Tigers See Lack of Respect in Power Rankings Despite MLB's Best Record

The 2025 season is off to a dream start for the Detroit Tigers, who own a 33-17 record after 50 games that puts them atop the loaded American League Central and all of Major League Baseball.

Stars like reigning AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal, former first overall picks Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene are on top of their games, and the wins have followed.

Even as Detroit utilizes its blend of relentlessly aggressive pitching with good all-around offense and top-tier defense, the team is still not quite getting the respect that it has earned.

Earlier this week, The Athletic (subscription required) released the latest edition of its league-wide power rankings. Despite their MLB-best record, the Tigers did not claim the top spot.

Where Detroit Tigers Sit in The Athletic's Power Rankings

That went to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Detroit ranked third, also trailing the New York Yankees.

To his credit, analyst Levi Weaver noted in his blurb for the team that they do in fact own the best record in the sport, also highlighting the surprising contributions of a previously embattled highly-paid player.

"And if you want something a little more surprising: their most valuable player by bWAR this year is Javy Báez (1.7)," Weaver wrote. "Even if you’ve heard this already, it’s still surprising. Like when you hear that the human circulatory system is roughly 60,000 miles long."

While it's nice to see the Tigers getting their due on some level, it's still not enough. The Tigers have a solid cushion on the Dodgers entering their series with the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday.

Even if Los Angeles is being given credit for the on-paper superiority of its roster, a key part of power rankings is invariably recent performance.

The Dodgers are struggling as their injury-plagued pitching staff continues to falter. No such issues exist in the Motor City, as the Tigers are fifth in MLB in team ERA.

Detroit has a better record than Los Angeles in each's last 10 games and the Tigers have a better run differential.

Is Detroit necessarily to be expected to waltz through the American League in the postseason and take down the defending champions in the World Series? Of course not, but it's only May, and the overall body of work for both teams should cast the Tigers in a much more flattering light.

There is a lot of baseball to be played, but Detroit has earned the right to sit atop this sort of list.