By John Zamora 
The 2025 MLB season is starting to pick up steam and there are a few surprise teams — both good and bad. The National League appears to be even better than advertised, while the American League is still looking for a standout club. As we enter mid-April, here are the Top 15 teams in baseball.
1. San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres were the favorite to win it all entering last year’s postseason, but not many people expected them to be this good in 2025. After a quiet offseason, the Pads have been on an absolute tear through the first few weeks of the season. San Diego is 11-0 at home and is an MLB-best 14-3 so far. Remarkably, the pitching staff has put together six shutouts already — including three games in a row against the Colorado Rockies over the weekend. Competition picks up a bit this week, however, with the Padres hosting the Cubs before ending the week in Houston.
2. Chicago Cubs
Can anybody stop Chicago’s lineup? Over their first 18 games, the Cubs scored 116 runs — 21 more than the No. 2 scoring team (Yankees) and 34 more than the No. 3 offense (Diamondbacks). Chicago has gone 9-4 over its last 13 games following a 2-4 start with series-wins over the Padres, Rangers and Dodgers — three teams that figure to contend in October. Unfortunately, the Cubs were dealt a big blow Sunday afternoon with the announcement that left-hander Justin Steele will miss the rest of the season with an elbow injury.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
Entering play on April 15, the reigning champion Dodgers are in third-place in the National League West. Based on recent coverage of the team, some people may believe the world is crumbling around the team. When zooming out, however, it is easy to see that the Dodgers don’t have much to worry about. At 12-6, Los Angeles is tied for the third-best record in baseball. The team has certainly struggled defensively the past few series and the lineup hasn’t broke out quite yet — but this is the Dodgers we are talking about. Freddie Freeman has appeared in just six games, the team is batting a paltry .225…and they still are 11-6.
4. San Francisco Giants
The second-best record in baseball belongs to the San Francisco Giants. An afterthought for many entering the season, the Giants have looked impressive thus far. Bob Melvin’s squad lost its first series of the year last week — 2-1 to Cincinnati — after being shutout on back-to-back nights by the Reds. Following the tough series, the Giants traveled to the Bronx and promptly took 2-of-3 from the Yankees. Jung Hoo Lee has been dynamic in his return to the field. After an injury cost him a majority of his rookie season, Lee is slashing .352/.426/.704 with three homers, eight doubles and one triple.
5. New York Mets
The only team to not lose consecutive games so far is the New York Mets. New York currently leads the National League East despite the struggles of Juan Soto. The highest-paid player in baseball is batting just .250 with two home runs and six RBI. While Soto is off to a slow start, Pete Alonso has been fantastic. The slugger is batting .345 with four HR, 19 RBI and a team-high 1.137 OPS. New York has also received great starts from a handful of its starters — led by Kodai Senga (1.06 ERA) and Tylor Megill (0.63 ERA). New York has had a favorable schedule so far, but good teams beat up on bad teams.
6. Philadelphia Phillies
We all knew Philadelphia would have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball in 2025, but not many people envisioned Jesus Luzardo spinning gems like a potential Cy Young candidate. The former Marlin has started the year with three great outings. An 11 SO day in his Philadelphia debut was followed by seven shutout innings against the Dodgers. In his third start, Luzardo allowed one run over 6.0 IP. Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos are the only batters operating at a high level to this point.
7. New York Yankees
The Yankees are 3-5 over their last eight games and talk surrounding the torpedo bats has quieted a bit as a result. During its recent string of middling play, New York has scored 27 runs. Over their first eight games, the Yankees scored 72 runs and went 6-2. Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt are both hitting .367, while Jazz Chisholm Jr. is down to .175 for the year. The starting rotation has been a mess aside from Max Fried (1.56 ERA). Of the four other starters, Will Warren has the lowest ERA at 5.14.
8. Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona is easily the best fourth-place team in baseball. The Diamondbacks dropped three games in a row — two to Washington and one to Baltimore — to fall to 5-6 on the year, but are 4-1 over their last five. The D-Backs outscored Baltimore 13-4 over the final two games of their three-game set and proceeded to take 2-of-3 from the Brewers over the weekend. Corbin Carroll is back playing at an elite level following a sophomore slump in 2024, and the offense has produced the third-most runs in baseball despite Ketel Marte missing eight games. The starting rotation has struggled, but it is only a matter of time before Zac Gallen and Corbin Burnes find their footing.
9. Los Angeles Angels
Nobody predicted the Angels would lead the American League West after 15 games. Ron Washington’s club has played inspired ball early on and fans have become cautiously optimistic. The Halos lost their first series of the year this past weekend — going 1-2 in Houston — but that was preceded by a series-win in Florida against the Rays. Mike Trout is batting below .200 but has launched six homers. Overall, the Angels lead baseball with 30 dingers. Currently leading the Rangers by a half-game, the Angels head to Arlington on Tuesday for a three-game set with Texas.
10. Detroit Tigers
The Tigers are one of the hottest teams in baseball entering the week. Detroit opened the season 0-3 after being swept by the Dodgers, but it has responded by going 10-3 over its last 13. Last week, Detroit’s staff largely silenced the Yankees’ bats by holding the Yanks to six runs over three games. After taking 2-of-3 from the defending AL champs, Detroit went 2-1 on the road against the rival Twins. The Tigers are hitting .249 as a team and Spencer Torkelson appears to have finally tapped into his tremendous potential. The No. 1 overall pick in 2020, Tork is batting .288 with five HR and an OPS above 1.000.
11. Toronto Blue Jays
It’s early, but the Blue Jays only a half-game back in the American League East. Two weekends ago, the Jays kicked off a 10-game road trip by being swept by the Mets. Instead of imploding, Toronto traveled to Boston and went 3-1 against the rival Sox. Impressively, the pitching staff limited Boston to eight runs over four games. The road trip came to a close in Baltimore, where the two teams split a pair of one-run games (Game 1 was postponed). Nearly atop the division and a long-term extension for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? Good vibes in Canada.
12. Seattle Mariners
After a 3-7 start to the season, the Mariners made a statement last week. First, the Mariners went 2-1 against the rival Astros. All three games were decided by one run, with Seattle’s lone loss coming in a 2-1, 12-inning affair. To end their strong week, the M’s swept the Rangers. Seattle’s ballyhooed staff held Texas to six runs in the series as the offense produced 17 runs. There is still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to Seattle’s lineup, but scoring 29 runs against two division rivals was a nice boost for the club.
13. Cincinnati Reds
A dominant week for its pitching staff has Cincinnati feeling quite good about itself heading into mid-April. The Reds started the year 3-7 thanks to a lack of offense. During a 1-5 stretch, the Reds lost three games in a row by a score of 1-0. In the other two losses, the team scored two runs in each game. En route to a 5-1 record last week, the Reds were the team to post three shutouts. Impressively, Cincinnati went 2-1 in San Francisco — blanking the Giants 2-0 in Game 1 and 1-0 in Game 2 — and swept the Pirates over the weekend. After allowing five runs over the first two victories, Cincy won the finale 4-0. Nick Lodolo has a 0.96 ERA and ace Hunter Greene is the current leader in the Cy Young race. In four starts, Greene has a 0.98 ERA with 31 strikeouts and a mere four walks.
14. Texas Rangers
The Rangers may be 9-7 but they are not playing at a high level. Texas got off to a 8-2 start thanks in large part to its pitching. While the staff held the Red Sox, Reds and Rays to a combined 15 runs in the eight victories, the lineup produced just 30 runs. Last week, the lineup remained underwhelming and the staff had its first poor week of the season. While dropping 2-of-3 at Wrigley Field, the Rangers were outscored 19-8. Then, Texas was swept by the rival Mariners after producing just six runs — Seattle scored 17. Texas is batting .208 as a team.
15. Milwaukee Brewers
You can never count out the Brewers. While the Cubs look like the team to beat in the National League Central early on, Milwaukee will factor into the race throughout the season. Following the Opening Week bloodbath in the Bronx in which the Yankees outscored the Brewers 36-14, the club returned home and promptly lost to Kansas City 11-1 — an 0-4 start that was as ugly as possible. Since that time, Milwaukee is 8-5 and has won three of its last four series.
Brian Thomas 
Carson Mays 
Ty Bronicel