The Padres Just Cracked the Top 5 and Mason Miller's On a Streak Nobody's Ever Seen Before

Welcome to late April in baseball, where the power rankings mean almost nothing and everything at the same time. Last year at this exact moment, the Mets were sitting pretty at number one in the power rankings. You know what happened? They completely missed the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays, the team that actually won the American League? They were buried at 18th. This is your annual reminder that it's still super early, and a lot can change.

The Padres Are Making Waves With a Reliever Doing the Unthinkable

San Diego cracked the top five this week, and a huge reason why is Mason Miller, the Padres' reliever who is literally rewriting the record books right in front of us. Miller has thrown 34 and two-thirds consecutive scoreless innings. That's absolutely wild. He's only 6 and one-third innings away from Gregg Olson's all-time reliever record, and he's already crushed the Padres' franchise record that was set by Cla Meredith. Meredith, classy move, sent Miller a message to congratulate him. This is the kind of run that doesn't happen very often in baseball.

Around the League: Judge's Birthday, Skenes Nearly Perfect, and Torkelson Heating Up

Aaron Judge turned 34 on Sunday and, because he's Aaron Judge, he homered on his birthday. His career OPS coming into his birthday sat at 1.026, which puts him ninth all-time among players through their first 1,072 games. The only guys ahead of him? Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Frank Thomas, Todd Helton, Albert Pujols, and Hank Greenberg. That's a murderer's row of legends.

Over in Pittsburgh, Paul Skenes took a perfect game into the seventh inning on Friday. The fact that one of the two clear best pitchers in baseball doesn't have a no-hitter yet is wild, but both he and Tarik Skubal flirted with one last week, so a no-hitter feels inevitable.

Spencer Torkelson is on an absolute tear for the Tigers, homering in five straight games. That's the first time a Tiger has done that since Marcus Thames back in 2008. Torkelson kept it simple about his approach: "I'm hunting my pitch. Swing on time, hunt my pitch and put my swing on it. That's it."

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.