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MLB power rankings: Perfect Padres throttle Braves to put Atlanta in early 2025 hole

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MLB power rankings: Perfect Padres throttle Braves to put Atlanta in early 2025 hole


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Sure, the Los Angeles Dodgers are unbeaten in five games and the New York Yankees can’t stop hitting home runs, but let’s pause to consider what the San Diego Padres have pulled off.

It’s not even April, and they’ve already clinched the season series against the Atlanta Braves – and cracked the top five in USA TODAY Sports’ first power rankings installment.

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Oh, it probably won’t matter, but it’s worth pondering that the most significant feat of this opening weekend was the Padres sweeping four games against Atlanta, marking six consecutive victories over them at Petco Park, dating to their wild-card steamrolling during last year’s playoffs.

Perhaps you might remember that: The Braves, New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks all had to wait until hurricane-delayed Games 161 and 162 were played to determine the final NL playoff spots. Sure, most tiebreakers don’t come into play, but with the Padres and Braves very likely slotting in wild-card spots this year, it’s not entirely meaningless.

Of greater note, San Diego’s throttling of Atlanta might at least force observers to recalibrate their expectations for both teams, with the Padres perhaps providing resistance to the Dodgers in the West, while the Braves are already a pace behind what should be an excellent three-team race in the East.

Then again, 158 games remain for both.

A look at our updated rankings:

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1. Los Angeles Dodgers

  • You might say they, uh, torpedoed Brewers pitching.

3. Philadelphia Phillies

  • Jesús Luzardo wins first start as Phillie.
  • Bullpen allowed one earned run in 16 innings.

5. Baltimore Orioles

  • Blasted 10 homers in four games against Toronto.

6. Texas Rangers

  • Jack Leiter did enough to win first start; can Kumar Rocker follow suit?

7. Arizona Diamondbacks

  • Next time, just start the guy you just gave $210 million.

8. New York Mets

  • Oh, they’ll hit soon enough.

9. Houston Astros

  • Spencer Arrighetti picks up where he left off after strong 2024 finish.

10. Detroit Tigers

  • They’re definitely done with the Dodgers.

11. Boston Red Sox

  • Rafael Devers doing anything but designated hitting: 0 for 16 with 12 strikeouts.
  • Ah yes, three games at the Dodgers should wash that 0-4 start right away.

13. Cincinnati Reds

  • It’d be a shame if relief woes sank an otherwise solid and charismatic roster.

14. Chicago Cubs

  • Relief acquisition Eli Morgan has given up six runs in 3 ⅔ innings.

15. Seattle Mariners

  • After four-run opening day explosion, they score two, zero and two runs against A’s.

16. Cleveland Guardians

  • Jose Ramírez’s wrist is barking a little bit.

17. Kansas City Royals

  • Tough opening series ends on grim note when pitch strikes Jonathan India in face.

18. Tampa Bay Rays

  • They embrace the great outdoors with two wins over Rockies, including walk-off homer.

19. San Francisco Giants

  • Maybe this Old Guys Rule rotation will work out.

20. St. Louis Cardinals

  • So far, their “reset” has resulted in a perfect record.

21. Toronto Blue Jays

  • The Max Scherzer thumb saga already getting painful.

22. Washington Nationals

  • Dylan Crews hitless in 11 at-bats, with eight strikeouts.

23. Minnesota Twins

  • Top prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez with a three-hit night in Class AAA opener.
  • We feel confident in saying they will not see the New York Yankees again this year.

25. Los Angeles Angels

  • Tim Anderson gets a nice welcome in return to Chicago’s Southside.

26. Athletics (Sacramento)

  • Their Yolo County Era begins this week.

27. Miami Marlins

  • Griff Conine hits game-tying homer on night his dad is inducted into club Hall of Fame.

28. Pittsburgh Pirates

  • First three losses all walk-offs. So they’re coming close.
  • Chase Dollander watch: Strikes out five in four innings of first Class AAA start.

30. Chicago White Sox

  • Clip and save this for posterity: Their 1.00 ERA leads the major leagues

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fastDownload for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.



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Atlanta, GA

Santa “Paws” offers professional portraits for pups

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Santa “Paws” offers professional portraits for pups


Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue held a fundraiser at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville where dogs and their pet parents could get a professional photo with Santa, courtesy of Magnolia Grace Photography. FOX LOCAL’s Kaitlyn Pratt brings Judayah Murray a live look from the event.



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Atlanta Braves pitcher Dylan Lee reunites with Valley nurse who predicted he would be an athlete

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Atlanta Braves pitcher Dylan Lee reunites with Valley nurse who predicted he would be an athlete


VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) — A South Valley nurse made a prediction about the baby in her care and fast-forward years later, it came true.

Registered nurse Kim Hofer shared a heart-warming reunion with Atlanta Braves pitcher Dylan Lee on Friday.

Lee visited Kaweah Health, where he was born 30 years ago, to visit the nurse who saw into his future.

Hofer took ‘footprints’ of the newborns and judging by the size of Lee’s baby feet, she predicted he would become an athlete.

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Lee happened to find the footprint keepsake and sought out the nurse who helped him take his first step into his future.

“I guess when she put my feet on the paper, it barely fit. To her, used to doing it to other kids and then doing my feet, she said, ‘Oh man, this kid is gonna be an athlete,’ and I was like, ‘Well, her fruition came true,’” Lee said.

Lee went to Dinuba High School, played at College of the Sequoias and Fresno State.

The former world champion encourages parents to allow their children to stay active and play several sports.

On Saturday, he’ll make an appearance at Tulare’s Fishing Derby at Del Lago Park.

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Atlanta author Felicia Feaster can help you design a Gothic garden

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Atlanta author Felicia Feaster can help you design a Gothic garden


Goth Garden author Felicia Feaster

Photograph by Tomas Epinosa

Writer and author Felicia Feaster is a former HGTV website editor, where she started 11 years ago as the editor-in-chief of a new gardening website called HGTV Gardens. That experience, combined with her own avid gardening, led her to where she is today: the author of The Gothic Garden: The Mystery, Beauty, and Lore of Dark Gardening, which debuted in November. Here, Feaster, a longtime Atlanta magazine contributor, explains what the concept is and how she wrote the book.

How did you come up with the idea for the book?
The concept of a Gothic garden, which kept popping up on TikTok and Instagram, immediately sparked my interest. I started writing pieces about what types of plants people could use in their Goth garden. Serendipitously, the publisher, Simon & Schuster, saw those articles and tracked me down to ask me to write a book—in three months.

Where does the concept of a Goth garden come from?
The 19th century, or the Victorian Age, was a time of incredible interest in plants, especially exotic and strange ones, including poisonous plants. It was also a time of exploration into new places, like Asia and South America. When Queen Victoria lost her husband and went into mourning for the rest of her life, she influenced a lot of rituals and etiquette around death. Plus, there was a lot of new technology, and with that, anxiety about science usurping nature; that was a theme in Gothic literature at the time, like Frankenstein. This all laid the foundation—the garden is the place where life and death battles are happening.

Goth Garden author Felicia Feaster

Photograph by Tomas Epinosa

How does the book work?
The heart of the book is 50 plants, flowers, vegetables, and herbs I’ve chosen that have the most interesting stories in terms of plant history and are the most beautiful. It’s a mix of super strange and accessible plants. In Victorian times, plants had a lot of meaning; it was a form of communication in such a repressed culture. I also talk about ancient uses of plants, such as rosemary, which was used in embalming in ancient Egypt.

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There are design elements to use in your Goth garden to give it a spooky ambiance, such as wrought iron gates. The plants are accompanied by illustrations by Irina Vinnik, which are so gorgeous that Simon & Schuster will release an additional publication in summer 2026 called Dark Blooms, a compilation of postcards and my writing about the meaning of the plants.

Goth Garden author Felicia Feaster with a castor bean plant

Photograph by Tomas Epinosa

Do you have a Goth garden?
Yes, it leans into deep, purple colored plants. I also have a dead tree; it’s almost like a tree sculpture. This summer, I cut down a castor bean plant, which was 10 feet tall. It’s the most toxic plant and has ricin that’s 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide. It has crazy, spiky red seed pods. It’s a spooky-looking plant. I love telling people passing by the story of it—it’s a good, easy shock.

Celebrate Feaster on December 7th at the Plaza Theatre, where she’ll have a book signing before a screening of Edward Scissorhands, complete with a Gothic-inspired cocktail by Videodrome.

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