TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Rays held steady at No. 3 in MLB’s weekly Power Rankings, but Junior Caminero’s case for American League Most Valuable Player has hit a rough patch in August just as the stretch run heats up.
Caminero, who a month ago appeared to be the only viable challenger to Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for AL MVP, is hitting .250 with a .315 on-base percentage and five home runs in August — numbers the rankings panel called “not terrible, but not enough considering the way Alvarez has been playing.”
The Rays’ No. 3 ranking places them behind only the Milwaukee Brewers, who claimed the top spot for the first time all season, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had held No. 1 for the previous two months. The Brewers remain on pace for the first 100-win season in franchise history.
Florida’s other Major League club, the Miami Marlins, sits at No. 14. The Marlins are 8-1 against the Washington Nationals and 59-63 against everybody else. Miami gets four games against Washington next weekend — the final meetings between the two clubs in 2026.
The Dodgers, despite dropping to second, haven’t lost since last Sunday and are preparing to get Shohei Ohtani back on the mound. Ohtani has been warming up at the plate with eight homers, five doubles and a triple in his last 24 games.
Elsewhere in the American League, the New York Yankees remain at No. 6 after learning Giancarlo Stanton is unlikely to return this year. The 36-year-old strained his left calf while rehabbing his right calf and has played just 101 regular-season games over the past two seasons. His 13-year, $325 million contract finally ends next year. The Boston Red Sox, at No. 8, own the best record in baseball since the All-Star break and lead the Majors in comeback wins since the break with 15, giving them 32 on the season.
The Rays’ next challenge will be maintaining their ranking as the regular season enters its final weeks, with Caminero needing to recapture his earlier form to keep the MVP conversation alive against Alvarez and the Astros, who sit at No. 12 after going 5-7 in a 12-game stretch against sub-.500 opponents.