Milwaukee finished the 2026 regular season as the top-rated team in the Pascal Institute MLB Power Rankings, at 132.1. The Brewers (103–59) outscored opponents by 214 runs, the best differential in baseball, and edged the Dodgers (131.3) by less than a point. The Yankees (122.5), Cubs (120.4) and Braves (118.2) complete the top five.
Ten of the 12 playoff teams rate in the top 12. The exceptions show where wins and runs part ways: Detroit (No. 8) and Pittsburgh (No. 11) missed the postseason, while Philadelphia (No. 13) and Houston (No. 19) reached it.
These ratings cover every regular-season game, from AnalytIQ's final published rating batch of the 2026 season.
Final 2026 Ratings
| Rank | Team | Record | Rating | Offense | Defense | Expected wins | Wins vs. expected | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milwaukee Brewers | 103–59 | 132.1 | 114.6 | 117.5 | 102.5 | +0.5 | Made playoffs |
| 2 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 100–62 | 131.3 | 110.3 | 121.0 | 101.9 | −1.9 | Made playoffs |
| 3 | New York Yankees | 93–68 | 122.5 | 102.4 | 120.0 | 95.5 | −2.5 | Made playoffs |
| 4 | Chicago Cubs | 89–73 | 120.4 | 117.1 | 103.3 | 94.9 | −5.9 | Made playoffs |
| 5 | Atlanta Braves | 94–68 | 118.2 | 102.2 | 116.0 | 93.5 | +0.5 | Made playoffs |
| 6 | Boston Red Sox | 87–75 | 113.7 | 94.9 | 118.8 | 89.9 | −2.9 | Made playoffs |
| 7 | Tampa Bay Rays | 98–64 | 113.1 | 101.4 | 111.7 | 90.2 | +7.8 | Made playoffs |
| 8 | Detroit Tigers | 76–86 | 110.9 | 99.6 | 111.3 | 88.6 | −12.6 | |
| 9 | Chicago White Sox | 84–78 | 107.7 | 106.9 | 100.8 | 86.5 | −2.5 | Made playoffs |
| 10 | San Diego Padres | 91–71 | 106.1 | 99.5 | 106.6 | 85.3 | +5.7 | Made playoffs |
| 11 | Pittsburgh Pirates | 82–80 | 103.9 | 105.7 | 98.2 | 83.8 | −1.8 | |
| 12 | Cleveland Guardians | 85–77 | 102.2 | 93.4 | 108.8 | 82.2 | +2.8 | Made playoffs |
| 13 | Philadelphia Phillies | 88–74 | 102.2 | 98.2 | 104.0 | 82.6 | +5.4 | Made playoffs |
| 14 | Washington Nationals | 77–85 | 102.2 | 113.1 | 89.1 | 81.5 | −4.5 | |
| 15 | Arizona Diamondbacks | 86–76 | 101.2 | 101.8 | 99.4 | 81.9 | +4.1 | |
| 16 | Miami Marlins | 80–82 | 100.5 | 98.5 | 102.0 | 81.3 | −1.3 | |
| 17 | Baltimore Orioles | 79–82 | 97.1 | 99.5 | 97.6 | 78.4 | +0.6 | |
| 18 | St. Louis Cardinals | 77–85 | 96.1 | 99.2 | 96.9 | 78.1 | −1.1 | |
| 19 | Houston Astros | 81–81 | 95.9 | 101.1 | 94.8 | 77.8 | +3.2 | Made playoffs |
| 20 | New York Mets | 74–88 | 95.6 | 96.3 | 99.3 | 77.7 | −3.7 | |
| 21 | Toronto Blue Jays | 79–83 | 93.9 | 89.3 | 104.6 | 75.9 | +3.1 | |
| 22 | Texas Rangers | 80–82 | 93.7 | 92.7 | 101.0 | 76.1 | +3.9 | |
| 23 | Minnesota Twins | 77–85 | 92.9 | 101.8 | 91.1 | 75.4 | +1.6 | |
| 24 | Seattle Mariners | 76–86 | 92.0 | 91.5 | 100.5 | 74.8 | +1.2 | |
| 25 | San Francisco Giants | 65–97 | 87.7 | 92.2 | 95.5 | 71.6 | −6.6 | |
| 26 | Los Angeles Angels | 62–100 | 86.8 | 90.2 | 96.5 | 70.8 | −8.8 | |
| 27 | Kansas City Royals | 69–93 | 84.7 | 95.1 | 89.6 | 69.2 | −0.2 | |
| 28 | Colorado Rockies | 58–104 | 80.5 | 103.6 | 76.9 | 64.4 | −6.4 | |
| 29 | Cincinnati Reds | 75–87 | 79.6 | 91.7 | 87.9 | 65.2 | +9.8 | |
| 30 | Athletics | 64–98 | 73.8 | 96.3 | 77.5 | 59.8 | +4.2 |
League rate: 4.48 runs per team per game. Expected wins use the Pythagorean formula with exponent 1.83. 10 of the 12 playoff teams rate in the top 12. Ties at one decimal are ordered by the unrounded rating. Team names link to the live MLB Team Ratings.
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Where Wins and Runs Disagree
Detroit is the season's biggest gap. The Tigers outscored opponents by 71 runs, which typically produces about 89 wins, but finished 76–86, 12.6 wins short. By runs they were the eighth-best team in baseball; by the standings they were not a playoff team.
Several playoff teams won more than their runs suggested. Tampa Bay won 98 games with run totals worth about 90 (+7.8), San Diego 91 against about 85 (+5.7) and Philadelphia 88 against about 83 (+5.4). At the bottom, Cincinnati won 75 games despite being outscored by 160 runs, 9.8 more wins than its run totals suggest, while the Angels finished 8.8 wins below theirs.
How the Top Teams Won
The Cubs had the best offense in baseball (117.1) and the Dodgers the best run prevention (121.0). Milwaukee was second on offense (114.6) and fourth on run prevention (117.5). The Brewers and the Dodgers, fourth on offense, are the only teams in the top four on both sides.
Some teams were one-sided. Washington paired the third-best offense (113.1) with an 89.1 defense, Boston did the reverse with a 94.9 offense and the third-best run prevention (118.8), and Colorado had an above-average offense (103.6) with the worst run prevention in baseball (76.9).
The Playoff Field
The rating counts regular-season games only, so it does not change during the postseason, and it is not built to forecast short series that turn on starting pitchers and a handful of swings. We will compare the postseason with these ratings after the World Series.
Methodology
The AnalytIQ MLB Team Rating (mlb-team-ratings-raw-v1) compares each team's runs scored and allowed per game with the league rate, using regular-season games only. The ratings are AnalytIQ's final published batch for the season, with a cutoff of Oct. 6, 2026, after the last regular-season game on Sept. 27, 2026. This page recomputes every rating from that batch's run totals and matches the published values to within 0.001 points.
Read the full methodology, including what the rating leaves out and where it is weak.
References and data
- AnalytIQ published rating batch e52ea2ef462b, cutoff Oct. 6, 2026: final run and win totals and the published ratings this page reproduces.
- AnalytIQ MLB game catalog: the postseason field. Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees on Sept. 27, 2026 was cancelled, so both played 161 games.
- Pascal Institute: How the MLB Ratings Work