MLB Winners and Losers of July

Last Updated on Julho 31, 2026 4:42 pm by Erwin Noguera

July decided the trade deadline before the trade deadline arrived. Teams that spent June undecided about buying or selling got their answer, and in a few cases the answer arrived violently. The Red Sox went 17-3 and tied a franchise record set in 1946. The Marlins lost twelve straight and set a franchise record of their own.

The deadline hits Monday, August 3 at 6:00 PM ET. Here is who spent July earning the right to buy and who spent it deciding to sell.

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WINNERS

Boston Red Sox: The Month of the Year

Seventeen wins, three losses. The best record in baseball in July by a distance, and the single most dramatic month any team has had this season.

Boston began the month eleven games under .500. They opened with a win over the Angels on July 3, swept a nine-game road trip into the All-Star break, then came out of the break and swept the first-place Rays in a four-game series at Fenway. They kept going against Baltimore. On July 22, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Orioles, they won their fifteenth straight: tying the franchise record set by the 1946 club.

They jumped from 15th to 7th in the power rankings, the largest rise of the month. And the front office responded by trading a legitimate pitching prospect in Connelly Early to Washington for Curtis Mead, because they needed offense right now.

That trade is the real signal. A team that fakes a hot streak does not spend future value on the present. Boston believes this is real.

Atlanta Braves: Stabilized and Getting Acuña Back

The Braves won eight of eleven, moved up to third in the rankings, and re-established a comfortable lead in the NL East that they have held for most of the season.

Ronald Acuña Jr. returns this week. Atlanta sits four games behind Milwaukee for a potential first-round bye. After a first half full of injuries and inconsistency, this is a team arriving at the deadline healthy and ahead of schedule.

Pete Crow-Armstrong: The MVP Race Reopened

Since Memorial Day, Pete Crow-Armstrong has led the Major Leagues in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, wRC+, and fWAR at 5.4.

That is not a hot month. That is two months of leading every meaningful offensive category in baseball. Shohei Ohtani was treated as the inevitable NL MVP through the first half. Crow-Armstrong spent July making that assumption look premature, and he did so while playing elite centre-field defence for a Cubs team holding the top NL Wild Card spot.

Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros: The Movers

Arizona rose seven places, from 17th to 10th, on the strength of a hot streak that has changed their deadline posture entirely. A team that looked stuck in the middle now is a buyer.

Houston rose five places to 17th. They have not quite got back to within a game of .500 for the first time since April 10, but they are close, and 21 of their next 24 games come against teams with losing records. The caveat is that Houston is 25-33 against sub-.500 opposition this season, which is its own kind of problem.

Tampa Bay Rays: Going For It

Tampa Bay spent July becoming one of the most likely landing spots for Tarik Skubal, and that sentence would have been unthinkable in March.

The Rays have the best record in the American League and one of the deepest farm systems in baseball. They are not a franchise that trades prospects for rentals. Entering this season, they were the team in the AL East you would have expected a move like that from least.

If they pull it off, they become genuinely frightening in October.

Pittsburgh Pirates: A Front Office That Said It Out Loud

Ben Cherington removed all ambiguity at the end of July. “We’re at a point in the season now where it’s a pretty good foundation,” the Pirates GM said. “I think it’s pretty clear what we’re going to try to do.”

Pittsburgh is buying. For a franchise that has spent years hedging at this point in the calendar, a public plead to the postseason is a meaningful shift, and the roster has earned it.

Cincinnati Reds and Salvador Perez: Little Wins Worth Noting

Cincinnati won six of nine, including three consecutive road series victories, the first time they have managed that since 2023. They are not out of the Wild Card race yet.

And Salvador Perez hit his 318th career home run, passing George Brett on the all-time Royals list. In a lost Kansas City season, that is worth stopping for.

LOSERS

Miami Marlins: Twelve Straight

Three weeks ago the Marlins were the fun, exciting team on the rise. They were eighth in the power rankings and 1.5 games out of a playoff spot.

Then they lost twelve games in a row: the longest losing streak in franchise history, which is a franchise that has known some losing. They fell ten places to 18th, the steepest drop of the month.

The historical note is brutal. No team has ever lost twelve consecutive games in a season and gone on to reach the postseason. Miami will not be the first.

New York Mets: It May Get Worse

The Mets got wiped out in a series against the Dodgers and lost Juan Soto to the injured list in the same week. They sit 25th.

New York is in full sell mode, with Freddy Peralta, Luke Weaver, A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley all available. It has been a miserable season in every direction, and with the deadline arriving Monday, the roster is about to get thinner.

Toronto Blue Jays: From AL Champions to Last Place

Toronto reached the World Series last season. They are now last in the AL East and fell four places to 23rd in July.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has not homered since the All-Star break. He put together a stretch of reaching base ten times in eighteen plate appearances and then went 0-for-4 to end it and cost Toronto a series. He has become the avatar for a season heading toward being one of the most disappointing in franchise history.

Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber and Daulton Varsho are all now available. The hangover is real.

St. Louis Cardinals: Out of Gas

The Cardinals dropped four places to 14th and look like a team running on empty.

The bullpen blew leads twice against the Reds over one weekend, which was frustrating. The deeper problem is an offence that has been among the worst in baseball throughout July. A listless NL Wild Card race is the only thing keeping them technically alive, and they do not look like a team pushing especially hard to stay in it. The stated focus is on the future.

Detroit Tigers: Blowing Saves and Losing Leverage

Just as the Tigers were building a case for keeping Tarik Skubal, they lost two heartbreakers to the Royals with the bullpen surrendering leads in both.

Detroit is now on pace for 37 blown saves this season. The franchise record is 28. Every one of those losses weakens the argument for holding onto the best pitcher available at the deadline, and bolsters the case for cashing in.

Philadelphia Phillies: The Run Differential Problem

Philadelphia fell from fifth to eighth after a skid that likely ended any realistic chase of Atlanta in the NL East.

The number that should concern them: the Phillies have been outscored on the season. Their run differential is worse than any team in the Wild Card chase other than the Padres. They are winning close games, and that is not a sustainable model heading into October.

Cleveland Guardians and Seattle Mariners: Wasting Opportunities

Cleveland dropped two places, and a losing streak has them in danger of falling to third in the AL Central. They somehow remain in the third AL Wild Card spot, which says everything about how open the American League is.

Seattle fell two places despite sitting only 1.5 games out of first in the AL West. They rescued the finale against Texas by beating Jacob deGrom, which was a genuine result. But the pattern is a team that keeps letting the division sit there unclaimed.

Baltimore Orioles: The Week They Needed

Baltimore came out of the All-Star break needing a hot stretch and instead lost series to both Boston and Atlanta.

Gunnar Henderson went 1-for-13 against the Braves, including a double play with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the tenth of a game the Orioles lost. That single at-bat is the season in miniature.

Shohei Ohtani and Cody Bellinger: Rough Months for Big Names

Ohtani is 7-for-38 with no home runs since the All-Star break and is still rehabbing his knee before returning to the mound. The Dodgers have a clear path to October and can afford to be patient, but the bat has been wobbly, and Crow-Armstrong has taken advantage.

Cody Bellinger heads to the injured list with a hamstring problem, joining Aaron Judge on a Yankees roster that could not afford another absent hitter. The mitigating detail is that Bellinger was in a deep slump anyway and had not homered in over a month.

What July Told Us

The month clarified almost everything the deadline needed clarified.

Boston went from seller to buyer in three weeks and backed it with a trade. Tampa Bay went from careful to aggressive and is now chasing the best pitcher on the market. Arizona and Pittsburgh both declared themselves. Miami answered the question in the worst possible way.

The other lesson is about volatility. The Red Sox were eleven games under .500 on June 25 and are now holding a playoff spot. The Marlins were a playoff contender on July 10 and are now finished. Neither swing was predictable, and both happened inside a single month.

Detroit still controls the market with Skubal. The Dodgers still sit at the top and have the depth to add whatever they want. Milwaukee still has the farm system to outbid almost anyone.

Three days until the deadline. July has already made most of the decisions.