from an elite, locked-in performer.
“He’s free in a way where it’s like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to be myself,'” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And that’s what he’s doing right now. And he’s getting results.”
Over his career, Lindor has made a habit of slow starts. In his first four seasons with the Mets, he batted a cumulative .218 over the first month of the season. Last year, he slashed .190/.265/.352 through May 18. He was booed at home. His wife, Katia, shared threatening messages from fans on social media. Owner Steve Cohen called for more positivity toward Lindor from the fan base. The Mets, in turn, began the season 22-33.
Good vibes were fundamental in the Mets’ subsequent turnaround, but good vibes require consistent winning. Lindor was foundational in that. It was Lindor who called the team meeting in late May that the Mets credited with putting them on track for a wildly captivating summer that ended in the fall just two wins shy of the World Series. And it was Lindor who became the best player in the National League not named Shohei Ohtani after his turbulent start, hitting .304 with a .928 OPS in 108 games after moving to the leadoff spot on May 18 — all while using a torpedo bat (sans the uproar).
It was also around that time that Lindor switched his walk-up song to the Temptations’ “My Girl,” a choice he dedicated to his wife and daughters. It has since become a Citi Field staple, with the crowd singing along to the tune before each of Lindor’s plate appearances — a stark difference from the reception he received a year ago.
“Last year we weren’t playing well,” Lindor said. “Now we have vibes. The music is louder. The chemistry from the guys is a lot better than what we had at the beginning of last year. The organization feels more stable. The culture is beautiful. It feels a lot better and that’s very important. It takes years of that growing.”
The Mets acquired Lindor before the 2021 season and immediately signed him to a 10-year, $341 million extension to serve as that culture setter and franchise cornerstone. He isn’t the only leader on a veteran roster with Soto, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo, but he is the front man, whose voice resonates because of his consistent performance.
Lindor’s 8.8 fWAR over the past calendar year is the highest in the National League, trailing only Aaron Judge‘s and Bobby Witt Jr.’s across all of baseball. His hot start this season could finally produce his first All-Star nod as a Met.
“He can impact the game in so many different ways,” Mets designated hitter Jesse Winker said. “He looks amazing at the plate. It’s really fun to watch. And, yeah, man, it’s like, day in and day out, he does something special so it’s cool to see.”
Lindor was special on Wednesday afternoon. His smooth backhanded play in the hole for the third out of the first inning saved some of starting pitcher David Peterson‘s bullets. He walked in the third, singled in the fifth and singled again in the seventh.
At the end, after Starling Marte, a veteran struggling in his first experience in a part-time role, delivered the game-winning single in the 10th, Lindor was the first person to sprint out to give the day’s hero a hug. He was everywhere. He’s keeping it simple. He’s clear-minded. He’s trusting himself. And the Mets are winning because of it.
“I think you come into the season and you’re trying to get your feet wet and you’re thinking of all these things,” Barnes said. “As opposed to just like, no, it’s just execute the plan. Execute the plan in April. Execute the plan in May. Execute the plan in June. Just execute the plan. And he’s one of the best in the world at being able to go out and execute that plan.
“I know that sounds super simplistic, but for him I really think it’s that.”
ST. LOUIS — Pavel Buchnevich scored three goals for his first career playoff hat trick and added an assist as the St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets 7-2 in Game 3 of their first-round series on Thursday night.
Cam Fowler had a goal and four assists, and Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Colton Parayko also scored, and Robert Thomas had three assists to help the Blues cut the Jets’ series lead to 2-1. Jordan Binnington made 17 saves.
David Gustafsson and Neal Pionk scored for the Jets, who won the first two games in Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck gave up six goals on 25 shots before being pulled midway through the third period. Eric Comrie stopped two of the three shots he faced.
Game 4 is in St. Louis on Sunday, with Game 5 in Winnipeg on Wednesday.
Buchnevich, who had just one goal in 22 previous postseason games, gave the Blues an early lead with two goals in the game’s opening minutes. He got it going just 48 seconds in by kicking the puck off his stick and into the net, and then he tipped Thomas’ shot for a power-play goal at 3:11.
Fowler, who assisted on the first two goals, made it 3-0 with 4:09 left in the opening period.
Buchnevich and Fowler became the first Blues teammates with three points in a period of a playoff game since Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger in Game 3 of the 1998 West quarterfinals against the Kings.
Binnington robbed Cole Perfetti of a power-play goal midway through the second that would have gotten Winnipeg back in it. Perfetti and the Jets thought the puck crossed the goal line in Binnington’s glove, but after a lengthy league-initiated review, the save stood.
Buchnevich’s third goal, at 5:24 of the third period, came less than a minute after Gustafsson gave the Jets some momentum with his first of the playoffs.
Kyrou had a power-play goal at 7:56 and Toropchenko scored with 9:28 left to make it 6-1 and chase Hellebuyck.
Pionk had a power-play goal for the Jets 2 1/2 minutes later, but Parayko got the Blues’ third goal with the man-advantage with 3:43 remaining to close the scoring.
We’re just about at the one-month mark of the 2025 MLB season — meaning, yes, it’s still too early to give much credence to the standings, but there are quite a few surprises nonetheless.
Just 2.5 games separate four teams — three of which have winning percentages above .600 — in the NL West, as the National League is shaping up to be packed with many powerful playoff-contending squads. And in the NL East, the current basement dweller, in a division that includes the Marlins and Nationals … is still the Braves?!
Meanwhile, in the American League, while the Yankees are playing as well as projected, a number of teams are hovering around .500, the Orioles are scuffling and the Twins have the second-worst record in the league.
What will the month of May bring for these clubs? Will they be able to carry — or change — their momentum?
Our expert panel has combined to rank every team based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts Jorge Castillo, Alden Gonzalez and Bradford Doolittle to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Record: 16-9
Previous ranking: 2
The Dodgers spent the offseason loading up their roster in hopes that they would become almost immune to the attrition that plagues teams throughout the season. Their pitching depth has been compromised nonetheless. Tony Gonsolin (back), Blake Snell (shoulder), Blake Treinen (forearm) and Michael Kopech (forearm) were added to the injured list before the end of the season’s first full month. And though none of their aforementioned injuries are considered serious — for now, at least — they offer yet another reminder of how delicate pitching depth can be. The Dodgers, meanwhile, have won in spite of that. Not at the rate many expected them to, perhaps, but enough to keep them among the sport’s elite. — Gonzalez
Record: 17-8
Previous ranking: 1
Any thought that the Padres’ deflating NL Division Series loss and the underwhelming offseason that followed it would weaken their resolve in 2025 has been grossly misplaced. They’ve stormed out of the gate with the second-best record in baseball, winning each of their first seven games and claiming five of their first six series. Nick Pivetta has been a revelation. Fernando Tatis Jr. is displaying a newfound patience that has made him look like the best player in the sport. The bullpen has been dominant. But what has stood out most is the energy of the Padres’ home environment and how their players continue to feed off it. They are 12-1 at Petco Park this season, a place that has seen their pitching staff post a 1.30 ERA. — Gonzalez
Record: 18-7
Previous ranking: 3
Don’t look now but the Mets are on fire — and the fans at Citi Field are getting very excited. The raucous atmosphere at the ballpark during the Mets’ extra-inning game against the Phillies on Wednesday came through even on the broadcast. That’s not surprising for a team that entered the season with high expectations and, so far, has more than met them. A starting rotation that seemed to lack star power when the season began has been one of the best units in the majors. The rotation’s average game score (56) ranks just behind MLB-leading Texas and its ERA (a sparkling 2.29) is easily the best in the majors. — Doolittle
Record: 15-10
Previous ranking: 7
If it wasn’t obvious last year, Aaron Judge is still proving he’s the best hitter on the planet — and it’s not particularly close. The two-time AL MVP has been Bondsian (should it just be Judgian at this point?) again to start the season. He leads the majors in batting average (.415), OBP (.513), slugging (.734) and OPS (1.247), and is tied for second in RBIs (26), to name a few categories.
Remember: Last season, he slashed .322/.458/.701 with 58 home runs — and won MVP — after a middling start through the beginning of May. In 150 games since May 3 last year, he’s batting .367 with 59 home runs, 152 RBIs and a 1.273 OPS. It has been an unreal stretch — going back, really, to his 62-homer season in 2022 — that we haven’t seen since Barry Bonds was splashing balls into McCovey Cove. — Castillo
Record: 16-9
Previous ranking: 4
When franchise icon Buster Posey assumed the role of president of baseball operations, he set out to build the Giants into a team that would win on the strength of pitching and defense. That, Posey said he believed, was key to thriving at a place like Oracle Park, which traditionally saps offense. But while that develops, the Giants have enjoyed a much-needed spark of offense from Jung Hoo Lee, who’s slashing .333/.388/.581 with 10 doubles. Lee’s rookie season of 2024 was plagued by a torn labrum. The Giants couldn’t truly catch a glimpse for how his elite bat-to-ball skills would translate within Oracle Park’s spacious outfield. They have now. — Gonzalez
Record: 14-10
Previous ranking: 8
When it comes to Arizona’s lineup, Corbin Carroll is the spark plug, Josh Naylor was brought in to provide punch in the middle of it and Geraldo Perdomo is one of its most crucial — yet unheralded — contributors. Their production was to be expected. But Pavin Smith‘s has been a welcomed sight. The 29-year-old left-handed hitter put together a really solid 60-game sample last season and has taken that to a new level in the first month, batting almost .400 while boasting the second-highest slugging percentage among those with at least 70 plate appearances. The D-backs never really replaced Joc Pederson‘s production at designated hitter with any outside acquisitions. Smith has shown they didn’t need to. — Gonzalez
Record: 16-10
Previous ranking: 6
On two occasions in five days, both teams scored at least 10 runs in a game at Wrigley Field. On Friday, the Cubs beat the D-backs 13-11 by scoring five runs in the seventh inning and six runs in the eighth. On Tuesday, they trailed the Dodgers by three runs heading into the bottom of the eighth and wound up beating them 11-10 in the 10th. It spoke to the early identity of this Cubs team. With Justin Steele out for the season and their bullpen a mess, the Cubs might have to slug their way to the top of the NL Central. And with the likes of Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch and Carson Kelly off to strong starts, they just might. — Gonzalez
Record: 13-12
Previous ranking: 5
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has been able to cobble together contention-worthy bullpens for the most part during his time with the Phillies, but his wizardry in that area has been tested early. The Phillies have gotten solid enough work from the trio of Jose Alvarado, Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks, but pretty much every other reliever has struggled. Of particular concern is veteran right-hander Jordan Romano, who inked a one-year, $8.5 million free agent deal with Philadelphia over the winter. Romano’s early-season ERA is an unsightly 13.50 and he has given up two or more runs in four of his 10 outings. — Doolittle
Record: 15-10
Previous ranking: 9
It took longer than projected, but right-hander Casey Mize and first baseman Spencer Torkelson are finally realizing their potential together as former No. 1 overall picks in consecutive years. The 28-year-old Mize, the top pick in 2017, has been the best starter in a rotation featuring Tarik Skubal with a 2.22 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in four starts despite just a 18.9% strikeout rate after posting a 4.49 ERA last season. Torkelson, meanwhile, is slashing .264/.373/.571 with seven home runs in 25 games. The 2018 No. 1 pick has already accumulated 1.1 fWAR (his career high is 1.5, which he set in 2023 when he slugged a career-high 31 homers). — Castillo
Record: 14-10
Previous ranking: 10
The Rangers’ solid early pitching has helped them establish an early lead in the AL West despite a negative run differential. They will be hard-pressed to remain on that perch if their aggressive offense doesn’t start producing when it’s not hitting home runs. Texas is in the bottom five of the majors in swinging at first pitches, walks and scoring runs, and only four teams have relied more on homers to score. The ambush approach has worked for their attack in the past, but so far this year, it has not. — Doolittle
Record: 14-12
Previous ranking: 9
The Rafael Devers predicament is no longer an issue. The third baseman-turned-DH reverted to his usual self since that historically dreadful start (0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts), batting .253 with 13 RBIs and seven doubles since April 2. And yet, strangely, the Red Sox have struggled to consistently produce high-scoring outputs. Boston has scored four or fewer runs in 13 of 21 games this month. It’s baffling for a lineup with that much firepower — especially considering four regulars have an OPS of at least .820. — Castillo
Record: 14-10
Previous ranking: 11
It’s shaping up to be another year of the so-called experts (Who, me?) overlooking the Guardians and another year of the Guardians stomping on low expectations. At least so far. They’re 14-10 despite a minus-five run differential and closer Emmanuel Clase‘s 7.84 ERA. Steven Kwan is batting .337. Kyle Manzardo has seven home runs. Jose Ramirez has an .824 OPS with five homers and four steals. Logan Allen has a 2.11 ERA through four starts. Clase’s struggles after a historically great season are alarming, but Hunter Gaddis (no runs over 9⅔ innings), Cade Smith (1.38 ERA), Jakob Junis (1.64 ERA), Joey Cantillo (1.35 ERA) and Tim Herrin (2.00 ERA) have sparkled out of the bullpen. The Guardians just keep humming along in a very winnable AL Central. — Castillo
Record: 13-12
Previous ranking: 19
Things looked quite bleak for the Brewers early. They lost their first four games, during which their staff gave up a combined 47 runs. It looked like the start of a long year in Milwaukee. Then the Brewers did what they’re best known for — win, regardless of who’s gone or who’s hurt. Since the first day of April, they have won 13 of 21 games to keep pace with the Cubs in the NL Central. During that stretch, their rotation has put together a 2.34 ERA, second only to the Mets for the major league lead — even though seven starting pitchers currently make up Milwaukee’s IL. — Gonzalez
Record: 13-11
Previous ranking: 21
The Astros appear to have a new ace in Hunter Brown, who has been one of baseball’s best pitchers during the opening month. Brown has strung together three straight scoreless outings, lowering his season ERA to 1.16. The early-season star of Brown’s arsenal has been a four-seamer that has picked up 1.3 mph in average velocity over last season, per Statcast. Opponents are 2-for-35 against Brown’s heater in 2025 and the assigned run value of the four-seamer (plus-7) puts it in a tie with the slider of Miami’s Max Meyer as the most valuable pitch in all of baseball so far. — Doolittle
Record: 10-14
Previous ranking: 18
The Braves have more or less bounced back from their winless season-opening trip, a skid that dropped them from ESPN’s preseason No. 2 team to the middle of the pack. Yet all is not well in Cobb County. Good news: Spencer Strider made a triumphant return to the majors last week. Bad news: He made a frustrating return to the IL not long after. Luckily, his hamstring strain was classified as Grade 1 and if all goes well, his IL stint won’t be a long one. Still, his one-start return is apropos for an elite team that has struggled to build momentum. — Doolittle
Record: 13-11
Previous ranking: 15
The disconnect between the home and road versions of Seattle’s offense is reaching absurd levels. At T-Mobile Park, the Mariners remain punchless, hitting .226 as a team while scoring at a rate (3.6 runs) better than only three other teams in their respective home venues. On the road, they are the punchers, hitting .267 with a top five road scoring average in baseball.
An avatar in that is third baseman Dylan Moore, fresh off winning AL Player of the Week honors, boosted by the fact that the M’s are on a road trip. For the season, Moore is hitting .200/.333/.350 in Seattle with one homer. On the road, he’s at .311/.340/.600 with four homers. Maybe the Mariners’ hitters could petition to play all their games on the road? — Doolittle
Record: 12-13
Previous ranking: 13
The Blue Jays have enjoyed a solid first month, which registers as a success after last year’s last-place debacle. But the first month of the season will be remembered for their decision to give Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a $500-million contract. Whether that investment pans out will make or break the franchise’s future. Stringing together a few solid months to remain within striking distance at the trade deadline would be a good start. — Castillo
Record: 12-13
Previous ranking: 17
The Reds’ offense has mostly underperformed — minus a 24-run onslaught against the Orioles on Easter Sunday — but their pitching has been mostly solid. And the most encouraging signs have come from their two young frontline starters, Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo, who have clearly taken big steps forward. The two have combined for a 2.56 ERA through their first 10 starts. Greene, whose fastball is averaging 99 mph, has struck out 35 batters and issued only six walks in 30⅔ innings. Andrew Abbott, meanwhile, was activated off the IL around mid-April and has given up only two runs in 11 innings. — Gonzalez
Record: 10-14
Previous ranking: 12
For all the work done to make Steinbrenner Field feel like home, the fact is that the Rays are still without one. That was obvious over the weekend when the Yankees traveled to Tampa to take three of four games as the visiting team in their spring training ballpark. The Rays have played all but five games at their temporary residence, going 9-10 after having their schedule changed to frontload home games to avoid the summer heat and rain. They’ll need to be better than that to make noise in the AL East. — Castillo
Record: 9-14
Previous ranking: 20
The Orioles’ chief concern entering the season was their starting pitching, and it’s proved to be a very real problem — one without an obvious solution. They have the highest starters’ ERA in baseball by nearly a half-run. Charlie Morton, their $15 million free agent addition, has a league-worst 10.89 ERA in 20⅔ innings through five starts. Dean Kremer has a 6.84 ERA after yielding eight extra-base hits to the Nationals on Tuesday. Cade Povich has a 6.38 ERA. Zach Eflin, their Opening Day starter, was put on the IL because of a lat strain after three starts. Grayson Rodriguez and Albert Suarez began the season on the IL because of shoulder injuries and their returns aren’t imminent. This is a weakness that could bury Baltimore in the standings before long. — Castillo
Record: 10-14
Previous ranking: 16
Kansas City ranks last in baseball in runs scored per game, averaging fewer than three. Bobby Witt Jr. is raking again and Maikel Garcia has been a pleasant surprise, but other than that, it has been ugly. Vinnie Pasquantino has a .186/.260/.314 slash line. Salvador Perez also has struggled with a .185 batting average and .528 OPS. This has all amplified the fan base’s cries for the club to call up top prospect Jac Caglianone as soon as possible.
Caglianone was the team’s first-round pick at No. 6 last year. He possesses perhaps the best raw power across the minors, but the first baseman has played only 16 games above Double-A. As an elite two-way player in college, he could be capable of playing the outfield, but he has played only first base as a pro, so there isn’t an obvious positional fit. But his bat could force its way to Kansas City soon enough. — Castillo
Record: 10-15
Previous ranking: 23
The Cardinals turned some heads with a season-opening sweep of the Twins, but now they’re right about where we expected — five games below .500 in the wake of a brutal 1-6 trip and battling the typical inconsistency of a mediocre-to-bad team. Brendan Donovan has been red hot; the likes of Nolan Arenado, Lars Nootbaar and Victor Scott II have provided encouraging signs; and key members of their staff, most notably Sonny Gray and Steven Matz, have pitched well. But there has been at least as much bad to counteract the good.
Case in point: Miles Mikolas took the mound with a 7.64 ERA on Wednesday afternoon and proceeded to throw six scoreless innings against the Braves. The Cardinals lost anyway. They scored only once. — Gonzalez
Record: 11-12
Previous ranking: 22
After a hot — and surprising — start, the Angels have started to level off, dropping back to .500 with a run differential well below break even. The bullpen has been a problem area despite a near-perfect start to the season from veteran closer Kenley Jansen. One glimmer of hope from that group is 27-year-old right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn, who, despite logging only 6⅔ innings this season, ranks fourth on the Halos with 14 strikeouts. He’s whiffing batters at a rate of 18.9 per nine innings — or more than two per frame. He also has given up a couple of homers, but the raw talent certainly seems to be there for Zeferjahn to work a high-leverage role. — Doolittle
Record: 11-13
Previous ranking: 26
For all the early talk about Sutter Health Park being a new hitter’s paradise in MLB, the Athletics’ immediate problem is that their opponents have done a much better job of playing to its conditions. The A’s lost eight of their first 10 home games in Sacramento, and while the ugly home/road splits of the pitching staff might be expected, the much bigger surprise is that their hitters have also been better on the road. The difference has primarily been homers: 13 long balls in 11 games at home; 22 in 13 games on the road. — Doolittle
Record: 11-13
Previous ranking: 25
The Marlins have held their own in the win column over the first month, though they hold one of the NL’s worst run differentials. Still, as long as Miami is hovering around .500, it’s probably not fair to turn the focus to what so many see as the inevitability of a Sandy Alcantara trade. Nevertheless, whether you’re tracking Alcantara for trade value purposes or you’re holding out hope that the Marlins can be a surprise contender, the better he pitches, the better off you’ll be. Alas, Alcantara is not yet back to his pre-injury, Cy Young form. A quality start against Cincinnati on Wednesday lowered his ERA to 6.56 but his K/9 (6.56, matching the ERA) and BB/9 (4.63) are both well off his presurgery standard. — Doolittle
Record: 9-15
Previous ranking: 24
The Twins couldn’t overcome injuries in 2024, collapsing down the stretch to fall out of postseason contention, and it looks as if they won’t be able to overcome injuries in 2025 either. Royce Lewis, the talented but oft-injured infielder, sustained a hamstring injury during spring training and hasn’t played in a game yet. Right-hander Pablo Lopez, the club’s Opening Day starter, landed on the IL because of his own hamstring injury after three starts. An oblique strain has kept utilityman Willi Castro, an All-Star last season, off the field since April 16. The Twins, meanwhile, have sunk to fourth place in the competitive AL Central, ahead of only the White Sox. — Castillo
Record: 11-13
Previous ranking: 27
Is it too soon to be on record watch? Probably, but the Nationals have lots of reasons to be excited about MacKenzie Gore, who is on pace to make a run at 300 strikeouts this season. He already has produced a pair of 13-strikeout starts and was leading the NL in whiffs after his last start against Colorado. The Nationals’ single-season mark is 300 on the nose, established by Max Scherzer in 2018. The champ from the Expos portion of the franchise’s history is Pedro Martinez, who struck out 305 in 1997. It’s heady company for Gore, long touted as an elite prospect who is on the verge of establishing himself as an elite big league pitcher. — Doolittle
Record: 10-15
Previous ranking: 28
The Pirates’ first month has been marked by controversy. The opening homestand was tainted by the removal of Roberto Clemente signage in the right-field portion of PNC Park. Then there were the personalized fan bricks that were extracted from outside the ballpark without an initial explanation. Then came this past Saturday — a day when fans lined the Clemente Bridge to receive a Paul Skenes bobblehead, then crammed into the ballpark and filled the air with “sell the team” chants for Pirates’ frugal owner Bob Nutting. Skenes, who will start at Dodger Stadium on Friday, continues to look dominant, posting a 2.87 ERA through his first five starts. But everything around him continues to be a mess. — Gonzalez
Record: 5-19
Previous ranking: 29
The White Sox are losing far more than they’re winning. That’s expected and won’t alter their long-term plans. But Luis Robert Jr. not being good could have a significant impact. Ideally, the veteran center fielder would have dashed to a fast start and had contenders throwing trade offers with top-end prospects at the White Sox to sort through before the trade deadline. But Robert is slashing .145/.267/.250 with 27 strikeouts in 22 games. That won’t attract the kind of haul the White Sox seek as they continue their painfully thorough rebuild. — Castillo
Record: 4-18
Previous ranking: 30
It was a mere three weeks into the season when the Rockies determined that a drastic change was necessary. On the afternoon of April 17, they announced the firing of hitting coach Hensley Meulens and replaced him with longtime manager Clint Hurdle, who had taken on an advisory role with the organization. The Rockies were in the midst of a six-game losing streak then, during which they had accumulated only 12 runs — seven of which had come the night before. Things have not gotten much better since. Hurdle, of course, is no wizard. The Rockies hold the third-lowest OPS in the majors and its worst record, all while playing in the sport’s most difficult division. It will be another long season in Colorado. — Gonzalez
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