With June approaching, we're now roughly two full months into the 2026 Major League Baseball regular season. That means about one-third of the regular season is complete, and it's time to evaluate all of MLB's 30 teams.
The grades below are based on the standings, each team's underlying performance, and how those measures compare with reasonable expectations entering the 2026 season. A good team with a poor record won't receive a good grade, but teams exceeding expectations will be graded more favorably than those meeting them.
American League Teams
Athletics
The Athletics are merely .500-ish with a negative run differential, but first place is first place. The margins are slim, and the AL West has been one of the weakest divisions to date. The rotation has been surprisingly solid so far, at least on a park-adjusted basis, and catcher Shea Langeliers is looking like a stealth AL MVP candidate so far.
Baltimore Orioles: F
Baltimore's rotation has again collapsed. 2025 revelation Trevor Rogers has a 6.96 ERA through nine starts, and there hasn't been enough offense to compensate. Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward were supposed to provide right-handed power. Both have just been fine. If they continue to hang around the bottom of the AL East standings, the Orioles have some useful veterans they could move at the trade deadline: Rogers, Ward, Chris Bassitt, Ryan Helsley, Andrew Kittredge, and others.
Boston Red Sox: F-
Turns out Alex Cora wasn't the problem after all. Boston is dead last in the American League in home runs, and that lack of power was completely predictable entering the season. There are just too many zeroes in the lineup on any given day. Ceddanne Rafaela is a really good player, but he should be more like his team's sixth- or seventh-best hitter, not their third-best. The Red Sox would have two very nice rentals to peddle at the trade deadline, Aroldis Chapman and Sonny Gray, should they not move up the standings and decide to sell.
Chicago White Sox
The White Sox were 41-121 two years ago. Last year, they went 60-102. When they started this year 6-13, it looked like maybe they would be one of baseball's worst teams again. Since then, though, they've been pretty formidable. They recently had a stretch in which they won seven of eight and were multiple games above .500 for the first time in years.
The two-year, $34 million signing of Munetaka Murakami has been amazing. Together with Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas, the White Sox now have one of the most powerful trios in baseball. On the mound, Davis Martin has also been excellent.
Cleveland Guardians: B+
They rank in the bottom third of the majors in both batting average and OPS. They pitch well, though, notably in missing bats. They are leading the majors in strikeouts by pitchers.
The Guardians wouldn't have earned this relatively high mark a few weeks ago. They were just a .500 team as late as May 10, when they were 21-21. Since then, though, they've racked up the wins and taken control of the AL Central. They're doing what they do, just piling up victories in seemingly quiet fashion.