MLB Power Rankings: Can anyone top this No. 1 team?
Another week of MLB Power Rankings means another week of Milwaukee atop our list, as the Brewers are still rolling along as the best team in baseball, though might be slowing down after dropping three of four games to the division rival Cubs.
Sitting at least five games behind the Brewers in the National League standings are the Phillies, Dodgers and Cubs, who are all neck and neck as the battle for playoff positioning begins and we approach the stretch run. The four powerhouse NL teams all reside in our top six.
Meanwhile, in the American League, two juggernauts have continued to set themselves apart: Detroit and Toronto. The Tigers, who jumped back into the top three this week, are a game and a half up on the Blue Jays, who round out our top five. And after a slight slump following the trade deadline, the Yankees seem to have found their footing once again as they attempt to cut into Toronto’s division lead.
Our expert panel has ranked every team based on a combination of what we’ve seen and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Jorge Castillo and David Schoenfield to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Week 20 | Second-half preview | Preseason rankings
Record: 79-48
Previous ranking: 1
Milwaukee’s lead over Philadelphia in the race for the NL’s top seed is at five games despite the Brewers dropping three in a row in Chicago, giving them around an 82% shot at landing the coveted No. 1 slot. It’s a good omen. Milwaukee has entered the postseason as a 1-seed twice, both times parlaying it into deep playoff runs. In 1982, the Brewers won the AL pennant and, in their only World Series appearance, took the Cardinals to seven games. In 2018, Milwaukee was the NL’s No. 1 and took the Dodgers to a seventh game in the National League Championship Series. — Doolittle
Record: 74-53
Previous ranking: 2
Although the main concern is certainly Zack Wheeler’s health, his potential season-ending blood clot will test the depth of the Phillies’ rotation. Aaron Nola‘s return Sunday didn’t go well, but Ranger Suarez broke out of a mini-slump with a strong outing Monday (his first 10-strikeout, no-walk game) and Cristopher Sanchez continued to show he deserves Cy Young consideration with a 12-strikeout performance Tuesday. Oh, and a first for Bryce Harper in Monday’s win: He hit his longest home run since 2023 in the first inning and then topped that distance later in the game with a 448-foot blast, becoming the first Phillies player with two 440-foot home runs in the same game (and the first in the majors this season) since Statcast began in 2015. — Schoenfield
Record: 76-53
Previous ranking: 5
Tarik Skubal continued to solidify his case for a second straight AL Cy Young Award by twirling seven scoreless innings Tuesday against the Astros. He struck out 10 batters, becoming the first pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts this season. The left-hander has a 2.32 ERA in 159⅓ innings across 25 starts. He leads major league starters in FIP and fWAR. Garrett Crochet and Hunter Brown have enjoyed stellar seasons, but it’s Skubal’s award to lose. — Castillo
Record: 72-55
Previous ranking: 4
Eighteen years into his MLB career, Clayton Kershaw continues to be a marvel. Through 15 starts, he has gone 7-2, raising his career victory total to 219. His 3.01 ERA translates to a 139 ERA+, not quite peak Kershaw but numbers any team would love to have in its rotation. He has done this with plain old pitching, as his once elite strikeout rate continues its ongoing deterioration. Kershaw’s rate of 5.7 whiffs per nine innings is down 1.5 from last season and is nearly four whiffs shy of his career average. It’s less than half his peak result of 11.6 in 2015. — Doolittle
Record: 74-54
Previous ranking: 3
The Blue Jays received a scare this week when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. left Monday’s game with a hamstring injury after stretching to make a play at first base. An MRI showed just inflammation, a positive development considering the possibilities, but it’s something they will have to monitor down the stretch. Guerrero is Toronto’s $500 million franchise cornerstone. He has been one of the best hitters in the sport again this season, batting .298 with 21 home runs and an 0.894 OPS in 124 games. Losing him for an extended stretch could torpedo the Jays’ World Series hopes. — Castillo
Record: 73-54
Previous ranking: 7
If there is a bright side to the Cubs’ second-half woes on offense it’s that it might shine a light on a pitching staff that has been a little underrated all season. And it has remained solid even during Chicago’s post-break downturn. Though the team ERA (3.81, 11th in MLB) is more good than great and its ERA+ (100) indicates league-average pitching, the Cubs’ run distribution tells a story of consistency. Chicago has held opponents to three runs or fewer 70 times this season, most in baseball. The Cubs’ record in those games: 57-13. — Doolittle
Record: 71-56
Previous ranking: 8
The Padres’ deadline-fortified offense hasn’t performed much differently since the additions of Ramon Laureano, Freddy Fermin and Ryan O’Hearn. The Padres are fourth in OBP in August and remain the toughest club to strike out. San Diego is 22nd in runs on the season, mostly because it ranks 29th in homers. The Padres’ diverse attack has been less reliant on homers for scoring than any team in baseball. The question for October remains: When the playoffs arrive and the ability to string together hits becomes more challenging, will a shortfall of home runs prove to be San Diego’s fatal flaw? — Doolittle
Record: 69-57
Previous ranking: 12
The Yankees are scariest with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton both in the lineup — just look at Tuesday’s home run barrage in Tampa. But that won’t happen every day until Judge recovers enough from his flexor strain to be cleared to return to the outfield. When that will happen remains unclear. Judge increased his throwing to 150 feet this week, which qualifies as a positive development, but a return date to right field has not been publicly set.
For now, Judge is the Yankees’ every-day designated hitter, which means Stanton, who is 35 and doesn’t move well, has to play right field to be in the lineup. The Yankees are making it work, but getting Judge cleared to play the outfield — even just occasionally, if not every day — could make a significant difference. — Castillo
Record: 69-58
Previous ranking: 9
The Astros had one of the best bullpens in the first half, but that group has struggled since the All-Star break with an ERA over 5.00 — and now will be without Josh Hader until at least late September, as he’ll shut down for three weeks to rest his shoulder. He said he is hopeful about returning for the postseason. Meanwhile, the Astros were shut out three games in a row (and four of their past five games), including back-to-back losses of 12-0 and 10-0 to the Orioles and Tigers, respectively. Good news on that front: Yordan Alvarez began his rehab assignment Tuesday. — Schoenfield
Record: 68-60
Previous ranking: 6
The highs of an eight-game winning streak were immediately followed by a tough road trip to Baltimore, New York (with a pit stop in Williamsport) and Philadelphia. Logan Gilbert‘s implosion Monday symbolizes the problems the rotation has had all season on the road. Only Bryan Woo has an ERA under 4.92 away from T-Mobile Park, and Gilbert saw his road ERA climb to 6.00 after his recent outing. He has allowed a .141 average at home but .293 on the road. Woo, meanwhile, saw his streak of six-inning starts continue, as he has now gone at least six innings in all 24 of his outings. — Schoenfield
Record: 68-59
Previous ranking: 10
The Red Sox had won 16 of 18 games at Fenway Park before dropping three straight to the Marlins and Orioles to close their recent homestand. Overall, Boston is 41-25 at home — with 10 walk-off wins — and 27-34 on the road. The club’s surge into the postseason picture since the end of June has been fueled by its play at home in front of an invigorated fan base that has quickly forgotten about the franchise’s surprising decision to trade Rafael Devers in mid-June. The emergence of 21-year-old Roman Anthony has helped. But an eight-game road trip to New York and Baltimore awaits, and the Red Sox will need to play better away from Fenway to hold on to a wild-card spot. — Castillo
Record: 67-59
Previous ranking: 11
The Mets temporarily broke out of their deep slump by taking two of three against Seattle, including winning the Little League Classic on Sunday night, with Mark Vientos slugging a key three-run home run to the opposite field. But the biggest lift came Saturday as rookie Nolan McLean made his MLB debut and looked very impressive in striking out eight batters in 5⅔ scoreless innings. He showed off his deep repertoire of pitches — Statcast classified six different pitches — and though he’ll have to clean up his command (four walks), he could make a big impact down the stretch. — Schoenfield
Record: 67-61
Previous ranking: 13
Cue the old Pete Rose-Bud Harrelson highlights because the Reds have fought their way into a scuffle with the Mets for the NL’s last playoff spot. Cincinnati hasn’t really gotten red-hot, but it has been winning series while increasing its playoff odds. The Reds won two of three against the Mets at Citi Field in July. The clubs have a key return series at Great American Ball Park looming after Labor Day, a three-game set beginning Sept. 5. Buckle up. — Doolittle
Record: 64-62
Previous ranking: 14
The Guardians, once eight games under .500 in early July, are within striking distance of a wild-card spot — despite closer Emmanuel Clase going on leave on July 28 as part of a sports gambling investigation — because their bullpen remains elite. Cleveland’s relief corps ranks fourth in the majors with a 3.07 ERA and eighth in Win Probability Added in Clase’s absence. Cade Smith has continued dazzling as the club’s primary closer with a 2.13 ERA across 12⅔ innings — though he blew the save in Wednesday’s extra-inning loss — and rookie left-hander Erik Sabrowski hasn’t allowed a run in 7⅔ frames. — Castillo
Record: 65-62
Previous ranking: 18
On Tuesday, Bobby Witt Jr. became the fourth player in major league history to register at least 100 home runs and 100 steals through his first four seasons, joining Julio Rodriguez, Darryl Strawberry and Bobby Bonds. The feat serves as a reminder of Witt’s elite abilities, which have gone under the radar this year after finishing as AL MVP runner-up last season. Witt, rather quietly, is third in the majors in fWAR while batting .291 with 17 home runs, 32 steals and a .843 OPS and ranking second among big-league shortstops in Outs Above Average. He’s the complete package. — Castillo
Record: 63-65
Previous ranking: 15
The August slump continues as the Rangers have dropped well off in the wild-card race and seen their playoff chances dip to under 10%. The pitching, which had been so good all season, finally broke a little and posted a 5.66 ERA during a 2-9 recent stretch. Phil Maton, acquired at the trade deadline, lost back-to-back games, and fellow reliever Danny Coulombe, another deadline pickup, also lost a game. Joc Pederson continues to get regular at-bats for some reason, and Marcus Semien, after hitting better in June and July, is scuffling again. The Astros and Mariners haven’t quite slammed the door on Texas, but time is running out. — Schoenfield
Record: 61-66
Previous ranking: 19
Steinbrenner Field doesn’t belong to the Rays, and they were reminded of that fact Tuesday when the Yankees tied a franchise record with nine home runs in a 13-3 win at their own spring training facility. Tampa Bay’s Shane Baz gave up five of the homers in three innings, continuing his misery at the homer-happy ballpark. The right-hander’s numbers at Steinbrenner Field are abysmal: 7.06 ERA, .888 OPS against and 18 home runs allowed in 13 outings. All rank worst in the majors among pitchers with at least 60 innings at home this season. — Castillo
Record: 61-66
Previous ranking: 17
As the Giants’ once-promising season has settled into yawn-inducing mediocrity, we can identify when the wave broke and what has happened since it rolled back. The high point was June 11, when San Francisco beat Colorado for a seventh straight win to go a season-best 12 games over .500. The Giants were a half-game back of the Dodgers in the division race and topped the early wild-card standings. The Giants were on pace to score 684 runs and allow 567. Those paces are now 656 runs scored and 662 allowed. A slight decline offensively, but a collapse on the pitching side. — Doolittle
Record: 63-65
Previous ranking: 16
The Cardinals have neither played well nor bottomed out. Instead, they remain muddled in the average-to-below strata of MLB. This continues the ongoing malaise of a franchise and a fan base accustomed to a higher standard. If the Cardinals win fewer than 89 games — a virtual certainty — their three-year winning percentage will dip below .500 for the first time this century. After the 1999 season, their three-year mark was down to .475, but they then won 96 games in 2000 to move back over .500. They have kept their rolling average above breakeven ever since until, likely, this season. — Doolittle
Record: 62-66
Previous ranking: 21
The Diamondbacks are tied for fourth in the majors in scoring and rank sixth in OPS during August. It’s a small sample but an encouraging one in the aftermath of Arizona’s deadline subtractions of key hitters Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez. On the flip side, venerable infield prospect Jordan Lawlar hasn’t had a chance to take advantage of Suarez’s departure because of a lingering hamstring strain. Good news on that front: Lawlar returned to action at the Triple-A level Aug. 14 and should be in position for his first MLB game action since last May before long. — Doolittle
Record: 61-66
Previous ranking: 22
What’s the long-term fix for the Angels? They’ll need to find a way to develop starting pitchers who can strike out some batters. They rank near the bottom of the majors in rotation strikeout rate, with Kyle Hendricks and Jack Kochanowicz possessing two of the lowest K rates among starters. The other problem is the rotation ranks similarly in walk rate, so the Angels compound their lack of swing-and-miss stuff with too many free passes. Other than 2025 first-round pick Tyler Bremner, there might not be much immediate help on the farm as top pitching prospects George Klassen (6.55 ERA in Double-A) and Caden Dana (injuries) have had unproductive seasons. — Schoenfield
Record: 59-67
Previous ranking: 24
Samuel Basallo has arrived, and the early returns are downright thrilling for the organization. The top prospect became the youngest position player to appear in a game in the majors this season when he made his debut Sunday in Houston at 21 years and 4 days old. He proceeded to go 1-for-4 with two RBIs and had a home run robbed as Baltimore’s designated hitter in a 12-0 win over the Astros. He then made his catching debut Monday against the Red Sox and blasted two rockets, including one off the Green Monster for his first career extra-base hit.
At 6-foot-4, Basallo can mash. The question is whether he will remain behind the plate or shift to first base with Adley Rutschman entrenched as the Orioles’ primary catcher. A move to first is likely. — Castillo
Record: 60-67
Previous ranking: 20
The Marlins have faded out of the wild-card picture with a tough August, but one bright spot has been outfielder Jakob Marsee, who was called up Aug. 1. The left-handed hitter had a two-homer, seven-RBI game and has showcased an above-average contact rate and good plate discipline so far. Part of last year’s Luis Arraez trade with the Padres, Marsee was hitting just .246 in Triple-A (after hitting .200 in the minors in 2024), so we’ll see if the bat is legit, but he has been scoring the ball so far. And though his speed is only a tick above average, he did have 47 steals in the minors as well. — Schoenfield
Record: 58-69
Previous ranking: 25
Shortstop will undoubtedly be at the top of the offseason shopping list for the Braves. Nick Allen has been one of the top defensive shortstops in the league, but his complete lack of production at the plate — no home runs plus a low batting average — has helped crater the offense. If the rest of the lineup was hitting, you could play him, but the rest of the lineup hasn’t hit as expected. The free agent shortstop class is thin aside from Bo Bichette, but Bichette is at the bottom of the league in Statcast’s defensive metrics. — Schoenfield
Record: 58-68
Previous ranking: 23
The Pohlad family isn’t selling the Twins after all. In a statement released last week, the family announced it will remain the principal owner of the club and will add new investors. The decision surfaced two weeks after the Twins traded 10 players from their 26-man active roster ahead of the trade deadline as they head to their lowest attendance total since Target Field opened in 2010. — Castillo
Record: 58-70
Previous ranking: 26
Nick Kurtz‘s home run rate has dropped since his four-homer game, but he has still been hitting .300 with an OBP over .400 as his walk rate continues to climb, in part because pitchers simply aren’t challenging him as often. He should get to 502 plate appearances by season’s end, which will make him an official qualified hitter. If he finishes with an OPS over 1.000, he’ll join Albert Pujols and Aaron Judge as the only rookies to do so since World War II. — Schoenfield
Record: 54-74
Previous ranking: 27
How bad has Pittsburgh’s offense been this season? Well, the Pirates are on pace to score just 570 runs this season. That would be their worst output over an uninterrupted season since 1985, when they scored 568 runs while losing 104 games. That was the season before Barry Bonds’ MLB debut. The Pirates, whose pitchers have ranked in the top half by ERA+ all season after finishing at exactly league-average in 2024, would see a drop-off of nearly 100 runs over 2024 if they retain this pace. Their 665 runs last season ranked 24th in MLB. — Doolittle
Record: 45-82
Previous ranking: 28
Where was this Luis Robert Jr. over the season’s first three months? That’s a question the White Sox front office has to be asking after the talented center fielder sank his trade value with dismal production through the beginning of July before turning things around to resemble the player the club envisioned him to be. Robert was batting .185 with a .583 OPS in 75 games through July 9. Since then, he is hitting .300 with a .833 OPS in 30 games. With $20 million team options each of the next two years — and the White Sox mired in a deep rebuild — he will be a prime trade candidate this winter if he continues on this trajectory down the stretch. — Castillo
Record: 51-75
Previous ranking: 29
Dylan Crews is finally off the IL, playing his first MLB games since May 20. His 13-game rehab stint in Triple-A wasn’t promising, as he hit .244/.311/.415 with one walk in 45 plate appearances, but he’ll certainly get regular duty in the outfield the rest of this season. Crews still has barely 300 PAs in the majors, but it’s time he starts showing something so the Nationals can count on him for 2026. As one of the most hyped collegiate players in recent years and the No. 2 pick in 2023, they clearly need him to develop into a foundational piece of the roster. — Schoenfield
Record: 37-90
Previous ranking: 30
The Rockies have been easy targets for derision, but they’ve strung together a long enough stretch of decent baseball to give the barb throwers a week off. Don’t get us wrong — this is still a team on pace to lose 115 to 116 games and allow more than 1,000 runs. But the offense has been less bad lately, giving Colorado a good shot at avoiding the single-season loss record. Since the All-Star break, the Rockies rank in the top half of the majors in runs and OPS. Coors Field inflation plays into that, of course, but earlier this season, the Rockies weren’t hitting there, either. Progress? — Doolittle
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Andrea Adelson
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — DJ Lagway has a vivid memory of one of his first visits to Florida. He remembers sitting in the quarterbacks meeting room with future first-round pick Anthony Richardson and a few other players, coach Billy Napier and assistant Ryan O’Hara.
Lagway was at the beginning of his high school quarterback career, just starting to dive into the ins and outs of what it takes to play the position. He heard them going over concepts in intricate detail, but he also saw the way the coaches taught, the way the players learned and the relationship they all had with one another.
The more he listened, the more he realized how badly he needed to be in this room himself, believing he could become elite with this type of coaching. “They were just talking and I’m like, ‘I don’t know what that is, but I’ve got to learn that,'” Lagway says.
He committed to Florida in 2022, at a time when Napier needed a big recruiting win. Though he was a toddler in Willis, Texas, when Florida had won its last national championship in 2008, Lagway grew up on stories about the Gators. He loved the colors. He loved the swagger the team played with.
His cousins used to play college football video games, and as a way to appease him, they gave him a fake controller so he could feel like he was playing with them. The first cover he remembers had Tim Tebow on it.
Lagway knew full well how much pressure comes with playing quarterback at a school that has produced three Heisman Trophy winners at the position, but he believed in what he heard in that meeting room, and he believed that Napier could help him live up to expectations. He held firm to his commitment, signed in 2023 and wowed when he played as a true freshman last season.
Now, the stage in Gainesville is his. No fake game controllers needed.
FOUR YEARS AGO, very few people outside Texas knew about Lagway. He started his freshman year at Willis High at safety, playing quarterback situationally. Once the season ended, though, he switched full time to quarterback and started working with a private coach. That summer, headed into his sophomore year, he went to a prospect camp at Texas, zero offers in hand.
Arch Manning, the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the class of 2023, was at the same camp. Lagway admits he was a bit in awe. He embraced the opportunity to learn from Texas coach Steve Sarkisian but also measure himself against some of the top quarterback prospects a year ahead of him.
“I did pretty well, actually,” Lagway says. “It let me know that I can go out there and compete with anybody. It was just fun to see how my talent stacked up with other players in the state and seeing that I can do it. With a lot of more work and a lot of more time put in, it was going to pay off.”
As a sophomore, he relied on his ability as a runner while he learned the mechanics of how to become a great passer. Lagway went to Gainesville for a visit right after that season, the first spring Napier was at Florida in 2022. Napier said he had watched the tape and saw a big, long athletic player he described as “a ball of clay” because he was just getting started at quarterback. It was a no-brainer to offer him a scholarship.
“That meant the world to me,” Lagway says.
Napier went to visit Lagway in Texas whenever he could, and the two formed a close bond. Lagway started to rise in the recruiting rankings, becoming the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in his class. And following his junior season in 2022, Lagway committed to Florida.
He still had one year left to play in high school, and he made the most of it, throwing 58 touchdown passes and rushing for 16 more en route to Gatorade National Player of the Year honors.
But as Lagway reached new heights in 2023, Florida struggled, losing five straight to end the season. Florida recruits started to decommit, and Lagway kept getting phone calls from programs eager to flip his commitment, telling him Napier would not last long with the Gators. If Lagway changed his mind on Florida, Napier may have been on even shakier ground after going 5-7 to close out his second season as coach.
“He was in one of those ‘tip the scale’ scenarios,” Napier said. “We lost probably four or five other commits down the stretch there. We built that class around him, and if he folds his cards, then probably a lot of other kids do, too. But he stuck. He had a vision for what he wanted to do here. He has a little bit of that edge to where he feels like he could be the catalyst. He could be the one.”
Lagway says that despite the calls from other schools, he never wavered in his decision to go to Florida.
“I stayed true to my commitment because I’m a man of my word,” Lagway said. “I saw day to day how Coach Napier and Coach O’Hara coach, and I knew if I was in their system, I’d be getting developed to get to the NFL.”
Napier believes their early interest in him played a big role. So does O’Hara, the quarterbacks coach at Florida.
“He has no fear. That’s the part that I always come back to, is: ‘Why did you stay committed to us?'” O’Hara said. “He saw the vision. He believed in Napier. He believed in what I could teach him to develop at quarterback. He believed in the system. He believed in the players we were recruiting. He never flinched.
“People were throwing money at him, taking trips to see him. Some heavy hitters, really good quarterback developers. He sees Anthony get drafted, and then the development with (Graham) Mertz, and was like, ‘OK, I can go do this. I can make this my place.’ He did that last year. Now it’s his turn.”
THE AUTOGRAPHED FOOTBALL sits at the center of the table inside the quarterbacks room at the Florida football facility. O’Hara picks it up, explaining that his dad gave it to him as a gift when he was officially promoted to the position earlier this spring after serving as an offensive analyst.
O’Hara took one look at the ball, signed by the Heisman winning trio of Danny Wuerffel, Steve Spurrier and Tim Tebow, and decided it would stay in the meeting room, “just for the guys to keep the aura around, like, ‘Remember where you’re at.'”
Not that Lagway needs any reminders.
The vibes are far different than they were a year ago, when the pressure was on Napier to deliver. The plan was for Lagway to play situationally behind Mertz. But after Mertz sustained a concussion in the season opener against Miami, Lagway had his opportunity to start Week 2 against Samford.
“That whole week was a roller coaster,” Lagway said. “I was battling with some shoulder soreness, just trying to figure out what was going on with that. I wasn’t even sure I was going to play, not even sure I was going to play the season. But still being able to lock in and prepare and just give it my all, that’s what I wanted to do.”
Lagway ended up starting and set a Florida true freshman record with 456 yards passing and three touchdowns. That performance was all Florida fans had to see to double down on their belief that Lagway was the next Gators quarterback great. How did he do that with a sore shoulder? “I’m still trying to figure that out,” he says with a chuckle. Mertz went down with a season-ending knee injury against Tennessee in mid-October. Lagway entered the game and threw a 27-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds left to send the game into overtime before Florida ultimately lost.
Three weeks later, Lagway had Florida up 10-3 on Georgia in the second quarter. But he pulled his hamstring and missed the rest of the game, and Florida lost for the seventh time in the last eight games against its rival. The injuries felt like they were piling up on Lagway, but so was the pressure he placed on himself to perform.
“That was very frustrating, because I knew how close I was to achieving something that hasn’t been achieved in a long time,” Lagway said. “This is where I kind of messed up, too. I was always looking for that big moment to make history. I wanted to be in the history books forever.”
There is still time for that, of course, but what Lagway did as a true freshman has set the stage for 2025. Lagway went 6-1 as the starter — the lone loss to Georgia, a game he did not finish. His performance also helped stabilize a program that had been teetering. Athletic director Scott Stricklin announced last November that Napier would return for Year 4.
“That decision by Scott was not about me,” Napier said. “It is more of an investment in the entire group. If we don’t have good people, then we probably do splinter. We probably do fall apart. I do think you saw the players take a deep breath and then go play the game the way it should be played down the stretch.”
Indeed, Florida finished on a four-game winning streak, including upset wins over LSU and Ole Miss with Lagway leading the charge. It was the first time since 2003 that an unranked Florida team had beaten Top 25 opponents in consecutive games.
IN JANUARY, O’HARA asked Lagway to come up with a list of goals for this season. They turned it into a PowerPoint slide and saved it, so Lagway can look at it as a reminder whenever he wants. They are keeping those goals private for now, but there is no doubting what Lagway wants: a championship.
To that end, he has spent the offseason watching tape whenever possible. “He’s obsessed with playing quarterback,” O’Hara says.
So obsessed that he texted Napier a screenshot of Kirk Cousins‘ home screen setup after watching the “Quarterback” series on Netflix and asked for the same thing so he could also watch tape like that at home. He texts O’Hara constantly with questions, videos, notes, voice memos, eager to learn as much as possible.
“The big emphasis this year is looking at defenses,” O’Hara said. “We come in here and we might watch 60 clips of one coverage and watch how it unfolds against all these concepts. That’s where he’ll be better, defensive recognition and tying that in with playing more on time from the pocket, getting the ball out quickly, being clean with his footwork and then shortening up his stroke.”
“I want to get better at the boring plays” is something Lagway says to O’Hara all the time. It is obvious how electric he can be with the ball in his hands, but O’Hara said the coaching staff has tried to emphasize to Lagway that checking down and throwing to the running back is sometimes a better option than taking off and running.
Keeping the starting quarterback healthy is obviously a necessary ingredient for any team’s success, but Florida has to be particularly mindful with Lagway. He missed spring practice after offseason core muscle surgery and struggled with shoulder soreness. He has dealt with a calf strain throughout preseason camp. Lagway says the injuries he has faced since his arrival have been frustrating, but he is trying not to dwell on them.
He has asked former Gators quarterbacks for advice. He has listened when Spurrier has walked into the quarterbacks room to go over his own mantras and best practices. Napier says Lagway is also trying to figure out how to handle his stardom on campus.
“He can’t go to the softball game without people lining up when he goes to get a drink at the concession stand,” Napier says. “He’s learning a different lifestyle in that regard. He’s navigating the injury bug. He’s navigating this superstar spotlight. He’s navigating the expectations of this season. For us, we have to help him deal with all the things that come with being the quarterback at a place like this.”
He is a celebrity, though, as much as Florida has tried to shield him from all the hype. Over the summer, he filmed a T-Mobile commercial with Patrick Mahomes and Rob Gronkowski. He has other NIL deals with Gatorade, Nintendo, Leaf Trading Cards and Lamborghini Orlando. Lagway has donated part of the money he has received through those deals to support women’s athletic programs at Florida and to start his own foundation in partnership with UF Health.
Those deals do not happen without his talent or his star power. The focus, at least to Lagway and the coaching staff, is on all the ways he can be better this season. O’Hara says Lagway’s instincts to see the field and make plays are “as pure as I’ve ever been around at any position.”
But instincts only take you so far.
“People think he’s just this big, talented dude, but he really wants to improve at every part of playing quarterback,” O’Hara says. “That’s what makes him so dangerous. He can be as good as he wants to be.”
Lagway himself says he wants to make history. There is one certain way to do that when playing quarterback at Florida: ending the recent run of mediocrity and winning a championship.
“I knew what I signed up for coming into this so I’m excited for it,” Lagway said. “It’s going to be fun.”
The SEC will play a nine-game conference schedule starting in 2026, the league said Thursday, a historic move it’s been considering for years.
The decision was approved by the SEC’s presidents and chancellors after a recommendation by the athletic directors in the conference.
“Adding a ninth SEC game underscores our universities’ commitment to delivering the most competitive football schedule in the nation,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a news release. “This format protects rivalries, increases competitive balance, and paired with our requirement to play an additional Power opponent, ensures SEC teams are well prepared to compete and succeed in the College Football Playoff.”
Under the new format, the SEC will continue to play without divisions. Each school will play three annual opponents focused on maintaining traditional rivalries, and the remaining six games will rotate among the rest of the league opponents.
Each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away over four years.
SEC teams are still required to schedule at least one additional high-quality nonconference opponent from the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten or Big 12 conferences or Notre Dame each season.
The SEC will continue to evaluate its policies to ensure the continued scheduling of nonconference opponents from the Power 4.
Several ACC athletic directors told ESPN they see no reason traditional ACC-SEC rivalries will be impacted, but future scheduled games with the SEC could be canceled.
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said his league is not planning to move from its 8-game conference schedule at this time.
“I like where we’re at with eight games,” Phillips said. “We’ll adjust if we have to, but I think some of those traditional [non-conference] rivalry games that we really enjoy could go away.”
Sankey said on The Paul Finebaum Show that the 2026 schedule will be released later this fall. He added that the College Football Playoff’s decision to use enhanced strength of schedule metrics played into the decision to expand the conference schedule.
“The CFP has made progress, but we’re not at perfection as to how strength of schedule will be used in the selection process,” he said.
Last month, Sankey told ESPN the conference has been discussing a nine-game league schedule since the Clinton administration.
The SEC has played eight conference games each season since 1992, when the conference first expanded from 10 to 12 teams with the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina. The lone exception was the 2020 COVID season when the SEC scheduled 10 conference games and did not play nonconference games.
The SEC played seven conference games per year from 1988 to 1991 and six games from 1974 to 1987.
Before 1974, there was no uniform requirement for the number of conference games to be played by each school, with most schools playing six or seven league contests per year.
ESPN’s David Hale and Andrea Adelson contributed to this report.
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