Dodgers Lose No. 1 as Mlb Logo Rankings Shift
The Dodgers were knocked out of first place in the mlb logo New York Times MLB Power Rankings, their first slide from No. 1 in 2026. The weekly list was built from a selected group of baseball writers ranking teams from first to worst, with records current through the end of play on May 3.
Tim Britton’s April snapshot
Tim Britton set the frame for the rankings with a look at players driving April debates around the league. His introduction explained that a selected group of local and national writers does the ranking, which puts the Dodgers’ drop in the context of a broader top-to-bottom evaluation rather than a simple win-loss table.
Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson drew one of the strongest individual notes in that package. He led the National League in wins above replacement according to FanGraphs, carried an OPS over 1.000, and finished April with a league-leading 15 doubles and 11 homers. Britton wrote, “He looks like that version of himself so far this year for the team with baseball’s best record.”
Ben Rice and Shohei Ohtani
New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice gave the rankings another sharp data point. He led baseball in WAR entering Monday and ranked in the 99th percentile in expected batting average, expected slugging percentage and expected wOBA, while also sitting in the 98th percentile in hard-hit rate and the 97th percentile in average exit velo and barrel percentage. Britton put it plainly: “One month into the season, it’s Rice and not Aaron Judge with the best numbers in the New York lineup — and indeed, all of baseball.”
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani supplied a different kind of April line. As a pitcher, he posted a 0.60 ERA, worked exactly six innings in each of his first five starts and allowed only two earned runs. Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner also landed on the April watch list after finishing the month at.300/.376/.464 with a 139 wRC+, four home runs and 1.4 fWAR, while his 3.9 defensive adjustment led everyone.
Nico Hoerner’s April line
The rankings now leave the Dodgers in unfamiliar territory, and the timing is what changes the feel of the list. Through May 3, the top spot belonged to someone else, while the April numbers used in the package pointed to a race at the top shaped by full-month production rather than reputation alone. For readers tracking the hierarchy, the takeaway is simple: the Dodgers are no longer the standard-bearer in this release, and the rest of the field now sits in that opening.
