Ranking the 10 most dominant current athletes: Where does Scottie Scheffler rank ahead of 2025 U.S. Open?

10. Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes

The Pirates flamethrower has established himself as arguably MLB's best pitcher in short amount of time. In his first 37 career starts, Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft, has a 1.93 earned run average (ERA) — including a 1.88 ERA this season — and 262 strikeouts in 224 innings while allowing 150 hits and 52 walks.

After making his debut on May 11, 2024, Skenes was selected to start the 2024 MLB All-Star Game and later received Rookie of the Year honors. Per ESPNBet, he's the favorite (-180) to win the 2025 NL Cy Young Award. 

Skenes (4-6) has even been great in his six losses this season, posting a 3.14 ERA in those starts. Per Stathead, he's one of 24 starting pitchers to with at least six losses and is the only one with a sub-5.00 ERA. Reds starting pitcher Nick Martinez's 5.34 ERA is the second-lowest.

9. Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson

Since entering the pros as the No. 22 overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, Jefferson leads the league with 7,432 receiving yards, the most by a player in his first five seasons. He's also responsible for one of the greatest catches in NFL history when he made a ridiculous, one-handed circus catch during the 2022 season against the Buffalo Bills.

8. Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett

Garrett, a four-time first-team All-Pro, has seven consecutive double-digit sack seasons, the NFL's longest active span. He's one of seven players all-time with at least 100 sacks through his first eight seasons.

In 2024, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft led the league in total pressures (83), per Pro Football Focus, and finished No. 5 in ESPN's pass-rush win-rate rankings among edge-defenders. 

Garrett has exceptional quickness for someone of his imposing 6-foot-4, 272-pound stature. Per NFL Pro data, last season, he tied with 49ers edge Nick Bosa for the league's fastest average pass rush get-off time, which measures the average time it takes a defender to cross the line of scrimmage, at 0.7 seconds.

7. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic

The three-time NBA MVP may have had his best season in 2024-25, recording his first career triple-double by averaging 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game and pushing the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are three wins away from their first NBA championship, to the brink of elimination in the West semis by forcing a Game 7. 

At 6-foot-11 and 284 pounds, Jokic is a matchup nightmare against small-ball lineups, and his exceptional passing makes him even more of a unicorn.

6. Jannik Sinner

Before losing last Sunday's epic French Open final, Sinner had won 20 consecutive sets at Roland-Garros, winning his first six matches at the 2025 tournament in straight sets and taking the first two in the five-set loss to Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner, the world's No. 1 men's tennis player, has reached four finals since the start of 2024, winning three (2024 and 2025 Australian Open, 2024 U.S. Open). He is 92-9 (.911) during that span, also winning six other tournaments to establish himself as part of this generation of tennis's "Big Two."

5. Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson

Three-time MVP. Two-time WNBA champion and Olympic gold medalist. First player to score 1,000 points in league history. The single-season rebound record-holder, too. If you can think it, Wilson has likely already done it.

The No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 WNBA Draft has an ironclad case for the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame and is once again at the top of her game early in 2025, leading the Aces in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

4. Carlos Alcaraz

Alcaraz improved to 5-0 in Grand Slam finals after defeating Sinner in the Roland-Garros thriller. In July, he'll seek a third consecutive Wimbledon crown and sixth major championship in the last 12 Grand Slam events.

No. 2 in the world rankings behind Sinner, Alcaraz is 9-4 against his greatest rival, including five consecutive wins. Having just turned 22 in May, there's a solid chance his run is only beginning.

3. Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter/pitcher Shohei Ohtani

Ohtani is a once-in-a-generation baseball player. The two-way star had his best season at the plate last season, slashing .310/.390/.646 with 54 home runs and 130 RBI while becoming the first designated hitter to be named MVP.

He hasn't pitched since August 2023, but Ohtani has been excellent on the mound as well, posting a career 3.01 ERA with 608 strikeouts and 481.2 innings. His return to the rubber will be one of the most anticipated stories during the second half of the season.

2. New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge

The two-time AL MVP has an astonishing .396 batting average through 64 games, and he also leads the majors in on-base percentage (.493) and slugging percentage (.771) while blasting 23 home runs in 240 at-bats.

Judge is the major league's most dangerous hitter and has shown no signs of slowing down. He's found a groove few players have, making him appointment viewing each time he steps up to bat. 

1. Scottie Scheffler

Scheffler is on a heater golf hasn't seen since Tiger Woods' legendary turn-of-the-century run when he won five majors (including four consecutive) in a span of six tournaments.

The 2024 Olympic gold medalist is coming off a Memorial Tournament win, his third PGA Tour title in his last four tournaments, and hasn't placed lower than eighth in his seven most recent events. Over his last 25 starts, Scheffler has 10 wins by an average of 3.6 strokes. (h/t DataGolf)