How little old Vanderbilt is making noise in the big, bad SEC
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Chris Low
NASHVILLE — It’s a memory that flashed through Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea’s mind more than once when the program was in the throes of a 26-game SEC losing streak in 2022, his second season as coach.
The memory presented itself again a year ago as Lea guided Vanderbilt to its first winning season since 2013, its first-ever win over a No. 1 team and a bowl victory over Georgia Tech, all culminating with Lea being named SEC Coach of the Year by his peers.
“I remember watching [assistant coach] Robbie Caldwell and my other coaches line the practice field and mow the grass when I played here,” said Lea, a fullback on head coach Bobby Johnson’s first teams at Vanderbilt from 2002-04. “They did everything.”
Contrast that to the scene last October after the Commodores’ signature win of the season, a 40-35 victory over top-ranked Alabama. Following Vanderbilt’s first win over the Crimson Tide in 40 years, fans ripped down the goalposts, paraded them through Nashville and dumped them into the Cumberland River.
The surreality of it all was matched by the resolve of Lea and his players, and their insistence that, in the words of quarterback Diego Pavia, “the rest of the world might have been shocked, but we weren’t.”
“We’re in a business of messaging, and a lot of what I remember as a player is the disconnect from the university and the athletic department and the team, and especially the lack of resources,” Lea said.
It’s a situation Lea inherited when he returned to his alma mater as coach in December 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, as did his boss, Candice Storey Lee, when she was hired a year earlier as the SEC’s first Black female athletic director.
Together, they’re trying to change the narrative and not operate, as Lee jokes, like the little engine that could.
“It was the idea that we were going to unhook from the past and take steps that build toward the future that we all believe we’re capable of here,” said Lee, who has three degrees from Vanderbilt and was on campus the same time as Lea as a captain on the 2002 women’s basketball team that won the SEC tournament.
“Sometimes perception does not match reality, but the reality is that there was a narrative that Vanderbilt was not going to do the things that were necessary to experience consistent success. So from the very beginning, we had to set out to show that we were serious about wanting to compete and compete at the highest level, and we are still doing that. That process isn’t complete.”
Lea’s breakthrough 2024 season in his fourth year back on West End sent perhaps the clearest signal yet that the process is yielding results — and not just in football.
For the first time, Vanderbilt’s football team, men’s and women’s basketball teams and baseball team have all been nationally ranked during the same academic year.
But no climb has been steeper than the one faced by the football program, which was plummeting toward rock bottom when Lea arrived and only got worse during his second season, when the Commodores’ SEC losing streak reached 26 games. Lea wasn’t around for all those losses, but the walls were nonetheless closing in even when the Commodores salvaged a 5-7 record.
Then came 2023, when Vanderbilt dipped to 2-10 (0-8 in the SEC), and the heat ratcheted up on Lea. The Commodores lost all eight of their SEC games by two touchdowns or more.
“Hey, there were days where I was face down on the floor here, and it’s just, ‘Get yourself up, dust yourself off and trust in your resilience to do the next right thing the right way,'” Lea said. “For me, once I kind of realized that I may get my ass kicked a few times, nothing was going to knock me off from leading this program day in, day out, and making the changes that unlock the potential for success.”
Lea wasn’t the only one catching heat from the fans, media and some boosters. So was his former classmate Lee, who hired him. Making matters worse for Lee was that the men’s basketball team was struggling under Jerry Stackhouse and went 4-14 in SEC play during the 2023-24 season. Lee fired Stackhouse after the season and replaced him with Mark Byington, who took a team picked to finish last in the SEC to the NCAA tournament.
“One of the things that I know from going through knee replacement surgery recently is that healing and building is not a linear process,” Lee said. “Some days, it’s really good, and then something happens and I wake up and my knee is swollen. I don’t really understand what happened, but you still have to push forward and know there is something beautiful on the other side.
“You just wish it was easy, but it’s not.”
VANDERBILT’S CAMPUS, A short walk to the heart of downtown Nashville, one of America’s fastest growing cities, is dotted with signs that read “Dare to Grow.” Construction sites, cranes and hard hats are everywhere. Right outside Lea’s office window in the McGugin Center, the transformation of FirstBank Stadium continues with the South End Zone project, featuring premium seating and other amenities. It’s part of the Vandy United $300 million campaign, announced in 2021, to rebuild the school’s athletics facilities.
“We reached that $300 million goal pretty quickly, and we didn’t stop,” Lee said. “We have aspirations beyond that number, so we’re going to keep dreaming. We’re going to keep raising the money, we’re going to keep investing.”
The reality is that Vanderbilt can’t stop if it’s going to have any chance to compete with the football juggernauts in the SEC, especially in the current NIL world. But Lee is insistent that Vanderbilt is “beautifully positioned to maximize whatever model is in front of us” when the House settlement is approved and revenue sharing is in place. The current proposal allows for athletic departments to directly pay athletes with a pool up to $20.5 million in Year 1.
On the facilities front, even with the long overdue facelift to the stadium, the McGugin Center is noticeably outdated with a weight room, team meeting room and offices that pale in comparison to those at other SEC schools. Lea is hopeful a new football operations building comes sooner rather than later but said he doesn’t need a complex loaded with bells and whistles.
Lea looks at the new Huber Center, Vanderbilt’s four-story, state-of-the-art basketball practice facility, and sees what’s possible.
“It’s less important to me and for this program to have things like DJ booths and whatever else,” Lea said. “But I want people to walk into our building and recognize that football is really important here.
“What we’ve done really well here is that our people are the best, and if we can combine that with competitive spaces that also optimize our efficiency, we’re on our way to being where we need to be.”
Some of the people Lea, 43, is talking about are hires that were made primarily during last offseason, when he overhauled just about everything that touched his program. In the last year-plus, he has brought in veteran football people such as senior offensive adviser Jerry Kill, senior defensive analyst Bob Shoop, offensive coordinator Tim Beck and head strength coach Robert Stiner, among others. Kill and Beck are both former head coaches. Stiner and Lea worked together for three seasons at Notre Dame, and Shoop is a former Broyles Award finalist with more than 35 years of coaching experience. He was defensive coordinator under James Franklin for Vanderbilt teams that won nine games in 2012 and 2013.
Offensive line coach Chris Klenakis, entering his second season at Vanderbilt, has seen 24 of his former linemen reach the NFL over a 30-plus year career. He’s also been an offensive coordinator and worked with Colin Kaepernick at Nevada and Lamar Jackson at Louisville.
Lea hasn’t been hesitant to evolve, either. He took over the duties as defensive playcaller last season after the Commodores finished 129th nationally in scoring defense (36.2 points per game) and 131st in total defense (454.9 yards per game) in 2023. Lea said former NFL safety and assistant coach Steve Gregory, in his second season at Vanderbilt, will call defensive plays in 2025.
“I think it’s the best coaching staff in the country,” Pavia said. “Guys are going to want to come here because they see what these coaches get out of players. They see how they develop you. I know what Coach Kill did for me in bringing me here and what that opened up for me.”
PAVIA, WHO EMERGED as one of the most electric players in the country last season after transferring from New Mexico State, played as big a role as anyone in Vanderbilt’s revival. He was the only quarterback in the SEC to pass for more than 2,200 yards and rush for more than 800, accounting for 28 touchdowns, and inside the locker room, he was the heartbeat of a team that reveled in doing what people said couldn’t be done at “little old Vandy.”
Last year’s 7-6 season easily could have been a nine-win campaign. Four of the Commodores’ six losses were by a touchdown or less, including a 30-27 double overtime defeat at Missouri and a 27-24 home loss to Texas in which the Longhorns had to recover an onside kick to seal the game.
And the best part for the Commodores? They return many of the key players from last season, which saw Vanderbilt reach five wins before the end of October, only to lose three of its last four games in the regular season when Pavia wasn’t completely healthy.
“We had one guy transfer out that played for us last year,” said senior linebacker Langston Patterson, who was Lea’s first verbal commitment and went to high school in Nashville at Christ Christian Academy. “It’s about culture. The reason some of those past Vandy teams didn’t sustain success is because they had some great players, but no culture. We have great players on top of great culture, and that creates a great team. But you still have to go do it. Coach Lea touches on it all the time. We’re as close to 2-10 as we are 10-2. We’ve got to keep pushing forward.
“Really, to us, last year was mediocre. We fell apart the last three games. Everyone else thinks we had a great year, but to us, we could have been so much better.”
Lea’s idea of culture transcends the football field. He said the program has had six straight semesters with a collective 3.0 GPA or better in the classroom.
“That’s not because we’re recruiting valedictorians,” Lea said. “It’s because we’re recruiting guys that care about how they’re developing as people too, and they allow us to put boundaries in place for them to reach their highest level.”
As Vanderbilt tries to build on its momentum from a year ago, one thing is certain. The Commodores won’t sneak up on anybody, not after wins over Alabama and Auburn and narrow misses against LSU, Missouri and Texas.
“Nothing changes with us,” Pavia said. “We came here to win games. Coach Lea said it, that we want to have the best program in the SEC. For a lot of guys on this team, it’s our last chance, sort of our last dance, to really flip this program.”
Vanderbilt’s success a year ago came largely thanks to a ball-control offense, shortening the game, winning the turnover battle, stopping the run (especially on early downs) and playing lights-out on special teams.
Even with the recent upgrade in player personnel, it’s always going to be difficult for Vanderbilt to “out-Alabama” Alabama and “out-Georgia” Georgia in terms of sheer talent and depth.
“I know Coach Lea doesn’t believe that we can be like every other SEC team philosophically and find ways to break through to the top,” said offensive coordinator Beck, who also has been a defensive coordinator and spent the first 32 years of his coaching career at Division II powerhouse Pittsburg State. “You have to be a little bit different, and we were a little bit unique. I’m not one of these young offensive coordinators that’s just trying to score as many points as we can every game.
“You try to find ways to reduce the margins a little bit, so you’ve got to play complementary football. We still want to be fun and exciting, which I feel like we are, but we’re not going to be in a huge hurry. We led the nation in forced turnovers last year, which was huge for us because the matchups that we had player to player are still not there yet. We’ve got to be smart about what we do on both sides of the ball.”
Vanderbilt beat Auburn 17-7 last season despite finishing with just 227 total yards. But the Commodores pinned the Tigers inside their own 5-yard line twice, started two of their drives in Auburn territory, committed just three penalties and didn’t turn the ball over once.
“They manage the game as well as anybody,” Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said. “They’re smart. They play to their strengths, and they don’t give you anything.”
As stunning as Vanderbilt’s win over Alabama was to the college football world, Tide coach Kalen DeBoer wasn’t surprised by what he saw this season from Lea and the way he reinvigorated the program.
“I’ve known Clark going back to when he was at South Dakota State, and it wasn’t like we were close friends or anything, but I followed the success he’s had as a coordinator and knew that he was really good,” said DeBoer, who started his coaching career at Sioux Falls. “I felt like watching the film before our game that you could see the defense and the team philosophy revolving around making the game as short as possible, and he did a good job in the critical moments of making some calls.
“I knew going in that they were a different team than what they had been in the past. There was no doubt, and I think everyone who played them would tell you the same thing.”
Now comes the hard part for Lea and Vanderbilt: Doing it all over again.
The only time in the past 50 years that Vanderbilt has put together back-to-back winning seasons was in 2012 and 2013 under Franklin.
Lea, who grew up in Nashville, knows the doubters persist and that history suggests sustaining football success at Vanderbilt is more fantasy than reality. Down deep, he’s energized by that doubt.
“I think we as a program, me in particular, can’t help but operate with a chip on your shoulder, and you can’t help but bathe in the doubt that surrounds you,” Lea said. “We love that, and we don’t recruit beyond that, meaning I don’t want people here that are entitled. I don’t want people here that don’t see the work that has to be done.”
Pavia’s take is a bit more on the coarse side, in typical Pavia fashion.
“I mean, [Lea] comes from ground zero,” Pavia said. “A lot of people weren’t believing in him, people wanting him fired a year ago, and now all of a sudden, he’s the biggest star in Nashville. I think that still fuels him, that people gave up on him, didn’t believe in him on his journey or believe in us.
“So it’s like, ‘F— you. Watch us do it.'”
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Joel Quenneville returned to hockey Thursday with contrition. He acknowledged mistakes and said he accepted full responsibility for his role in the Chicago Blackhawks sexual assault scandal.
The second-winningest coach in NHL history said he is a changed man after nearly four years away from the game. As he took over behind the bench of the Anaheim Ducks, he vowed to continue to educate himself about abuse, to expand his work with victims, and to create an unimpeachably safe workplace with his new team.
Quenneville also realizes that’s not nearly enough to satisfy a significant segment of hockey fans that believes his acknowledged inaction during the Blackhawks scandal should have ended his career forever.
“I fully understand and accept those who question my return to the league,” Quenneville said. “I know words aren’t enough. I will demonstrate (by) my actions that I am a man of character.”
Ducks owner Henry Samueli and general manager Pat Verbeek strongly backed the 66-year-old Quenneville when they introduced him as the coach of a franchise stuck in a seven-year playoff drought and thirsting for the success Quenneville has usually orchestrated.
He won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks and took 20 teams to the playoffs during a quarter-century with four NHL clubs, becoming the most consistent winner of his era.
While Quenneville’s on-ice record was remarkable, his off-ice behavior in 2010 eventually led to his resignation from the Florida Panthers in October 2021 and a lengthy banishment from the league — a ban that many feel should be permanent.
“I own my mistakes,” Quenneville said, occasionally pausing in his delivery of a written statement. “While I believed wholeheartedly the issue was handled by management, I take full responsibility for not following up and asking more questions. That’s entirely on me. Over nearly four years, I’ve taken time to reflect, to listen to experts and advocates, and educate myself on the realities of abuse, trauma and how to be a better leader. I hope others can learn from my inaction.”
Quenneville and Blackhawks executives Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac were banned from the NHL for nearly three years after an independent investigation concluded the team mishandled allegations raised by former player Kyle Beach against video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s first Stanley Cup run. The trio was reinstated last July, and Bowman became the Edmonton Oilers‘ general manager three weeks later.
After an investigation and vetting process that lasted several days and included communication with Beach and other sexual assault victims and advocacy groups, the Ducks’ owners ultimately supported the decision made by Verbeek, Quenneville’s teammate in New Jersey and Hartford more than three decades ago.
Samueli and his wife, Susan, and their daughter, Jillian, all spoke at length with Quenneville. Henry Samueli said he is “absolutely convinced Joel is a really good person.”
“I think the four years that Joel spent out of hockey has really given him an opportunity to learn a lot,” Samueli said. “In my mind, he will be a model coach for dealing with situations like this. I think he will be a mentor to other coaches in the league who can come to him and talk to him. ‘How do you handle situations like that? What do you do?’ And they’ll trust him, because he’s old-school who’s changed. The fact that he comes from an old-school hockey culture, but now has transitioned and learned what it means to operate in 2025, not 1980 or whatever, I think that will make a big difference in how he operates.”
Quenneville said he understands just how badly his reputation and career were damaged by his role in the Blackhawks’ handling of the accusations against Aldrich. He remained out of hockey for another season after his ban ended, but became increasingly eager to continue his career last winter while watching games every night and staying closely informed on the league.
“I thought I had some work to do in growing as a person,” Quenneville said. “As far as doing work along the way, I felt I had progressed to an area where the education I had put me in a position where I know I can share some of these lessons and these experiences as well.”
Many people with a firsthand knowledge of Quenneville’s attempts to change himself supported his desire to return. Quenneville said he has spoken to Beach several times recently, including Thursday morning.
He has formed learning friendships with advocates including Chris Jensen, the former University of Wisconsin player and Maple Leafs draft pick who was abused by a coach as a teenager.
“I think most of the athletes that have played for him would argue that this guy has helped me be better,” Jensen said. “He brings all that expertise, and now he’s got additional perspective about how to be available to help people deal with emotional injury. I think he’s in a much better position to be successful.”
The Ducks’ charitable foundation is already involved in charitable and philanthropic work supporting survivors of sexual abuse, and Samueli expects Quenneville to support those efforts.
“I’m very confident that Joel will be a star when it comes to working with those organizations,” Samueli said.
Before his ban, Quenneville spent parts of 25 NHL seasons behind the benches of St. Louis, Colorado, Chicago and Florida, most notably leading the Blackhawks to championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015. His 969 career victories are the second-most in NHL history, trailing only Scotty Bowman’s 1,244.
Quenneville takes over a team with the NHL’s third-longest active playoff drought. Anaheim finished sixth in the Pacific Division this season at 35-37-10 after being in the bottom two for the previous four consecutive years.
He replaces Greg Cronin, who was surprisingly fired by Verbeek after leading the Ducks to a 21-point improvement in his second season.
Quenneville inherits an Anaheim team with an ample stock of young talent, and he was immediately impressed by their roster when he saw it in person during Anaheim’s road trip to Tampa Bay last January. He also coached Ducks captain Radko Gudas and forward Frank Vatrano in Florida.
“One of the best coaches I’ve ever had, and I always tell people that,” said Vatrano, who attended Quenneville’s introductory news conference. “As a person, he’s a great person, too. That’s what always draws me to Q. I’m a huge advocate for him, and I’m glad he’s here.”
For Mike Sullivan, the latest coach of the New York Rangers, there will be many priorities in taking over a team that missed the playoffs a season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy.
Foremost will be communication.
“I have spoken to every player on the roster over the last three days,” Sullivan said Thursday at his introductory news conference. “I think there is a fair amount of leadership in that room. There’s a lot of character in that room.”
Sullivan, the 38th coach in franchise history and fifth since 2018, agreed to lead the Rangers on May 2 after parting ways with Pittsburgh, with whom he won the Stanley Cup twice.
He replaces Peter Laviolette, who was fired April 19 after the Rangers slid 29 points to miss the postseason despite their raft of talent. It will be up to Sullivan to resuscitate a power play that fell from the league’s top echelon to 28th overall in 2024-25 and help the defense improve in front of elite goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who is coming off his worst NHL season.
Sullivan spent four seasons as a Rangers assistant under then-coach John Tortorella from 2009 to 2013. He also coached current Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury during that time. They also worked together through USA Hockey at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and will be part of the U.S. contingent for the 2026 Milan Olympics.
Sullivan will have top scorers Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox on his side after years guiding Penguins stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang in Pittsburgh, where he won the Cup in 2016 and 2017.
“I’ve grown so much respect over the years for the talent that the Rangers have,” said Sullivan, who lost a seven-game first-round playoff series to the Rangers in 2022. “I look forward to the opportunity to get to know these guys on a more personal level. I look forward to the opportunity to work with them, both on the ice and off the ice, to try to become the most competitive team that we can become.”
Also pressing for the 57-year-old Sullivan — who was drafted by the Rangers in 1987 and later played 709 NHL games for four other franchises — is how he will handle younger Rangers such as 22-year-old Brennan Othmann and 20-year-old Gabe Perreault, a first-round pick in 2023 who joined the team briefly at the end of last season.
“Part of coaching or the art of coaching, I guess, is trying to figure out what that daily recipe is that’s best for the player,” Sullivan said. “Sometimes it’s time in the American League as a young player, sometimes it’s time in the National League depending on the types of minutes that that player can play. What I will tell you is that I think it’s important that every player earns their opportunities, that no one’s entitled to an opportunity.”
Sullivan was joined Thursday by Drury, who was awarded a contract extension last month.
Drury’s previous two coaching hires — Laviolette and Gerard Gallant — each lasted two seasons. The 48-year-old executive expressed enthusiasm for the addition of Sullivan, the only U.S.-born coach with multiple Stanley Cup wins.
“The second Mike was available, we quickly and aggressively pursued him,” Drury said. “We are certainly thrilled that pursuit led us to this moment today. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
The battle between National League powerhouses for the No. 1 spot continues in Week 6.
The Dodgers, Mets and Padres are still duking it out for the title of best team in baseball, with Los Angeles retaking the top spot from New York on our list. The top five is rounded out by a new team, as well, with the Tigers breaking in at the No. 5 spot.
Detroit is the top American League team this week, with the Yankees coming in at No. 7, the Mariners cracking the top 10 and the Royals, the week’s biggest risers, at No. 11.
What else has changed in the span of one week?
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 David Schoenfield, Jorge Castillo and Bradford Doolittle to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Record: 25-12
Previous ranking: 2
The Dodgers are suddenly scrambling in the outfield. Teoscar Hernandez was tied for the MLB lead in RBIs when he landed on the injured list because of a groin strain that manager Dave Roberts said would keep Hernandez out for “weeks.” James Outman replaced Hernandez on the roster and started in center field Tuesday with Andy Pages sliding over to right. Meanwhile, Michael Conforto continues to struggle. With Tommy Edman also out, Roberts says he sees a lot of platooning in the short term. At least Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman are both red-hot to carry the offense. — Schoenfield
Record: 24-14
Previous ranking: 1
When the Mets signed ex-Yankee Clay Holmes this past winter, it was a mild surprise. The bigger surprise was that he was inked to join the rotation. Holmes entered the 2025 season with four career starts, all during his debut season for Pittsburgh in 2018 — whereas he has played a relief role in 307 games over eight MLB seasons. Seven starts into his Mets career, Holmes looks like a bona fide rotation fixture. He’s 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA and 2.18 FIP. His strikeout and walk ratios are matches for what he posted last season as a reliever, and he has yet to give up a homer to 156 batters faced. — Doolittle
Record: 23-13
Previous ranking: 4
Michael King and Nick Pivetta continue to team for one of the best duos in the majors, going a combined 9-2 with a 2.12 ERA. King returned to the Bronx — where he played for the Yankees for four seasons — and pitched another gem Tuesday, giving up three hits and two runs in six innings (although the Padres’ bullpen had a rare meltdown and proceeded to give up 10 runs in the seventh inning). After a poor outing on Opening Day, King has a 1.71 ERA over his past seven starts. — Schoenfield
Record: 22-16
Previous ranking: 5
The Cubs’ offense has been a force, but the team is facing adversity among its starting pitchers. First, Justin Steele needed Tommy John surgery and was lost for the season. Then Javier Assad, out because of an oblique strain to begin the season, sustained another oblique strain during a rehab start and was shut down. Finally, on Monday, Shota Imanaga was put on the IL because of a strained hamstring. The Cubs haven’t provided a timetable for Imanaga’s return. It’ll be on Matthew Boyd (2.75 ERA), Colin Rea (2.43 ERA) and Jameson Taillon (3.86 ERA) to hold down the rotation for now. — Castillo
Record: 23-13
Previous ranking: 7
The Tigers have flourished in a number of ways during the season’s opening weeks but one thing that really stands out is the degree to which they have dominated at Comerica Park. They’ve started 13-3 at home with a net per-game differential of plus-2.81 runs, the best in baseball. To put it another way, that differential translates to an .819 expected winning percentage, or 133 wins over 162 games. Not unrelated: Detroit has also moved into the early lead in the chase for the AL’s top postseason seed, which of course carries with it home-field advantage in October. — Doolittle
Record: 24-14
Previous ranking: 6
Logan Webb just keeps rolling along as one of the most underrated starters in MLB. He led the majors in innings pitched in 2023, ranked second in 2024 and again ranks among the league leaders this season. He has given up only one home run in 48⅓ innings and is producing a career-high strikeout rate (up eight percentage points from last season). He has used his sweeper more this year, but his changeup has been much more effective than it was in 2024, perhaps because he’s throwing it less often. — Schoenfield
Record: 21-16
Previous ranking: 3
Max Fried has been exceptional as a Yankee, posting a 1.05 ERA through eight starts. Carlos Rodón has rebounded from a choppy early stretch and sports a 2.96 ERA in eight outings. Outside of those two, the Yankees’ rotation is iffy at best without Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil. Clarke Schmidt recorded his best start of the season Tuesday against the Padres after dealing with injuries. Will Warren has a 5.65 ERA. Carlos Carrasco was designated for assignment. Marcus Stroman is out indefinitely. While Gil is progressing in his recovery from a lat strain, the Yankees need Fried and Rodón to continue registering quality starts. — Castillo
Record: 21-15
Previous ranking: 8
Bryce Harper‘s homer during the Phillies’ wild 11-9 loss to Arizona on Tuesday ended a 13-game long-ball drought. That’s far from Harper’s longest homerless streak — he went 38 games without one in 2023 — but it still highlighted an uneven start for Philly’s marquee player. Harper has started every game thus far for manager Rob Thomson. Does he need a rest? Should the Phils be worried? Probably not. Harper’s BABIP has cratered but that’s one indicator that tends to regress to career norms. His power numbers are down but, per Statcast, his bat speed is actually up from 2024. He’ll be fine. — Doolittle
Record: 22-14
Previous ranking: 11
And finally Cal Raleigh rested … almost. Raleigh had started the first 34 games of the season, either at catcher or DH. His two-homer, five-RBI game Saturday against the Rangers helped power the Mariners to their eighth consecutive series victory. Against the Athletics on Tuesday, Raleigh was on the bench … until the ninth inning. Trailing 3-2 with the bases loaded and one out, Raleigh pinch hit for Mitch Garver and delivered a go-ahead two-run single in a 5-3 victory. His 12 home runs are tied with Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber for the MLB lead. — Schoenfield
Record: 19-18
Previous ranking: 9
Geraldo Perdomo continues to rake, including a 4-for-5 game with two doubles and three RBIs in Sunday’s wild 11-9 win over the Phillies. Perdomo has more walks than strikeouts, is 9-for-9 stealing bases, has a 99th percentile ranking in outs above average at shortstop and has already produced 2.2 fWAR compared to 2.0 all of 2024. That figure puts him in a five-way tie for the third-highest fWAR — behind only Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso. — Schoenfield
Record: 22-16
Previous ranking: 19
The Royals’ offense has been moving in the right direction, aiding a recent torrid stretch that was driven by elite run prevention. Bobby Witt Jr. has produced all along but, as good as he is, he can’t do it alone. Help has arrived in the form of Maikel Garcia, whose surge has brought his season numbers into lockstep with Witt. Garcia’s swing decisions have improved by leaps and bounds, lowering his already-solid strikeout rate and lifting his walk rate well over league average. Garcia, who has started at four different positions, will merit All-Star consideration if he maintains this pace. — Doolittle
Record: 19-19
Previous ranking: 10
Boston received a huge blow over the weekend, losing Triston Casas for the season because of a ruptured patellar tendon. Now the Red Sox have to figure out who will play first base. The current answer is a combination of Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro, but that probably isn’t permanent — and Gonzalez exited Wednesday night’s win after a collision on the base path and is day-to-day. Boston could move Rafael Devers to first base and have Masataka Yoshida, who hasn’t played this season because a shoulder injury is inhibiting his ability to throw, as its DH. The Red Sox could shift rookie Kristian Campbell from second base. They could seek external help. They could even call up one of their top two prospects, Roman Anthony or Marcelo Mayer, to play first. They have options. — Castillo
Record: 22-15
Previous ranking: 16
The Guardians have stayed afloat in the standings thanks to a spate of comeback wins and one-run victories. Eventually they’ll need some of their underperforming positions to produce. Steven Kwan has arguably been the best at his position in left field but his outfield partners have collectively been among the worst. Right fielder Jhonkensy Noel has sputtered along with a sub-.500 OPS while, in center, Opening Day starter Lane Thomas had an OPS under .400 before hitting the IL because of a bruised wrist. Cleveland needs numbers from both before the close-game luck begins to run out. — Doolittle
Record: 17-19
Previous ranking: 13
As a group, the Braves’ outfield ranks in the bottom five by wins above average. The fixes: get Ronald Acuña Jr. back, get Michael Harris II going and navigate the weeks until Jurickson Profar returns from suspension. On the latter front, a promising left-field platoon might be taking shape in Alex Verdugo and Eli White. For now, both are needed to man the outfield corners, but that will change when Acuña returns. At the plate, Verdugo has a career .783 OPS against righties; meanwhile, after struggling early in his career against southpaws, White has crushed them in limited time the past two seasons. — Doolittle
Record: 19-19
Previous ranking: 14
The Reds’ season continues to be strange. Their plus-30 run differential ranks eighth in the majors and suggests a 22-16 record. Instead, they remain tethered to .500 territory. The offense’s inconsistency is the main culprit. After scoring 22 runs in a three-game sweep of the Rockies in Denver, Cincinnati tallied three or fewer runs in six of their next nine games. Jose Trevino and Gavin Lux have been crucial contributors in their first seasons in Cincinnati, but the Reds need more from Elly De La Cruz, one of the sport’s most dynamic talents who has been about a league-average hitter so far. — Castillo
Record: 18-18
Previous ranking: 12
As the Astros struggle to score runs, it won’t help that Yordan Alvarez landed on the IL because of hand inflammation. The All-Star slugger was already off to the worst start of his career, hitting .210/.306/.340 with only three home runs and seven extra-base hits in 29 games, when he was scratched from Saturday’s lineup and then didn’t play Sunday before the Astros finally put him on the IL. Alvarez isn’t the only Astros hitter struggling as Yainer Diaz and Christian Walker have sub-.300 OBPs, and Jose Altuve is scuffling with sub-100 OPS+, his lowest since 2013. — Schoenfield
Record: 19-19
Previous ranking: 18
Joey Ortiz, acquired before last season in the trade for Corbin Burnes, put together a 3.1 fWAR rookie campaign in 2024, hitting 11 home runs with a 104 wRC+ and good defense at third base. That’s what makes his production in 2025 so shocking. Now playing shortstop as Willy Adames’ replacement, Ortiz has compiled -0.6 fWAR in 37 games this season. He’s batting .175 without a home run and a .206 slugging percentage. His 27 wRC+ ranks 160th out of 161 qualified players and has hampered the offense, which as a whole has a 90 wRC+, the seventh-lowest mark in the majors. — Castillo
Record: 20-18
Previous ranking: 20
The A’s got to within one game of first place and had a chance to tie Seattle on Tuesday but blew a ninth-inning lead. It was the second blown save in four games for the A’s. On Saturday, Mason Miller had a rare bad outing, serving up a walk-off grand slam to Miami’s Kyle Stowers. With Miller unavailable Tuesday after throwing 55 pitches over three days, Tyler Ferguson came on for the save — his fourth appearance in four days — and gave up a 3-2 lead. It was the first time an A’s pitcher threw four days in a row since 2015. — Schoenfield
Record: 18-19
Previous ranking: 15
Looking to turn around a moribund offense, the Rangers hired former All-Star Bret Boone as the team’s hitting coach, while firing offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker. At the time of the move, the Rangers ranked 25th in the majors in batting average, 25th in slugging and 29th in both runs and walk rate. Previous hitting coach Justin Viele and assistant hitting coach Seth Conner remain on staff. Texas then erupted for 16 hits Tuesday in Boone’s first game, winning consecutive games for the first time since April 17. Evan Carter returned to the majors and went 2-for-5. — Schoenfield
Record: 16-20
Previous ranking: 17
Steinbrenner Field has not been very kind to the Rays so far. They’re 9-15 in their temporary digs and 7-5 elsewhere. The stadium has played as expected, as a hitters’ haven. Opponents have taken better advantage of that with 35 home runs and a .256/.313/.418 slash line. Meanwhile, the Rays have hit 22 home runs at home. They’re built to win games with pitching and defense. That combination so far hasn’t been suited for Steinbrenner Field. — Castillo
Record: 16-20
Previous ranking: 22
The Blue Jays made four major offseason acquisitions. Three — Anthony Santander, Andres Gimenez and Max Scherzer — have been colossal disappointments. Santander has a 75 wRC+ as the team’s primary DH. Gimenez is a defense-first second baseman, but he began the year as the team’s cleanup hitter and has a 68 wRC+. Scherzer has thrown three innings. But Jeff Hoffman has established himself as one of the top closers in baseball after two teams nixed agreements with him during the winter due to concerns about his shoulder health. The right-hander gave up two runs over his first 14 appearances, recording a 1.10 ERA, until his three-run hiccup Tuesday against the Angels. — Castillo
Record: 17-20
Previous ranking: 21
A Twins offense that has floundered for much of the season received a much-needed boost when oft-injured Royce Lewis finally made his season debut. Lewis went down because of a hamstring strain in mid-March and sat out the first five-plus weeks. That was nothing new for a talented player whose career high in games is 82. When he has played, he has produced, posting a 124 career OPS+ with 35 homers and 110 RBIs per 162 games played. Now that Lewis is back, the spotlight falls on shortstop Carlos Correa, who continues to limp along with career-worst percentages. — Doolittle
Record: 19-19
Previous ranking: 24
By most metrics, the Cardinals have by far deployed the best defense in baseball. In the middle of it is center fielder Victor Scott II. Coming off a disastrous rookie season in 2024, in which he posted a 40 OPS+ in 53 games, Scott is thriving as a contact-first speedster with elite defense at a premium position. He’s tied for fourth in the majors in defensive runs saved and outs above average while batting .289 with 11 steals in 12 attempts. At 24, Scott is solidifying himself as a centerpiece of the Cardinals’ rebuild. — Castillo
Record: 17-21
Previous ranking: 25
In the middle of April, the Nationals’ bullpen performance was so off-the-charts bad that manager Dave Martinez called a meeting in his office just to address the relievers. Did it work? At the time, their relief ERA was an astounding 7.21. Three weeks later, that number is … 7.22. The irony is that closer Kyle Finnegan, who was non-tendered by Washington last fall before signing back late in the offseason, has been pretty good (3.07 ERA over 15 appearances with 12 saves in 14 chances). That tells you a little about how badly the rest of the bullpen has struggled. — Doolittle
Record: 13-22
Previous ranking: 23
General manager Mike Elias took blame for the team’s ghastly start and voiced his support for manager Brandon Hyde last Friday. Elias’ offseason decision-making and the subsequent injuries have tanked the starting rotation, but the vaunted offense isn’t doing its part. Cedric Mullins, Jackson Holliday and Ryan O’Hearn have been bright spots, but Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle, Heston Kjerstad and Jordan Westburg all have an OPS+ under 100. Gunnar Henderson, slowed by an intercostal strain to begin the season, isn’t playing like the MVP candidate he was in 2024. Tyler O’Neill is on the IL again. Baltimore ranks 23rd in runs scored and that isn’t good enough to overcome the rotation’s warts. — Castillo
Record: 12-26
Previous ranking: 28
It has been a disastrous season for the Pirates, on and off the field. There was the controversy surrounding the franchise’s decision to replace a Roberto Clemente logo with a hard iced tea ad at PNC Park. Last week, a fan broke his neck, clavicle and back when he fell from the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall onto the field. This week, a video of a PNC Park usher fighting a fan went viral. On the field, the Pirates are in last place in the NL Central again with one of the worst offenses in the majors. — Castillo
Record: 14-22
Previous ranking: 27
The Marlins have been competitive in some facets this season, but the area that decidedly does not fit that bill has been a glaringly awful starting rotation. Miami’s 6.35 rotation ERA ranks ahead of only the 6-29 Rockies. The Marlins have always been built on strong rotations when they’ve been good — but in 2025, they’ve produced only five quality starts in 36 games. Surely their starter ERA will move in the right direction from here (right?), but if it doesn’t, the franchise nadir (a 5.58 rotation ERA in 2007) could be in jeopardy. — Doolittle
Record: 15-20
Previous ranking: 26
Part of the problem with the slumping Angels: a defense that ranks second worst in the majors in defensive runs saved (ahead of only the A’s). Catcher Logan O’Hoppe, first baseman Nolan Schanuel and third baseman Luis Rengifo all rank as the worst at their positions via defensive runs saved. Schanuel and Rengifo also rank near the bottom in Statcast’s outs above average, as does center fielder Jo Adell. (Kyren Paris has been getting more time there of late.) The Angels back up that bad defense with the worst team OBP in the majors. — Schoenfield
Record: 10-27
Previous ranking: 29
The White Sox aren’t what analysts would label as “good,” but their record would be less terrible if not for an amazing 2-10 start in one-run games. Five of the losses were last-inning road defeats, including Tuesday’s debacle that featured rookie Chase Meidroth getting bonked on the head by a routine pop-up. Chicago’s saves leader is Brandon Eisert — with one. That’s right: After six weeks of the season, the White Sox have recorded exactly one save. The late-game failings undermine a club that, by and large, has cleared the low bar of playing better than it did in 2024. — Doolittle
Record: 6-29
Previous ranking: 30
The Rockies actually won two games in a row last week, beating the Braves 2-1 behind a solid outing from Chase Dollander and then beating the Giants 4-3 with two runs in the eighth inning. Alas, the losing picked right back up and the Rockies’ wRC+ fell to 64 (100 is average). The MLB low since 1901 is 68 (by the 1920 Philadelphia A’s) and even last year’s woeful White Sox came in at 75. So, yes, we’re looking at one of the worst offenses of all time. — Schoenfield
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